A flower moon, this May my first attempt and success at taking a shot of the moon. A slow shutter and tripod were the trick to getting it even though my lens is only 200mm.

I have to thank Scott Kelby as I have done two live streamed workshops with him and various other instructors. In the first workshop he talked about practicing not playing at photography. The truth is that I do play a lot and practice little because I thought I’d got as good as I was going to get. Slow shutter speeds with a tripod were a struggle, carrying the tripod is awkward and there are the issues of people tripping over it, me tripping over it and as ever the ME limits me energy-wise.

Lockdown has meant more experimenting at home, and practice, using the heavy tripod because I don’t have to carry it far, one room to another room at most. I do have a light tripod for travelling, (remember that).

The Lightroom streamed course has had me practicing new skills and remembered actions which have taken me back to photographs from Burma. This next shot has been improved a lot by using the skills from the course.

These courses would not have been available at the very reasonable prices they were unless we were locked down. This and all the amazing art and theatre that has been made available are, for me, the silver lining to the very black cloud of Covid 19.

The other plus for me, as an ME sufferer, is that I feel no pressure to go out and join in. I am now aware how much I have put on myself to try to be normal, to act as if I was still okay. I have a chronic illness and it takes me out of society a lot, but I believe I have been making it worse by pushing myself to try and act as if it’s not so bad. Now I am focussing on what I can do and when I feel well enough to do it. The result is that I am making better photos when I am working as I can focus properly because I have the energy to focus.

So, a few photos taken when my partner and I were out on our exercise walks.