Photo contests

I have during my time as photographer sent in some contributions to various photo contests.
As you probably guessed this might cost, and it can vary from £0 to £30.
To compete with the images might sound strange, I mean how can anyone judge whether one's images are good or bad...? You have to consider if its sharp, the light in it, angles, composition. Yes, there is a lot of things that need to be "perfect" for a picture to win.
But one of the biggest "issues" are that the picture must appeal to those who are judging.
I think there is a lot luck involved when competing with pictures.
But, if you are lucky and win something at the bigger competitions, then you can get quite a lot of money or gadgets but also get that picture published in major magazines and also get a lot of attention in other media. Which of course can be fun especially if you want to progress from a hobby photographer to more serious. This could be the start of your career.

I have so far competed in a Swedish photo contest on Fotosidan.se and got a 5th place but also an honorable mention on another image in the same contest.
Another one is in one of the English magazines, Digital Camera, where I got the 3rd place.
But the biggest thing is that I am in the finals with two images on one of the English major photo contest, British Wildlife Photographer award. And that feels as funny as hell ;)))

Here are the pictures that have been in magazines and competitions.

My Hovering Chaffinch in the English magazine

The original picture

My Dipper in the swedish magazine

The original picture, this one also got thru to the final in the big English competition

The swedish magazine

The swedish magazine, Fotosidan Masters competition

And the last one, this got honorable mention in the Swedish fotosidan masters and it also got thru to the big English competition

 

Four evenings with the Ring Ouzel

As I wrote in the previous blog post, I would try to photograph the Ring Ouzel.
Now I have been away four evenings in a row to a place called Stanage Edge which is located in the Peak District National Park.
I've biked from home around 17:30 for an hour later arrive to Stanage edge.
Then I continued on foot to look for the birds, the first day it was relatively easy to find them, it is just  to listen for the male singing  among the rocky landscape.
Second and third day they had moved about 1,5 km other way so i had to walk a bit.
But since the weather has been wonderful with almost no wind and about 18 C and sun, I could not complain.
I have truly enjoyed cycling the long and hilly way up there, but like I said, I definitely think it has been worth it.
Yesterday was the last day I tried to get some good pictures of them, but unfortunately I did not really get the photos I wanted.
I've been there every evening until the sun has gone down and then cycled home, on the way home, I have been looking for owls but have not seen any just heard and I've even heard the cuckoo every evening.
I will return to the Ring Ouzel later this year when hopefully their second brood with young have hatched, then maybe I get even better pictures.
Why shoot these birds then, because for they are rather unusual and I think they are lovely and a bit special.
Next week I will try to shoot Badger we'll see how it goes :))

Camera equipment that I used: Nikon D90 and Nikon 200-400mm f4 vr2

Male Ring Ouzel

Female Ring Ouzel

Female

Young Ring Ouzel

Female

Male and young

Enjoing the sunset

Nice colours

 

Some mixed photos

Here are some mixed photos from my walks in the woods, it's really full speed for the birds in the woods.
It is an everlasting screaming for food in boxes and holes in trees that work as natural nests for the birds.
I have seen that it starts to be fledglings and they can sometimes be seen running along the ground, but they are incredibly good at hiding itself so you have to have your eyes open.
Last week it was lousy weather with rain and wind, but now they have promised sunshine and around 20 C, so I'll try to shoot ring thrush this week.
The hard part is that I have to ride a bike 8km to get to where the birds are and the road goes up almost all the time. But then you get some exercise at the same time. :))
And then you also haft to find the bird too, which is not the easiest thing, but it should be a little easier now that they have to find food for the young ones.
So I hope to find them and also get close enough to get some good photos of them.

Song Thrush



Great tit

Water vole

Song thrush

Robin

Tufted duck

Lake District Weekend, Scafell Pike

I'm continuing with the last part of the weekend and today was the day we would hike up to England highest peak.
The weather was absolutely wonderful with not a cloud in the sky apart from far out at sea, but we were hoping that it would stay there.
We went away with the cars to where we would start the hike but before that, we stopped at Wast water to take some pictures of the calm water.
Arriving at the parking lot about 09:30 so we just had to take the boots and some comfortable clothes and head out.
There were already many people on the site, so it would probably be pretty much congestion along  the tracks.
We set out towards the top and looked forward to a nice walk in the nice weather, but we were barely halfway through when the cloud front from the sea had come in and the peaks were hidden by the clouds.
We hoped that it would get better weather later, but the higher we got, the worse it was now the fog was so thick that we could hardly see anything at all.
We had no compass or map, which is incredibly stupid of us but we were confident that we could find someone who had it and in the end we found a couple who were also a bit lost in the fog and they had a map and compass.
But the funny thing was that the old man was completely confused which turned out that he could not read a map and compass :)) so i showed him how to use it.
The fog disappeared after half an hour and we could now follow the trail to the top, the hike was not as tough as I had imagined.
It sure was a steep climb almost all the way to the top but since it only took 2.5 hours so it was like the whole was over too quickly.
Enjoyed a moment at the top with a beer, which my wife had brought up and it tasted wonderful, we got many envious looks too :))
Now it was overcast again, so we started to descend into the fog again, and halfway down it was sunny again.

 

Lake District Weekend (Part 1/2)

Last weekend was spent in the Lake District and as I wrote in a previous post, the goal was to climb England's highest mountain, Scafell Pike with its 978m.

We started around 07:30 on Saturday morning with a group of friends, and arrived in Ambleside as the first sightseing place at 10:30.

We went for a walk in the small village that has incredibly beautiful stone houses and it is very picturesque, we also took a walk down to the lake Windermere, which is actually England's largest.

The lake is one of the most popular places for holidays since summer 1847 when the railroad Kendal and Windermere opened.

We then drove to the hostel in Eskdale that was perfectly located between mountains. To get to Eskdale we needed to cross the mountain range and we stopped at a few  waterfalls and a cave called Cathedral Quarries for some photos. After that we continued over Hardknott Pass which was really nice and curvy. The road is not wide, and it was at some places exciting to meet other cars. It was so steep in some parts that cars wheels span on the asphalt when they drove up, the first time I have seen it anyway :))

After checking in at the hostel we went on to more sightseeing, and this time to Wast water located close to where we would start the climb to Scafell Pike next day. We spend couple of hours strolling around, taking pics and just enjoing the nice weather.

The Beautiful Bluebell Forest

Here in England between April and May you can in ancient woodlands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_woodland) find something impressive, which is bluebells almost covers entirly the forest floors. They spread amazing scent and look beautiful.
I've been in one of those woodlands for the past two evenings and photographed. The closes one to us here in Sheffield is the Ecclesall woods. It's a 400 year old forest, which is required for these flowers.
Ecclesall Woods is best one to visit in Sheffield if you want to see bluebells, but unfortunately it is not as good as some other forests around the country.
The flowers do not cover the forest entierly, but in some areas it can be an awful lot of them :)
I found it was rather difficult photographed because of all the small trees and shrubs that always were in the way.

This weekend Sat-Mon (bank holiday here in UK), I will again go to the Lake District NP. This time we are hiking with a bunch of friends and climb the highest peak in England - Scafell Pike with its 978meter above sea level. It may not sound impressive but it is very steep and difficult to climb.

Lake District NP Road Trip

Last week was my little brother and his wife here on a visit for a few days.
We had decided that I would show them the Lake District NP which is about 3h drive north towards the west coast.
We started early to avoid the worst traffic, but despite that, we got stuck in queues at Manchester, but it took maybe an extra 30min which is not so bad when you sometimes have to queue for hours.
Once in the Lake District we drove first a mountain pass down towards Ullswater situated nicely between the mountains, we could still see snow in some deep ravines on the mountain but there were also fresh snow on the peaks.
We had a really good weather because Lake District is known for its rain, I've heard somewhere that it rains about 2000mm per year and 200 days a year. :))
We then drove on towards Keswick which is a small town surrounded by mountains and water, really nice and very touristy with lots of outdoor shops and pubs.
After lunch, we took one more mountain pass (Honister Pass) it was very steep and the poor little rental car had to fight but it was worth it because it was really nice up there.
Then we continued on towards the coast to a place called Mary port where we stopped and took a little walk and then again continue toward Lake and through it towards the largest lake Windermere and further home. We were home by 20:00 so it was really a long great day.

Today I got my new screen a Dell Ultra Sharp 2410 that has received really good reviews for its price range, and I can only agree it seems to be very good.
I have calibrated the screen with a Spyder pro 3 but I'm a little unsure about the colors so if someone has a calibrated monitor i will be glad if you can let me know if the colors look strange. :)

No blogging due to broken screen

Unfortunately, my screen has been broken for a while now, so thats why the blogging is on hold.
But I'm still taking pictures and looking for a new screen. I will be back, hasta la vista. :))