World Photography Day 2026

Plan A was a mountain panorama but the morning was lost to a hospital visit. Then it was nearly a photo of the hospital car park.

Late afternoon Plan B was take a wildlife photo.

I wasn’t expecting a Kingfisher and I am pleased that I got it in focus but wished it had been a little nearer - the photo is cropped.

I am not sure that I admire any particular professional wildlife photographers as most that I see on TV are recording video. There are some very good amateur wildlife photographer I even have one living in my street, he is big on Instagram and probably going to make it professionally. Unfortunately there are too many amateurs who seem to care more about a photograph than the wildlife. They generally have a lens of length half their own height but still get too close to schedule 1 birds (illegally). I thought of buying one of those lens 20 years ago but resisted it. I wouldn’t want to be seen with it but of course now due to advancing age I probably wouldn’t be able to carry it very far :-)

[I wrote the next section about photographers to go with Plan A]
You have made me think about photographers that I admire.

One is Colin Prior who takes wide mountain panoramas. He has climbed all those Scottish Highland Peaks that I have just stood at the bottom of or perhaps occasionally got half way up.
colinprior.co.uk/collections/all?page=3&sort_by=title-
I have one of his prints ‘Inverpolly’ over our fireplace

Another is the man who created the book I had thought of as a project myself. While I just thought about it he got on with it and completed it. Then he refused to compromise when a big commercial publisher wanted him to make it a slimmer volume removing the technical sections about photography to just make yet another coffee table landscape book. He went on to self publish with crowdfunding I supported it and bought the heavyweight 400 page book.

Peak District through the Lens by James Grant is still available as an eBook
www.jamesgphotography.co.uk/peak-district-through-the-lens

If I am fit and well enough on World Photography day I might try to follow one of James Grant’s routes and take a photo. If not then I will follow your lead a find inspiration at home