Daffodils are compulsory for photographers in the Teign Valley but I for one find them very difficult to capture well. Although the flowering period lasts a good few weeks, you need to catch them at their peak volume, on a bright day but sunlight not too harsh as the petals are so delicate, and not after bad weather when the leaves and petals are damaged. My aim is to get a beautiful specimen in the foreground with a sea of yellow behind. I took this one a couple of years ago and like the composition except that the foreground flower gets slightly lost in the sea of colour behind.

Took photos both in our own copse and down at Steps Bridge today but disappointed with the results. The daffs were still a bit early at Steps, and with less bracken cut last autumn it was hard to get a clear view. The colour seems more washed out and the composition is not as good – the flowers in central focus less commanding.  

The best photo of the day is this next one I think, but it could have been taken in a field in Holland – it doesn’t really communicate much about the context of the flowers.

Why is it that dog owners think the antics of the mutt are hilarious however much annoyance they are causing to someone else? Large black setter fresh from a swim in the river came and shook himself all over me and my gear while I was lying in the undergrowth photographing. No apparent attempt by owners to call him off – in fact they seemd to think it was all rather amusing. Funnily enough I didn’t!