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  • Hebden Bridge Handmade Parade

    Last weekend I attended the Handmade Parade in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. This festival happens every year around the same sort of time, and lasts all afternoon, passing through the streets and ending up in Calderholmes Park where there is more drumming/dancing, and lots of food trucks. The light was challenging – bright sunlight with…

  • Training for The Races

    I recently had the absolute pleasure of staying in one of the lodges at Sun Hill Farm, the home of Ann Duffield Racing, a well-known Yorkshire-based racehorse trainer. The gallops run right past the lodge so visitors have the pleasure of watching the horses train while relaxing in a wonderful outdoor hot tub. These pictures…

  • Trying out the Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L USM lens

    I treated myself to a new lens recently, and have been itching to try it out. I finally got the opportunity to grab a few shots with it, and am seriously impressed with the performance. First of all, I should say that this isn’t a lens for the faint-hearted. It’s heavy (about 1.4kg), long (about…

  • #Antithesis

    My last couple of posts have featured carefully arranged and nicely presented food and drink, I wanted to see if I could carefully arrange the opposite. I’m quite pleased with the result, but I think they are still a bit ‘reserved’. As an experiment, I posted these to the same hashtags that I posted the…

  • Why we all love #flatlays and #coffee

    Whenever I have a random browse through Instagram, one of the things I notice is the prevalence of flat lays and coffee – usually flat lays of coffee, tea, or matcha. Why are these so popular? What is it about the subject and format that appeals? I’ve done it myself a few times. Above is…

  • Do Food Photographers get to eat their work?

    I’ve never really done much food photography, and snaps of my food have mostly been limited to quick Instagrams of meals in restaurants. I’m never happy with the result – mine always seem badly lit, grainy, and because they are taken with the iPhone’s built-in wide-angle lens, everything on the table ends up looking a…

  • Spicy Breakfast Biscuits

    I should perhaps add the word ‘Christmas’ to this title, because this is a ‘biscuit’ recipe containing mincemeat and various other spices that never fail to bring the spirit of Christmas to the tastebuds. Firstly, let me say I’m absolutely not a baker. This is only my third ever attempt at cooking something sweet, so…

  • A Short Break in Windsor & Eton

    Nearly twenty years ago, I worked in Slough for around six months. I wasn’t immediately impressed with the town back then, and followed some advice to stay in nearby Windsor instead. I found myself a B&B where I settled for the duration, and since then I have been a regular visitor back to Windsor and…