HAPPY NEW YEAR

With a new year just over the horizon I find myself contemplating the past year and looking forward to the new year ahead. I am pondering these thoughts whilst staring out into space and studying the constellations. It helps to put life into perspective whilst looking at objects 100s of millions of miles away and appreciating how small the planet we live on really is and how important it is to make the most of every year. So with New Years eve approaching I wish you all a healthy and prosperous 2014!

The picture below clearly shows the Orion Nebula (M42) burning brightly within the night sky, although not a spectacular picture it is the best I can do with the kit I have to shoot an object that sits 1,500 light years from where I am standing and find it overwhelming to get my head around the scale of astronomy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

A wonderful family Christmas in North Devon. With the weather consisting of gale force winds and constant driving rain it was great to be down in North Devon with family in a rented converted barn. With log burning fire, beautiful decorations, great food, company and some very nice Christmas gifts we all had a wonderful time. With a new addition to the family being just 3 months old and being as good as gold throughout the holiday, baby Jack's first Christmas was one for us all to remember! Merry Christmas.

 

PAINTING PICTURES

I have nearly completed a night school course in Art, refreshing and exploring techniques not attempted for a good 10 years. Its nice to work with real materials instead of digital formats, I am pleased with an acrylic I have just completed and with roughly 18-20 hours work I feel it is a really good effort for an early attempt. Just framed and will make a nice personal gift for a family member this Christmas. Not long to go!

ANNE'S BIRTHDAY

For Anne's birthday we had a wander along the river Wye at Chee Dale amongst the deep limestone cliffs. With an early rise and Autumn starting to turn to Winter there was a hard frost and a real chill within the air as we left for first light. A combination of tricky paths covered in mud and leaves, a good breakfast, coffee, birthday presents, cake and candles along the way made for a top birthday morning. 

MOVEMBER 13

It's November and this year I have decided to take part in Movember and grow a Moustache throughout the month to raise money for mens health including prostate and testicular cancer. So far I am a week into it and it's coming along! If you would like to sponsor me than please hit this link and click donate.

I will post some more shots as it progresses.

Cheers!

HTTP://MOBRO.CO/ANDYCHILDS240

JOURNEY TO THE DEEP

Recently I visited The Deep in Hull, a rather nice aquarium that presented a good challenge with the camera. The visit was with Anne and part of her family and included her 2 nephews who I believe had a great time. Aquariums always hold a sense of mystery and with such unusual creatures mixed with dimly lit pathways and vibrant lighting illuminating the underwater species the images always have a very

striking look to them, this is of course if you can manage to capture good images with such low light and fast moving subjects. I was pleased with my results and have posted a few of them below.

SHOOTING STARS (OR LACK OF!)

After missing the Persied meteor shower at its best on Monday night I decided that I could still catch a few on Tuesday evening/morning. The forecast advised that from 2.30am to sunrise would be the best time and so on setting my alarm for 1.30am I discovered a cloudy sky and jumped back to bed for another hour, this cycle continued until 4am where it was eventually a clear sky. I knew it would be pushing it to capture any activity before sunrise and I was correct, by the time we got to the chosen location there was too much light in the sky! On the other hand the sunrise was amazing and I captured a series of timelapse shots for my new short timelapse film that I am constructing for completion by the end of the year. Anne joined me for the morning and getting out of bed at 4am was well worth the effort for such a beautiful sunrise.

SCOTLAND ADVENTURES 2013

We have just completed a great two week trip around Scotland, covering over 1820 miles with beautiful weather and a combination of camping, a yurt and an awesome bothy.

With amazing landscapes, golden eagles and azure blue waters the trip was a great one! We covered as far as Achnahaird beach on the west coast above Ulapool & then took the ferry to the Isle of Lewis and Harris for exploring these small islands before catching a return ferry to Skye, then onto exploring the Wester Ross area with the bothy as our hub. 

Please enjoy the photography and short film on the trip (Copy and paste the below links into your web browser to view).

PHOTOGRAPHY: http://clockworkcloud.viewbook.com/album/scotlandadventures2013#1

SHORT FILM: http://vimeo.com/71736588

Please watch the film in full HD and with sound.

Enjoy!

SHINY PROP

Here is my newly refurbished paramotor prop!

APCO VISAT HP

NEW HEIGHTS

After a good spell of weather (at last) I have managed to start paramotoring. It will open a new way for me to create some awesome photography and although it does away with the silent flight of paragliding, the accessibility and opportunity it offers for me to go where I want and create images from the air is perfect. Lets see what's possible to capture! 

PICTURE PERFECT - PART 3