Seeing as this month includes Valentine’s Day I thought it would be appropriate to use an image that reflected that theme so that all the romantics could take the opportunity to acquire an unusual but appropriate gift for their loved ones.

This image was captured on the Isle of Iona on my trip to Ardnamurchan, Mull and Iona during September 2010. This was my first visit to Iona and whilst spending the week on the adjacent Isle of Mull I was fortunate enough to find one of those days with reasonable weather to take the ferry over to Iona.  St Columba’s Bay is located on the southern tip of the island and to get there and back involves a 5 mile walk from the ferry landing.

The pebbles from the beach at St Columba’s Bay have often been collected by pilgrims. The white limestone pebbles found are known as Iona Marble. In the 18th and 19th centuries tourists bought them from local children as a souvenir.  Some pilgrims visiting the island today pick up two stones from the beach. One is thrown back into the sea as a symbol of something in their life that they would like to leave behind. The other is taken home as a sign of a new commitment they have made. The heart shaped pebble formation captured in the image is exactly as I found it on the day.

St Columba's Bay - Iona

Don’t forget that that each image chosen will only be placed as Print of the Month once so if you like this particular image, buy it at the specially reduced price of 30% below normal prices (excluding postage) before the end of February.

The print will be 10 ins by 15 ins. This size is ideal for matting and framing in a 16 ins by 20 ins frame.

To start your collection just click on the image and you will be linked to where you can complete the purchase of the print. Don’t forget to indicate the finish you require, either matte, lustre or glossy.

If  ”St. Columba’s Bay- Iona” is not one of your preferred images then by all means please share with me your favourites and I will see if we can make them available in due course.

If you wish to be notified directly about new issues you can sign up for my free update on the Print of the Month Collection by clicking this link and entering your details.

This months image was captured in late August 2006 at Hunstanton on one of my earliest photography trips for a week around the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk.

The cliffs at Hunstanton on the North Norfolk coast make a spectacular view. They show an amazing slice of Britain’s history and originate from just after the Jurassic period. This makes them 100 million years old and some of the oldest rocks visible in East Anglia. Hunstanton is an east coast town but faces west and is one of the few places on the east coast in England where the sun can be seen to set over the sea.

This stretch of Norfolk’s coastline is truly the sunset coast. In Hunstanton the progression of the setting sun lasts hours longer than in other west facing locations – up to a staggering 5½ hours is possible!! So when it is a great sunset you have literally hours to enjoy it. Once the sun goes below the horizon in Hunstanton it remains light for hours after – often aided by a beautiful moon rising from the East. Although I did not manage to capture a sunset on this trip I did capture some images of the cliffs, one of which has been in the Norfolk and Suffolk gallery for sometime.

Sheraton - Hunstanton

The difference with the image above is that it is taken closer to the cliffs and  includes the wreck of the trawler Sheraton and was captured on my second digital camera the Canon 20D with a 17-85mm EFS lens set at its widest 17mm f20 @ 1/8th sec.

How do you think this image compares with the one included in my portfolio since shortly after the original trip. This can be found in the Norfolk and Suffolk Gallery. Your thoughts would be most welcome.

I have decided that the first print will not be one of those featured in the announcement last month.

This be may be a disappointment to some of you that  had already decided which you were going to buy at the discounted price,  but don’t be too concerned as I am sure they may become part of the collection in due course and if you want to be notified directly about new issues you can sign up for my free update on the Print of the Month Collection by clicking this link and entering your details.

The first image I have chosen is “The First Snow” which captures the famous Snowdon Horseshoe immediately after the first snowfall of the winter of 2010 but before the start of the heavy snowfalls of late November which in some areas was the earliest heavy snowfall for 17 years.

The First Snow - Snowdon Horsehoe

Don’t forget that that each image chosen will only be placed as Print of the Month once so if you like this particular image, buy it at the specially reduced price of 30% below normal prices (excluding postage) before the end of January.

The print will be 10 ins by 15 ins. This size is ideal for matting and framing in a 16 ins by 20 ins frame.

To start your collection just click on the image and you will be linked to where you can complete the purchase of the print. Don’t forget to indicate the finish you require, either matte, lustre or glossy.

In the first announcement I did indicate that the number of prints available at the discounted price each month would be restricted to 10 however to try to compensate for any of you who may be disappointed that your favourite print has not been chosen this month I am making the discounted offer available to everyone who wishes to acquire this months release.

If “The First Snow” is not one of your preferred images then by all means please share with me your favourites and I will see if we can make them available in due course.

"Chesterton" by Mike Barber

The number of images added to the group in December was less than November but that was only to be expected considering the weather and the festive season however if we still managed 36 images from 12 members.

Another close run “Image of the Month” with five of the images submitted receiving at least one vote. This just continues to show the quality of the images being submitted and how each of us interpret differently on what we perceive to be the better image.

Just coming out on top for the second month in a row was Mike Barber with his image “Chesterton”.  A really eye catching image with wonderful colour and light and that amazing sky.

Congratulations to Mike and you can see more of his work at his website MCB Photography

If you feel you have the necessary credentials to produce images as good or better than Mike’s then please apply for membership at British Landscapes Photography Flickr Group

You can also link directly to the group by clicking on the Flickr logo on my home page.

The second trip which I wanted to fit in prior to the Easter holidays was to the Lake District, another area that I had not photographed before despite its closeness to my home.

The final trip of the three was the first of my annual trips to Scotland which I try to visit in May and October/November of each year.

Although I found Dartmoor to have many photographic opportunities my favourite image of the trip was captured not on Dartmoor but on Porlock Marsh in Somerset during the walk from Bossington to Porlock Weir. The photographic opportunities are end less and well worth visit.

Porlock Marsh - Somerset

The following month, April brought my first photographic trip to the Lake District basing myself for a week on the lakeside at Coniston.

Variable weather in the Lakes, as you would expect, but I managed one or two decent walks providing some good photographic opportunities.  The one that I will always remember was the walk from Hartsop  to Hayeswater then via Satura Crag to Angle Tarn and the magnificent views down the Patterdale valley and to Brothers Water.  I could not have asked for better weather and even managed a walk round Brothers Water as well.

It should be no surprise that my favourite image was of either Satuara Crag or Angle Tarn.  I have decided to select Satura Crag if only for its name and that it is less well known than Angle Tarn.

Satura Crag - Lake District

The next trip came in May with my main objective to visit Cape Wrath on the north west tip of Scotland.  Although I had been in the area before I had never managed to get to the Cape.

The trip was for two weeks spending time on the Isle of Skye and then via Assynt to Sutherland and finally Cape Wrath.

The weather for this trip was probably the worst I had seen in Scotland in May since my initial photographic trips of 2006 with rain and wind most of the time particularly on Skye and disappointingly having to finish the trip early in gale force winds and just before the volcanic ash arrived.  To cap it all no visit to Cape Wrath as the ferry was not running due to the bad weather.  In fact even some of the trawlers were not sailing so it must have been bad.

Thats not to say that I did not have some reasonable weather.  Other than the scenery the benefit of the west coast of Scotland is that the weather is constantly changing and dramatic at the same time.

Three particular days spring to mind as the most memorable of this trip.  The first being the walk up the Quiriang on Skye in glorious sunshine, secondly the Falls of Kirkaig and the magnificent views of Suilven and finally my one and only night at Durness on the north coast on the edge of the cliff at Sango Bay in the camper van.  Whilst I had excellent views of the bay as the storms past through it was the worry of being blown over the cliff by the gale force winds on the back of the camper that was my biggest concern.  Needless to say I did not get much sleep but that was more than made up for by capturing my favourite image of this trip “After the Storm.”

Sango Bay - Durness - Sutherland

My trip to the Ceredigion coast and the Brecon Beacons in mid September turned out to be my last photographic trip of the year despite my plan to revisit Scotland and possibly the Yorkshire Moors and Coast.  Still there is always next year.

I didn’t find the photographic opportunities that I was expecting in Ceredigion but I am sure that was because I had not allowed sufficient time to seek out the better ones.

The highlight of the trip, if you could call it an highlight was the heavy rain during the week that ensured that my day trip to “Waterfall Country” in the Brecon Beacons was reasonably successful.  I have never seen so many waterfalls in such a  relatively small area.  I had intended to visit probably the most visited and photographed of these falls Sgwd yr Eira (The Fall of Snow) but ran out of time after firstly completing a walk to Sgwd Gwladus (Lady Falls) . It goes with out saying that the image I have selected for this trip is of Sgwd Gwladus.

Sgwd Gwadalus - Breacon Beacons

2011 also saw the launch of my “Landscapes in Miniature Collection”  which came about as a result of seeking alternative ways to record the landscape when weather and light conditions for capturing the wider vistas were not suitable.  This led to looking at the landscape in a more detailed and imaginative way in all conditions and differing locations from coast to rivers and forests.  Of the number of images added to the collection my favourite has got to be Sand Waves captured at Sango Bay on the North coast of Scotland on the same evening as the wider landscape image of  Sango Bay featured previously.

Sand Waves - Sango Bay - Sutherland.

So that concludes my look back on my photographic journey in 2011 and planning is now well underway for trips in 2012.

If you have any ideas of locations you would like to see included on my journey please do not hesitate to suggest them either by replying to this post or email to info@britishlandscapes.com

Images from Scotland, England and Wales including many more that can now be added to my “Landscapes in Miniature” Collection

Although many photographers workflow tends to follow the practice of discarding unworthy images almost immediately for me having seen the results of my review it is certainly more beneficial to keep all your images for a period of time to ensure that you have always had the opportunity to reconsider the possibilities more carefully before deleting them.

The first image I have decided to share is an image of Llyn Cynwch captured almost 7 years ago to the day at the same time as one of my most popular images of the same location which is titled “Llyn Cynwch – All Alone”.

Llyn Cwynch - Snowdonia

The image was captured on my first digital camera a Fuji 6900Z.

Llyn Cynwch is near Dolgellau in the Snowdonia National Park and is part of the Nannau Estate.

Did I make the right decision all those years ago by choosing “All Alone”‘ as my favoured image of the location?

Don’t forget to look out for the next image from my archive review.

Images typical of those  that maybe part of the Collection are shown below.

The Boathouse - Loch Ard

They will be either an unreleased image, a popular image from the galleries or one of my own favourites.

Each image will be available on this special for only 10 prints, or for the month, which ever is gone first.

Change of Direction

The Print of the Month will be 10 ins by 15 ins. This size is ideal for matting and framing in a 16 ins by 20 ins frame.

Available at a specially reduced price of 30% below normal prices (excluding postage).

Each image will only be placed as Print of the Month once so if you like one particular image, buy it before prices revert to normal!

Clashnessie Bay

I will pick the first few and it maybe one of the ones featured in this post.

However if you have a request for which image to have for a Print of the Month then let me know and I will make it happen.

Sign up for my free update on the Print of the Month Collection!

"Into the Silent Land" by Mike Barber

Another great month with what I think maybe our highest number of images submitted to the group, being 46 from 17 photographers.
12 images from 9 different photographers were submitted for “Image of the Month”.

The standard just seems to get higher and higher each month and this is confirmed by no less than 5 of the 12 images submitted each receiving at least one vote.

The winner this month is Mike Barber with his image “Into the Silent Land”. A great image and such a simple composition. Mike certainly deserves his victory having taken the trouble to enter no less than 3 images in the competition. If I recall correctly this is Mike’s first win.

Congratulations to Mike and you can see more of his work at his website MCB Photography

If you feel you have the necessary credentials to produce images as good or better than Mike’s then please apply for membership at British Landscapes Photography Flickr Group

You can also link directly to the group by clicking on the Flickr logo on my home page.

Image Copyright Nigel Cole and Catswhiskers Tours Limited

I am pleased to announce that in association with Catswhiskerstours Limited I intend to provide customised photography themed tours of Britain and Ireland for groups and individuals.

Catswhiskerstours Ltd is a well established, Scotland based tour guiding and travel agency with experience of providing a wide range of specialist themed tours predominantly in Scotland but also in England and Ireland. They will be the primary tour arranger and as such tours will be bonded  and be financially secure.

Further details can be found Photography Tours page

"Summer Isles, Scotland" by Stephen Boyd

Well what a great month as well as passing the 500 pool images mark we had 42 images submitted from 17 photographers.  Brilliant.

We had 16 entries into Image of the Month from 11 photographers which is great to see. It just confirms the quality of images that are posted on here when 10 of the 16 entered images received at least one vote and 7 photographers had at least 1 image voted for.  Don’t bother with “Landscape Photographer of the Year” just follow the photographers who contribute to the group.

It was another very close competition with Stephen Boyd’s pano image of the “Summer Isles – Scotland” winning through by just one vote from two other images
Congratulations to Stephen and you can see more of his work at his website Stephen Boyd Photography

If you feel you have the necessary credentials to produce images as good or better than Stephen’s then please apply for membership at British Landscapes Photography Flickr Group

You can also link directly to the group by clicking on the Flickr logo on my home page.