Busy Time

I think I may have booked too much in diary.

Making good progress with new Lake Light book as well as shipping recent orders. All scans done and half of images tweaked.

12 new Edinburgh photos printed yesterday ready for show at weekend. Not done show in Scotland before so keen to see how we do. Looking forward to seeing our good friends Mick and Kay from near Inverness Saturday night.

More printing and image tweaking tomorrow.
Dave Butcher

Driving Home

Just travelling home after Art and Craft Fair at Sherrardswood School Welwyn. Delayed by 1.5 hours by accident near Northampton. We were well looked after by Jan's sister Lynne and her husband Peter who live a couple of miles from the venue. Unfortunately, no Voadafone signal so a blog-free weekend.
Lecture in Shrewsbury tomorrow night and day in Buxton Gallery on Tuesday.
Home around 11.30pm if we're lucky.
Dave Butcher

New Mobile Phone part 3

Third time lucky!

Received 3rd phone in 2 weeks today, a Blackberry 8520 Everything seems to work. Yippee!

Now back on line with blog, web editor and Outlook diary and address book. Just in time for going away to show in Welwyn at weekend.
Dave Butcher

New Mobile Phone part 2

Well that didn't last long! Wasted several hours trying to get it to work. Emails and blog were fine, browsing normal web sites was fine but the admin pages of my web site didn't properly load so wouldn't have been able to make edits on our travels.

The HTC Magic phone is being collected by Vodafone tomorrow. It was a nightmare to use and didn't link up with Outlook so no diary, address book, task lists or memos. Disaster. Not sure why the technical department at Vodafone recommended it in the first place.

Back to a new Blackberry tomorrow. Will keep fingers and everything else crossed that it all works.

Darkroom day today. Printing some orders from recent shows (Great Peak Fair and Sevenoaks).
Dave Butcher

New Mobile Phone

My faulty Blackberry Curve 8310 was replaced by a newer version (Blackberry Curve 8900) a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately the new version could not access this blog or my web editor. I now have a new HTC Magic Google phone which lets me blog again. Not as easy to use as Blackberry, it has a touchscreen. So blogs are back, now need to check web editor and links with Outlook for emails, calendar and address book. Fingers crossed it works.
Dave Butcher

Lake Light Book Image Scans Complete

Finished the last couple of scans for my Lake Light book today and edited a couple of images, including that for the book cover. We have about 140 images on our short-list from which to choose the 90 images for the book. Andy from 10th Planet Design in Sheffield completed the page and cover designs a couple of weeks ago, it will have a different look to previous books but with the same overall size, 80 pages and a price of £14.99. All on schedule for a March launch.

Had a meeting with Steven Brierley and Graham Walters of Harman Technology about the Focus on Imaging show at the NEC in March. Jan and I will be there on the Ilford black and white part of their stand. Lake Light will be launched there and I will be book signing from the first day of the show, Sunday 7th to the last, Wednesday 10th March 2010. There will also be an exhibition of prints from the book on the Harman stand.

Dropped off 97 roll films for processing with Neil Hibbs today. He runs the Harman Technology processing lab and they have a new professional service for films. I should have them back next week and will keep fingers crossed that all is well until I receive the processed negatives. These are all the films from my first ever trip to Scandinavia. Only the second time I have trusted the processing of my films to anyone else!
Dave Butcher

Scanning Day

Today I scanned 50-odd images for Lake Light, my new book on the Lake District. Tomorrow should see the last scans completed (about 30 left to do). Then I need to crop and tweak them before dropping them on the web site. Once we have them all the job of selecting the final ones for the book can begin. We need about 90 images, depending on page layouts, and will have about 150 images to choose from. The new Lakes images should start to appear on my web site from next week. I will drop a few on this blog before then though.

Having some problems with my new Blackberry, which I received a week ago. I am unable to type text in new blog entries. It lets me type in the title and web link but nothing else. A lot of my blog entries are done on my Blackberry while travelling around so this is a serious problem for me. Will see what Vodafone say tomorrow.
Dave Butcher

Craft and Contemporary Design Show

Off to Wellington College Crowthorne (near Bracknell) early tomorrow morning for a Craft in Focus art fair over the weekend. Open 1pm to 6pm Friday and 10 am to 5 pm Saturday and Sunday. We will be setting up tomorrow before the show opens so hope the traffic is all right so that we arrive in good time. Call by if you are in the area and want to see several hundred of my fine art original photographs, books, posters, talk about courses or just for a chat.
Hope to see you there. Dave

Birkenhead Lecture

Off to Birkenhead in an hour or so to give a lecture to the Birkenhead Photographic Association. Same talk as Monday night, Peak Light. Quite a nice day here so hopefully lots of people will turn to see my pictures and hear what I have to say.

Another show at the weekend coming. This time in Crowthorne near Reading. Just the 3.5 hour drive compared to the 4 hour drive to Sevenoaks last weekend. Saw quite a few Christmas shoppers last weekend and hopefully we will see more of that as we move closer to the Christmas.

Lecture at Retford near Worksop

Not quite recovered from the show at the weekend; I strained a muscle in my back unloading the car at midnight last night after driving home from Sevenoaks. Had some acupuncture and massage this morning which has eased it considerably.

Off to Retford near Worksop tonight to give my print lecture Peak Light. Starts at 7.30pm so will have to leave in a couple of hours. Just time for a few scans for new book Lake Light.

Walking to Buxton tomorrow if back sufficiently recovered. Forecast is for rain all day which will not be pleasant. Spending day in Gallery in Pavilion Gardens.

Sevenoaks Contemporary Art and Craft Fair

We are in Sevenoaks this weekend at the Sevenoaks School for a Contemporary Art and Craft Fair. Up early on Friday and on the road by 4.20am. Setting up at the venue by 8.30am and open at 12pm. Bit of a squeeze fitting everything in, width was fine but depth 2 feet less than normal.

Friday afternoon was reasonable and Saturday was good. Lots of visitors to show.

This morning our good friends Lin and Chris, who live close-by, called in. Used to go to college, work, play football and walk the hills with Chris in 70's. Could have chatted away for hours but they were on way to North Wales so just saw them for a few minutes.

Last day tomorrow, 10am to 5pm. Come by and see my latest photos and have a chat if you are able to.

Same again next week at Crowthorne near Reading but before that have lectures Monday and Wednesday evenings and Buxton Gallery all day Tuesday.

Just watched Match of the Day. Hope we remember to turn clocks back or we could be at show very early!
Dave Butcher

Catch Up

Still catching up after Nordic trip. Last weekend we did the Great Peak District Fair in Buxton. A busy show both days with over 10000 visitors. Shipped some orders Monday and had a flu jab. Tuesday found me in the gallery in Buxton Pavilion Gardens all day. Managed to get some exercise too by walking the 12 miles there and back. Nice morning but jolly damp on return.
Today I ran a 1-to–1 darkroom workshop. Now watching Chelsea play in the Champions league and leading 2-0 with 40 mins to go.
Tomorrow prepare for weekend show in Sevenoaks.
Dave Butcher

Great Peak District Fair

Good to see old friends at Deeping Camera Club yesterday for lecture, especially Tony and Derek.

On way home from staying with our best friends Rob and Annie on their narrow boat just north of Coventry. Went for a walk today but it was in the rain so no pictures. Bit flat in this part of the world. Had a very nice evening meal and a few pints at the Greyhound pub at Hawksbury Junction. Very nice metal canal bridge outside pub, one to come back to.

Tomorrow we set up for the Great Peak District Fair which opens on Saturday at 10am. Entrance is free and runs to Sunday at 4.30pm. This is more than an art fair, it is combined with a farmers market and the Buxton Beer Festival. All the exhibitors are from the Peak District. Maybe see you there.
Dave Butcher

Buxton Gallery in the Gardens

Tomorrow, Tuesday 13th, I am in the Gallery in the Gardens in Buxton all day, 9.30 am to 5 pm. It's a bit quiet at this time of the year so I will take my Lake District contacts in with me to mark up those that will possibly go into my new book. I am walking the 12 miles there and back so don't want to carry too much more than this. The weather today was great so am hoping it holds for tomorrow too. Did some printing today and will do more Wednesday; still trying to catch up after Nordic trip. Big show at the weekend; The Great Peak District Fair also in the Buxton Pavilion Gardens. Looking forward to that. It's a mix of art fair and farmers market, free entry so you've no excuses! Should be busy with maybe 10,000 visitors over the weekend.
Dave Butcher

More Lectures

Just back from giving a lecture in Chorley near Preston. It was Peak Light again and a reasonable audience size of 45-ish. Another very friendly club and an enjoyable evening. Next one is Wednesday in Market Deeping near Peterborough. This will be my 4th or 5th visit and we always enjoy it there.
Dave Butcher

Oldham Camera Club Lecture

The lecture season starts today for me (September to April). Just packing up my lecture Peak Light and getting ready to go to Oldham Camera Club tonight. This is my latest lecture, and the start is 7.30pm in the Gallery Oldham building, Lifelong Learning Centre. I have been to them lots of times in the past and they are a very friendly bunch so I'm quite looking forward to it.
Dave Butcher

Harman Ilford Film Processing Service

Just swapped emails with Steven Brierley, sales director of Harman Technology who make the Ilford black and white products.

They recently expanded the processing services they offer and now do 120 roll film through a high quality processing machine.

With about 100 rolls to process and at least 500 a year, this is good news. I hate processing film, it's not a creative step - I process every film in the same way, and it's veruy time consuming (about 45 minutes for every batch of 5 films).

Keeping fingers crossed they give me a good price and the quality is what I would produce.

Watch this space for my verdict on quality.
Dave Butcher

Nearly Home

Well, we survived the 18 hour ferry crossing, including dinner and breakfast. But it was very bumpy.for a few hours, as in ship feeling as though it had been dropped onto concrete!

Just an hour or so from home, a bit south of Ashbourne.

Quite a trip. 17 days. Started with windmills at Kinderdijk in Holland, then Hamburg, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Norwegian fjords, mountains, waterfalls and wooden churches, Swedish lakes, trees and coast and some Viking boats in Denmark.

Can't wait to go back, especially to Norwegian fjords and mountains in better weather.
The End.
Dave Butcher

Ferry to Harwich

Clear blue sky and warm in Copenhagen this morning. Drove west to Roskilde for photos of the cathedral.

On way out went past harbour area and spotted some old boats. Stopped for a look and turned out to be Viking museum and the boats were reconstructions of Viking ships. Very impressive. This was mentioned in our guidebook but no idea it had such an extensive area as this.

From here we headed west over Storebaelt bridge and down to Egesund Slot (castle). One of the big attractions in Denmark, according to guidebook. Unfortunately it was closed (our info said it should have been open) and couldn't be seen from any access point outside the grounds.

Time was marching on so decided to head directly for Esbjerg and ferry home.

Now 3 hours into our 18 hour crossing having had dinner on board. Weather making it a rough crossing with winds of force 8 according to ships announcement. Will allegedly lessen to force 4 in few hours time. Yippee!

Roll on Harwich.
Dave Butcher

Copenhagen at Night

Another bright morning in Stockholm.

Not impressed by Best Western Kom Hotel. Everything needs an electronic card for access. To reach our room needs use of card 4 times. Even need card to get into breakfast room which is next to reception. Our cards stopped working and took another. 2 sets before all well. There were other issues too. Suggest it be avoided if possible!

Left Stockholm before 9am heading south. Stopped a couple of times but otherwise just kept going. Decided better to take more shots of Copenhagen than detour to Malmo and arrived in city a bit after 4pm.

Checked in, dumped bags in room and went straight out to Nyhavn for images around the harbour with old sailing ships. From here went to Rosenborg Slot (the Royal Palace) taking photos at twilight.

Walked back to hotel past Tivoli, which was in darkness. Lots of signs and decor for Halloween. Looks like they are saving themselves for this.

Took some more photos of the Copenhagen Wheel at night. Better reflections than previous set on way through 2 weeks earlier, very little wind.

Keeping fingers crossed ferry on time. It was delayed Saturday by 18 hours due to bad weather. If all well should be home Wednesday late afternoon.
Dave Butcher