Get ready for an epic review of socks, walking socks to be precise. Ooo I can hear the excitement from here at my desk as I type. Actually it's not so much a review but a blurb! Not the most grabbing of subjects and one that I didn't think I'd be blogging about but there we go.

Socks. Bridgedale socks to be precise. Soft, springy, comfortable socks that I fell in love with a while ago now. These socks have made my running more bouncy, and my long distance walking infinitely more bearable, especially with a hike across Devon that I did last year where I only suffered minor blisters due to these lovely, well made, wonderful foot pouches. Those were the Trekkers that I wore at the time.

So, why did I have a moan about Bridgedale Socks on Twitter a while ago then and ask my fellow photographers and walkers about other brands? Well, because unfortunately the Summit type of Bridgedales caused me to end up with a huge blister the size of the moon (I kid you not) on my right foot nine miles into a fourteen mile walk. Ok, so, maybe it wasn't the size of the moon, just from one side of my foot to the other, covering the whole ball from the base of the toes to almost half way down the foot. Now that's a pretty epic sized blister really isn't it. Needless to say the bloody thing was excruciatingly painful and I nearly had to chop my foot off. Well I did get my penknife out and have to burst the bugger simply to give some sort of relief from the ridiculous pain, it really was that bad. At the point of burstage I still had another two miles to do before making it home, and there was no way the other half could reach me in my hour of need due to the location, and the fact that he was finishing up at work. So, with a branch lodged between my teeth, swigging brandy from a bottle, and going at the pace of a tortoise, I hobbled home using the side of my foot to relieve pressure on the fluid ridden skin bag whilst developing blisters on the other foot too and having to give the biggun a poke with the penknife another couple of times en route. Happy days! I did find one bonus to the old style Summits, they made great fluid mops!!

After getting home, discarding the branch and brandy and reporting my big, brave, tough, adventure of endurance to my other half who had since got home and was being very sympathetic by offering me a much needed cup of tea and mopping my fevered brow, I decided that I would take up the tweeting, not for any other reason than to seek advice and alternative recommendations on socks by a number of acquaintances. This tweeting resulted in Jim, the Product Manager from Bridgedale themselves, seeing my woes and suggesting that I might like to contact him via email to have a chat about this a little further. So that's exactly what I did, and what a pleasant chap Jim was too. He was extremely helpful in explaining the different types of walking socks and came to the conclusion that I probably had the wool, old style Summits and that might be what had caused the issue. He very kindly offered me a pair of the new Explorer Heavyweight Performance Merino to try (which are the old Summits rebranded), and didn't even bat an eye when I went off on a tangent with a moan about why the womens socks were shorter in the leg and that I couldn't stand pink and was fed up with outdoor companies thinking us girls live in pink......we don't! So, I took Jim up on his kind offer of trying out the Explorers and within a few days they'd arrived in the post ready for my little tootsies to be eased into them. 

I have now worn these Merino toe bags of fluffiness a million times since they landed, they're not pink but blue/green (big bonus points Bridgedale), they fit like an absolute glove, they're super warm but without being sweaty, they are ridiculously comfortable (if you could have pillows on your feet these would be that), and I'm very happy to report that as yet I have not suffered with even one minor blister let alone a moon sized one since using these beauties, and I can assure you that there have been many many Dartmoor miles racked up in them. Oh, and they're longer in the leg too which is marvellous! 

Bridgedale you have restored my faith in your super walking socks thank you, I am more than happy to once again recommend them to anyone and everyone, even as bed socks because they'd be great as those too being so snuggly. And Jim, you're a credit to the company with your super customer service skills and general helpfulness, many thanks to you also.

Go buy Bridgedales.........they rock! I will be increasing my stock without a doubt.

To find your own pair of exceptional Bridgedale socks please visit their website here at www.bridgedale.com

​As soon as I’d read this book I knew that I wanted to do something similar, to give myself something purposeful to do, to cut myself off almost completely from the goings on of day to day life, and to really give myself time to appreciate what a beautiful world we live in. So, where to walk was the next question. That was burningly obvious, there’s one impressive trail that runs across the whole of Devon called the Two Moors Way going from Ivybridge right across Dartmoor, into mid Devon, then north and over Exmoor before finishing at Lynton and Lynmouth. I'd read about it and heard about through social media and really fancied having a go. So, with the trail sorted the next bit was to do some research so I started googling away and reading up a bit about the walk itself. I also decided to put up a status on social media as I have a number of friends who love to walk and simply asked if they knew anything about it. How hard going was it? What sort of fitness level would you need to be at? How long would it take to do it in? Those sorts of questions. Then up popped my mate Richard Davy, and that’s where it all started to become real! He’d been wanting to walk the Two Moors Way too and was keen to join me if I was going to do it. Great! ‘But…’ he said, ‘how about doing the whole thing from Coast to Coast and starting off at Wembury? Seems silly to miss that bit out as it’s only a small section added on.’ Small? Only an extra 16 miles! Gulp! That made the whole walk a total of 117 miles altogether, and for a moderate walker this seemed like a huge task. What was I doing?! Nah, sod it, why the heck not, might as well bung in the extra and go the whole hog. So there it was, we were doing the Devon Coast to Coast together. Next step, when to do it and to book the time off from work. After a bit of discussion it was decided the best time to do it was the middle of October. Rich being a bit of an adventurer had the South West Coast Path to walk first amongst other amazing things, as you do, and we both agreed that being as it would be in the autumn the weather would be cooler and that it would be lovely to see the colours over the county as we went on our merry way. Now, most ordinary people would stretch the whole thing out over perhaps 10 days or more, giving plenty of time, shorter daily distances etc. Where’s the fun in that though hey! So what did we do? We decided that to make it a good challenge to ourselves we were going to do it in just 7 days…….another gulp! So 117 miles in 7 days it was and with that out of the way we met a couple more times, discussed the route, what we’d need to take, booked our b&b’s up (camping had crossed our mind but we thought that creature comforts might be nice, how glad we were of that decision actually on the walk!) and that was that, we were all ready to set off on the 15th of October! 

Although the walk had been described to me as moderate in difficulty, I was quite aware that my fitness levels probably weren’t up to par, so I got straight into several months worth of running and weight training to build up some strength and stamina. In hindsight more walking training would’ve been good too as my muscle recovery day after day wasn’t as good as it could’ve been, however the prep that I did do I have no doubt contributed greatly towards my being able to do this. I walk frequently but I'm no long distance walker and so all of this was a bit new to me! Before I knew it the months had passed and the time had come to walk, further than I’d ever walked before. I was nervous, excited, slightly concerned, all sorts, but determined to complete it for sure. Now I expect that some of you reading this might be thinking…….crikey, she’s going on a bit, people every day do some crazily big things, she's not exactly climbing Everest! And you’re right, I wasn’t, and some people would absolutely breeze through a challenge like this with no effort at all and it would be like they’d gone for a walk in their local park, but for me it was a big undertaking and one that I would never have even contemplated in a previous life (long story). This was MY Everest right at this very moment. In stark comparison though Richard unfortunately was diagnosed with advanced colonic cancer literally a couple of weeks before our start date, and so his Everest was and is rather more considerable than mine! I have nothing but admiration and respect for him for deciding to still do and ultimately complete this walk. 
​
Early in the morning on the 15th of October Richard and I were taken to our starting point at Wembury by my other half Alan where we were also met by Sara and Nigel Hicks. Both Sara and Nigel are amazing people who run the charity OVAID – Orangutan Veternairy Aid which is a zero salary, voluntary run charity dedicated to providing veterinary equipment, medicines and practical veterinary presence and assistance to Orangutan rescue groups and centres in Indonesia and Malaysia. Richard had decided a few weeks before the walk that he would like to fundraise for this great charity (I’ve put the link to his JustGiving page at the end of the blog) and so we had photos holding their banner by the sea before we started. Before we knew it, it was kisses and hugs all round bidding cheerio to everyone and off we set, Ivybridge bound. Our first days walk was really good overall and we were joined by Rich’s cousin Jacki all the way which was rather lovely. When we made it to Ivybridge that day we were tired but felt good and the day was topped off by Al meeting us for dinner where we were staying that evening.

​What followed over the next few days can be described in many ways. Here’s a few words for you……difficult, tiring, mentally and physically draining, exciting, sobering, incredible, breathtaking, peaceful, beautiful, quiet, impressive……so many things! Some of the walking was quite nice and easy underfoot allowing us to get a good pace on, however some of it was rather the opposite. Overall the weather throughout the walk was incredible to say the least. We had light winds the whole time, and warm autumnal sunshine for five days out of the seven, although on day two we had fog and on day three relentless rain too. Typically both of these drab days were spent crossing Dartmoor, and sadly we didn’t get to see the amazing views that we’d hoped for. I’d read in books about Dartmoor getting a hold on travellers and not letting them go, whether that be getting lost in the mists, bogs or otherwise and I can totally see why now. Although we didn’t get stuck in any of this, it was mentally draining in a way that I wasn't really expecting. The Dartmoor weather certainly got into my head, and it sucked the enthusiasm and vigour from me. We also sadly came across a sheep that was laying on it’s side on the saturated ground, twitching its legs around, clearly unwell and in distress. Rich tried to help it up but it was too late, the poor thing had gone beyond the point of return and we regretfully had to leave it and move on letting nature take its course, hopefully quickly. It was a sobering reminder of how harsh the Moors can be. 

​Once off Dartmoor the weather and scenery changed significantly. But whilst I thought that crossing Dartmoor in the lashing rain and fog was hard, equally so was crossed the rolling fields of mid Devon! You know those lovely fields that you see from a distance, that look so lush smooth and green? Well, they’re knobbly, gnarly, tufty gits that twist your ankles from one to the other side in a split second over and over again with the long wet grass weighing down your feet until you feel like you’ve got concrete boots on! Typically this type of terrain was over our longest two days of walking too at over twenty miles each day. Now as much as I love the green fields of Devon I'm not sure that I'd want to distance walk over them again. Mid Devon is however without a doubt some of THE most beautiful countryside that I’ve ever seen, and everywhere looked like something off a chocolate box, so idyllic and magical. There seemed to be at almost every base of a hill a wonderful tucked away little stream with pretty pockets of Oak or Beech woodland surrounding it too. Seeing the mid Devon landscape was definitely a highlight for me, and it’s an area that I’d love to explore more of without a doubt. It was quite magic to look at.

​When heading into north Devon and Somerset the hills seemed to get rather more gentle thankfully and our walk out towards Exmoor was much more pleasant. The riverside section just after Tarr Steps proved to be quite a tricky one but the woodland there is just gorgeous. We were also treated to a number of great bird sightings that day, Kingfisher, Dipper, Gooseander, Heron and on that same day I saw my first Fogbow just after we’d set off from the b&b in the morning. Exmoor itself was truly breathtaking. The valleys are so different to those on Dartmoor, much steeper and more angled with beautiful snake like rivers flowing through them. One magical experience that will always stick in my mind though was on leaving Simonsbath on the final day. We’d been setting out most mornings at half past six to give ourselves a good start, and as we were starting to cross some of the peat bogs we looked up to see a big herd of Red Deer on the ridge ahead of us. There were three Stags amongst this herd and they were all silhouetted in the distance against the morning sky (the sun hadn’t quite risen) with those beautiful antlers of theirs outlined so perfectly!  I’ve never seen Red Deer in the flesh before, so this was a super exciting moment for me even though they were quite far away. What followed that morning was equally as wonderful, because as we continued on our walk across the moors from all directions you could hear the Red Deer Stags bellowing their rutting calls from across the valleys. That amazing sound that can only come from somewhere deep inside the animal will stay with me forever, and to be able to hear it in its natural environment was so special. 

At the end of the final day we took some time at the top of Lynton and Lynmouth just to sit together on a bench and reflect on what we’d achieved and the wonderful experiences we’d had together before meeting friends and family who had kindly come out to meet us down by the sea at the finishing point. And yes, I had a little welling up going on. Fantastic memories were made over this whole week. We had some down moments but were there to support each other and give hugs when needed, and there were some hilarious moments like Rich walking into a hedge of ferns in the dark with only his mobile torch for light, and on another occasion confessing that he’d stood with his hands under a paper towel dispenser thinking it was a dryer and waiting for it to come on! There was also the landlady at The London Inn in Morchard Bishop, brilliant woman, such a character! I must thank her, unbeknown to me, for filling my camelback with soda water instead of still. It nearly exploded under the pressure of the gas haha! We’d crawled through the mud on our hands and knees together in the dark under fallen trees by rivers, climbed over many many stiles, gone through many gates, fields of sheep and cows (Richard was my protector from cows), through woods and forests, up and over countless hills, down into many valleys, over two moorlands, trudged through bogs, saw Kingfishers, Dippers, Foxes, Pheasants, Gooseander, Herons, Buzzards, Kestrels and more, eaten fabulous cooked breakfasts, drunk many cups of tea, and saw very few people and cars which was heavenly. 

​Devon really is an exceptionally beautiful county and I’m so pleased that I’ve seen so much of its unspoilt areas in this manner. Walking through where you live really is the very best way of getting to know it, and I would recommend doing it to anyone. Most of all I’m so pleased that I got to share this with my good friend Richard, he was fabulous company and we suited each other as walking partners perfectly. Thank you for joining me Rich! It was an adventure that I'll always look back fondly on with a very big smile. 
 
A couple of notes to finish on.....

There is one very precious thing that I have learnt from this experience over everything else, and that is……never EVER decide to carry a box of flapjacks with you on a walk like this! The buggers are heavy and you can’t even give them away!

And thank you to my other half Alan for his help to us both over the duration, plus all of the supportive messages along the way even though he thought I was a bit barmy.
​
Richard’s JustGiving page for OVAID is www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Richard-Davy3

OVAID also have their own JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com/ovaid

A list of B&B’s we stayed at;

Sportman's Inn at Ivybridge - Basic but good food.
Lowertown Farm at Ponsworthy - Comfortable, needed notice 2 days in advance for packed lunches and quite a late breakfast.
West Ford Farm at Hittisleigh - I really can't recommend this place enough! Stunning, comfy, warm, homely and our host was wonderfully attentive and accommodating. I wouldn't hesitate to stay again or to recommend.
Mitre Inn at Witheridge - Lovely place to stay. Very comfortable with excellent food.
Zeal Farm at Hawkridge - Again at the top of my list. A fabulously comfortable place to stay with lovely helpful hosting.
Exmoor Forest Inn at Simonsbath - Warm, comfortable, good food and a great place to stay.

You know when you have a piece of kit in your hands and you're so impressed with it that you think it'll be hard to beat? Well, I felt like that when I tried out the Haida filters if you remember, but after attending the Photography Show back in March I was contacted by Kase Filters UK and offered the opportunity of meeting one of their Brand Ambassadors and testing their filters out in the field......that meeting once again changed everything for me, and for several different reasons. 

Kase Filters have blasted onto the landscape photography scene in the UK in recent months with impressive gusto and are armed with a wide range of kit that is not only excellent quality, but also they boast that their filters are more robust than others out there on the market, their unique selling point. Their kit is very well thought out and designed, right down to the smallest of details, and when it's in your hands you feel very confident using it, especially knowing that even if you are a bit of a klutz and you do happen to drop one of your filters the likelihood of it breaking and shattering into a million pieces is rather slimmer than if you were using other makes! 

So, onto a few details.......the Kase K8 Holder and Polariser. Now there's a smart little bit of kit both in the way it looks and the way it works, and being machined from aerospace grade aluminium you know it's going to be a tough cookie. The polariser is just as impressive, it's sleek and ultra slim and does it's job perfectly reducing glare and reflection without adding unwanted tones to your images. Setting the polariser in place is as simple as this; you screw on the adapter ring to your lens, you hold the polariser to the ring and before you know it they've hooked up to each other as if by magic! Well, by magnetism actually.......yes it's a magnetic system, genius! There's no faffing, no fiddling, no movement, nothing. It just sits in there perfectly and securely. The next step is to add the holder. This attaches once again very simply and easily with the geared wheel on one side and the little tightening knob to the other. Both the wheel and knob are in red unlike the rest of the holder which is black, and this helps greatly for quick recognition when wanting to adjust either the polariser or holder itself. The holder itself also has a gasket attached helping to stop any form of light leakage once the filters are inserted, and because it has the geared wheel on the side this means that you can adjust your polariser without disturbing your filter positioning, or likewise with using the knob, adjust the filter holder without moving the polariser. 

The Kase Wolverine Filters. Well weighted, colour neutral, shock resistant, top notch optical glass filters. I'm very impressed with them. They sit beautifully in the holder, which they should do, without any slippage at all, and I have to say that in a windy environment there is absolutely no movement or vibration from the whole system. It sits so securely on my lens at all times. The clarity of the optical glass is spot on and the neutrality of the filters themselves is absolutely superb. It's on a par with Haida which I had previously used, and post processing is a joy as there's absolutely no colour adjustment needed. This isn't only found in their graduated neutral density filters, but also in their full ND's too. Since testing the filters I have now used both the 6 and 10 stoppers and they really are superb with no cast at all! I believe the 16 stop, which I've not tested myself, is also absolutely colour neutral too. There is a scratch resistant coating which resists unwanted things like sea spray and this also makes the filters really very easy to clean without smudges or smears. I mentioned at the start of this post about the shock resistant factor of these filters. Something we're all very aware of is that when we're spending out a small fortune on glass filters for our beloved landscape photography, the very last thing that any of us want to do is break them whilst out in the field! Many of us have been almost reduced to tears by that awful sound as one hits the deck. Now although Kase cannot guarantee that their filters won't break, they can assure you that they are tougher than the average filter and should withstand the odd fall. Now that's got to be worth the money in my book! Not bad hey! Another point to make is that I used to be a resin filter user in the past, and it wasn't until I tried out optical glass filters that I really began to appreciate the differences. Although resin is a fairly tough substance, it scratches really quite easily and sometimes quite badly, I have also dropped one in the past and it chipped awfully. But when using the Kase Wolverine filters this is something that's not quite so much of a concern due to the anti scratch coating and the sheer toughness of them. Clarity is something else that has struck me too. Now although the resin filters aren't bad at all there is certainly an element of softening the image to them. Again I could only see this properly when I compared images taken with both types of filters side by side, and obviously clarity is something that is important to us all with our shots. So overall, not only do you have an excellent quality, excellent clarity, truly neutral filter to play with with Kase, but you also have the added security and peace of mind that you don't get with other makes. Not bad hey! 

The Filter Bag. I prefer to call this item a box because it's far more solid than any bag I've used before, bag just doesn't seem the right description for it. Sometimes this is an item that's a little overlooked, but for myself I think it's an important part of the equipment and Kase have got it bang on here. This lovely looking sturdy little PU leather coated box can hold up to five Kase Wolverine filters, both the square and the 100x150mm designs, has a separate slot for your polariser, and on the front a little pocket for your filter holder. There is also space next to the filter slots for a cloth or perhaps the shoulder strap that comes with the box when you're not using it. The box is lightweight yet there's absolutely no concern that your equipment will get damaged whilst inside of it, it really is protected very well indeed. There is one little feature about it that I love, and that's the little D-ring on the back. This enables me to attach a carabiner to it and to hook the whole thing onto my tripod meaning that I don't have to keep diving in and out of my camera bag every time I wish to change filters. As I use a large rucksack a lot of the time for comfort too I've found that I can clip the box on the strap of this also, meaning I can walk around with it on my person which is sometimes more practical than attaching it to my tripod. It's a nice handy little addition.

In summary, this is a set up that I like very much indeed. I have tried hard to find something that might niggle me, but I can honestly say that I can't! As Kase state on their website, it's 'By Photographers, For Photographers'. The people who have developed these things know exactly what's needed and how it should work, and so therefore have produced something that is quite spot on.  One other thing that I haven't yet mentioned but feel that I should, is their excellent customer service. Polite, informative, and they genuinely care whether you are happy about the product or not, and if not do their utmost to make things right. Customer care is such an important aspect of any company and Kase seem to do very well at this. 

​I would like to point out that this review is based solely on my findings as of when I first used Kase Filters equipment, however since then I have in fact purchased and now use my own set as I was that impressed with it. I was also offered the opportunity to represent the company by becoming an official Kase Filters UK Reseller which I have agreed to because I believe in the equipment and the company itself. Maybe that tells you something about quite how impressed by it all I was!

If you would like any more information about Kase Filters UK please visit their website www.kaseuk.com and if you're in the market for any new gear please visit www.philstarkeyphotography.co.uk/store/c41/KaseFiltersandEquipment. You can also email me at info@philstarkeyphotography.co.uk

​Below are a few examples of images I've taken using Kase Filters polariser, K8 filter holder and Wolverine filters.

Just recently I, and also Alan, were invited by Haida Filters of China to test and review some of their products. Having heard only good things about the quality of their equipment I jumped at the chance. Haida began production in 2007 and specialise in optical glass filters for photography, making a range of high quality screw on, square and rectangular format filters and accompanying accessories. They offered to supply me with the following pieces of equipment to use out in the field;
 
100 Pro Insert Filter Holder
100 Series Pro 77, 49 and 58 Adapter Rings
NanoPro MC CPL (Circular Polariser)
NanoPro Soft ND 0.9 100x150mm Graduated Filter
NanoPro ND 0.6 100x100mm Filter
NanoPro ND 0.9 100x100mm Filter
 
Within a few days of discussing and arranging, the box with all of the above was delivered in record time to the house and I proceeded to open it excited to find out what the equipment was actually like. First impressions with the packaging were extremely good. Aesthetically it was very pleasing indeed, well put together, neat and tidy and explaining clearly what was in each box. No faff and jargon everywhere, just very clean and uncluttered. As I opened each box to reveal the individual pieces it was clear that a lot of thought had been put into the presentation of the items. Each of the glass ND filters that had been sent to me were beautifully presented in sturdy brushed aluminium cases, every one with a white foam insert inside giving excellent protection. Little cut outs in the sides of the foam inserts meant that getting the filters out was very easy, and due to the type of foam used there was absolutely no slippage either, eliminating any fear of dropping the items.
​

The NanoPro Soft ND 0.9 Filter –  Now, I’m usually a Medium and Hard grad user when it comes to my landscapes and seascapes, so getting to try out the soft grad I was actually looking forward to. It was really rather soft indeed, but this allowed me to use it in all number of situations and I really enjoyed using it to be honest. Once again this filter performed beautifully. The shots came out lovely and sharp and again there was no visible colour cast. Below are some images that I've taken recently around where I live in Devon using this lovely filter.

What's In My Bag?

It's been a long time since I last did a blog post, but a friendly follower of my facebook photography page (bit of a tongue twister there!), Mr Bob Stark, suggested to me that it might be nice to do a 'What's In Your Bag' post to give an insight into what I carry with me and use as I go around photographing the landscape. Obviously the camera equipment is something that will interest many, however I thought I'd also include the other bits and pieces that I take with me on outings on Dartmoor and the coast because I think they're just as important.

The Backpack - I always used to use a conventional camera backpack to carry my gear with me, but I found this to be a bit cumbersome and impractical when walking about where I do. As much as it was great to carry my gear in, it was unbalanced, uncomfortable if going a fair distance, uncomfortable because being a female the designers don't seem to think about straps being a rubbing and chaffing issue on our extra lumps and bumps, it wasn't strong enough to carry my tripod so I had to hand hold it wherever I went, and it was also not large enough for extra clothing for changeable weathers when out for a decent amount of time. So.....it was time for a change. I was trying to find something that would solve all of these problems when I came across the Osprey Aura 65 AG backpack. 

To start with this beauty is designed specifically for women (they do a mens version too which is the Osprey Atmos 65 AG) making it much more comfortable all round to use and wear, it also has an adjustable back section and hip section meaning you can tailor it to your own shape and size perfectly. The back and hip sections are well ventilated so in the summer months there's absolutely no suffering from sweaty back syndrome thankfully! Being a 65 litre it has plenty of room for a good sized insert in which to keep all of my camera gear when I'm out shooting, and although there are loops for ice axes (nope I've never yet been in need of one!) and walking poles, these actually come in extremely handy for attaching your tripod to so that you don't have to carry it everywhere by hand. For all your other bits and bobs, of which I'll come on to a bit later on, there are numerous ample sized pockets to accommodate all of this.

​The Insert - The insert that I use is a very simple generic camera backpack insert which I found on Ebay for only a few quid. It can easily hold my two camera bodies, four lenses, filters, holders, spare batteries, camera rain cover and much more as you can see in the photo below.

The Camera - The main camera body that I use for my photography is a Canon EOS 60D  and I love it! It may not be full frame or the latest or newest model, and it may also a second hand body (let's face it, we can't all afford to keep updating what we have every couple of months), but it does absolutely everything that I need at present and when it comes to printing it produces the goods. It's a good all round workhorse that I personally find very user friendly. My second/backup body is my old Canon EOS 1100D. This stays in my insert for emergencies on the just in case anything should happen to my main body. 

The Lenses - I have four lenses that I use. The Canon EF-S 10-22mm, the Canon EF 75-300mm, the Canon EF-S 18-55mm, and the Canon EF 50mm Prime. The 10-22mm is by far my favourite for landscapes. I love the super wide aspect and although it does give some distortion, which inevitably it will with it being so wide, it's a nice sharp lens, not very heavy either, that I find myself going back to use time and time again. The second favourite of the four would have to be the 50mm. A super sharp lens that's so versatile!

The Filters - I don't actually own many filters but the ones I use at present are Lee Filters 100mm System and I have the 0.45 (1.5 stops) ND Hard Grad, 0.9 (3 stops) ND Hard Grad, and the Big Stopper (10 stops) for those much longer exposures. I also like to use a Sigma Circular Polarising Filter which I have on my 10-22mm, and I have a generic polariser on my 50mm also. The polariser's cut out reflections and they also increase the contrast a little more. 

Tripod - I usually use and have with me my trusty Vanguard Alta Pro 263AB tripod which I absolutely love, but have been recently using in order to do a review for Vanguard UK the Alta Pro 2+ 264CT carbon fibre tripod with my own ball head on. I'll be posting this review fairly soon, so if you're interested at all keep your eyes peeled.

Other Gubbins - I also carry with me a set of different sized filter holder adapter rings to fit each of my lenses plus a holder, a shutter release cord/intervalometer for long exposures and times when I want to capture lots of shots at intervals, a head torch for those dark mornings and evenings when out walking around on the moors and the coast (also handy for searching for your gear in your bag), lens wipes and cloths, lens caps, spare batteries for both bodies and memory cards, my LensCoat rain cover for my camera, a spare intervalometer in case the other goes down, and a spare mobile phone and recharge battery pack for emergencies.

There are also some other items that I always keep in my backpack, mostly on the just in case but you never know if and when you're going to need them.

Sensible Extras - I have a warm hat, gloves, neck tube and headband with me for when the temperature drops or weather changes (it's the worst thing to be caught out and not have enough warm clothing with you, plus can also be dangerous at times), in the summer months I also carry a midge hat because sometimes out on the Tors when there's no wind (it doesn't happen very often) the little blighters love to pop out and have a munch. A compass and pen are always handy to have in your bag, accompanied by a map of the area you're walking in. I also have a little zip bag that I take with me in my main bag in case of trips, falls, scrapes and other eventualities. In this little bag I keep handy things like two sizes of tick removers (ticks are everywhere and these little tools are brilliant!), paracetamol, ibuprofen, and Jungle Formula insect repellent (brilliant stuff). There's glucose tablets for energy, blister plasters, regular plasters of varying sizes, small bandages, safety pins in case of quick repairs to tears in things, an extra plastic bag (you never know when you're going to need one), tiger balm muscle rub (I swear by this stuff for soothing aches, pains, strains and alike although it can dye your clothes!), and antiseptic cream with local anesthetic in for insect bites, scratches etc.

So there you have it, that is the contents of this photographer's bag. Full of camera gear and full of stuff you'd imagine your Mum telling you that you need to take with you just in case, all bar a clean handkerchief! ;) 

​Thanks for taking the time to have a read and I hope that you found it of interest, Phil.

Sleeklens Landscape Adventure Collection Review.

I was kindly asked by the folks at the Danish company Sleeklens whether I would do a review of their Landscape Adventure Actions for Photoshop. These actions have been designed by Sleeklens to make the photographers workflow quicker and easier when it comes to post production of their images. They state on their website that there are fifty six actions available but there are in fact sixty four in total, and these can be easily installed by following their online guide. These actions can be used both on JPEG and RAW files, however the lists are based on using RAW images and this should be kept in mind.

To the actions themselves: There are eight different sets of actions within the whole collection. These are Exposure, Base, Tone, All In One, Enhance, Speciality, Temperature and Web File Preparations. Each of these sets have a number of presets within them and can be adjusted by using the opacity slider once applied.
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Exposure - I have to say after going through every one of these actions I don’t think that I’d be inclined to use any of them, purely because I tend to make preliminary adjustments in Camera RAW before opening in Photoshop anyway. I also found that I could fine tune my exposure adjustments much better in Photoshop in comparison to using the Sleeklens actions, and to be honest, using the action was not any faster than the way I would normally do it.

Base - As with the exposure actions, I found that some of the base actions were pretty much pointless as these adjustments could be made in Camera Raw before opening in Photoshop. However, I can see how the Autumn Colours, Retro, and Desaturated could be applied effectively if you were going for a certain look in your images. It’s not really up my street though.

Tone - Once again, if you want fine tuning, Photoshop is much better. However, if you wanted to play about and give an overall effect to your image then some of these like the Cinematic and Warm Highlights actions could be quite fun. 

All In One Actions - Once again, not my thing. Personally for me they’re a bit in your face and seem to take a lot to tone down. The black and white actions irritated me because as I used the opacity slider to take back the impact, it also completely reduced the black and white effect taking it back to colour. Seems a little pointless really.
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Enhance - Out of all of the actions within this set I really liked the Warm Highlights. The fact that I could brush in exactly where I wanted to warm up certain areas of the image was very appealing. Even at 100% opacity it still wasn’t completely overpowering. This action I probably could, and would, make use of. I think the fact that you can brush in on the Enhance set as a whole means that more people would find it useful than some of the other sets in the Landscape Adventure Collection.
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Temperature - I can see how these actions could be useful but for me personally I will be sticking to fine tuning in Photoshop.

Web File Preparation - Quick, easy and probably useful for some, however I already have my own resizing action in Photoshop.

Overall I think that the majority of these actions are not for professionals because they will have already formed their own routines for speed, efficiency and personal style with regards to processing their images. However, I do think there are a few creative actions within the collection that may appeal. 

There are a huge number of actions; I think this possibly needs to be scaled down somewhat and also the ability to be able to brush in on actions needs to be increased within the collection. 

For the £37 you would pay for the package at present, it would be a useful tool certainly for non professionals who aren’t so familiar with using Photoshop, and the collection could make their life easier and make image processing a little less daunting perhaps. 

To find out more about Sleeklens and their variety of different photography actions and overlays for both Lightroom and Photoshop please follow the links below.

Sleeklens Website 
https://sleeklens.com/

Sleeklens Landscape Adventure Photoshop Actions
https://sleeklens.com/product/landscape-adventure-photoshop-actions/?currency=GBP

All Sleeklens Photoshop Actions
https://sleeklens.com/product-category/photoshop-actions/
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Recently I had the pleasure of working for Cornwall Councillor for Falmouth Penwerris, and Labour's Parliamentary candidate for Truro and Falmouth, Cllr Hanna Toms. My brief was to provide her with images for publicity usage in her 2015 political campaign. Some of these images were more informal than others and were to include local landmarks, public demonstrations, public speaking, and also doorstep canvassing. It was quite a challenge in several ways. Not only on most occasions did I have to shoot in bright harsh sunlight, but there were times when I was running backwards along pavements and roads trying to avoid crowds of people, cars, and tripping up! I have to say that I really enjoyed all aspects of this job, and I hope that there will be more opportunities in the future to do similar. 

From Cllr Hanna Toms:

'Phil was a pleasure to work with, professional, reassuring and most of all patient beyond belief. She took time to understand the brief and gave a lot of thought to how and what would give me the best results. I am delighted with these pictures and would whole heartedly recommend Phil and her work.'

Below are a few examples of the images that will be used.