Bloomin' gorgeous Winter

The landscape can seem pretty barren and drab at this time of year - everything can appear tired and faded, with barren fields and bare branches. At least this is what I used to think, but I've come to appreciate and love this time of year. Clearly it lacks the lushness and colourfulness of the other three
 seasons but look for beauty in the landscape and you will find it. I particularly like the contrast of faded, almost yellow fields and burgundy brown bare hedges - Mother Nature never puts colours together that don't work and these two shades are stunning together. When everything else is stripped back the most simple details - bark on branches and single leaves for example - are often striking in their simplicity. The light is wonderful at this time of year as the sun is lower in the sky, making it softer and lighting everything from the side rather than directly above. You get lovely soft shadows modelling and contouring your subjects. The teasels in the first shot are light from behind by the diffused winter sun making the spikes stand out from the background. Focusing on them has thrown the reeds in the background out of focus and created the perfect back drop.

The solitary leaf in the second picture caught my eye. It almost looks like an insect's cocoon and along with the new buds on the twigs hints of Spring.  The leaf stands out nicely against the background of diagonal twigs.

The first snowdrops and hellebores should be making an appearance sometime over the coming weeks. I've visited Rode Hall a few times to enjoy and photograph their snowdrop walk, but just google "snowdrop walks" at this time of year and you'll be spoilt for choice. Last year we had a lot of snow in February and I rushed out to capture snowdrops in snow but was disappointed to find that they looked less spectacular than when they are against a contrasting background of brown earth and green grass. My favourite images in the grouping below are the two bottom left, where leaves, mulch and pine cones provide interest, with just a hint of snow to suggest Winter.

When photographing anything at ground level at this time of year I always wear waterproof trousers or carry a bin liner, as you really need to get down at their level. Hellebores hide their beauty under their bonnet of petals and snowdrops are just so delicate that you need to get down low. To get a shot of a drift of snowdrops covering the woodland floor, you can stand up and avoid wet, muddy knees. But be aware of harsh, contrasting light if the sun is out and if it's a dull day be careful to avoid camera shake as the canopy of trees can make it quite dark. But NEVER use your flash unless you are looking for a very flat, stylised look. The best advice is to experiment - one of the benefits of digital photography!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

I have around 55,000 images in my picture library. If I assume that around 50% are work related that leaves 22,500 personal images taken since I got my first digital camera back in 2002. Forgive my shaky mental arithmetic but that works out at about 2,500 per year, or just over 200 per month on average... that actually feels quite reasonable, especially when I consider that I took 360 pictures on our recent holiday in Cape Verde. However, it would be an exhorbitant and quite impossible number if I was still using a film camera - imagine the cost in films, developing, postage or bus fare.

I guess that I could be considered a hard core user when it comes to my photography habit. Strangely enough I am often the only person with a camera at many social occasions, although increasingly less so these days. I feel bereft if I leave the house without at least one camera and am convinced that I will miss a golden opportunity - that once in a lifetime shot. Indeed it is a mantra and firm belief of mine that good photography is as much about opportunity as it is about knowing your way around a camera. Quite simply, it's often about being in the right place at the right time WITH YOUR CAMERA AT THE READY. But I'll save that lecture for another blog and endeavour to keep on topic, which, in case it's not yet apparent, is why do we take so many photographs (some of us admittedly more than others)? I'm excluding professional photographers, myself included and have my personal hat on.

The affordability and accessibility of digital photography has completely changed the way we take photographs and enjoy them. Photography is no longer confined to special occasions and holidays but is a part of our everyday life - a picture snapped on a mobile phone is uploaded onto Facebook in seconds for thousands to view and enjoy. When did someone last show you a dog eared photo of their beloved child or pet from a wallet? I'll bet it was displayed on a phone or IPOD. 

The digital age has changed our relationship with photography but I don't believe that the underlying emotional need has altered. We just do more of it for the same reason - and for me that is to freeze a moment in time, capture it and make it into something more tangible than a fleeting memory. Equally as important is the need to then share that moment with others. And as time goes by, those images of moments that were important enough to us to photograph become increasingly more treasured and special, because the memories fade and cannot possibly retain all the details.

The collection of photographs shown here are all taken from my childhood and represent just about all the pictures of me upto the age of about twelve. Baby photographs are conspicuous in their absence - my mother died when I was around 9 weeks old and photography probably wasn't top of mind for my poor dad. Despite that I am still struck by how few images there are, but this is probably not that unusual for the era (1965-1977). After this period I know there are many more photographs still in my dad's possession - he was a bit of  a gadget fiend and was (and still is) a keen photographer. But this handful of pictures is extremely valuable to me - I see things I couldn't possibly remember and without photography those details would be lost forever. The picture of my mum is one of only 3 that I have, sadly there are none of her with me. What I also find interesting is how much the line blurs between what we think we remember and what we are actually remembering from photographs. Our memories of smells and how things felt are often more accurate than of things we saw. I can remember how the big old sofa in the living room felt both velvety and rough and had soft gold fringes around the cushions but I can't remember sitting on it with my brothers and a ball bigger than me!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Christmas is all over and done with for another year - half built lego models lie abandoned on the living room floor, the tree is looking a bit tired and the wine rack is somewhat depleted. I want to restore some order to my rather chaotic house and get out of this weird limbo created by all the bank holidays. I've had my fill of long lie ins and watching schmaltzy movies in the afternoon and now I want to charge forward into 2011, spring clean the house, attack my business with renewed vigour and get fit and healthy. But we're not off to a good start as I've spent the last few days crawling from bed to sofa and back again, with this flu bug that seems to have attacked the nation. This is the first time my aching eyes and sore head have been able to cope with a computer screen. I've been looking at all the pictures I've taken since the children broke up from school and its hard to believe it was less than two weeks ago. Everywhere looked so completely different - a crisp, white winter wonderland - absolutely perfect for that final run up to Christmas. What better way to start the holidays than with some sledging albeit on rubber garden trugs!

I even managed to escape for a morning to Tatton Park and found that I just about had the gardens to myself. It was quite special to roam around the snowy paths, with only the sounds of birds calling, squirrels (I hope) rustling in the bushes and the occasional soft thump of snow falling from overladen branches. I enjoyed a sneaky cup of coffee overlooking the Japanese Garden - the aroma of good  coffee steaming in the cold air and a beautiful view all to myself - perfect!

By some amazing stroke of look we all were fit and well over Christmas and enjoyed Christmas lunch and presents at Gran's. Baby Joe provided great entertainment for us all, but especially kept our kids occupied. with burying him under all the wrapping paper. It was lovely to have Boxing Day at home for a change - the calm before the storm that was my brother and his family arriving for two days. The panto at Crewe Lyceum was surprisingly good - although Sam was mortified that Nic and I were such enthusiastic audience members! A visit to Legoland (Trafford Centre) rounded it off perfectly for the children - the male adults seemed to enjoy that  a lot too!

New Year's Eve was spent at a James Bond themed party - I turned up later as one of Dr No's dead victims - determined not to miss the midnight celebrations.

Now all there is to do is kick this flu bug into touch and leap into action ... but I think I need a snooze on the sofa now after all this hard work...

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!