Well it’s finally here. Many of you will know that for the last couple of years I’ve been working on a fairly substantial collaborative project with Shropshire Wildlife Trust in preparation for and ultimately celebration of thier 50th anniversary in 2012. The cornerstone of the project is my very first book – self-published too – called Wild Shropshire and this week it arrived from the printers and it’s now out there selling – with a very positive initial uptake too my wholesaler advises me!
There’s much much more to the whole Wild Shropshire proposition than the book though and you can read all about the various talk, exhibitions and a brand new photographic competition we’re running for next year too on it’s own bespoke website www.wildshropshire.co.uk . There’s a separate blog too which I’ll be updating with different stuff to here and I’m even being persuaded to wander into the realms of Facebook on there ….. shortly for that though! Perhaps more importantly (or so my accountant reminds me) you can also order a copy of the book there – it won’t be available on Amazon and we’re only looking to distribute it locally too so that all the earnings (including contributions to Shropshire Wildlife Trust) look to stay locally within the county too.
At the heart of the whole project is a desire to highlight that in a county such as Shropshire, probably not the first on the wildlife hotspot radar, there is still an incredible array of diversity in terms of wildlife and habitat to be found: if you’re prepared to put the time in trying to find it. My recent BWPA video award is a typical such example – the lake in question is in the middle of a Telford housing estate and for many not worth a second glance but for almost 2 months I was drawn every morning to record and observe the dramas of one family of Great Crested Grebes and their neighbouring Coots. How many more such dramatic opportunities play themselves out every day near to your home?
We also want to encourage and inspire residents and visitors to the county to take some time to find their own bit of Wild Shropshire and record it on camera themselves – hence the photography competition which is open to all.
It’s been a great deal of work, has caused several sleepless nights (particularly filling in some of the more difficult gaps in terms of iconic and important species or habitats that I wanted to include) and there has been much help and support along the way from Ellie, Mike, and John and Sarah from SWT – many many thanks to you all, and without getting too far ahead of myself (and also proving that I’m a real glutton for punishment) the next book project is already well underway too!
Hope you find and enjoy this one.
My copy of the book has just arrived! It’s a stunning book Mark congratulations all round!
Thanks Jason – really glad you like it. It’s been a labour of love (with plenty of worries too) for a long while now but it seems to be going down well which makes it all worthwhile really!! See you at the Bridgnorth talk I trust!
Mark
My wife kindly bought a copy of Wild Shropshire for my birthday at the Adams’ Grammar School shopping evening, and you signed it. It is a tremendous piece of work, no art, so many congratulations on completing it. May I make a suggestion, either for the second edition or for your website, that some technical details are included. Some of the shots must have required a lot of setting up and the right equipment to achieve the result you obtained.
Best wishes
Richard
Hi Richard,
Glad you like the book and thanks for your thoughts/feedback. We decided that since the book wasn’t specifically targetted at a photographic audience what you’re suggesting could be a distraction and take up invaluable space. Hopefully though you’ve found the project website http://www.wildshropshire.co.uk as there’s a seperate blog on there which will focus solely on Shropshire related photography, being a combination of what I might have been doing recently as well as some tips and advice posts too. You’ll also find there the various talks/slideshows that I am in the process of doing to accompany the project and where they are camera club based then inevitably kit and settings get touched on as it’s an interested audience.
Hope you’ll be entering the photography competition on the website next year too!
All best
Mark
Have just bought a copy of your book from the local book shop in Newport. It’s fantastic and will make a great Christmas present for my friend. The photo’s are wonderful and show how lovely Shropshire is….what a jolly clever chap you are!
Thank you for signing it today,
Regards
Deb S