June
Firstly, the production total for May ended up at 149 images, nearly double the target of 80. This was the most productive May I’d had since 2019, and in that instance I’d photographed the Evesham Regatta.
Turning to June, the production total so far is 61, for a target of 85. However, I still have work to process and I am confident that I will reach, if not exceed that target. Overall for the year, I am well ahead of target.
The June sessions came down to a week’s holiday in North Wales in the third week of the month. Whilst not amazingly brilliant, the weather was not too bad, with a couple of good days, a couple of ok days, and a couple of rather overcast days. For the most part the rain held off; when it did rain, it was mostly overnight. On balance, I think I picked the right week to go; I might have had more sun the next week, but it would have been a lot hotter.
The major sessions involved the Bala Lake Railway, Bodnant Garden, the Ffestiniog Railway, and Chirk Castle, with a few images taken on the Llangollen Railway and some others taken at various points in the River Dee Valley. The Bodnant Garden and Ffestiniog Railway sessions formed the main goals of the holiday as these aren’t really practical to do from an Evesham start (Chirk Castle and the Llangollen Railway could be done from Evesham, the Bala Lake Railway is somewhat borderline). Perhaps with slightly better weather and a greater knowledge of the area, I might even have been able to do more; I’m already planning a second trip.
The holiday has also resulted in one target for 2024 being completed: I’d wanted two first-time visits to National Trust properties for the year; I now have three. In fact, I’ve yet to start on making return visits to some of the properties where I’ve only done one or two visits; I may need to do something about in the next couple of months.July
I hope to be able to visit Fladbury Walkabout providing the
weather is suitable, and I am considering the Gloucestershire Warwickshire
Railway’s Diesel Gala. I don’t know
about a Valley Railway Adventure Gala, as there is currently nothing on their
website about it. There is also another
Sculpture Trail in Worcester beginning this month which I want to record. Other than those, I’m not planning to go too
far for any photography during July, at least not my car gets its annual
service and MOT later in the month.
The
production target for July is 100 images.
However, I already have a reserve of half that going into the month
(and, as previously stated, I still have images to process for June), so I have
a significant safety net at present. I’m
doing better at the end of June than I was at this point in 2023, so I’m
reasonably confident that (barring unforeseen circumstances) that I will make
the 2024 production target, quite possibly with a significant excess.Supported Causes
The following causes have received donations from me since 2020. If you have enjoyed the contents of this site or have found them useful (or any of my other sites for that matter), then please consider making a donation.