Choosing your favourite child......

Crathes Castle

I have been fortunate enough to have been asked by our local hotel The Whitehorse to have a small exhibition evening in September.  To be fair its taken a year for me to say yes as I never feel that my photographs are good enough but now is the time to shake off that apprehension and go for it. 

If I am honest the other half has insisted that I/we do this as it is a fantastic opportunity and to be fair all I will have to do is turn up on the night. My organisational skills are practically nil so I will hand over the reins to the capable hands of the other half, hoping that my input will be minimal and limited to picking the photographs that will be on show. 

 

If I thought picking a selection of photographs would be easy, I was wrong it is a kin to choosing your favourite child, they all have  different qualities that make them each appealing. So how to choose.... 

I have decided to limit myself to a specific number of images which will be produced in varies prints and frames. I had though about a theme so all images would be in similar frames however life isn't like that and as I look round my home there are hardly two frames the same. So instead will pick frames that suit the photo. 

Stairs at Fittie, Aberdeen Beach

 

 Secondly narrowing my geographically coverage of Scotland to the North East, play to the local audience. Striking a balance between castles, beaches and countryside shots. Otherwise I would flood the evening with the photos I had taken when I was on the West Coast in July (as they are my favourites at the moment). 

Dunnottar Castle

So I have gone from making an appearance at the evening to negotiating my way through all my photographs to deciding which images best represent me and my skills. I am nervous already and still over a month to go before I have to witness first hand peoples reactions.  

 

Bow Fiddle, Portknockie

 

So wish me luck on choosing between my babies......... 

  

www.whitehorseinn.co.uk 

Meet Simon Ward a talented photographer from Findhorn

Social media is a fantastic place and that is where myself and Simon met, having yet to meet in real world. Simon also loves the coastline of the North East of Scotland - as I do. Thanks for joining us and over to you, Simon.....

My passion for photography probably started unbeknown to me at a young age when I used to take pictures on holidays home to the Orkney Islands where most of my relatives live, with it stunning coastline and interesting history it was a fascinating place to explore and many a late summers evening was spent outside playing. 

 

 Yesnaby Castle, Mainland Orkney Isles  

I've always enjoyed the outdoors and have been lucky to live in a few beautiful places in Scotland and eventually settled in Morayshire I've always had a camera throughout my life and dipped in and out of photography but never seriously. Now though with the improvement of camera phones over the past few years I started taking more and more pictures of a beautiful place called Findhorn where we visit regularly after getting our pet dog Myles who reignited my love with the outdoors again. 


Findhorn beach at Sunrise

I'd start to seek out more and more places to walk and I continued to take more and more pictures. I got to the stage people said they were nice and I should show them which led me to join social media through Instagram which was so easy to share them with people all across the globe, I remember getting my first like and was pretty chuffed when someone commented on another picture. It was brilliant seeing other people's work and engaging with other photographers all the time feeding my own growth and techniques to being the serious amateur I am today.

 I now regularly get up at what people call ridiculous times in the morning to catch sunrises which can be around 4am in the summer but it is so rewarding to be out there by yourself seeing the changing light and peacefulness of the countryside.

Bow Fiddle Rock, Portknockie at sunrise

 I still have so much of Scotland to explore and an ever growing list of places to visit although I still love to showcase the beautiful north east of Scotland which has some of the best coastline in the country in my opinion, thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed it as writing isn't my specialty.

You can see more of Simon's stunning photography on Instagram   @SIMON_WARD_ or Facebook 
 http://on.fb.me/1TNNcZK