Diary

It's been a few days now since I was at the Malvern Spring Show. It was as always a really great event. In fact it gets better every year. The Chelsea gardens are starting to receive some really stiff competition from the designers showing at Malvern. The weather was a bit variable, as usual, but what the heck! This is England after all. This weekend has been a real wash out though. I attended a Hot Air Balloon Festival in Tiverton yesterday. What a shame that the weather wasn't kinder. No mass ascent in the afternoon and even the Night Glow was cancelled. If you've never attended a Night Glow then you haven't lived. dozens of balloons fully inflated with their burners going full blast and the whole balloon glowing in the dimpsy dusk. It's what photography was invented for - but it wasn't to be. Ah well! Another time maybe.

I went down to RHS Rosemoor yesterday and for the first time in as long as I can recall, I didn't have a camera with me. In fact I left it in the boot of the car. The weather was pretty appalling. It was blowing a gale and the sky was really dark, constantly threatening to rain, but never quite getting around to it.

Instead of seeking out possibilities for decent images, I looked at the garden with fresh eyes. It was like returning to childhood. The breeze blew through the Magnolia and Prunus so that everywhere I walked in some parts of the garden, the air was filled with glorious scent. The paths were strewn with pink and white blossom and the whole world seemed to be pastel coloured, pink, pale blue, white...

It all made the cup of coffee back in the restaurant all the more welcome when I finally made it back to base camp. The couple of hours I spent just wandering was a reminder that I really should leave the camera behind more often. You get to drink more coffee that way as well.

Great! The World cup is starting in a sunny South Africa, it's raining here again (so what's new?) and the weekend is looming. I've just spent a wet three days in Sheffield trying to photograph a garden. I got some wonderful pictures at 5 in the morning of a damp foggy expanses, but not much in the way of beautifully lit garden photos. I tried again in the evening and fared no better as the light dropped at around teatime to night time levels.

On the last morning the weather forecast had been predicting that my luck would be in and that I would get some decent light at last. Oh Yeah? I woke at 5am to heavy rain and a thick mist neither of which had cleared by the time I had to leave at midday. Ah well! Another time maybe? I did come away with some decent pictures but not enough to justify the three days spent on location and having to travel across the length of the country to do the shoot. This is the life!

I pootled off to the Taste of the West Trade show, camera in hand (just in case that useful picture landed in my lap) on the 19th. Lots of Food around and lots of businesses selling food related things. A useful visit for me (but not for my waistline). Long live people who need the services of food photographers!

There's a lot to be said for Trade Shows if you're a photographer. For a start potential clients are more amenable to talking to you. You have the opportunity to demonstrate what you can offer their business and, if you time it right, you can do it without interruption. It's also an eye opener for the photographer as you get an opportunity to see what looming on the horizon aside from the fun of bumping into other photographers and Food Stylists, whose cards I collect avidly, just in case I need to use one another day.

April is here and true to form we've been inundated with showers (or should that be downpours) of biblical proportions. It's not left much opportunity to get out into gardens and take photographs. Ah Well! it has meant spending time processing pictures and concentrating on developing some more food photography techniques. Without the aid of a Stylist (I was just doing some portfolio work after all), it has meant that I've had to up the ante in that department. On the other hand if there is a stylist out there who wants to link up and provide me with some mutual help then please get in touch - I'm always open to collaboration.

Happy Easter!

Focus on Imaging is fast approaching at the Birmingham NEC. Time to start dreaming of all that gear that the accountant won't let me afford. On the other hand...