March 2021 Nigel Hicks Photography News

Looking forward to a post-Covid world

March 2021 Nigel Hicks Photography News. Windsurfing at Bigbury-on-Sea, Devon.
Windsurfing at Bigbury-on-Sea, Devon, Great Britain.

Moving towards a better spring

Welcome to the March 2021 Nigel Hicks Photography news!

With an official roadmap now pointing a way out of Covid lockdown, coupled with the growing success of the vaccination programme, I’m ever more hopeful that my plans for most of what I intend to do this year will be possible.

Coupled with a lot of work online aimed at keeping things going despite lockdown, it has been quite a busy time here, ranging from my ongoing online talks to the development of a new online shop.

So I hope you’ll enjoy reading this newsletter. Below is a list of what you’ll find here this month. Click on any of them to go to the relevant section.

A new Farne Islands photo gallery

February’s talk: Low Light Photography, the recording

Upcoming March online talk: Wildlife Photography, Mammals and Birds

This spring’s photography courses

A tour to Iceland this autumn

Farne Islands: a new wildlife photo gallery

March 2021 Nigel Hicks Photography News. Puffins greeting, Farne Islands.

Back in the dim and distant past, namely the summer of 2019, I was able to undertake a great photo shoot in the Farne Islands, off Northumberland’s coast.

The visit coincided with the height of the breeding season, so the islands were a raucous scene of thousands of seabirds, ranging from kittiwakes to puffins to guillemots and razobills.

I finally processed the stills images from that trip during this lockdown, and there is now a gallery of sample images on the website. I’m hoping you might enjoy seeing this latest batch of wildlife photography. Just click on the link below to see the images.

The bulk of the photos are now making their way into a number of photo libraries. I’m also hoping to be able to use some of the images in a new book project in the next year or two.

Watch February’s talk online: Low Light Photography

March 2021 Nigel Hicks Photography news. Low Light Photography talk.

My February online talk about Low Light Photography, went ahead on the 24th, with an audience of over 40 people, and seemed to go down very well.

Not surprisingly, the talk covered photographic techniques primarily for shooting between sunset and sunrise: in other words, when the sun is very close to or below the horizon.

Subject matter ranged from landscape photography at dawn, sunrise, sunset and dusk, as well as photography of urban skylines at dusk, combining the ambient blue dusk light with the manmade warmer lighting.

Also covered was night sky photography, which included photography of the moon, the stars as either pinpricks of light or long-exposure trails, and the Northern Lights.

The talk can now be watched online on You Tube, on my website or on my blog. Click on any of the links below.

Wildlife Photography: Mammals and Birds

March’s online photography talk
March 2021 Nigel Hicks Photography news. Cheetahs in the Maasai Mara, Kenya.

This month’s online photography talk is already rushing up towards us, scheduled for:


Wed 24th March, 8pm


As you can see, I’ll be talking about wildlife photography, specifically as it relates to photography of mammals and birds; in other words the (mostly) relatively large stuff!

As usual, the talk is free to attend. You just need to register to be sent the link. Registration is open for this talk, as well as the subsequent three talks.

To get more details and to sign up, click on the link below, and then fill in and submit the short form.

You will see on the registration page that there is now a Donation button, so if you feel like making a contribution towards my costs for running these talks by all means feel free: it would be hugely appreciated.

I’ll look forward to seeing you online on 24th March!

Spring Workshops

Provided things continue to improve, then it looks very much as though only one of my spring photography workshops will have to be postponed. That fate belongs to the Low Light Photography course, scheduled originally for 21st March.

I’ve now postponed that event to 7th November, so there’ll be a lot more news on that much later!

So, my first workshop of 2021 will now be South Devon Coast Photography, scheduled for 17th April.

An outline of the planned list of spring workshops is shown below.

The cost for all courses this year is £95 per person, the same as for 2020.

Refunds and deferrments

Rest assured that, if you are booked onto a course that has to be postponed or cancelled, then as with last year, you will have a full range of options, namely:

  • To accept the new date (for a postponed course);
  • To transfer to another course of your choosing;
  • Simply to defer your booking to an as-yet undefined future event;
  • Have a full refund.

Hopefully, things won’t come to this, but I want to put your mind at rest, that you will not lose any money you’ve paid.

See an outline of this spring’s courses below.

South Devon Coast Photography

Bigbury, Burgh Island and Bantham

17th April 2021, 1.30-8.30pm

Photography of some of South Devon’s most beautiful coastline; the beaches, cliffs and river estuary of Bigbury, Burgh Island and Bantham.  Finishing at sunset

Wildlife Photography

Dunster and Lynmouth, Somerset and Devon

24th April 2021, 10am-5pm

A day of wildlife photography on Exmoor, stalking deer in countryside near Dunster, followed by Dippers at Lynmouth.

Travel and architectural photography

Bath

16th May 2021, 10am-5pm

A day spent photographing the magnificent Georgian architecture of Bath, in this combined architectural and travel photography course.

Exmoor in Spring

Tarr Steps, Winsford Hill and Valley of Rocks (Lynton)

22nd May 2021, 2-9pm

An afternoon and evening spent photographing some of the beautiful rivers, woodlands, moors and coastal views, along with one of Exmoor’s most famous prehistoric sites. Finishing with the coastal views at the Valley of Rocks, for a glorious sunset.

Dartmoor in Spring

Dartmeet and Bench Tor

29th May 2021, 1.30-8.30pm

An afternoon and evening spent doing landscape photography in the ancient woodlands along the banks of the River Dart, followed by the rocks and open moors of Bench Tor.

To get full details and to sign up for any of these courses, just click on the link below.

A special note about the Jurassic Coast course, scheduled for October: The first workshop in the autumn will be the Jurassic Coast course, in Lyme Regis and Charmouth. Originally scheduled for 2nd October, I’ve had to reschedule it for 9th October, due to a mistake I made with the tides!

March 2021 Nigel Hicks Photography news. A photography course on Burgh Island.

An autumn photography tour to Iceland

March 2021 Nigel Hicks Photography news. Iceland photography tour.

I’m still intending to run this autumn’s Iceland photography tour, unless Covid restrictions have other ideas!

The dates for the tour are;

18-24th Sept 2021


The itinerary is planned to cover mainly northern Iceland, taking in several major waterfalls, volcanoes and the central mountain ranges, as well as a whale-watching trip.

Admittedly, the way things stand at present the tour cannot happen, but if the roadmap works out well then things should change rapidly in the coming few months.

Already, Iceland (as with Cyprus) has lifted restrictions for arriving travellers who can prove they’ve been vaccinated. Further steps needed to make the trip viable include an increase in the number of flights running between Reykjavik and the UK, and relaxation of quarantine rules upon returning to the UK. I’m optimistic that these issues will improve over the summer.

So, if you fancy awarding yourself an overseas photography break to celebrate an escape from Covid, then of course I would love you to sign up. When making a booking the only payment you need to make at this stage is to pay a £100 deposit, returnable if the tour does have to be shelved.

For the full details, including itinerary and pricing click on the link below.

Books about southwest England

Our books about southwest England are of course still out there, still available. Click on the link below to find out more.

Books about southwest England

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February 2021 Nigel Hicks Photography news

Spring is almost here (honest!)

February 2021 Nigel Hicks Photography news. Grey seal on Teignmouth beach.
A Grey Seal on the beach at Teignmouth, Devon, Great Britain.

Spring photography is almost possible

Welcome to the February 2021 Nigel Hicks Photography news, the first time our monthly newsletter has been posted on the blog. We hope you’ll enjoy it!

It may not feel like it right now, but spring is kicking off all around us, from longer days, to more birdsong, to the first daffodils and snowdrops.

So, if you’ve forgotten where you put your camera during winter lockdown, it’s time to hunt around, dig it out and get ready for a few photo shoots. Even if Covid restrictions continue, you should be able to get out and about in your local area, with reasonable seclusion, to photograph many of the burgeoning signs of spring.

The above Grey Seal photo, while hardly a harbinger of spring, is nevertheless an indicator of just what luck you can have with subject matter close to home. This lone male was photographed last week, inside the harbour at Teignmouth, just a couple of miles from my home.

While you’re thinking about what you might be photographing this spring, you can find the following items in this month’s newsletter:

January’s talk can now be watched online

February’s talk: Low Light Photography

Writing reviews of Nigel Hicks Photography: and getting a discount voucher

This year’s photography workshops

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February 2021 Nigel Hicks Photography news. January's Focus talk.

Watch January’s Focus talk online any time

My January talk, Focus: the third critical component of successful photography, went ahead live on the 27th of the month. The talk revolved around the central idea that good focus is much more than just getting your subject sharp, although of course that is critical. It also involves important decisions about how much of the rest of the image should be sharp too, whether that be absolutely all of it, or just a thin slice, for example.

The implications of this, and the use of some techniques, were illustrated for wide-angle landscapes, telephoto portraiture, wildlife, interiors, and macro photography. The use of wide-angle or telephoto lens, narrow or wide-open lens aperture was described as an essential part of controlling depth of field. As a finale, the possible use of image stacking in Photoshop – that is. shooting a series of identical images that are focussed at slightly different points in the view, and then blending them together in the computer- was introduced.

A video of the whole talk can now be watched online. Click the link below to see it.

February’s talk: Low Light Photography

February 2021 Nigel Hicks Photography news. Clifton Suspension Bridge at dusk, Bristol.

February’s online talk is already looming on the horizon, scheduled to be held on:

Wed 24th Feb, at 8pm

Covering low light photography, in this talk I’ll introduce a range of techniques that can be applied in a variety of low light situations, including: Dark stormy days; Rural, urban and coastal landscapes at sunset; Photography at dusk; Photography at night: events, from carnivals to fireworks; Photography at night: the night sky. Not surprisingly, this talk will give only a general introduction to each of these, as any of them could easily be the subject of a whole talk by themselves (and perhaps will be in the future!), but this should give you pointers to a range of generally applicable techniques.

As always, this talk will be completely free to join. There is now a Donation button on the talks’ registration page, so if you feel like contributing to my costs that would be wonderful. But you should feel no compulsion.

To register for this talk, and the subsequent one (on 24th March, Wildlife Photography), click on the link below, and then fill in and submit the form.

I’ll look forward to seeing you online!

Writing reviews for my photography services

As previewed in my last newsletter, I now have an up-to-date system for reviews of my photography services up and running on the Nigel Hicks Photography website.

So if you’ve ever received any of my services, whether a photography course or tour, a talk (online or in person), or some commercial photography, then I’d be delighted if you would like to write a review.

These photography service reviews run separately from those for my books, prints and cards: for these you need to go to each product in the Products part of the website.

Discount coupon reward

As a big thankyou I’m giving a 10% discount voucher, for use anywhere on the Nigel Hicks Photography website, to anyone who writes a review: 20% if you write more than one. Each coupon will be valid until 30th June, and can be used just once.


To write a photography service review click on the link below.

A Goldfinch on a blackthorn tree in spring flower.

This year’s photography workshops

With optimism slowly growing about our future and the kind of year 2021 is likely to be, I feel increasingly hopeful about the possibility of being able to run at least most of my workshops this year.

This year’s programme is scheduled to kick off on 21st March with Low Light Photography, in Exmouth. Admittedly, there is still some doubt as to whether this course will be able to go ahead – inevitably a lot hinges on how much longer lockdown lasts, and what any post-lockdown tier restrictions are likely to be like. As you can imagine, I’m watching this closely, but I won’t make a firm decision until nearer the date. 

Regardless of whether or not this spring low light course has to be shelved, I’m considering introducing a low light course in November, if I can find the right date (viz a viz sunset, low tide and moon times). So, if you want to come on a low light photography course but are nervous about March, keep a look out for an autumn event.

Subsequent courses

The second course this spring is not until 17th April, South Devon Coastal Photography, at Bantham and Bigbury, not surprisingly on the coast of south Devon. I’m quite optimistic this will be able to go ahead, along with all courses that follow.

The line-up for all of this year’s photography workshops is:

21st March; Low Light Photography, Exmouth, Devon.

17th April; South Devon Coastal Photography, Bantham and Bigbury, Devon.

24th April; Wildlife Photography, Exmoor National Park, Somerset and Devon.

16th May; Architecture and Travel Photography, Bath, Bath and NE Somerset.

22nd May; Exmoor in Spring; Tarr Steps and Lynton, Somerset and Devon.

29th May; Dartmoor in Spring, Dartmoor National Park, Devon.

2nd Oct; Jurassic Coast Photography, Lyme Regis and Charmouth, Dorset.

16th Oct; Exmoor in Autumn, Exmoor National Park, Somerset and Devon.

23rd Oct; Wildlife Photography, Exmoor National Park, Somerset and Devon.

30th Oct, Dartmoor in Autumn, Dartmoor National Park, Devon.



I hope you’ll like some of these courses and will decide to give yourself something to look forward to by booking onto any of them.

Refunds and deferrments

Rest assured that, if you are booked onto a course that has to be postponed or cancelled, then as with last year, you will have a full range of options, namely:

  • To accept the new date (for a postponed course);
  • To transfer to another course of your choosing;
  • Simply to defer your booking to an as-yet undefined future event;
  • Have a full refund.

Hopefully, things won’t come to this, but I want to put your mind at rest, that you will not lose any money you’ve paid.

To get all the details of the workshops programme, click on the link below:

A photography course shooting the sunset

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