2008 – My Year In Pictures

Title: Bottoms Up!
Location: Hanningfield Reservoir
Camera: Canon EOS 30D / 100-400mm EF f/4-5.6 L IS USM
Notes: After all the time I’ve had to spend in front of the PC this weekend, restoring numerous websites after the server crash, I thought I’d get out for a bit of fresh air this afternoon. So I went to Hanningfield Reservoir, armed with my longest lens, to see what I could find. Generally the birds were quite a long way off, but this Coot swam nearby and I caught it just as it dived under the surface. Perfect for this week’s 366 Theme, “A Phrase or Saying”. So this is “Bottoms Up”. Cheers…

Title: Early Bird
Location: At home
Camera: Canon EOS 30D / 75-300mm EF f/4-5.6 IS USM
Notes: I hate early mornings, but had to get up just before five today to answer a call of nature. Whilst looking blearily out of the bathroom window, I noticed a soft, orange glow in the sky to the east. “Could this be what they call dawn?”, I thought to myself. So in a state of half-consciousness, I managed to find the camera, fit my long zoom and take this image out of the back bedroom window. It’s not quite as dramatic as the other dawn I photographed (there have been only two!), but the silhouette of the wood pidgeon sitting on the neighbours’ TV aerial is still quite nice.

Title: A Thousand Eyes
Location: Hall Farm, near Dedham
Camera: Canon Ixus 850IS compact
Notes: I only had my compact with me today, so when I spotted several peacocks strutting about in the farmyard after a nice lunch in their restaurant, I had a job to shooting anything decent. The birds were rather nervy and didn’t hold still for long! This is a crop of a wider shot, but I like the more abstract feel of just the feather patterns.