I have just returned from visiting my friends in the French Alps. Whilst there, we went skiing. Now, I can honestly say that I am not very good at all. This was only the second time in my life I have done so. But, after much practice (and falling over) I managed to get better as the day progressed, as can be seen here.

I took the ST1000 with me to the slopes as this shoots video as well as fantastic quality photos. I have never really taken photos in the snow before, so I set the camera to automatic and let it do the hard work of exposure metering, white balance and shutter speed. I was very impressed.

On the way back home, I had a few hours to spend in Geneva where I met up with another friend. We took a walk around the edge of Lake Geneva and were totally surprised at the ice that was caused from the windy weather  the night before. The wind had whipped up the lake and the waves had crashed onto the banks, freezing almost immediately.

Snowdrops in Spring

Taken near my neighbours home, these Snowdrops are part of a much larger display which were planted by the husband for his wife. The reason he did this was so that she could look out of their bedroom window and see the first shoots of spring on display. They make a beautiful display by the side of the road, and are a joy to behold. I hope you like to see Snowdrops as much as me, the first signs of spring are just around the corner.

The first shot is of my housemate, one of the singers in The July Days - it was fairly easy to get this shot as I was right at the front, obviously. I turned the flash off and set the camera to Smart mode, this seemed to make all the colours stand out that little bit more, giving the image more of a kick.

The second two, being crowd shots, required the flash as the audience were mainly in darkness. I left the camera on Smart mode as I had very little time to keep fiddling with the settings with all the action going on. I was really impressed just how far the flash covered, as I could see a fair distance in each shot.

All in all, the Samsung came in useful as it was less obtrusive than my SLR and was really handy to have at the crowded gig. The whole event was a great night out which I’d recommend to anybody, and The July Days truly earnt their headline spot.

This is Freddie the Frog. He lives in our garden and come rain or shine he always has a smile on his face  lol.  It is quite an unusual shot to take, but I wanted to create a bird’s-eye view as opposed to the normal full on view. This pic was taken with the ST1000, which is a easy to use, and super camera to have fun with. I have been impressed with the quality of the images and of the general build quality. And the GPS is a fantastic bonus of course.

Generally I like to try and take candid shots of people in their everyday environment. However, if you’ve travelled in Asia you’ll know this isn’t always possible. It’s fairly common to find yourself surrounded by people all wanting to see themselves on the LCD screen. The kids in this image were no exception.

I don’t remember the name of the village where these images were taken. In fact I’m not sure I ever knew the name as it wasn’t in the guidebook, but it was obvious not many tourists passed through. Well, this was my assumption as there wasn’t a guesthouse or shop, and for the fact that I seemed to be the centre of attention. I can quite honestly say that by doing absolutely nothing of any interest whatsoever, I’ve never been so interesting to so many people!

It was a fantastic rough and tumble little place. I must have spent a couple of hours wandering around, soaking up the relaxed atmosphere. If there had been a guesthouse I would have stayed for a night at least. It was so refreshing not to encounter another westerner. I did manage to capture some natural shots before I left the village. I applied a water colour filter in Photoshop to this photo. The effect complemented the colours and textures really well and added another dimension to the image.

The rumour is that the snow is coming back! I really hope so because it was such great fun last time. Obviously Christmas is a fun time for everyone and being a student away from home it is great to go back and enjoy that time with my family. However my friends and I have been snowed under in more ways than one. The Christmas period is often the worst in terms of work, deadlines and revision and interspersed with the festivities were very healthy dollops of work. So the snow was a welcome relief. I didn’t get as much time to play in it as I would have liked however, if it makes a return appearance I shall be out and about straight away!

The shots in this post show just how cold it got! The canal was completely frozen over and didn’t move for almost a week, and the post box had icicles forming on it!

The last two shots were taken when I went to the golf course near my house with my brother and sister. The first one is of my little brother getting some very impressive air on the golf course and the second is a shot of my sister just before she crashed!

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Since about August 2009 I have been suffering with such problems. A week in Norfolk at the end of September seemed that it could be the cure. But on coming back with a bag of what I would consider only a few worthy photographs, my block seemed to deepen.

And so this continued. I think between coming back from Norfolk in early October and Christmas I managed to go out twice with my camera.

Christmas came and went, we all drank and ate too much. Then it was round to new year’s. I’d said to myself, no matter what I’m getting up New Years Day. A new year, a new decade and hopefully the cure for my lack of inspiration and desire.

I dragged myself out of bed at 6:45 after a heavy night, feeling a little worse for wear. But I was determined to go out and make some images. Braving the cold, I walked a few miles to a vantage point that overlooked my home town of Ludlow.

It turned out to be a perfect dawn. A hard frost clung to the grass, snow on the hills in the distance and golden sunlight pouring onto the church tower and castle. That feeling of awe and wander was back with me.

For three months I had failed to be inspired or driven. But in the space of a few hours my block dissolved and I’m now looking into 2010 with hope and optimism. I might even go as far as saying, I think 2010 is going to be a good year.

These two images, were the last significant photographs I had taken in 2009.

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.

 Shot with GX-20 dSLR and a glass or two of Christmas cheer