Today was the first day that I strayed outside the confines of the house on a photographic mission. That makes this seem like some vital mission of national importance. Believe me it was not! No instead it was just nice to get after being side lined for a week with a bad back. So what to report? Well Swithland reservoir is a mixed blessing for bird photography. I have made some wonderful photographs at this location however you have to get the timing just right - usually dawn or just after as the main part of the reservoir is facing almost south and shooting straight into the sun is not to be recommended.
However, there is a second part of the reservoir that is further south and you shoot with the light behind you. This can be much better part from the fact that you have zero cover so most birds are just dots in the distance. So both locations have significant draw backs but that didn't matter today - it was just nice to get out.
So I was out but boy was it freezing. The air temperature was just about zero but with the wind chill it felt more like -10c as the cold wide was blowing straight into your face across a large frozen reservoir. The previous entry was typed into my iPhone at the scene and I have not corrected the spelling mistakes as it helps to show how cold it was but, and it is a huge but, the light was so clean and bright that it literally hurt your eyes. This was really Kodachrome light.
And the photographs? Well it is early days but they also look pretty good. I usually find that I take or so to really see the value of the shots I have taken so over the next few days I will work through the shoot and hopefully come up with some real winners. The ARPS portfolio - Leicestershire Wildlife is now growing at an inordinate rate. This is a good thing as it gives me more and more choices - and this is on top of the Birds of the British Coast portfolio or the Garden Birds portfolio. It is nice to have a large selection to work on.
