These descriptions accompany the photos shown during my Photo a Day project.

Scroll down to the Blog below which explains this project.

JANUARY 2025

1^st Jan: On a gentle stroll - I immediately remembered strolling along this beach – 5 cousins on a trip to Ucelet on Vancouver Island, waiting in vain for the sun to shine.

2^nd Jan: Sun at last - It’s easy to recall several days of winter gloom, and the joy of seeing the sun again, as we did on this bitterly cold day.

3^rd Jan: Late in the day - Late in the day with limited vision, and here it was a cold gloomy day after Sunday lunch in a pub.

4^th Jan: Winter sunset - Christmas Day 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. What a beautiful sunset looking towards my village.

5^th Jan: Walk along the quay – A lovely walk along the quay in King's Lynn (North Norfolk), at the beginning of a week's stay with my family in a converted barn in Brancaster.

6^th Jan: Sunrise - I’m rarely out in time to see the sunrise, but waking early, I saw this beautiful view from my bedroom window whilst staying in Balconsborough.

7^th Jan: St Michael’s Mount - A different time of year, but the same place as in Kath’s painting for the day. Holidaying with family in Cornwall.

8^th Jan: Early morning fishing - Early morning, and a single fishing boat in the bay. Such a beautiful light, before the heat of the day.

9^th Jan: There is always hope - New Year’s Day 2024, looking at these birch trees stretching their branches towards the sky, expressing hope for a new year.

10^th Jan: Sun struggling to shine - Getting towards the end of the day and the clouds gathered. On a fabulous trip to Iceland with my son.

11^th Jan: Roof tops - There’s something wonderful about roof tops, and the views from Dubrovnik’s walls are stunning. Went out early, alive to the beauty of this amazing city.

12^th Jan: Raining again - I have plenty of memories of walking along cliff-tops or as here on the promenade, on persistently rainy days. Last year it hardly seemed to stop raining.

13^th Jan: A favourite place - Not much to go on from today’s painting, so I’ve simply picked the phrase about favourite places. But then I had to decide which one! I chose Lindisfarne, one of the most peaceful places I know – despite all the tourists.

14^th Jan: Late in the day - A photo not too dissimilar to the day's painting in terms of light and location.

15^th Jan: Yet more rain - This year has been unusually cold, but last January was exceptionally wet. These were the floods in my village a year ago.

16^th Jan: Gentle pink clouds - on the Greek island of Tinos, with the pink reflected in the water of the bay.

17^th Jan: Anchored - I love taking photos of boats, especially if they are reflected in the water of the harbour. The only difficulty with this theme was narrowing down which photo to use.

18^th Jan: In search of snow - Staying close to home, I took my camera out on this bitterly cold February day. I liked the mottled effect of the snow on the ploughed field, complementing the mottled sky and stark winter trees.

19^th Jan: Beautiful sky over Drangshio - Different  place, different time, different theme, but this still meets Kath’s description of a beautiful sky nonetheless. A very exciting night for me: the first  time I’d seen the aurora.

20th Jan: Still, quiet and peaceful - To quote Kath's words, 'The light this morning was so beautiful. Everything was still and quiet and perfectly peaceful.

21st Jan: Stunning views - in all directions in the neighbouring county of Cornwall.

22nd Jan: Fire burning in the sky - Evening in Sabi Sands (South Africa) and the sky was ablaze with colour.

23rd Jan: Winter reflections - Whilst Kath was reflecting on her weekend, I thought of a different kind of reflection, as in these trees at a National Trust property outside Cambridge. Reflections are one of my favourite subjects to photograph, with over a thousand in my catalogue.

24th Jan: Frozen ground - near my home, less than two weeks ago, but already this morning in the Botanical gardens spring flowers were blooming.

25th Jan: Nothing but sleet - Kath's photo for the day was of nothing  but the blue slide in a neighbouring garden. I went for the same theme of the sleet masking the view from my window one morning.

26th Jan: Here comes the light - I looked through my dawn photos for this one, of the morning light dispelling the shadows across Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont.

27th Jan: Being still - on the Audley End Estate, near Saffron Walden, where the snowdrops are coming out. So heartening to see these first flowers of the new year. Photo taken exactly 4 years ago.

28th Jan: Bedruthan Steps - I took my cue today from Kath's location. It was a magical place on that morning as the huge rocks emerged from the fog into bright sunshine.

29th Jan: Airport display - I have very few photos of airports in my collection, and none of airport lights across the fields, so I have chosen an extravagant floral display at Changhi International Airport instead.

30th Jan: Spring in the air - Kath asks whether you can smell spring before it arrives. I could certainly feel it in the winter garden at the Botanic Gardens on Friday.

31st Jan: Trees reflected - Today I picked up on the water, trees, reflections and colour in the painting. My photo, taken in Cambridge's Botanic Gardens, is one of my favourite places.

FEBRUARY 2025

1st Feb: The rooftops of Marseille - taken from the hill on which stands the church of Notre-Dame de la Garde, Marseille's best-known symbol.

2nd Feb: Marseille quay - a contrast to Exeter quay.

3rd Feb: Vicar's Close, Wells - the same location as today's painting, showing what is thought to be the only complete medieval street left in England.

4th Feb: Pulteney Bridge, Bath - an important example of Georgian architecture and one of only four bridges in the world to have shops across its full span on both sides.

5th Feb: Light breaking forth - The colours of the winter garden at Anglesey Abbey were stunning early one morning after a dusting of snow. Almost no-one else was around.

6th Feb: At Sidmouth - on the east Devon coast, the pink of the coat and boots contrasts with the more muted colours of the sea and wave-cut platform.

7th Feb: A misty start to the day - A punt emerges from the mist on the River Cam in Cambridge.

8th Feb: Beautiful dawn - Wonderful colours as dawn broke over the distant island of Santorini, and a perfectly round sun hung over the horizon.

9th Feb: Evening, Ucluelet - Stayed near here with 4 of my cousins - such a beautiful peaceful setting.

10th Feb: Last week in Marseille - not much to go on in today's painting so I went to my most recent photo-shoot. Le quartier du Panier is a fascinating part of Marseille to wander around with a camera.

11th Feb: Surfers - an idyllic scene on a beach in Antigua.

12th Feb: Sandy bay - This beach is near Finiki, in the Peloponnese (Greece). I sought here to use the same elements as portrayed in today's painting.

13th Feb: Sunny views - from the causeway between Lindisfarne and the mainland, as the tide started to come in.

14th Feb: On the moor - probably this is the same moor - Dartmoor - as in the painting. These huge granite outcrops are known as tors, and are characteristic of several of Britain's upland areas.

15th Feb: Goat Walk, Topsham - same location as today's painting, and always a lovely walk along the estuary.

16th Feb: Signs of spring - Although it's still really cold, and the sun seems to shine only occasionally, bulbs are pushing through, and daffodils were out in Cambridge's Botanic Gardens last week.

17th Feb: Southwold - another coast. I don't have any coastal views of Dorset, apart from the Lyme Regis one I've already used in this project. So I'm on the eastern side of the country for this photo, in the popular village of Southwold.

18th Feb: Cold day at Dawlish - further down the Devon coast, to the west of Branscombe, where today's picture located, this was a cold day with very high waves as the tide came in. The view in the photo shows a relatively sheltered bay south of the town.

19th Feb: How today feels (Anglesey Abbey) - I'm in a reflective mood today and it's still cold, which this photo conveys through its bare trees and grey skies.

20th Feb: Evening in Venice - Today's painting is of a view across Exeter at night, whereas mine is a photo of a streaky sky at sunset looking across the Lido in Venice.

21st Feb: Rocky Bay, Kynance Cove - This was taken further down the coast, on the south coast of Cornwall, where the scenery is stunning as the sea swirls around the rocky cliffs and outcrops.

22nd Feb: Evening cityscape - dusk across the Thames towards the glass skyscrapers of Canary Wharf, London.

23rd Feb: Estuary - a different estuary, not in Devon but in North Norfolk, at Thornham, where channels of water move in and out with the twice-daily tides.

24th Feb: Catkins - These signs of spring are beginning to appear on the hazel trees. I noticed these the other day at Wandlebury (near Cambridge).

25th Feb: Still winter - Not too much to go on in today's painting and so I thought I'd pick this stormy shot taken on a lane on the edge of Dartmoor.

26th Fen: Bamburgh Castle - I've posted this because I think the colours in today's painting evoke the feeling of lightness and calm I feel when I look at this photo.

27th Feb: A cold start to the day - A bright day ahead, but temperatures remain low enough for some frosts in the morning.

28th Feb: These puffs and layers of cloud, lying along the sides of Tracy Arm, an Alaskan fjord, contrasted with the rich greens of the conifers. Below were the icy cold glacial waters from a glacier further upstream.

MARCH 2025

1st Mar: It's St David's Day today, and actually the spring sunshine has arrived, though temperatures are still low. Spring flowers are gradually rising from the cold earth.

2nd Mar: A beautiful day! These boats are in a small dock near the Dart estuary, waiting for winter to be truly over.

3rd Mar: This was taken 15 years ago, in Amboseli (Kenya) - such a beautiful place, and hundreds of elephants!