Craft fair 2016

For the third year running I entered the world of commerce,  setting  my photos to work raising money for charity. The craft fair I had a stall at was ideally timed for Christmas shopping. Once again I was selling cards, bookmarks, large prints and calendars featuring my wildlife photos. As ever, the craft fair was a great opportunity to talk to people about wildlife.

Craft Fair stand 2016

This year my bestsellers were the 2017 calendar (now sold out!) and the kestrel and barn owl bookmarks. I am really pleased bookmark sales have been good this year, as I sold hardly any in previous years, but I really like them (if I am allowed to say that). It’s also good the calendars have all sold, since they obviously have a use-by date.

The other thing I am pleased about with this year’s calendar is that most of the photos were taken this year. I haven’t had much time to process my photos this year, but I have taken quite a lot, and some of them made the grade for the calendar.

Disappointingly, I only sold one large  print. Since I do the same craft fair each year, I wonder if I have saturated that particular market. Do you have any suggestions for other photo products I could sell, next year?

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Photo special: Macrophotography course

It’s easy to overlook small things, and miss the everyday beauty (and weirdness) that surrounds us. Dr C very kindly gave me a macro lens for my birthday, back in April, and since then I’ve been seeing the world differently. It’s been a revelation.

I realised I needed to learn how to use it, so booked myself on a Surrey Wildlife Trust macrophotography course, led by Adrian Davies. The course took place in an old orchard, in the most glorious sunshine. There was plenty of unexpected beauty to be found, once you start looking at it. Here are my best shots from the day.

Globe thistle

Bee on bramble flower

Irridescent fly

Water drops at the heart of a flower

Hoverfly on bramble flower

Cranesbill flowers

Butterfly

Gatekeeper(?) butterfly on bramble flower

Photo special: robins

The robins have been very busy in our garden of late – I think they must have chicks nearby, but I’m not sure where they’re nesting. So last weekend I spent some time trying to get a good photo of one.

Here are my best attempts – not all perfect focus, and a little noisy in places, but I think some of them capture something of the character of these birds – bold and inquisitive.

Robin

Wild South’s second foray into retail

After last year’s moderate success selling wildlife photo cards and prints at a craft fair, I decided to do it again.  I’ve been doing my best impression of a candidate on The Apprentice, trying my hand at selling. This doesn’t come naturally to me, but it does give me a good opportunity to talk to people about the wonderful wildlife we have. and raise money for Surrey Dormouse Group.

As Lord/His Eminence/Sir Alan Sugar advises his candidates, I tried to ‘smell what sells’ based on last year’s experience. This meant a few changes:

• British wildlife sold much better than my more exotic pictures, so I decided to focus on that
• Several people suggested that I should do a calendar, so, after in-depth consumer research (AKA asking my Facebook friends for their views) I put one together with a mix of British mammals, birds and insects (listening to the focus group is something that Apprentice teams never seem to do)
• Packs of cards went well last year, but I hadn’t prepared enough, so this year I put together plenty, and made the ‘packaging’ a little more professional (having a printer that actually prints really helps with this!)

I set myself a target to make enough profit to pay for 11 dormice boxes (which is, completely coincidentally, how many I want to add to my site next year, and just a little above my profit from last year, which went to another charity).

Wild South stall at a craft fair, November 2015

The craft fair went well – I smashed my fundraising target, got lots of compliments, got to chat to some interesting people, and even managed to do some Christmas shopping. The best selling items were the calendars, followed by packs of four British Mammal Cards. Hopefully, thanks to the support of all my customers, a few more dormice will have cosy boxes to nest in next year!

Here are some of the images used in the calendar:

Badger

Kestrel

Tawny owl in dappled light

hedgehog

Red fox

Water vole

Blackbird

Holly blue butterfly

Red squirrel eating

Bumblebee on yellow flag iris

October Photography Challenge: Autumn colour

Falling autumn leaves against a blue sky

I took advantage of the glorious sunshine to visit my local National Trust estate to take photos for this month’s photo challenge – autumn colour.

Autumn sunshine through trees

Looking up through yellow leaves on a tree to a blue sky

Autumn sunshine through the trees

A parade of fine old trees

The sun shining through a yellow leaf caught on a hedge

Autumn sunshine over the Surrey Hills

September Photography Challenge: seascapes

I had no shortage of opportunities to take photos for September’s Photography Challenge, the theme of which was seascapes. The photos below are a mix of ones taken with a proper camera, and ones taken by my phone.

Near Kynance Cove

Near Kynance Cove

St Agnes sunset

Bishop Rock lighthouse, west from the Isles of Scilly

St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

A sailing boat and Cromwell’s Castle, Tresco

Looking from Byher to Tresco

Isles of Scilly

Isles of Scilly

St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

June Photography Challenge: insects and a confession

I have a confession to make: I didn’t take any photos for my June photography challenge. I don’t know where the month went! Anyway, as the theme was insects, I thought this was a good reason to trawl through my archives, and see what I could do with the shots I already had. So, I may have failed to take new photos, but at least I’ve done something with some ones I’ve ignored up til now.

(dead) hornet

Ugandan butterfly

Bumblebee in artichoke flower

Indian butterfly

Banded demoiselle damselfly

My tormentor – a hawker dragonfly of some kind?

May Photography Challenge: garden

The theme for May’s photography challenge was the garden. I love plants at this time of year – everything is fresh and verdant, bursting with life. So I spent a happy hour pottering about the garden, trying to capture some of the textures and colours of May.

It took me a while to get round to looking at the photos I shot, and when I did I was disappointed with the results. A lot of them are unusable as the focus was off, or the composition too messy. I must remember to check the images in the screen as I go along, rather than waiting til I upload them on a computer. Here’s the best of the (poor) bunch.

Sage

Buddleia reaching to the sky

Dandelion clock (plenty of them in my garden!)

Fresh ivy leaves

wisteria

April Photography Challenge: spring

My theme for April’s challenge was spring. As it turned out, I didn’t take many classic ‘spring’ shots (apart from some bluebells).

Bluebells at Hatchlands Park

Birds are busy in spring, and I couldn’t resist when I saw this fine woodpecker.

Great spotted woodpecker

Great spotted woodpecker

Reptiles don’t come immediately to mind when you think of spring, but actually it’s a great time to see them basking in the early sun. I managed to find a few on a Surrey Wildlife Trust walk.

Grass snake on a corrugated tin sheet used for monitoring reptiles

Slow worm

Slow worm

Slow worm

Adder

Reptiles aren’t the only creatures who like to sunbathe – foxes are rather fond of it too.

Fox enjoying the sun

Fox enjoying the sun

Fox enjoying the sun

March Photo Challenge: wild birds

For my March Photo Challenge I visited my local park to take photos of the wildfowl. Spring was in the air, as can be seen from the fighting moorhens… The swan was also rather combative, chasing off ducks who came too close.

Moorhen

Mallard tail

Greylag goose legs

Greylag goose feathers

Greylag goose