THE BUSHCRAFT SHOW 2014

It was an exciting time at the Bushcraft Show 2014. The weather was mainly poor and the ground conditions were very muddy as a result of this. Weather aside I did managed to capture a great series of photography for the magazine and I am in the process of editing the official show film.

LAND OF THE RISING SUN

For the next big trip we will visit Japan. A 3 week trip discovering the far North of Japan around Hokkaido and a journey across the country via bullet train to visit Tokyo and Kyoto. An exciting opportunity to capture this incredibly diverse landscape and rich culture of this amazing country.

PLANTED TANK - UPDATE

After testing the waters a few months ago with a basic aquascaping tank and growing a few plants I decided to invest in a decent setup. I am pleased with the results and the scape is growing strong and looks great. I am at a stage now where the tank pretty much takes care of itself with a weekly water change and trim. I was surprised at the amount of knowledge required to keep a successful and healthy tank, but I found that putting the effort in to learn about these miniature eco systems in the beginning has resulted in a low maintenance tank that is a joy to watch and not so time consuming to keep!

HAMPSHIRE & SCOTLAND

I have just spent a week starting down south in Hampshire and then travelling North to Scotland within the Cairngorms National Park on a work film project. It was a busy week, a great experience and we captured some great footage within beautiful surroundings. I will post the consumer results of the filming once they have gone live. 

A DAY WITH JACK

I recently spent the day with my Godson Jack. At just a few months old he is a real bundle of joy, he has a great personality and is a pleasure to be around! I enjoyed the challenge of some good photography with him and looking forward to capturing shots of his progression as he grows.

A TRIP TO CUMBRIA

A recent visit to Cumbria and the Lake District resulted in some pretty wild wild weather! We did manage to see a glimpse of sunshine and its hard to say a bad word about this area of the UK in any weather, it's just stunning! 

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THE PLANTED TANK

I recently discovered the art of aquascaping. This is basically a tank in which to keep aquatic plants and fish. Unlike general fish keeping having a plastic toy diver or dinosaur is a big no no! Aquascaping is a mixture of art and science, the idea is to create a beautiful and natural environment using natural hardscape and growing species of plants into an underwater world, it's very creative and the final results can be incredible. On the other side is the science, to establish an amazing scape involves the ability to grow strong healthy plants and this involves the balance of life within the tank. I won't go into details but the idea is to balance water parameters, light, C02, heat and fertilisation. If you can hit the correct balance then you can create your art. Aquascaping is serious business and competitions are held throughout the world each year to see who can create the best underwater worlds. Before I invest too heavily I have decided to take a small tank and see how well I can grow several species of plants, if all goes well I hope to upgrade in the future. Below are some starter pics and a short video. I will do a before and after comparison in a later post.

Video: copy & paste the link below -

https://vimeo.com/85567183

This is called pearling, a good sign of the plant getting the conditions it needs and releasing oxygen.

NORTHERN LIGHTS (FAIL)

It was announced that a large coronal mass ejection from the sun could create the possibility of viewing the Northern lights across the UK as far south as the Cotswolds. With this being too good an opportunity to miss I ventured into the Peak's and searched around to find a good spot. I decided on the area at the top of Winnats Pass overlooking Mam Tor. It was a beautiful evening with mostly clear skies and amazing views of the stars, but with the moon being in its first quarter this did add to some unwanted light. I waited patiently (along with many others! I have never seen so many people around at 1.30am in the Peak District) but according to the space weather reports, the solar storm was not as strong as expected and the solar winds were not blowing in a favourable direction. Although disappointing that they never showed up it was satisfying to know that if they did, I was waiting to capture them with my camera. Some reports state they may be visible tonight but I wont hold my breath, even though I do hope they will. Fingers crossed.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

With a new year just over the horizon I find myself contemplating the past year and looking forward to the new year ahead. I am pondering these thoughts whilst staring out into space and studying the constellations. It helps to put life into perspective whilst looking at objects 100s of millions of miles away and appreciating how small the planet we live on really is and how important it is to make the most of every year. So with New Years eve approaching I wish you all a healthy and prosperous 2014!

The picture below clearly shows the Orion Nebula (M42) burning brightly within the night sky, although not a spectacular picture it is the best I can do with the kit I have to shoot an object that sits 1,500 light years from where I am standing and find it overwhelming to get my head around the scale of astronomy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

A wonderful family Christmas in North Devon. With the weather consisting of gale force winds and constant driving rain it was great to be down in North Devon with family in a rented converted barn. With log burning fire, beautiful decorations, great food, company and some very nice Christmas gifts we all had a wonderful time. With a new addition to the family being just 3 months old and being as good as gold throughout the holiday, baby Jack's first Christmas was one for us all to remember! Merry Christmas.

 

PAINTING PICTURES

I have nearly completed a night school course in Art, refreshing and exploring techniques not attempted for a good 10 years. Its nice to work with real materials instead of digital formats, I am pleased with an acrylic I have just completed and with roughly 18-20 hours work I feel it is a really good effort for an early attempt. Just framed and will make a nice personal gift for a family member this Christmas. Not long to go!

ANNE'S BIRTHDAY

For Anne's birthday we had a wander along the river Wye at Chee Dale amongst the deep limestone cliffs. With an early rise and Autumn starting to turn to Winter there was a hard frost and a real chill within the air as we left for first light. A combination of tricky paths covered in mud and leaves, a good breakfast, coffee, birthday presents, cake and candles along the way made for a top birthday morning. 

MOVEMBER 13

It's November and this year I have decided to take part in Movember and grow a Moustache throughout the month to raise money for mens health including prostate and testicular cancer. So far I am a week into it and it's coming along! If you would like to sponsor me than please hit this link and click donate.

I will post some more shots as it progresses.

Cheers!

HTTP://MOBRO.CO/ANDYCHILDS240