My next mini-tour is less than a couple of weeks away…..I’m at Tewkesbury, Exeter and Southampton on consecutive days 14th-16th May. You can find out more on The Societies website. In the meantime, here are a couple of montages from my March seminars…..

Contact the SWPP Head Office asap if you’d like to book for the May events. See you there!

I set the photo-ramblers the task of capturing ‘texture’. It’s easy to take the everyday things around you for granted – having a project to work on, even a broad-based topic such as this, helps to focus attention and give a purpose to your photography. Here are a few of my images from the morning….

Styal Country Park is very popular with walkers and joggers, and of course, dogs….

I’ll leave the last word with photo-rambler Sandra, who didn’t realise that she was being watched as she concentrated on capturing the textures of this tree. You never know when Secret Squirrel is watching…

The 100 mile crossings in gale force winds and heavy seas were certainly ‘interesting’ and the Easter celebrations in Patmos didn’t disappoint either. The festivities start in sombre tone at dusk on Good Friday, as Christ’s bier (a mock coffin decorated with flowers) is carried ceremoniously through the streets. The accompanying flares and firecrackers create an unforgettable spectacle.

Throughout the build up there are numerous church ceremonies and a period of fasting, reaching a climax at midnight on Saturday evening when, during long and intense services in every church, Christ is declared to have risen. The celebrations and fireworks take over, accompanied by feasting and dancing….and more firecrackers.

A light-hearted tradition is that hard boiled eggs are dyed red, to symbolise Christ’s blood, and then bashed together in a top and tail family table game at mealtimes. The winner is the person whose egg is still intact at the end of the challenges. All good fun.

With it’s mix of Roman ruins, industrial heritage and modern city architecture this particular area of Manchester is alive with photographic opportunities so there was more emphasis on ‘photo’ than ‘ramble’….we didn’t stray too far from our start point (and the coffee at Dukes 92).

This was one of the most enjoyable rambles we’ve had so far – fantastic company, photos galore and all in a good cause too. Our current season of charity walks and talks is in support of Beechwood Cancer Care in Stockport and the next ramble is on Saturday 21st April at Styal Country Park. Why not join us?

Here are a few of my images from the day…..sometimes it’s just good to play :

Arriving in Zion National Park I spotted this information board that summed up perfectly the challenges of landscape photography and of being able to do justice to such breathtaking scenery in a two-dimensional image….

Entitled ’You Make The Picture’, the board simply says this…

The Great White Throne challenges photographers, amateurs and professionals alike. Changing light and shadow change the mountain’s mood and the pictures you can get. Let your imagination guide your lens. Remember that your camera only records what it’s pointed at – you make the picture.

Quite a challenge then. Unlike nearby Bryce Canyon where you are on the rim looking down, in Zion you’re in the bottom of the canyon looking up. Some parts of the valley floor rarely see the sun whereas the mountain tops, including The Great White Throne, are bathed in bright sunshine most days of the year.

One of the challenges of landscape photography is to know the prime locations, the best seasons and the optimum time of day -professional  landscape photographers will make every effort to get these elements right. As a casual tourist, just passing through, the knack is to work out the path of the sun and figure out when and where it will appear. That’s the theory anyway, but quite often, especially when you’re travelling with family and friends, it’s sometimes just a case of making a best guess and hoping that you manage to be in the right place at the right time!

One way to give yourself the best chance is to get up early – it nearly always pays off and so it proved for us on this occasion. Arriving at Zion Lodge late in the afternoon we managed a quick recce of the valley before dark. As magnificent as the scenery was, the sun had already deserted us and the light was relatively flat and uninteresting….

Staying in the heart of the valley, with the mountains on our doorstep, we were optimistic that the light would be better first thing in the morning and we weren’t disappointed.

Zion presented me with two major photo-opportunities during the course of the morning. At first light the rising sun kissed the mountain tops with an electric glow and the best vantage point was, conveniently, the balcony of our lodge. Minute by minute the light was changing and the sliver of gold on the top of the ridge got bigger and bigger. After an early breakfast and a speedy checkout we drove half a mile or so further into the valley where sunshine was gaining in strength and picking out the silvery bark of the aspen trees in spectacular style. As intimated on the board, trying to capture the majesty of this scenery in one shot is challenging, if not impossible, so rather than trying to photograph the whole grand vista I concentrated on the areas where the light was at it’s most magical.  I used my imagination and ‘pointed my camera’ into the light to bring out the sparkle….

Entering competitions is a great way to tax your creative mind and and improve your photography. Even if you don’t win, your photography will still have moved on as a result and I encourage all photographers, whatever their speciality,  to enter competitions whenever they can.

Here are my two commended images, both of trees as it happens. The first image is of an urban forest in Almere-Buiten, Netherlands and the second, closer to home, is of Mellor Churchyard near Stockport.

There are some stunningly beautiful winning images this year. You can view all of the winning and commended images on the International Garden Photographer of the Year website at www.igpoty.com  Details of Competition 6 have also been announced – garden photographers take note and get your creative thinking caps on!

On the plus side for garden photography there was no wind and the flat lighting was a great help for holding the detail in the white petals of the snowdrops.

Both the general shot and this close-up detail were captured on a Nikon D300s with my 105mm VR lens on a tripod…

My third shot is an i-phone image of the old boat house with a little post-processing to bring out the quiet, moody conditions and give a touch of nostalgia.

Rode Hall itself is a delightful old Cheshire residence, full of rural characater and history. Definitely worth a return visit when the summer borders are in full bloom.

The rainy forecast the previous evening had put me off packing too much camera gear. I opted instead to give my newly updated i-phone 4S a chance to shine, on the basis that if it poured down all day I probably wouldn’t take many photographs anyway, and if it cleared up it would be a good discipline to work within the limited options of a cameraphone. I wasn’t disappointed with my decision.

The misty, drizzly day was ‘atmospheric’ and bitterly cold, so taking the point and shoot option while keeping on the move (my friends are not photographers and don’t like to hang around too long ‘waiting for the light’) proved a wise choice.

Back home in the warm I processed some of the images in Camerabag 2, a much improved version of the original cameraphone app and now available as a desktop version for PC and Mac too. The vintage processes available in Camerabag were well suited to these images and I’ll be reviewing this versatile photo-app in more detail in a future blog post.

Grand vistas don’t tend to work in mid-winter unless there’s snow on the ground or a hard frost,  but focus on the details and you’ll find a wealth of winter flowers, a variety of dried petals and leaves from the previous season and brave, early Spring blooms. Here are some of my images from last week’s shoot, starting with two varieties of witch hazel, a bank of winter heathers (a few days too early for the crocuses in the foreground), hydrangea petals and, finally, a newly emerged crocus in a warm, open spot.

Look out for more garden photography blog posts as the seasons unfold, as well as announcements of our garden photography workshops for 2012. It’s going to be a colourful year!

Winter sun can often be dramatic, giving warm, orange light and long shadows even in the middle of the day. No need to get up at silly o’clock to catch the sunrise or to stay out late into the evening. On winter walks I usually find the best light around mid to late afternoon, meaning  I get my shots and still have time to retreat to the warmth of the log fire in the pub afterwards.

Winter is also a good time to concentrate on details – looking at the landscape in miniature can reveal colours and textures that are often get overlooked at other times of year.

This image of an old ivy-clad farmyard door features in this week’s Photo Friday e-newsletter. To receive future issues of Photo Friday and Turner Photo Training photography workshop updates please click here.

The images that follow were captured on a couple of different winter walks, one in the Ribble Valley and one, just last week, in the north-east corner of Cheshire between Woodley and Whaley Bridge in the High Peak.  I’ve purposefully not included any snowy images, concentrating instead on the architectural qualities of trees and shrubs in winter and on ethereal winter light…