Snowdrops

It was foggy and very cold this morning, but as the fog lifted it got sunny and warm. Xena went out with Fi this morning and she had 3 other Viszlas with her so it was doggy heaven for Xena today. I stayed in to wait for the plumber - the boiler that was repaired a month ago is indicating the same fault again so he had to come out and check it again. I am getting a bit tired of all these problems!

Thankfully the plumber arrived at lunchtime and was finished by 2pm so after he left I popped out to RHS Wisley - its only about 15 minutes away - to photograph the snowdrops before they are over. Being a sunny day and half term it was very busy with many children everywhere. I have forgotten what half term is like, trying to find things to occupy the children....thankfully it was a lovely day for them to be out. Actually this half term week we always used to go skiing so it also feels strange to no longer be doing that.

Last night the talk by Andy Skillen at the camera club was outstanding, definitely the best camera club talk I have ever heard. He leads such an interesting life, literally flying from one end of the world to to the another, as being a photographer, film maker and photo journalist he gets commissions from all the big companies like BBC, NatGeo, works on documentaries with David Attenborough and does stuff for various tourism boards - and is usually asked to photograph something very specific to be added to various documentary programs - like photographing muskox in  freezing arctic conditions, or tracking forest elephant in the Democratic Republic of Congo (very different from savannah elephants, much more aggressive). These projects take weeks at a time. He returned on the weekend from Ladakh where they are trying to photograph snow leopards, but as they are extremely elusive and shy creatures they had to set sensor activated cameras which they will leave for 12 months (batteries and SD cards to be changed monthly) in the hope of getting something. The traps were set in a valley frequented by the leopards where it was -20C at an altitude of 15,000 feet, so not easy conditions to be working. He asks for a donation for his talks, there is no set fee, which he donates to wildlife charities and he has raised so much money for them over the years. All his photos are shot from ground level, with him lying on the ground in front of the animal, so he spends a good while building up trust with the animals before he can even start shooting. He is such a busy man we were very privileged to share his company last night.

Tonight Gavin and I are going out to our local pub for Valentine's Day dinner. It seemed a good idea when he booked it a few weeks ago, but then the diaries filled up and in such a busy week it would have been nice to have an evening at home but it seemed a shame to cancel it when he has made the effort!