And then there were penguins...

When the snow hit, what did you do?

In the past week or so, the UK has been hit by a considerable amount of snow; most heavily up north and in the Midlands, but we've also had our fair share down here on the south coast.

Not surprisingly, I received many comments from friends and colleagues who assumed that I'd be out there at the crack of dawn, taking pictures all day, every day. Because that's what every photographer is expected to do, right?

Funny, really. Would you expect a vet to check over every dog they encountered in the street? Should every mechanic take immediate action when they hear a car rattling along the road? Of course not, so why the special rule for photographers?

That said, I did venture out on three of the days that my immediate landscape was coated in the white stuff... but with certain objectives in mind. Hey, even I know I'd be be stupid not to take advantage of such great conditions!

The first day saw me head out into my local woodland to shoot a video review - more about this in another post coming soon. The weather was not ideal (for what I had in mind, snow falling would have been preferential to sleet), but I wanted to get something in the bag, just in case conditions took an even bigger dive the following day.

Thankfully, things got a whole lot better, and so out I went for a second time, to pick up where I left off the previous afternoon. With establishing shots sorted, I was able to film the main review in one take, before grabbing a few additional establishing shots on my way back out of the woodland. Can't wait to see how it all lines up in the final edit!

As a side note... I also recorded some audio commentary, too. If you don't know what this is for (I've mentioned it enough on Twitter!), then keep an eye out at the beginning of next week, when all shall be revealed.

So, back to the snow. Seven inches fell overnight. Okay, granted that's not going to break any records but, believe me, it was enough to raise a few eyebrows around here.

With filming complete, Inny and I headed for an old Saxon path, which we knew would look fantastic - about as close to the idyllic winter wonderland image as you could hope for. It was still early enough in the day that the local kids hadn't spoilt it with their sledging and snowball fights, so out came the D3 with 24-85mm to seal a number of other key images...

Firstly, I wanted to get a new shot for this year's client Christmas card. I wasn't disappointed; perfect white snow, hedgerows with leaves and berries delicately adorned with shimmering white highlights... Couldn't have asked for more, and this was also a great time to get some nice stock pictures taken care of.

And then there were penguins. As far as I'm aware, not native to this part of the world, and we certainly weren't expecting to encounter a couple of four-foot fibreglass beasts on our travels. But, sure enough, that's exactly what we got, having entered into a random conversation with one of the locals. Got to sort him out with a couple of prints - that was the deal - which I'm thinking just might lead to yet more obscure findings in his workshop!

Could make for some interesting portraits...