New Year and Winter Harbour

My resolution to blog more regularly this year didn’t get off to the best start due to our baby son being born 2 weeks early and throwing everything into disarray. Best laid plans and all that. I will write more about Willoughby’s arrival into the world with some images separately but in the meantime, I have a couple of other shots and accompanying thoughts to share.

The cold snap across Western Europe has caused absolute chaos for many people. Our little corner of Southern Dorset is often described as having a micro-climate; Bournemouth in particular is reknowned for having a protective bubble around it that seems to deflect any snow which would otherwise fall here. So whilst the rest of the UK enjoys/endures (delete as appropriate) huge amounts of snow, we have had very little.

It snowed for an hour or so last Wednesday and amazingly much of it is still around giving Poole a very nice winter look. It is a wonderful feeling to wrap up warm and enjoy colder days, especially when they are bright and sunny as we have been lucky enough to have the last couple of days.

Another resolution – in addition to the blogging – is to take more personal photos and to that end I am now taking a compact camera with me everywhere (Lumix DMC-LX3 in case anyone is interested).

I couldn’t decide whether I preferred the above shot in mono or colour from a slightly different angle so have included both. If you have a favourite, please let me know in the comments.

These were made very quickly – partly because I do not have the patience of a dedicated landscape photographer, but mainly because I had forgotten my gloves and my hands were freezing. The Whiteley Bay / Evening Hill area of Poole Harbour is always beautiful at sunset and the timing was perfect on my way home after meeting friends for a coffee at Sandbanks.

Taking them made me realise or remember a few things: Firstly, it doesn’t have to take long to make a couple of nice photos and the LX3 is a superb little camera to keep with you for this. Secondly – and a little more introspectively – I am incredibly lucky and happy to live in such a beautiful area with wonderful family and friends.

So, the first blog post of 2010 is done and I am happy to make it a personal one. I’m sure there will be more of these to come with so much around to inspire and exciting projects on the horizon.

Happy New Year. Let’s make it a good one.