Time to get this blog up and running again after a lengthy absence (see note at end if you'd like to know why).

Of course I like sunshine and warmth as much as the next man or woman, but we haven’t been getting much of either in the UK lately. Which maybe makes this a good time to reflect on the old maxim;

“There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing”.

This is attributed to John Ruskin, so please complain to him if you are one of the people so badly hit by flooding in places like Hebden Bridge recently. I think there is such a thing as bad weather, but most of what we moan about is really not that bad at all.

Anyway, I’m tempted to recast Ruskin’s saying:

“There is no such thing as bad weather, only inflexible photographers”. Grey, cloudy days may not be much cop for grand landscape photography, but their soft light can be just fine for portraits and ideal for macro close-up stuff. If it’s not windy then soft light is ideal for shooting flowers. I believe photographers who specialise in gardens are usually pretty happy to get a dull day, as long as it’s not actually raining, as the colours of flowers and foliage can be well appreciated without harsh shadows.

Anyway, to try and make the point, here’s a small selection of images taken on ‘dull’, and mostly wet, days.

Preston Crit 2

In case you’d wondered why I’ve made no new entries for a while; a big part of the reasons for this is that my Dad died in late May. And just as we were beginning to get over that, we put his flat on the market and, amazingly, found a buyer right away. This is good news, of course, but has meant a lot of work in clearing it – all while trying to keep up with deadlines.