National Park

Shot for the Day (09 March 2019)

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Last morning in Devon for a while and the weather was meant to be bad. As I drove towards Dartmoor the fog was think and almost impenetrable. I ended up getting lost on the moors after taking a wrong turn. However, once back on track, the fog gave way to clear skies around Haytor.

Leaving the car in the nearby car park, situated a short walk from Haytor,.  The imposing granite stack was covered in lichens and mosses, holding an imposing position over Dartmoor.  Apparently, these rocky granite outcrops, or tors, were formed over 280 million years ago.

Shot for the Day (21 October 2016)

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The dawn of a new day in southern Patagonia.  This shot pf the Moreno Glacier was taken a few years back when I was working and travelling around South America.  I purchased a lovely Fuji GW690 that took no time at all to get the hang of, along with a huge bag of medium format, 120 roll film all around the continent.

This shot was taken a short while before the sun progressed over the mountainous horizon behind me, illuminating the whole Moreno Glacier in a glorious morning, amber light.  Definitely should be a place one’s bucket list to visit and watch sunrise.

Shot for the Day (27 September 2016)

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I have visited Iceland a few times.  This was from my most recent trip there, when I cycled round the island.  This was one of the rare days when it did not rain.  I was around 300km east of Reykjavik when I took this shot.  The wind was with me that day and I covered over 100 miles.

This next shot was a couple of days out of Egilsstaðir, close to Hoffell if I recall correctly.  Just a mile or two away from the road where I was cycling, was this the view I was treated to, of a glacier positioned on the edge of Vatnajökull National Park.

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Shot for the Day (16 September 2016)

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Still in the Canadian Rockies, I tried to shoot the famous Moraine Lake, situated close to Lake Louise, a few times but to no avail.  In the end, it took me three attempts to capture this dawn scene.  First time, I wondered into the forest jutting out into the lake on the right.  I was spooked by a bear and decided a shot was not worth a mauling.  The second attempt was marred by terrible weather.  Third time lucky.  The light lasted about 5 minutes before clouding over.

The solitude of the morning was somewhat dispensed with when I was interviewed by a Japanese film crew, who turned up too late to capture the dawn and wanted to use my photographs.

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I was staying in a small motel in Banff and had scouted this location out the previous day.  The light was falling to my right on the lakeside but I loved the dawn vanilla skies above the mountain on the other side of the lake.

Shot for the Day (11 September 2016)

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A few years ago, I was in the Canadian Rockies, travelling around Banff and Jasper National Parks.  The shot for today was taken from an observation platform above Peyto Lake. It was not a great time of day to be shooting as it was close to midday but this really made the turquoise colour of the lake stand out all the more against the lush green of the surround forest, greyness of the mountain face and deep blue of the sky.

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This was taken a few miles away, along the river bank above a raging torrent below.  You can make out a young girl relaxing by the river, wearing red, to give you a size perspective of the scene.

Shot for the Day (25 September 2013)

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A decade ago, I was in southern Argentina, on my travels around South America. I have fond memories of camping out close to the Perito Moreno Glacier, with some friends from the Raleigh International expedition I had just completed.  The previous night, we were kept awake by the violent sound of huge chunks of ice carving off the glacier.

I arose at 4am and walked to the glacier to watch dawn break. It was a truly spellbinding moment. Unfortunately, the next time I visited the glacier, you were no longer allowed to camp in the National Park, so a doubly lucky moment.

Here’s looking at you 2003!

Shots from the archive: Namibia

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Several years ago, I spent a couple of weeks on the road in Namibia.  This was before digital photography had taken off (still prohibitively expensive), so I was armed with my trust Canon T90 and long lens as I intended to shoot wildlife photography.  However, on day 2 of my 15 day trip, whilst I sat in Etosha Park waiting for the animals and lighting conditions to align at the watering hole, my camera electrics suffered a catastrophic meltdown (literally) at the hands of the African midday sun.

All I had left was a £20 Lubitel 6×6 camera, 10 roles of Fuji Provia and my father’s 40 year old light meter  As it turned out, that was all I needed.  Over a decade later and I still love the analogue nature of these shots, all captured on a camera with a super cheap lens.

Sossusvlei – Namibia
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Skeleton Coast 1 – Namibia
Open Road 1 – Namibia
Skeleton Coast 3 – Namibia

Canada photoshoot 2011

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Just prior to the Frankfurt motorshow in September, I went out to Canada for a two week photoshoot.  Starting off in Calgary, I headed west to Banff National Park.  From here, I drove through all the surrounding national parks including Kootenay, Yoho and Jasper.  Over the first ten days, I covered almost 2000 miles.

After returning to Calgary, I then flew further west to Victoria, capital of Vancouver Island.  My good friend Justene Miller, a Canadian from Vancouver, gave me some excellent advice, to visit Tofino and Ucluelet, on the Pacific coast of the island.  I was treated to a cloud rainbow, something I have never seen before.

I loved Canada, with its spectacular landscape and friendly locals. My only reservation is that the food is much like the US is pretty awful most of the time.