Over the past few weeks I have remembered I have a camera. That black thing that lives in the cupboard in the living room finally was exposed to the elements again (OK not literally - even I know that's a bad thing). More importantly I've remembered how much I enjoy taken shots - and that I want to be good at it.

The chance for a break up to Scotland came along and during that time I accompanied my lovely wife Pinkerbell2 [link] a shoot with simon-p [link] at a couple of amazing locations. Whilst wandering about aimlessly attempting to stay out of shot I started pointing the camera at pretty things (mainly bugs and flowers with the occasional architectural shot. Although the results weren't great I enjoyed myself in the rain and Scottish mist.

The next day Pinkerbell and I went exploring with our local guide (my Mum) and found some brilliant places - one of which was so inspiring that Pinkerbell somehow lost all her clothes. With no-one better able to capture the moment I snapped away - the results of which can be seen on my profile opposite. The kind words and comments I've received since uploading them, along with the face to face critiques from Mark Varley [link] and Dingo Dave [link] gave me a warm fuzzy feeling that I want to repeat. Doing justice to Pinkerbell's athletic grace and beauty has always been a concern (I have hundreds of not very good holiday snaps to prove I am adept at this) so to manage to get it right is a real boost for me

Yesterday gave me a chance to play with a big boy camera, Mark very generously (although he couldn't quite hide the nerves) lent me his for a while and patiently talked me through some basic low key shots. I love the results but I think I prefer the freedom of outdoors shooting

Anyway the main point of these ramblings is to say thanks to all of those lovely people that have stopped by - but especially to those that have helped me through their words and examples - guys I'm indebted to you and only hope that my work does you all justice

Martin