The hard drive on my laptop is nearly full. When I come home from a photography day out I transfer all the images taken from my SD card onto my hard drive, then sort through them and discard the ones I don’t want. Usually. Only I’ve been so busy the last year that I haven’t dumped any pictures and thousands of them are clogging up the memory on my computer.

The new camera club season started at the beginning of September and this week was the hand in for our first competition. So I’ve been forcing myself to sit in the evenings and wade my way through all the images in my ‘To Sort’ folder. Not only has this freed up loads of space on my hard drive I’ve also found half a dozen really nice images I’d forgotten I’d even taken which, once edited, should be suitable for competition entries.

One of my favourite days out every year is a dragonfly hunt up on the Solway coast. I haven’t had time to go this year, but spent my birthday last year on the edge of a bog snapping tiny but beautiful damselflies and dragonflies. It’s always been on my bucket list to capture a dragonfly in flight, but for years I’ve spectacularly failed because they’re so quick and dart about in all directions! So I was tickled pink to realize when looking through the photos I’d dumped on my laptop that I’d caught a Common Hawker in flight, without even knowing I’d done it 😊

I also came across a creative picture which I’d started back in 2019 but had never really finished. So I worked on that a bit more and have submitted that as my second competition entry. I remember the day I took it in the spare bedroom of my last house. I borrowed my step-Dad’s trousers which I tied with Michael (that’s baler twine to non-Cumbrians 😉). Also borrowed his jumper, stuffed it with straw pinched borrowed off the farm next to my house, and stuck an old broom handle through the sleeves……….then realized I couldn’t move my arms to press the remote shutter release for my camera 😂. I’ve called it ‘Bad Day At The Office’. To be honest I know it won’t do well competition wise, but I’m happy enough with it and that’s all that counts.