First up here’s my website if you would like to see more of my work or follow me on Instagram
www.simonlewis.photography
Hi all. Been a busy few days with the camera with a trip to photograph the milky way over Kimmeridge bay followed up by a visit to this truly stunning field of poppies last night. These little redflowers seem to have fallen out of favour with farmers recently. I am unsure to why this is but happily this particular farmer not only has grown them, he seems to also have an eye for a good scene as two years ago he had some beautiful Seinfoin in this field.
This time though me and my mate Dave didnt have this filed to ourselve like we did a couple of years ago. A field of poppies has attracted the photographers like moths to a flame and the second night I visited I was with the company of another 17 photographers! I don't mind at all though, honest guv! I met some lovely people, some fellow instagrammers and bumped into another photography friend too so turned into quite the unexpected social gathering! To be truthful it was great to see so many people experiencing the beauty of the scene as much as i did and I hope they all got great images.
I am rally loving the new Nikon ZF. It really is a brilliant camera to use and now my hands have retrained their muscle memory from the layout of the Z6 its a real doddle to use. reall ylike the imagery its producing too. Rich colours and somehow sharper than the Z6 even thoguh they share the same sensor. I also bought myself a new lens. I needed a wide angle in the armoury as borrowing my mates 14-24mm f2.8 was great and all but I was always terrified I would drop it!
I have bought the Viltrox 16mm F1.8 lens and took it for a test drive Saturday night photographing the milky way. I have to admit I was dubious about it as its not exactly an expensive lens being 1/5th the vaule of a new 14-24mm but I was very impressed with the IQ. Sharp even at 1.8 with limited koma at the edges and only mild vignetting at 1.8 which all but disappears at 2.8. Weather sealed to which for its pirce point is pretty decent!
Will post some images on here in a week or so.
Thats it folks. Thanks for reading and toodles!
Tags: poppy poppies field nature farming rural outside outdoors explore explored
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Hey folks me again! Lets have a little catch up.
Its been a busy Spring for me with a recent two week holiday being very productive! I was a tad late for the bluebells this year and failed to get any in mist or fog. I can't complain after the magical christmas land conditions i got last year and it was always going to be a struggle to top that session. However, wild garlic this year seemed to be surging, with some beautiful carpets showing in a few places.
I have been exploring a new forest this year, full of ancient oaks mingling in with younger beech trees. It is full of named, characterful trees many hundreds of years old and its been great fun visiting these ancients and working oon getting the best images of them for my portfolio. This one in particualr is a real personality. I dont think this one has a name but I like Wodd Wyrm so thats what I will call him from now on. Its a great tree to photograph as it looks completely different from various angles, allowing me to create several differing scenes from one spot (always in favour of minimal movement!).
The spring greens are starting to show here now and it wont be long before the forest floor is carpeted in bracken.
In other news my old Z6 is no longer part of my kit bag. I was caught out in a rainstorm a couple of months ago and the Z6 got a proper soaking. Now it should have been okay but water managed to ingress into the body and it ceased to function for several days. I did get it to fire back but my trust in its weather sealing was gone. I now have the new Nikon Zf which is proving to be a real step up in capability over the venerable Z6. Similar sized sensor but a far more capable autofocus system and a far better processor meaning it handles low light even better than the Z6 could. I also love the retro styling andits built like a tank too, which for me is probably going to be neccessary!
Tags: forest wood oak woodland nature outside outdoors nisi nikon landscape
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Its been a short while since I posted on here. I am having quite a busy year so far and not all in a good way! Work is becoming more demanding and weather here in the UK has been pretty lacklustre for the purposes of photography, but still had the odd day where I have managed to capitalise on some decent conditions.
I also have a website up and running now which I have been working hard on, tweaking and adjusting things on there as I refine the look and content. You can find it here
www.simonlewis.photography
I am also now writing blogs there and seem to be building up a small but loyal audience of readers which is nice to know! (At least thats what my analytics tell me).
This is another image from the iconic Wistmans wood on Dartmoor. I really lucked into the mist on this day as I was almost tempted to go elswehere when i arrived at the car park to be greeted by a distinct lag of the grey clag! But stubborness paid off and it eventually drifted in from the surrounding hills allowing me an hour or so of some of the most spectacular woodland scenes I have ever witnessed.
Short one this time but if you miss my inane ramblings be sure to head to my website and have a read there! (shameless plugging i know!)
Toodles.
Tags: woodland woods wistmans dartmoor devon Ancient nature outdoors Nikon forest explored explore
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If you have read the story attached to my previous image (if not go back and have a read!), you will know I was lucky to make it to this fabulous wood and even luckier to get ideal foggy conditions within it. Its an incredibly hard place to get around if you are a lardball like me with two bad knees even on the edges- I would probably be a serious challenge for mountain rescue if I ever broke a leg here-which is where i hung out for this session. I had walked round to the back of the wood where i feel there are lots of unexplored places photographically speaking and I eventually wheezed upon this scene. The collection of twisted, mutated oaks all struck me as on a march down the hill to some meeting called by the elders of the moor. It still staggers me how these trees end up looking quite like they do here.
I have finally rebooted the website after spending many months avoiding updating it and tweaking the layout. I do think sometimes i am my own worst enemy, constantly throwing self inflicted barriers in my path to progression. I am commited to going pro in a couple of years and really need to be establishing a functional and useful website to support this so I really needed to give myself a swift kick up the jacksie and a thoroughly good mental talking to and getting things back on track.
I will be posting a weekly blog on there so please feel free to head over and have a read when able! Thanks as always for bothering to read this far and toodles!
Tags: Dartmoor nature outside woods woodland oak Wistmans trees explored explore
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An interesting Sunday to say the least and thankful to be alive!
I had been monitoring the forecast for Wistmans woods since the middle of last wek and all the signs were pointing to the fact it was going to be pretty foggy there on the Sunday. Plus, my mate Dave wasn't about so that ALWAYS means I end up having a banger of a session! (its a running joke between us but there does seem to be something behind it lol).
I headed out avbout 5am for the near 2 hour drive to the woods and it was on this journey that I came as close to death as I have ever been!
I had just joined the Devon Expressway and those that know it will know there is a section that winds downhil through a woodland area just after a Mcdonalds and fuel stop. Well I had just gone into one of the bends and at is apex were two Stags just wandering in the middle of the road. I was doing close to 70mph and one went by the car on the left and the other on the right and both missed me by about 6 inches. I actually think my heart did stop for a second and I dont know who looked more terrified as we passed each other in the night, me or the Stag that was wildeyed as it went past my dirvers window!
After a pull over to calm down and thank whatever Angel had my back on that one, I continued on to Dartmoor and this legendary wood. Upon arrival I was greeted with a steady wind and no fog or mist......this was not going to be a good session. I think this was my fourth attempt to get the right conditions here and apart from a ten minute spell on my first vist I had not seen fog here at all.
I geared up and started the long trudge towards the wood, along gravel paths, mildly flooded fields and rocky sections until I finally arrived at the twisted oaks that make up this wood. No mist, no fog....grrr.
But I didn't let it get me down too much. I decided to search out some compositions that would still work regardless of conditions and also that i could come back to at alater date. But whatever pagan god was smiling down on me this day was not done with me and after about an hour I was looking around as the wood was engulfed in thick fog, blowing through and fading occasionally but oh it was glorious!
I frantically scampered (6ft4 20 plus stone and athritis in both knees....scampered means stumbled!) from comp to comp, setting up the camera and bagging the scenes beofre me.
It turned into a brilliant session and even though I am agnostic, I think whichever deity was looking out for me this day was on a pretty good recruitment drive!
Thanks for reading as always!
Tags: Wistmans wood forest Dartmoor nature outside outdoors woodland trees monochrome light oak
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