When I looked at my inspiration folder I noticed that in the majority of my photographs the subject was some aspect of nature, often just a small detail. I think that one reason for this is that I haven't got a great camera (roll on my birthday) so that pictures I take of buildings or more panoramic views often don't come out very well ( this may not be the only reason of course). Bearing that in mind, I decided to go on a photoshoot in my garden.

This presented a number of challenges as the sunlight was very bright and my camera doesn't have a view-finder, only an LCD display, and I was shooting 'blind' a lot of the time. Also I was trying to take photos from different angles above, below, through etc which was also challenging in terms of knowing what I had actually taken. I was rather surprised to find myself in one of the Hellebore pictures below, although I think the pink in my hair blends in quite well with the colours on the plant!

When I arrived at the processing stage I had fun playing with these photo's of a Hellebore taken from above and below, with and without the photographer!

In this third one I was trying to hold the camera under the plant without lying down on the freezing soil.

What I most enjoyed about the photo shoot was searching for details to wonder at in the winter garden. I particularly liked the diversity of colours and textures in this section of the frozen pond.

similarly I was drawn to this tangle of dogwood and corkscrew hazel because of the richness of the textures, shapes and colours.