For the past week I’ve been sat uncomfortably in a small hide high in the pre-Pyrenees photographing one of Europe’s most endangered and impressive birds ~ the lammergier vulture. Nature photography is where it all started for me and I still like to get out and shoot wildlife as much as I can, so I took four days off from the studio and commercial work to head out to Spain with a three friends from Belgium & Finland to photograph lammergier, griffon and black vulture amongst the high tops of the pre-Pyrenees mountains. 

In the first picture you can see the small village where we stayed high in the alpine zone set against a backdrop of the very impressive, snow covered high Pyrenees and each morning we headed off to the hides at an area baited up with carrion to attract the vultures, ravens and eagles. At one point we put out the carcass of a huge male wild boar - it lasted less than 30 minutes once the griffon vultures landed and they took everything! Not a bone or trotter was left by the end! While the griffon and black vultures could be described as less than pretty, the adult lammergier is everything but ugly! The adults have a deep orange head and chest and fabulous red and white eyes all complemented by huge black beard-like feathers hanging from the beak (which is where it gets its other name of beareded vulture).

Here are a few images from the trip but I’ll be posting more on my wildlife website (currently undergoing a make-over), although I’ve over 80gb of images to sort through first. Back to the studio this coming week with a few boudoir and portfolio shoots to get through - quite the opposite of what I’ve been doing last week! 

Doesn’t seem two minutes since the Christmas break but here we are at the end of another half-term! So, in order to avoid “couch potato-itus” setting in on the kids, we went to Howarth for the day calling in at the Worth Valley Railway and Saltaire on the way back. It was a gloriously sunny and crsip winter day with a good dusting of snow in Howarth providing some great photo opportunities, but having the rest of the gang with me I decided to travel light, taking only two lenses and no tripod! Here’s a few of the snap shots I took on the day. You can see the perils of taking photographs of an 11 year old boy while there’s snow on the ground - obviously five grands worth of gear is just too tempting a target :¬\   

A short break in the blog activity now as I’m in the high Pyrennees in Spain from tomorrow for 4 days of nature photography concentrating on the enigmatic lammergier vulture as well as three other vuture species and, hopefully, eagles. Then its back to a busy studio schedule the following week.

Although the snow is having an impact on my business with three portrait sessions having to be postponed already this week, I have to admit it does look spectacular, especially with the sun out and blue skies! So, with perfect shooting conditions, but less than ideal driving conditions, I managed to to get to Nostell Priory to shoot some snowy landscapes as part of a commission to shoot images for the new interpretation centre and tea rooms. Here’s a few images from this morning.

I took a break from wedding albums, editing portraits and framing prints today to make the most of the autumn sunshine and the school half term!  I packed a small selection of lenses and headed off with the family to Bolton Abbey to see what the autumn colours were like and to get away from staring at the computer screen! I have to say, I wasn’t disappointed - the beech trees were spectacular. Here are a few images from today but, with a busy week of shoots and photographic lectures ahead, it’s back to the grindstone tomorrow :¬\

I took the opportunity of a wedding-free bank holiday to go for a break to Belgium and south Holland for 8 days with the family. The weather was superb with only a few light showers during two mornings, the rest of the time was sunny and warm - a far cry from what I’ve returned home to. Two days ago we were on the beach in temperatures of around 30 degrees!! It looks like it could be a wet ‘n’ wild one at tomorrow’s wedding :¬\

I didn’t do as much landscape photography as I would’ve liked, but here are a few postcard shots to give you a flavour of the trip. I didn’t do as much drinking of Belgium beers as I would’ve liked either, the prices are astronomical! In the picturesque village of Damme, I was charged £16 for two coffees and two milk shakes! Outrageous!

Couldn’t resist a trip out to photograph the wood anemonies that are carpeting the local woodlands at the moment. I limited my kit on this trip to just two lenses, the awesome 24mm tilt/shift lens and a very sharp 90mm macro lens. Here’s just a single image for a taster taken with the 24mm perspective lens. Right, off to cut the lawn now :¬\