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After a very productive spring and early summer, apart from a trip to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic in August, things have been a little slow. A late autumn put pay to a proposed trip to the Brecons since the 'colour' coincided with a number of lectures I was giving to various societies and over the last 2-3 weeks the weather has been pretty grim to say the least. However, over the years I have learnt to put this to good use, working on a number of business ideas, editing slides, repairing hides and putting them in place for the coming winter on Elmley Marshes. Things are really hotting up over there now with steadily increasing numbers of waders and wildfowl and over the last couple of weeks (since mid November), short-eared owls have been hunting alongside the access track from as early as 1.30pm providing opportunities for flight photography. Even if they are too far away or the light is too poor for photography I never tire of watching these beautiful birds as they effortlessly glide over the marsh.

Anyhow, what about this trip to Cesky Krumlov I hear you ask? I'd visited this town in August the year before and instantly recognised its potential. Its a very compact yet stunning medieval town set in the heart of the southern bohemian countryside and in 1992 was entered into the UNESCO list as a world heritage and cultural site. There's a chateau, a castle, many churches and narrow winding lanes which add to the atmosphere. The river Vltava snakes its way through the town. I was already in Prague for a stay of 2 weeks in September so I decided to spend 3 nights there. I toyed with staying for just 2 but you only need one day of bad weather and you realise that for just a few extra Koruna you would stand a much better chance of getting certain shots in the bag. Rather that coping with all the hassle of hiring a car and negotiating my way through Prague and then around 150km south to Cesky Krumlov, I decided to take a bus from Florence (a suburb of Prague) and just sit back and enjoy the view. Like all public transport in Prague, it was on time, clean and cheap! A reserved seat cost me £6! I booked myself into a B&B and since I already knew the layout of the town I didn't waste any time in becoming aquainted with it. As for the weather? Blue skies and hot but although I rose at dawn and worked till nightfall I never had a great sunrise or sunset. Still, you can't have everything! Equipment was kept to a minimum so I took a Nikon F5 with an F90x as backup, 20mm, 28-105mm and an 80-200mm. All the usual filters, cable release etc was loaded into a LowePro Trekker Classic and of course not forgetting the Manfrotto 055CLB tripod. Film stock was Velvia 50 and Sensia 100. Slow emulsion was chosen since the resulting images were going to be sent to my agent, Picturebank. Whether they would accept them is another matter! The answer to that is yes they did, quite a lot infact so hopefully I will start to see some return on them in the not so distant future to help finance future trips.

I love this view! Whenever I go to Prague i head up to this vantage point late in the aftenoon. You'll seee a similar shot in the Jan-March gallery that was taken from a slightly different angle some 6 months earlier. On this occassion it was somewhat warmer and the light lingered for much longer. It was taken about 20 minutes after sunset using an F5, 80-200mm, Velvia 50 and an 80A filter. A tripod was used to keep everything rock steady.