Favourite landscape images of the last twelve months....

So it's time for my annual round up of the last 12 months and this year I'm going to start with my favourite landscape shots, all but one of them are from around beautiful North Norfolk as that's where I live but I've also included one from my trip to Morocco in the autumn.The next blog post after this will be my favourite Norfolk Wedding Photos of 2012.1. This first shot is of Cromer seafront being battered by a gale in January last year, I had the camera on a tripod & slowed down the shutter speed just enough to capture the motion of the swirling seas.2. This shot was taken at Felbrigg Hall, whenever it snows I seem to be attracted to the place.  This day the lake had frozen over, I liked the natural framing that the trees made here, the bench almost begging to be sat on (but only if you're wearing thermal underwear), and as someone later pointed out when looking at the picture - the two trees in the distance that appear to be leaning on each other taking in the view!3.  Young seal on Cromer beach - I was supposed to be en route to Guernsey when I took this - we'd had a really heavy snowfall during the night & after taking 25 minutes just to get from Sheringham to Cromer that I had no chance of getting to the airport in time for my flight so I wrote off the trip & went down to the beach to salvage some landscapes.  From a distance I thought this seal was some discarded carpet but as I got closer I realised it was a young one having a rest, I'll be honest, it wasn't thrilled with me blocking it's escape route to the sea but I didn't keep it waiting too long!4. This well-worn old launching tractor was taken on the same morning as the seal pic above, I love the way the detail & rust of the tractor stands out against the grey sky & white snow - also quite like the improvisation of using the garden chair to replace the broken tractor seat!5. Sunset at Sheringham Park, this is deceptive as the pond creating the reflection is a lot smaller than it looks in this image but by getting down really close to the surface of the water it creates a strong reflection & increases the proportion of the image taken up by the water.6. Moving into summertime now, another setting sun at the East end of Sheringham beach, actually it's Beeston Regis, lovely warm glow on the cliffs.7. Same evening as the photo above, I just positioned myself so the sun was just hidden by the end of the groyne to prevent complete burnout of that part of the image & to help create the silhouette.8. Yet another from the same evening, once again getting really low down to strengthen the reflection in the tidal pool.9.  I grabbed a few shots of the colours in the sky prior to this shot but felt it needed a subject so using the self-timer & a tripod (and a fair bit of running back & forth until I got the right spot in the image!) I used myself to create the silhouette here.10. Morston saltmarsh, early summer, the sea lavender was in bloom (the purple flowers dotted around), slight breeze coming off the land.  Bootiful!11) I found this jar poking out of the sand just west of Morston, did a couple of shots & then realised if I got down really low at the right angle it gave the impression almost of the sun being trapped in the jar.  This is my jar of gold.12) I really got lucky with the shot below, there happened to be a chap with his own helicopter attending an event a couple of miles from Sheringham who was taking members of his family for flights & I had the chance to go up so I asked if we could head over Sheringham - couldn't have asked for a better day for it - the sediment had completely dropped out of the water after a few calm days and the sun was shining.  Such a great view of my home town.13)  In early autumn myself & some fellow pro photog friends headed to Morocco for a few days, one evening we were wandering along Essaouira beach when these guys came hurtling along on their horses.  Made for some great photos, turns out they do horse trekking tours, they made it look so easy I signed up for an hour or so the following evening.   Having not ridden for a few years I figured I'd get some placcid old donkey to plod about on, no, I ended up getting the stallion at the front in the below shot.  A stallion who liked scaring the proverbial out of dumb English tourists by bolting off at a full gallop at the first opportunity.  By the time the mad horse had finished I had only one foot in the stirrups, I had given up on the reins and was hugging the horses neck.  I may have been begging too, I can't really remember....14) You can't tell from the photo below but it was pretty windy this night, a good full moon with the clouds skudding across the sky.  I used a tripod & shot at a long exposure to get the waves to blur.15) This image was taken on the same evening, a faster exposure to catch the spray in the air but long enough to expose for the night sky (a few stars showing through the clouds) and the Sheringham Shoal windfarm lights on the horizon.16) Obviously now well into Autumn, this is the road that runs down towards Felbrigg, it's known as The Lion's Mouth although I think that's actually the entrance higher up so this is probably more like the Lion's Gullet.17) I've got so many photos of this little pavilion style beach shelter up by the boating lake in Sheringham but this may be my favourite yet, the simplicity, the mirroring, the sprinkling of snow on the roof and the dramatic skies all add up.18)  The Sheringham Shoal windfarm.  Not much more to say about this one!19) A snowy clifftop wander.20) I love this view looking West from the top of Skelding Hill in Sheringham, on a clear day it's possible to see right around the coast to Blakeney Point.