My good friend and fellow photographer Tim Pryor set me a photo nature challenge on facebook.

Having  never done anything like this before, it was a good optotunity to go through my back catalogue and see what  l could find. 

Now I am the first to admit that, though I love nature and spent 20 years as a National Trust Warden on Dartmoor and Exmoor looking after it in all its wonderful glory,  I am not a nature photographer.  I never seem to have the time you need to really develop the craft. Nature has to get up front and personal shouting  "Look at me!"

Luckily I carry a camera all the time and I have become good at catching the moment.  Hopefully I create images that stand on their own merits and give pleasure to others.  Then there is  the other reason I take pictures, which is to help trigger memories that will last me a lifetime (survival of back ups and  prints permitting :0).  

I look at these images and I remember brilliant holidays, good food I have eaten from the allotment (and my sons face when he finds the only boiled slug in our Sunday veg), walks with friends, the kindness of people, a wonderful nine years walking to work in between having to commute and laughing at a donkey with my granddaughter. 

In short I take pictures to remind how wonderful life can be (maybe not the boiled slug, but it is funny how its always him that finds one).

This is why I really carry a camera.

I hope you enjoy the ​results.

​Tim

​A young Robin helping me on the allotment.  Time to stop weeding and get the camera I thought.

​"Horny" toads just being common, and not looking very happy about it.  Just outside the back door at home!

​Seal pup washed up in Ilfracombe harbour.  Rescued, looked after and successfully released. 

​Exmoor pony, very close and very gentle.

On holiday at Symonds Yat and this late summer,much embattled, Robin just could not be bothered to move.  

​On a grey Autumn day, walking by a grey canal, I made eye contact with a grey cygnet.

​Walking to work past these glorious creatures.

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​And finally 

​Dogcilla, spotted running wild in Ilfracombe.  Part of the microchip your dog campaign run by the Dogs Trust.

After a day at Open for Business I went up to the North Devon Arena to photograph Falling Apart, and as promised here are some images of a very fine night.

Falling Apart are a local Ilfracombe band who play punk and new wave classics (including a fine cover of a personal favourite, the Undertone's, Teenage Kicks :0), original material and even a disco classic or two. No kidding, a punked up "I will Survive" works really well!

Always good for getting people up and dancing, they were playing at a party celebrating 100 years of Woolacombe School.

Now I love music and live music even more, but I have no talent for it. My primary school report read “Tim sings enthusiastically out of key” and years later nothing has changed.  This makes my admiration for musicians even greater and encourages me to take the best pictures of them that I can. 

The arena is great for this, with plenty of room for me to move around, without getting in the way of the audience, with a huge plus that the backdrop and screen set up by S & H Technical Support Ltd is very cool and a lot of fun.  The guys at S&H were even searching for appropriate images and displaying them behind the band... classic.

I have been taking pictures of Falling Apart for a few years now, so I will sort out a selection for a future blog.

Hope you like the images, I would love to hear what you think :0)

If you are in or know of a band who would like photographs please give me a call on 07792 105984 or contact me I would love to hear from you.

​My first business event, Open for Business at the Landmark in Ilfracombe, was quite an experience, needing plenty of preparation and a long day on my feet.

It was good to meet with so many local business people, old colleagues, new customers (I hope :0) and even an Under Secretary of State.  

An extra bonus was to see Allan Day receive a very well deserved Excellence in Customer Service Award that recognises his years of work with Ilfracombe & District Community Transport Association.
Thank you to Combe Business for all their hard work setting up the day.  To find out more please go to open4biz.co.uk 

Thank you to Neil Perrin at the Photoshop in Ilfracombe for printing this gorgeous image for me. She was noticed by many people.

My stand.  Thank you to Tim Pryor for designing the pull up banner.

You are in there somewhere Steve Nuth good to meet you, been watching your work for years.

A student checking his work

Somewhere we are on video!

Justin Tomlinson, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Disabled People at the Department of Work and Pensions and Peter Heaton-Jones MP chatting to Paul Rogers of 361 Energy CIC

Plus speakers, in this case Martin Fletcher talking about the Desire to Aspire.

Recognition for 23 years hard work, well done Allan. 

And the winner was...the Tunnels Beaches :0)

​All in all, a good day.  And in the evening I went up to the North Devon Arena to photograph Falling Apart, but more about that in another blog.

I would love a bit of feedback about the blog please.  Do the photos fit well on your screen and do they load fast enough for you?  Just checking :0)
Many thanks
​Tim