All posts by Simon

Gear Stuff, Photography

Seeing Red

29th April, 2021 Simon

My Infrared Photography – “IR590” Infrared photography is not to everyone’s taste. I have friends who even say they find infrared images “creepy”. Before getting started, I’ll address a common misnomer so that there’s no confusion. When most photographers, including me, refer to infrared photography, we’re really referring to “near-infrared”. True infrared light is outside … Read more Seeing Red →

Eulogy: “Bye For Now”

25th January, 2021 Simon

For many years, every time I left dad in Haworth, every time we hung up the phone or disconnected on Skype, our parting words were always “bye for now”. I can’t even remember which of us first used those words to the exclusion of any other concluding phrase. Regardless, these words came to mean everything … Read more Eulogy: “Bye For Now” →

Of Aphids, Hover Flies And Soldier Beetles

27th August, 2019 Simon

The summer months arrived at last. I broke out the macro lens, slapped on a flashgun and dived into the long grass. Finally I could shoot local subjects at a gentle pace with little or no costs involved. For me, in my current situation, this is perfect. As the season was approaching, I had excitedly … Read more Of Aphids, Hover Flies And Soldier Beetles →

Now I Know Why

8th July, 2019 Simon

I really thought I’d lost my photo mojo. Grabbing the camera and heading out had become a chore; something that I did, even though the thought actually wearied me. I thought I’d lost interest in the craft and that I’d had enough, and that the only thing to do was wait for the denial to … Read more Now I Know Why →

Photo Mojo

17th February, 2019 Simon

Like many others, my photography goes through phases. Sometimes I’m prolific while other times I’m less so. Sometimes all I create are black and white images, while other times I make only landscape images, sometimes infrared or long exposure, and still others where I focus solely on macro or woodland, streams or waterfalls. There are … Read more Photo Mojo →

Diary, Photography

Hoar Frost

1st February, 2019 Simon

Snow Schmow! For a truly magical Winter Wonderland scene, you don’t need snow, you need a hoar frost! Not to say that you don’t want snow too, if it should be available! But the magical fairy dust sprinkled on a Winter Wonderland scene is the crystallisation of tiny shards of ice, on the tips of … Read more Hoar Frost →

Not Got The Foggiest

10th January, 2019 Simon

As if missing out of photography for three months of the year because of having no car were not bad enough, it was mostly autumn that I missed. Now I’m mobile again and I have a new camera, but the leaves have all already fallen. I’m left staring at the ground, looking for interesting leaves … Read more Not Got The Foggiest →

Diary, Living Life

Static Interference

26th November, 2018 Simon

It’s been a tough summer. At the beginning of August the workhorse that was my car broke down for the first and the last time after over five years of service. With over 175,000 miles on the clock, my beloved car finally rolled to the side of the road and gently died. I wept. Maybe … Read more Static Interference →

Living Life, Photography

New Muses

30th March, 2018 Simon

I’ve complained before about my dog, that she’s.. shall we say.. resistant to having her photo taken. She’s remarkably adept at dodging the lens. Well, this week things changed a little, and I had a lot of fun. My neighbours were away working this week and needed help to make sure their two dogs – … Read more New Muses →

Early Signs Of Winter in Wharfedale

Video 5th December, 2017 Simon

I made this! 🙂

Best viewed directly on Youtube. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzOEZpyW9vc

I shot this one morning in Lower Wharfedale, which itself is no small feat. Near where I live, and so very accessible, it is also very much in the shadow of Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA). If you know about the rules governing drones then you’ll know that CAA rules prohibit flying within 5 miles of any airport in the UK. Much of Lower Wharfedale falls within the 5 mile exclusion zone of LBA, and this flight was just on the outside edge of that zone. Much of the view in the footage, however, is within the exclusion zone.

When you live near an airport (I live about 2 miles from the LBA runway), it means that any time you wish to fly your drone you must drive a distance. It’s a nuisance, frankly, and means I barely get to fly. But the rules is the rules, and I knew them before I bought my drone.

These days I have keyboards and synthesizers, so I’m delighted to be in a position to write my own musical accompaniment to the videos that I share. I’m particularly fond of this piece, which is simple and – for me at least – reasonably musical. I wouldn’t describe myself as a musician. Most of what I write is best described as elevator music. It’s nondescript and uninspiring. Funnily enough, that often works well with the videos that I produce, but everything is a work in progress and hopefully will get better over time. 🙂