So I start my ramblings on photography with some

favourites from Suffolk, where I have ended up.

I'm old-fashioned enough to be out of touch with

modern styles of photography, the 'street'

photography, the pretentious but apparently

'collectible' sorts of pictures that are lauded by the

colour supplements, or the best of the worst from

Instagram and the like. But I'm still developing, if

you'll forgive the pun, so I might get there yet.

In 2017, Suffolk hosted the National Sheepdog Trials at Haughley Park, just up the road. I

knew there’d be crowds and that I’d have to worm my way to the front to get a good

viewpoint. But with camera hand-held the dogs moved so fast I could barely keep them in the

viewfinder with the tele lens on, and they rarely came close enough to the crowd to get a

decent image. So I wandered the rest of the show, and came across a tent where

sheep-shearing was being demonstrated by an old boy whose Suffolk accent was virtually

impenetrable. He was shearing Portland sheep, presumably shipped in from darkest Dorset,

and in a small paddock to the side they were milling around, patiently waiting their turn. In

turn, I waited patiently for them to rearrange themselves for shot you see here. The soft light

was perfect, the sheep were calmer than I was, and a minute later the big ram in the middle

was having his collar felt.