All posts by Simon

Living Life

Now I Know Why

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 →

Photography

Photo Mojo

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

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 →

Living Life, Photography

New Muses

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 →

Diary, Videos

Early Signs Of Winter in Wharfedale

Video

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. 🙂