Subjects to seek out this month:
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Not an easy find by any means (you’ll notice I’m not including a photo of my own) but July is a good time to look for Crossbills. These rare, reddish (males) or greenish (females) finches love conifers and can often been seen at the tops of the trees feeding on the seeds with their unusual beak prying open the pine cones. By July they have finished nesting and are then forced to spread out from the now over populated breeding grounds, this means they head out into new territory and even if you have not seen them near to you in the past they could be coming soon. Having said that both Kielder and Harwood Forests are places I have heard of them being sighted and certainly provide suitable habitat so they would be good locations to try.

You can’t fail to notice beautiful flowers at this time of year so I am spoilt for choice deciding what to include. I am going to suggest then a trip to the water’s edge where you can find water lilies doing especially well in July.
Look out for damsel and dragonflies that are often content to sit still for long(ish) periods giving you a chance to capture their delicate wings and often stunning colours.
If you have found yourself subject to unwanted attention lately, an added bonus of seeking out water lilies is that the purity of these plants is said to be so strong it can be used to break an unwanted love potion cast on you.

This month’s images are taken from the Biodiversity Heritage Library a fantastic, free resource full of book pages and illustrations, check them out they are on Flickr and elsewhere.

Did you know:
8.10 on July the 4th is Aphelion, the time when the Earth is further from the Sun than it will be at any other time of the year.

A group of 14 photographers and wildlife lovers enjoyed beautiful weather for our recent trip to Inner Farne. We were pleased to see all the summer resident bird species had returned and while most did not yet have chicks the rocks were a hive of activity. It seemed most of us took around 600 photographs each, certainly for me narrowing down a few to include below was a challenge, thankfully the hard working centre image shows 4 types of bird at once.

Subjects to seek out this month:
​Many communities are coming together this weekend to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee. This is a fantastic opportunity to practise your street photography. Why not grab your 50mm lens and be the fly on the wall for a while?
You could take inspiration from Martin Parr: https://bit.ly/3m2NY9q

BBC Springwatch has returned to our screens and from the 6th it June it will be featuring Northumberland’s own Hauxley Nature Reserve. This is a lovely place to take photos and indeed many of us have had outings there together. Springwatch serves as a nice reminder to look for similar subjects even closer to home - baby birds are fledging and popping up all over the place. Ideally you want to save this for a nice sunny day allowing you to use a fast shutter speed. A long lens is essential to avoid disturbing the birds and you should find in a sitting quietly at a distance in a sheltered spot you can capture all manner of natural behavior as frantic parents rush to feed the hungry mouths.

Did you know:
The Milky Way is visible all night during June. At this time of year we are facing the towards the 10 billion stars that make up the center of the galaxy. If there was not such a lot of interstellar dust the light from there would be bright enough to cast shadows.

Subjects to seek out this month:
I follow RSPB on social media and in their groups you can see that bird lovers have been taking some fabulous photos of Cuckoos- recently arrived all the way from Africa. It’s not always easy to find places to hear them, let alone see them, and then get clear images so I am in awe! I am sure you know of places you can give this a go yourself, if not I can suggest one or two in Northumberland.
Easier but equally as beautiful to photograph is Cuckoo Flower, aka Lady’s Smock.
This pretty, delicate flower loves roadsides, riverbanks and tends towards damper areas. Now is the perfect time to see it. The open nature of it makes single plants tricky to frame without a distracting background so look for large groups growing wild, or take you time to line up a neat or contrasting subject behind it.
I found a patch by the main road and snapped this with my phone. Not the best image but the plant made me very happy and reminded me how fast spring is springing!

Did you know:
May Day was once seen as the most auspicious time of year bringing in the warmth and sustenance of summer. We often think of the May Pole but, before that, the Celts would celebrate by dancing around hilltop fires ‘sunwise.’

After a busy summer of preparation it is great to have this new terms' classes underway and feel a sense of ease as we settle into the routine.  Perhaps I am just feeling the natural relaxation that often comes at this time of year. The word Autumn felt like an exaggeration only a few weeks ago  yet there is simply no denying it now. The geese are flying high above, honking to one another on their journey, the ground has more than a smattering of colourful leaves and some trees, albeit not many, are already bare.  
Through October we have a range of walks available to join in with, we will be exploring some of Northumberland's beautiful sites and talking photography and tips while we go. A lovely way to celebrate the season.  
​Full details are here. 
I LOVE the changing seasons and relish any opportunity to really pay attention to the signs, that's why on our social media channels I am giving regular timely suggestions of what to photograph each week and some tips to make work you are really proud of.  If this sounds like something you would enjoy, make sure you follow our Facebook and Instagram pages (links below). 

Well its September tomorrow and I think for me and lots of other people the start of the new school year always seems to bring on the same reflective mood that the January new year is known for. The distraction of Covid has perhaps emphasised this even further but I certainly feel this year, and last, has gone very quickly- looking back its all a bit of a blur. 
Its times like this I love having good photos to look back on- not least of all to remind me what I’ve been doing. My favourites, of course, are always the ones taken when surrounded by friends or family. Also incredibly precious to me are the nature photographs, I love the way the act of photography necessitates slowing down and observing the world. This year I paid especially close attention to the spring wildflowers, so welcome after a long and cold Northumberland winter.  My catalogue of images is an accidental story of the seasons, my own small way of celebrating and noticing the changes and the passage of time. I feel better knowing that I appreciated those changes and used the opportunity to capture a record of them while I could.  

I love the video below and the take it has about how the way we experience life and memory seems to have been fundamentally altered by photography. 

If you're like me and you treasure your images, you'll want to make sure they are as good as the moment deserves. If you would like help brushing up your camera skills and would relish an excuse to get out creating work and helping those passing days count, you are sure to love our beginners photography course. 
Perhaps like me you’ve also started looking back through this years photos, I don’t want them to waste away unfinished, unloved and unseen. I want to make sure they are as good as the moment deserved. If you would like help polishing up your images and learning to edit (and USE) your own work you are sure to get a helpful boost from our photo editing courses. 
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Just like schools up and down the country our term starts soon so enrolment is already open. Our most popular and fun courses run in small groups- this means limited places to ensure personal attention. Get in early to secure your choice of weekly calltime.

I am delighted to be offering a number of photo walks beginning over the summer and most likely continuing for many months to capture the changing seasons. This week a small band of dedicated photographers strapped on their camera bags and ascended to Hareshaw Linn in Bellingham. Taking in the wonderful history and ancient woodland, we enjoyed a variety of flora and fauna as we crossed the six bridges that guide you up to the largest waterfall. It was wonderful to be in company again and able to talk about all things photographic, sharing ideas as we each made our own set of images. Here are some of my favourite photos from that time, I chose to focus on the ferns and the flowers that florish in the magical, verdant dene.

Just as I offer photo clubs for using the camera I have several classes of learners who meet weekly to discuss and improve their editing skills. For learners who benefit from the structure and social element that an organised course brings this Editing Club is a welcome way to continue to practice doing their digital enhancements and creations. It’s advisable to have undergone the editing tuition before joining so you can dive in with what are sometimes complex edits. 
After Easter we began working on the theme of photographic art and spent six weeks experimenting with various ways to alter the images changing their style. As always the learners responded with creativity and ingenuity pairing the techniques with suitable images and often painstakingly ‘painting’ their images digitally transforming the feel of the work. Here is a small selection of what was produced.

I am blessed to have lots of lovely learners subscribed to our photo clubs. Generally these are folks who have been through my beginners (or in some cases advanced) courses, or came to me with prior knowledge and the club is a way for them to keep up their photography practice and continue to get feedback on their work. Thinking of new projects to interest and challenge them is a really fun part of my job. We vary not only the theme but the length and the style of the projects, mostly they are open briefs that can be interpreted differently according to each photographers interested and strengths- it is endlessly fascinating to me to see what people come up with. 
The 6 week project we recently finished was titled “Culinary” so taking pictures of anything edible was on the menu (sorry I couldn’t help myself). Pinterest is, of course, a great resource for ideas, if you are interested to see the board created especially for this here is the link (https://www.pinterest.co.uk/christinew5001/culinary-creativity/). 

I have uploaded here for you to enjoy, just a selection of what the talented learners have produced.