I am doing a digital presentation at Derby City Photographic Society, 7:45pm 16th Jan 2012.

I thought I would reflect on 2011 by posting my most memorable images of the year. All in all it has been a great year, I’ve survived the stresses of moving house and now reside in a lovely area on the edge of the Peak District National Park. I’ve also  been successful with a couple of projects which have caused me problems in the past, and have just started writing my first book ‘Wildlife Photography Workshop’ which I’m co-authoring with top landscape and macro specialist Ross Hoddinott.

So here’s a collection of some of my favourites of the year and I wish you all the best for 2012!

Happy new year and many thanks to all those who have purchased prints, attended workshops or just had fun browsing the website. I have lots of exciting projects planned for 2012 and will be making regular updates both here and on my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ben-Hall-Photography/148409505202155  so be sure to keep an eye out and I hope to see some of you in 2012!

A long overdue update has been made to my recent work gallery! Click here to go straight there:

http://www.benhallphoto.com/awards/recent-work/

Rather than publish news of events, talks, magazine features etc here, I have added a new page for this. I’ll be updating this page as regularly as I can, and will keep the blog for showcasing new work. More of which to come soon!

Inspirational websites

I was recently approached by US pro bird photographer Art Morris asking if he could feature my website on his blog as being one of his top 5 most inspirational sites. Of course I agreed, I have always admired Art’s work and he has been an inspiration to me from the beginning. It is nice to return the favour! Here is a link:

http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2011/12/11/inspirational-photography-websites-2/

Birds As Art 1st International Bird Photography Competition

He also asked if I could spread the word about a new international bird photography competition he is running. There are 11 categories to enter and there is a great prize pool so be sure to enter! For more details please go to www.birdsasart.com

Every year thousands of swans and geese migrate to Britain from the North to spend the winter here, and each year I seek out new images of these birds. Usually I wait until the temperature drops so I can place them against a frozen landscape. My previous efforts have resulted in lots of images of whooper swans, so this year I’m concentrating on their close cousin, the bewick’s. As winter progresses I’ll keep updating the blog with fresh images, but to start it off here are a few from a recent trip to Slimbridge.

I’ve been suffering from a virus this past week so have been confined to the office, but at least it’s given me chance to catch up on a mountain of processing and admin work!

I’ve also been able to make a start on the book that I am doing with fellow nature photographer Ross Hoddinott – all will be revealed soon.

On the images front I have some great projects planned for winter so hopefully will have something new to show you soon.

In the meantime I thought I’d make you aware that I now have a facebook page which I’ll keep updated with recent pics. Here’s a link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ben-Hall-Photography/148409505202155

I’m delighted to announce that I have received a Highly Honoured award in the African Wildlife category of this year’s Nature’s Best Windland Smith Rice Awards. The image was taken in The Karoo, South Africa. It shows the distinctive silhouette of a lone Kudu Bull standing on a cliff edge as an electrical storm rolls in overhead.

I spent 3 days in The Lakes the other week for a 2020vision assignment. This was a landscape commission so I timed it to coincide with the best of the Autumn colours. Unfortunately, although the colours were splendid, in terms of light quality, luck wasn’t on my side, or at least for the last two days. I had planned a trip into the mountains on the first day and hiked to the summit of Haystacks crossing Blackbeck Tarn on the way. The sun did peep out for a brief few moments, which saw me desperately racing around trying to compose a shot before the magic was lost. By the time I reached the summit some four hours later, however, black clouds loomed overhead so after taking some shots from the top I started to make my way back. By this time the light was fading fast and I had to make the rest of the descent in the pitch black using a head torch as my only source of light whilst trying to remember the landmarks that I had passed. This in itself proved interesting!

The second and third day saw the weather take a turn for the worse. I didn’t see a single hint of sunlight for the rest of the trip so rather than go for the big vistas I concentrated on waterfalls. The Lakes have a number of spectacular waterfalls and I worked from dawn until dusk (which at this time of year still doesn’t give you much time!) in an attempt to cram in as much as possible. Out of the falls I visited, my favourite was Scale Force. With a drop of 170 feet it is the highest in the Lakes, but its situation is even more impressive. It isn’t particularly easy to find and is a good 45 minute walk from the nearest car park. It also remains completely hidden from view until you are almost on top of it. The water falls through a deep tree-lined chasm in the rock which is incredibly narrow and I suspect doesn’t see any natural light, even during the height of summer. There are two main tiers, the second of which required a rather desperate climb up 10 foot of wet and slimy rock. Not particularly easy with hiking boots on and a camera bag and tripod strapped to your back!

Here’s a selection of images from the trip. A more detailed account will be going on the 2020vision blog so be sure to keep a look out!