Jul 26

Jul 26 Into The West

This blog post is a bittersweet one for me as I have been able to capture some wonderful images from Macro to landscape shots over the past month, but I have also had to deal with the passing of my wonderful little Grandma this month at the age of 89.

She was one of my biggest fans and advocates for my photography, and supported me always. She loved to see my images on here and was a huge reason why I have showcased my personal images, and continued to strive for improvement with my photography work.

This will be the first post I have done that she will not get to see, and enjoy herself so I dedicate this to her and vow to keep on striving to improve what I love doing the most.

Sarcophaga sp. (Flesh fly) - 100mm Macro F/2.8

Red Bug (actual name) - 100mm Macro F/2.8

Some more macro shots below taken at the Wye Valley Butterfly Zoo (below) were a real challenge. I find butterflies are a bit of a nightmare to photograph as they don’t stay still for any amount of time and always seem to be out of focus when they do land. This coupled with the 35 degree temperature regulated habitat that they were in which continually steamed up my macro lens made for a very tricky and frustrating shoot. I think I took over 100 images with only a very select few coming out as usable images in my eyes.

Sharp body with soft wings - 100mm Macro F/2.8

The image above is a good example of how difficult it was to get a useable image with no flash. I was struggling all the time to keep the ISO to an acceptable level, while keeping the shutter speed high enough to stop any motion blur, and the F stop low enough to get all of the subject in focus. Due to the dark foliage and skittish subject this was very difficult to achieve, so many of the images taken did not come out as well as I would have liked but that’s the challenge.

After trying to capture the butterflies and caterpillars in full, I tried to then capture select parts of the wings for a more abstract approach. Again this had mixed results, with the subject constantly on the move creating motion blur or loss of focus a real issue.

I moved on from the Butterflies to some more traditional images taken of the Wye valley. These images were taken at the top of a viewpoint looking over the Wye valley below and onto the Wye river itself.

Next I have some wildlife shots taken in the wye valley at the top of the viewpoint where some seed had been scattered in and around a tree. My grandma would have loved to see these images especially as she loved to watch the birds through the windows, feeding on the bird feeders out in the garden.

Finally I come to a few Images I personally took of my grandma doing what she loved doing most, cooking/baking and telling stories.

As well as these images, I have included a photo I restored of her and my grandad enjoying the beach back in the day. The image was torn down the middle originally so I edited it and brought it back to its former glory.

Laughing - The last photo of her, on her birthday 08/06/2019

Way back when - Reunited now at last together forever.

This final image is one that I thought long and hard about including in this entry as it was an image of my grandma I took after she had a fall in march 2018 while I was staying down in Cornwall. After coming out of hospital with her broken nose and bruised face, I asked her to sit for me which she did with some persuasion. I hastily shot off a couple of images using a tripod and my off camera flash as I knew she would not sit for long. I decided to include this image of her because I think this photo is a fantastic representation of sort of person she was, and how she dealt with any situation she was presented with. Even after a serious fall at home she was defiant and ready to show off her war wounds like a badge of honour with a new story to tell. she was a true fighter and one in a million. I will miss her massively.