We lost many of our shows during 2020, and may well lose more in 2021. Restrictions on travel have also limited opportunities to visit my favourite scenic locations across Yorkshire and further afield. This is a minor inconvenience compared to the devastating losses and heartache that many have suffered during the pandemic. We have tried to comply with all of the restrictions  to keep ourselves safe, and help limit the spread of the virus and, as a result, I took very few photos and did not add many new images to my portfolio during 2020.

At the beginning of this year I decided to set myself a challenge to take a new photograph each day, while staying within the lockdown restrictions at the time. This has proved to be a spur to my creativity, as the weather has not always been kind. Days of continuous rain are not great for landscape photography and I have therefore included a number of different types of image in my selection, including photographs taken indoors with artificial light and some macro shots.

365 challengemontage of a sample of photos from the photo a day challenge

The photos can be seen each day on the Fotocraft Images instagram feed - (search #fotocraftimages) and if you like seeing the images each day, follow 'fotocraftimages' on Instagram.

This challenge has had many benefits for me. As well as stretching my creativity, it allows me to experiment with different techniques and as I have been unable to travel further afield, I have taken time  to explore corners of our local area that I had not previously visited during my daily exercise. I have also worked on some additional processing techniques, including converting images to black and white, and focus stacking to increase the depth of field on one or two macro photos.

A key element of all photography is the ability to "see" an image where others might not. I think this was illustrated on a recent cold walk. We came across lots of frozen puddles along the way, some with interesting patterns in the ice. 

For me however, the most striking image was a bit further along the walk where water flowing out from a field had created conditions for the growth of some striking and beautiful ice crystals next to the track.

Ice crystalsIce crystals formed above a small stream of water

I don't think I have ever noticed such long crystals, and I liked the pattern they created - almost like an explosion from the bottom left corner of the frame.

I liked this image so much that I felt it would be an interesting addition to my range as a cutting board or serving platter and as a mug. This is what it will look like:

Ice crystals chopping boardIce crystals chopping board Ice crystals ceramic mugIce crystals ceramic mug What do you think?