You know (and I'm not being any way nasty or elitist or anything like that) but if it wasn't for this site, these would never have seen the light of day.
This sort of thing just doesn't interest me at all.
I appreciate the comments guys, I really do, but it's just not my thing.
I can do it - any competent photographer can - what you see here is the application of basic compositional techniques and camera handling skills; the sort of thing that any of us can achieve with a bit of practice.
We should all of us be able to produce a correctly-exposed and reasonably composed image - it's the least we should be achieving - even on manual settings. The only variable was the behaviour of the swans themselves and 5 minutes watching them told me that if I waited a bit, they'd come to me out of curiosity as much as anything else. And they did just that, only going away when it was evident that I didn't have any New Hovis about my person...
But there's no flair, none of that indefinable 'something' that makes you sit up and say "Sh*t! I wish I'd taken that one..."
I went out on sunday hoping to get some nice misty-in-the-treesy stuff, but the light wasn't quite right, or else I wasn't in quite the right place - I could see in my mind what I wanted, but I wasn't finding it anywhere I looked.
I took these more out of desperation to come back with something rather than because I wanted to.
I'm kind of at a crossroads with my work-work. The trip to Malawi will be the deciding factor, I think - if it goes well then OK. If not, it may be time to strike out alone. I don't feel that we're getting the recognition or support we deserve and I'll be up at Cosford on Wednesday at the RLC Photographer's annual meeting to hammer out a plan with the new bosses.
