Tuscany

Just back from a weeks break in Tuscany. The new 70-200 was never off the camera. The more I use it the more impressed I am. The keeper rate from this thing is far higher than anything else I've used before and image quality is superb. It's an expensive investment but well worth it. I've now sold the old 70-200 lens in part exchange for a new wide angle lens (my old sigma 10-20 wasn't really compatible with the full frame 5D). I got more than I paid for it three years ago which just goes to prove how highly regarded these L series lenses are.

New Lens

Another lens upgrade. Finally got my hands on the Canon EF 70-200 f2.8 L IS MkII. This replaces my Canon 70-200 f4 L which has served me well. First impressions of the new lens - superb.

Made it to Fairford in Gloucestershire for the annual air show. A major show of big lenses (not quite as impressive as skomer) but plenty to shoot on and off the airfield. A long but enjoyable day and another stack of photos to sort through.

Back from our holiday in France and in the process of sorting through over 12 gigs worth of photo’s. They’ll be filtering though onto the web site over the next week or so

I'd been asked by a friend if I could take a few shots of her dogs so that she could get one or two framed. All in all things went really well and I came away with quite a few shots I was happy with.

We finally made it onto Skomer Island and luckily enough it was a glorious, sunny day. Numbers visiting the island are limited to 250 visitors a day with boat tickets going on sale at 8.30am, on a first come first served basis. We arrived at 6.30am to make sure we got a place on the boat and although we were first in the queue all the ticket places available had been taken up by 7.30am. Our boat left at 9.30am and we made The Wick area of the island our first stop as I'd been told it can get very busy there. This paid off big time as it was relatively quiet (certainly compared to the afternoon) and the light was really good. The puffins nest on the headland in large numbers and fly in from sea with beaks full of sand eels to feed their young. Trying to catch one in flight proved impossible for me (they're not that big and fly really quickly) but once on the ground they're incredibly tame and not in the least bothered by people. I was more them able to get plenty of full frame shots with my 70-200mm zoom despite their small size. I'd had a few shots I wanted in mind and was quite pleased to leave the area an hour or so later with a few of my ideas in the camera.

We made our way back to the centre of the island hoping to get a few shots of the Short Eared Owls which had been flying around in that area the previous day. As it happened we did see one from a distance but we were never in the right place in the right time to get a reasonable shot. It was a similar story with the Little Owls although I did manage to get one shot all be it from quite a long way off. We spent the rest of the day walking the island and came away with a few shots of Razor Bills, various Gulls, pippets and Oyster Catchers.

We returned to The Wick prior to getting the boat back but the light was really harsh and the area quite crowded. All in all though the island is a great day out, whether or not you go for the photography. A lot of people were there for that reason and some of the equipment hanging off peoples necks was eye boggling. 600mm primes and top notch cameras everywhere. Good for the owls but not really necessary for the puffins. We left at 3.30pm, really tired but having thoroughly enjoyed our day out and came away with some really pleasing shots.

Yesterdays ‘Band Shoot’ with Marmalade Sky went well although it did highlight how little I know about flash photography. The lads were excellent models and I came away with a few decent shots. Nicks efforts are a lot better though. Still a good learning experience and I’ll be better prepared for next time.