A man from Hemel Hempstead has used the lockdown to practice his photography hobby from his flat. Tim Armitage is working from home and found that he had a lot of spare time in the evenings and weekends so decided to practice his photography hobby. He said: "I have been taking photos from my flat and my balcony during lockdown. I started it as a hobby about 20 years ago, I took a photography course at Hemel College but I'm by no means a photographer. I wouldn’t say I’m particularly good at photography but I do really enjoy it and wanted to continue with it during the light evenings. My landscape choices of a car park and petrol station were a non-starter, but with the balcony I thought I’d try wildlife, or more specifically birds.
"Once setup, I sat down behind my balcony window and waited. In my naivety I thought I’d be getting a wonderful aviary within the hour, but for the rest of the day - nothing. The next day still nothing, so I decided to build a hide behind the patio doors using a sheet. Now it may have just been a co-incidence but soon a couple of jackdaws arrived! The problem was now as soon as I poked my head above the sheet they would fly off, so I have some lovely shots of the edge of a wing or the blurry tail, or most often nothing at all. On day 3 I moved the camera to the side of the sheet and left a little slit at the side for me to see. This seems to have been enough and since then I have been able to get pictures of what are 99 per cent pigeons, however also Red Kites, Jackdaws, and Magpies. The latter are not the prettiest bird ever but now I've diversified to snapping a few spiders and the moon to keep my interest up." Tim hopes that his story helps inspire others to practice their hobbies or try something new during the lockdown. He added: "I've enjoyed taking different pictures during lockdown and I thought it might be something that others could do as well. If my little story it helps others realise you can take nature pictures pretty my anywhere, even with a smartphone then it might help some others through the current Covid-19 lockdown."
