2016 Review

Hi,
Yeah...I know! I'm pretty useless at keeping this blog updated regularly! 2 posts in the whole of 2016. RRRrrrrrrubbish! If I make one resolution for 2017 ( and I am pretty bad at keeping resolutions as well ha ha)...it will be to do more blog updates...as well as getting out more with my camera!

So, since my last post I have got out a few times. Not as many as I would like, but when you've got a full time job to pay the mortgage and a busy social life what can be expected.
I have been out doing some landscape photography atL

• Old Harry Rocks
• Portland Bill
• Peveril Point
• Farnborough Airshow
• Kimmeridge Bay
• New Forest
• A holiday to Dominican Republic!
• A road trip to Isle Of Skye
• Milford-On-Sea
• and Southampton Docks!

Quite a few of the images from these trips are on my website (www.kevinbrownephotography.com) so please head over and have a look.

Melissa and I went to Excellence El Carmen in Punta Cana in Dominican Republic for 10 days in October. And we never left the resort ha ha. It was one of those holidays when we just wanted to totally relax and chill. I did take the camera though and caught a few sunrises on the beach...which was a whole 2 minutes away from our room!

The biggest challenge when taking photographs on holiday of course is the humidity and allowing yourself enough time to get set up and giving the camera time to acclimatize and not be fogged up when you really need to take that shot. I kept the camera in the safe in our room when we weren't there, but of course the room is air conditioned so that is a huge temperature difference when you need to use the camera.

Scotland:

In December myself and two friends decided to go on a bit of a road trip to the Isle Of Skye. I left Southampton on the Friday morning and went via Swindon to do the first pick-up. Then on to Nottingham to collect the second guy. We drove from there to Glencoe and stayed the night in Glencoe Independent Hostel. It was a lovely warm and cosy place to stay. I can recommend it.

On the Saturday morning we hit the road again and did sunrise at Eilean Donan Castle before heading across the bridge to Skye where we went straight to the Fairy Pools.

After getting a good old soaking because of the ever changing weather we headed back to the car and decided to try something at Sligachan Bridge instead. I don't have any images from that location...because as it started raining again the wind decided my camera needed a wash and blew it into the river!!! 

Thankfully I was quick enough to grab it and it didn't have a chance to get wet inside. But, that was the end of that part for me. I didn't want to risk damaging the camera so I went back to the car and dried the camera and stripped it to give it the best chance to dry out properly...and left it alone for several hours. I was very nervous turning it back on again that night but was definitely relieved when it worked properly!

I am hoping there will be some more road trips in 2017 because I want to push myself and my learning even further than before. I will be doing more exploring of Southampton, Hampshire and especially the Jurassic Coast in Dorset again. My amazing girlfriend for Christmas bought me a 1-2-1 workshop with Andy Farrer, the 2015 Landscape Photographer Of The Year. I am so looking forward to seeing what I can learn from photography royalty!

From October through to now...

So, on my last post I showed you an image of what I had been chasing for just over 4 years...the iconic shot of Corfe Castle rising out of mist at sunrise. That one is still one of my favourite images I have ever captured.

So what else have I been up to since then!

Well, as I mentioned in that last post, Melissa and I went on holiday to Padstow in Cornwall for a week. Cornwall is such a beautiful part of the UK, and I wish we were there for more time as I would have loved to have captured more of it on camera.
We took ourselves off to The Eden project, did a boat trip out of Padstow, had an amazing meal at Paul Ainsworth's restaurant called No. 6 (the best meal I've had in goodness knows how long) and generally had a great time. I even managed to convince Melissa to come out for a sunset with me to Trevose Head Lighthouse. She wasn't too keen about the steep climb down to the best vantage point but it was worth it for this image:

On one of the days we went to Tintagel Castle. Blimey, those steps up to it are unforgiving! I was carrying my camera gear with me, so I definitely needed a sit down when we got to the top! Before we faced that climb though, I had a little play at the very bottom, at Melin's Cave:

On our way back to our rented house in Padstow we stopped off at Trebarwith Strand. Honestly, you could spend months wandering around just that part of Cornwall and never become bored of the beautiful surroundings.

After such a beautiful week away in a beautiful part of the country with my beautiful girlfriend, we came back home to plan our combined house warming/Halloween party which about 40 people were coming to. We went all-out on the decorations and costumes ha ha:

It has been such a busy time that I haven't had a great deal of spare time to get out with my camera but there have been a few times that I have been lucky! 

Selsey Lifeboat Station:

Danebury Hill Fort:

And most recently, the World war 2 "dolphins" at Lepe beach in Hampshire:

I have been doing some portraits as well. Trying to get into that more now and practising as much as possible. I'll show some of those on my next post :-)

Don't forget to sign up for email updates on this blog page to get notified when my next post is live. And, as always, my images are for sale through my website: www.kevinbrownephotography.com

Cheers,

Kevin.

So, here's what's been going on since I was last here...

Given half a chance life certainly does run away with your time doesn't it! In the blink of an eye months have passed since my last blog post!

My last post was in September, just after myself and Melissa went to Goodwood Revival. So, what's been happening since then? Quite a lot and not a lot as well. I managed to get a photo that I have been trying for for 4 years and have been caught up in the normal day-to-day business of work, house and kids. But it has all been great...I wouldn't change any of it, but a lottery win might help!

Back in October myself and Melissa had booked a week off work to go and have a little break together in Padstow in Cornwall. In the week running up to that there had been several mornings when the sunrise came through a heavy mist and created beautiful scenes on the way to work. I decided to keep an eye on the weather for the rest of that week and had Corfe Castle in my thoughts.
On the Friday evening I made the call and set my alarm early and got my camera bag ready for the drive down to Dorset.

That Saturday morning (4th October) I left the house in the dark and headed on to the M27 to head for Corfe Castle...and the stars were shining brightly in the sky. This caused me a bit of concern because I hoped that a mist would develop. I needn't have worried because as I got closer to Wareham I was actually driving through a heavy fog.

It seemed I wasn't the only person who had decided to head there as well. There were at least 15 cars in the car park and looking up the hill opposite the castle I could just about make out the wobbling lights of head torches dotted all over the place. I parked up and started the killer slog up the very steep hill. I had to go up higher than I normally do because the fog/mist was so thick, but finally I broke through to the clear air and looked back towards the castle...and couldn't see it! It was completely covered. That at least gave me time to climb a little higher and find a good vantage point and get set up to wait for the mist to start burning off.

Apart from the odd muffled conversation going on between other photographers on the hil, the silence was all-consuming, and it was wonderful. Moments like that don't happen to us very often in our hectic lives, so I was happy to just sit amongst the gorse bushes and soak it up. Then it happened...

The mist started moving in the breeze and the very top of the castle started to peak through. The sun hadn't quite broken over the distant horizon but I fired off some shots to check I was happy with my composition and settings. I took a quick picture on my phone and texted it to a friend who has also been trying for years to get conditions like this at Corfe. Ok, it was a bit of a gloat but it was a good mannered one ha ha. His response was one of those that I should really leave to your imaginations.

As the sun broke, the sound of cameras clicking could be heard from all directions. As I took my photographs there was a constant smile on my face. More because I felt so lucky to be there to witness such natural beauty happening right before my eyes.

And the result? Here you go...

You can of course see a much better version of this image on my website - www.kevinbrownephotography.com

Later that day Melissa and I were heading off on our break, so even though I could happily have stayed there until every last remnant of mist disappeared I knew I had to get back home and pack the car for the long drive to Cornwall.

I will do another update on our week in Cornwall on another blog post later this week.

Until then, I'd love to know what you think of my Corfe Castle shot.

Facebook - www.facebook.com/kevinbrownephotography
Twitter: @kingkevb
Instagram: @kevinbrownephotography

Nice day out at Revival

This weekend just gone was the annual extravaganza that is Goodwood Revival, where loads of pre-1966 cars race around the old Grand prix circuit near Chichester in West Sussex. About 90% of people who go along to watch dress up in period clothes and make a real effort with the whole thing.

I usually go along with three friends and we hire a motorhome and stay there for four nights to watch all three days of racing...and generally have a few beers and a good laugh. This year was just a day trip because the other guys couldn't make it. I wasn't originally goimg to go this year, but some of my girlfriends friends had suggested going so who was I to say no to a day out at Revival. Ok it would be different dynamics, but I was still really looking forward to it.

We arrived by train and got the shuttle bus from Chichester station to the race circuit by 10am and we had a quick wander around to show the girls where some of the main attractions were. Then the bottles of fizz popped :-)
More than one bottle of fizz ha ha!

Being the only man among a group of six women certainly was different from what I have been used to in the past, but I'll definitely be doing it again. Ok, so I didn't actually get to see any of the racing but that's ok...I see that now. it was a great day out and I really enjoyed it.

I did bring my camera with me and got some lovely photos of the ladies in our group, and I hope they all like them. here's a couple of my favourites.

This is Melissa, my gorgeous girlfriend, looking absolutely stunning in her dress and 1950's hairstyle. I think she has amazing eyes and just love taking pictures of her.

This is Melissa and her good friend Kate. I absolutely love this shot!

This was one of those moments that works out perfectly. melissa and Kate were just having a lovely chat and laughing with each other and when I pointed the camera at them they both just peaked over the rim of their sunglasses and pulled this brilliantly fun pose for me. Think I'll get it printed :-)

If you would like to see what normally happens at Goodwood Revival then you can head over to my Facebook page and have a look at one of the albums I created from previous years. Just use this link here.

While you're there why not press "like" on the page so you can see my latest photos as they are published? 

I am also on:

Twitter ; @kingkevb

Instagram: @kevinbrownephotography

Until next time,

Kev.

Durdle Door, Dorset

Has it really been 3 months since I've written anything on this blog???

There's been a few things happening since my last post (about my trip to Iceland):
1) I nearly moved house, but it fell through on the day of exchange :-/
2) I moved in with Melissa :-)
3) I bought a Canon 100-400mm lens :-)
4) I spent £1,100 to get my car fixed after it broke down on me :-/

On Saturday 7th Feb I went out with my friend Mark to shoot sunrise at Mupe Bay in Dorset. I had seen a beautiful picture of it on Facebook and wanted to create my own version of it. However...there's alway a "However" isn't there!...to get there you have to walk about 1.5 miles over military firing ranges which are only open at weekends and public holidays. Little did we know when we arrived there that the military ranges didn't open till about 9am! That'd be no good for sunrise!

Plan B...we drove to Lulworth and parked up with a view to walk over the South West Coastal Path to Mupe Bay. However...here we go again...the path was closed off because of a landslide! It seemed someone didn't want us to get there that day.

Plan C...Durdle Door.
All nicely wrapped up warm, camera bags on our backs and a big flask of hot coffee off we set. Apart from tripping over a rabbit hole when Mark said "Look at the moon" it was a lovely walk down to the Door. We didn't fancy the rough clamber down to the beach so we walked a bit further along the clifftop to be able to get a shot of the sun coming up over the horizon beyond the Door.

I did a few different compositions, but the 3-stitch panoramic I took really pleased me and has been retweeted loads of times on Twitter (it even got retweeted by Boycie from Only Fools And Horses...bragging rights ha ha ha).

As always this image is for sale as a canvas print on my website:
www.kevinbrownephotography.com

Speak to you soon

Kev.

At last, a break in the storms

Most people will know we here in the UK have suffered some pretty horrible weather lately. Not the extreme snow that the US have had, or the hurricanes that can decimate some parts of Asia, but for the UK these storms have been something very much out of the ordinary. Weeks and weeks of torrential rain and damaging high winds have both brought severe flooding that have ruined peoples homes and businesses, have caused chaos on the roads and rails, and will take many months to completely recede.

I am lucky that my house has not been hit by the floods, I feel so sorry for the many families that have had their homes ruined, I can't think of anything worse. Yes, my house has been affected by leaks and fences have been blown down, but that is minor compared to what others have to put up with.

Today was a very welcome respite from the horrible weather though. It was sunny with only very light breezes and was actually quite mild for February. I didn't think twice. I packed the kids in the car and headed off to Calshot for a walk along the beach to get some fresh air in our lungs. The clouds even played ball and gave me some nice light to take some pictures. One of them is below, and I'll be uploading a few more over the next few days.

I'm starting a new job in my existing company over the next few weeks, while trying to maintain progress on my current job until someone is found to take over my role. I'm going to be moving onto managing the construction of over 800 wireless network sites for a new Smart Metering network my company is building in Scotland and the North of England. I think that'll keep me busy for a while, but hopefully I'll still be able to get out with my camera regularly.

Have a great week everyone.

www.kevinbrownephotography.com

Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset - A very rewarding photographic experience

After my last photo trip to Dorset a couple of weeks ago, I was struck with the bug to capture a photograph of Corfe Castle peaking out of the mist. After checking the forecasts on about three different weather apps last night myself and my friend Mark were pretty certain we would be rewarded with something good. So, it was agreed that Mark would get to my house in Southampton by 6am and I would drive us down to Corfe Castle.

Well, as many photographers who have tried the same thing at Corfe Castle on many occassions, and failed, we were to face the same result. Not a hint of mist, and very few clouds in the sky. So, having photographed there only two weeks before and the conditions looking very similar to that last trip we decided to head to Kimmeridge Bay for something different.

This was my first time at Kimmeridge, and I must admit to being slightly excited as I had seen so many wonderful images of the place on sites like Flickr, Facebook and 500px. I had looked it up on Google Maps yesterday, but what you don't realise from the satellite images is the sheer vertical cliffs that surround the beach, with only a couple of pathways leading down to the rocky beach. Once down on the beach it was very easy to see how shallow it actually is, as the flat rock formations very slowly slope downwards on their way out to sea. The tide was on its way out, but one good wave would bring it all the way back up to the high-tide line and we would have to move out of the way.

One of the many rock lines gently sloping out to sea.

When we arrived there was barely a breeze and it felt very mild, considering it is meant to be January. The sky was clear, apart from a thin line of faint cloud on the horizon. We set up the tripods to capture one of the lines of rock acting as a leading line in the images. 

The small building you can see on top of the hill near the top of both of these images is Clavell Tower, which would make a great foreground subject for a star-trail image I think :-)

Four-shot panoramic of Kimmeridge Bay

There are so many photographic possibilities at Kimmeridge that I am really looking forward to getting down there again. In the panoramic image above you can make out the tilting remains of a World War II Pill Box, which appears to be slowly making its way down the beach. This in itself could be a very interesting subject, as well as the chances for some close-up work on the interesting rocks and pebbles to be found on the beach. 

So, on my first trip to Kimmeridge I am really impressed. It is a location which could produce stunning photographs at any time of day, not just sunrise or sunset. I will definitely be back.

Oh, and on a different subject, I'm looking forward to getting a printed copy of Hampshire Life magazine so I can see what my photograph looks like on the front cover. I'm in print. I'm published. Ha ha :-)

Until next time, have fun.

Kevin.

Magazine front cover photo

Just a bit of an update to my last post.
Those of you who read my last blog post (here) would know that I got an email from the editior of Hampshire Life magazine asking if they could use one of my images in their February issue. You will also know that I of course said yes.

Well, the update on that is that the editor emailed me again a few days later and said the image would work really well on the front cover! After a few back-and-forward emails and a quick phonr call I sorted out the correct sizing of the image for the front cover and away it went. I'm really looking forward to seeing what it looks like on the cover. I might just be buying more than one copy :-)

As if that wasn't enough, the lovely editor asked for another image for the inside of the magazine. TWO images in one magazine...I'd better stop, my head is going to get too big ;-)

When I get a sample of the front cover I'll post it here. In the meantime here are links to the two images being used.

Front Cover: Sunset at Brately View in the New Forest
Inside Image: Long exposure at Milford-On-Sea

Until next time, with HUGE smiles

Don't forget to sign up to my blog for automatic updates, and share with your friends.

Kev.

National Parks England - Twitter competition winner

Over on Twitter @NationalParksEngland, @NorthYorkMoors and @NewForestNPA were doing a "Tweetathon" this evening, asking for people to tweet their favourite pictures taken in some of the countries National Parks. So, I tweeted a few I had taken...and was selected the winner :-)) This was the image that got it. Don't forget prints of this are available from my website. www.kevinbrownephotography.com 

The prize is a voucher to be used on Derek Fogg's website (www.britishlandscapephotography.com), but for me it's more about the buzz that a professional photographer and large organisations that run our #nationalparks selected my image as winner. 

I'm glad I stayed in tonight instead of heading to the local pub quiz with some neighbours as I usually do on a Tuesday :-)

Certainly makes up for missing out on that sunrise opportunity this morning :-)

Don't forget to comment or share with your friends and family. 

Kevin. 

Another happy customer

I've just delivered a canvas print of sunset at Bratley View in the New Forest to one very happy customer. A few more like that would be very welcome :-)

I've also been doing some minor fettling with the website today and have now added PayPal buttons to the Pries page to make it even easier for customers to place orders. 

www.kevinbrownephotography.com