Share your photos of Bollington in the rain by uploading them to flickr and tagging them Bollington and Rain. They should appear in the slideshow here!

In other news, we’ve had several bloggers pass through the canal here in Bollington. You can read more from the narrowboat blogs Lazy Days and Poppy — including photographs!

The 6th Bollington Well Dressing is in full swing now.
We had an amazing opening ceremony on Saturday, with the children of St Gregory’s school taking centre stage. Alfredo Silva has produced the above montage of the events of the day.

Seven sites have been decorated. See the on-line trail map:

View Well Dressing 2010 in a larger map

Please take photographs of our efforts and post them to Flickr.

John Appleyard’s photograph of Hollin Hall Hotel will be featured on the cover of the next Bollington Live. Congratulations, John, for capturing an exciting view of the hotel in late spring!

There won’t be any competitions during June/July while many of us are on holidays, but do take advantage of the beautiful weather and longer days to explore more of the Bollington area. The Bollington Festival Photography group hosts walks nearly every Friday to exciting, new, or just plain beautiful places. It’s a great way to learn more about Bollington, get your daily exercise, and meet friendly people.

Also remember the on-going call for photographs of Tinkers Clough. As a woodland, the area transforms through the seasons naturally, but I also hear there are a number of groups planning fun art and ecological projects over the next year. We’ll keep you posted!

Today is the Family Fun Fair on the Recreation Ground! There will be a display about the recreation ground which includes a number of photographs about the recreation ground, and you will have the opportunity to buy some of them! You can view more photographs of the Rec’ online by searching on Flickr or viewing this slideshow above.

Finally, there is a Bollington Festival photography show now on at the Bollington Arts Centre, open 2-4 pm on Sundays and during other events. Stop by, sign the book, and find yourself in a photograph!

Hollin Hall

Originally uploaded by Sheruncle Flickr

This is a special competition, because the winner will be featured on the cover of Bollington Live! Rules are simple: get over to Kerridge at the first sign of sun and take your best spring shot of Hollin Hall! Deadline is the end of May.

The editors of the local magazine will be judging all submitted entries to select one for the cover and they’ve promised to try to use a few of the runners-up inside the pages, if space allows. So, if you are happy for your spring photograph of Hollin Hall to be featured in the next Bollington Live, post a medium-sized version in the comment below AND ALSO email a large resolution version with your name (as you wish to be credited) and something like the following text to me at lawslewis at gmail.com: “I am happy for my photograph(s) of Hollin Hall to be used in the next edition of Bollington Live. Please credit me as: Mister My Name the Third. Kind regards, My Name”

This is the only competition where your photographs might be used for something outside of the competition, hence we are asking you to email your large resolution files. Your rights will absolutely be protected, you will be credited, and your photographs will not be used for any other purpose except to feature in the next Bollington Live, which is a local magazine delivered free to local residents. Simple!

Some tips for winning: the magazine format is portrait, so try not to use landscape unless you plan to crop it later. Consider the usual placement of the Bollington Live logo. Capture a blue sky and lots of light with minimal shadows!

Everyone’s submissions were fantastic. Tinkers Clough can be so many things: lively, spooky, peaceful. Remember the call for photographs of Tinkers Clough is continuing all year, so please keep visiting and exploring. I’m still getting the mud out of my sneakers, and I can’t wait to go back in the daytime.

Website announcement:
We’re taking a break from competitions in April, but keep looking out for May’s which has a very special prize. We’ll be announcing it soon!

A message from Janet Beech:

The first walk of the season is planned for tomorrow evening at 7pm.
If you can join us, we intend to meet at the Ranger Station car park on Adlington Road
We are to start by going to the labyrinth and, if you can smuggle a garden trowel into you rucksack, I have permission to plant some crocus bulbs around and about. I also have a spring wreath to put on the main stone.
From there will visit Tinkers Clough and then – who knows?
What is certain is that we will finish at the Vale.

Thanks to everyone who submitted. It is inspiring to see so much creativity in and around Bollington. If you haven’t already enjoyed the gorgeous sun we’ve been getting, take a walk through Tinkers Clough and find that elusive B&W to submit to March’s competition.

The competition for March is simple. Go out to Tinkers Clough and do the best Black, Grey, and/or White photograph you can. Post it to Flickr. Post it in a comment here. It’s okay to use ‘old’ photographs, but extra consideration will be given to new photographs (taken in March). We will accept entries until March 31st. Only 2 entries per person. Winner will be able to choose a prize from the prize pool, but until February’s winner has chosen, I have no idea what that pool might be! =)

Thanks to Google for posting their latest update to streetview, which shows ‘aroundabouts’ where Tinkers Clough is. They also provide more inspiration for B&W photographs of trees on their google image search. You don’t necessarily need HDR or infrared to create something beautiful in B&W! Visit one of our PhotoSurgeries at the Vale Inn on Thursday nights at 7 pm to learn more techniques (in the field or afterwards) or read some tips online.

Be creative. Experiment. Challenge yourself. Think very big. Capture the very small.

Photographs in this post are courtesy of Thomas McDonnell and Janet Beech. Uncanny! February’s contest is still being judged, but be patient we will announce the winners and comments soon!

So, Bollington, if you see a tired wreath and you can easily fix things, please do it.
May I say, that the people in Bollington are great, and Bollington rocks!

I had another go today. Nothing like Hue & Saturation to wake you up in the morning.

Don’t forget, the extended deadline is March 1st and you are allowed as many entries as you like! I will be gathering all of the images for the top-secret guest judge to review and critique. Here are some entries to inspire you! Not all Pop Art is brightly coloured — and perhaps you have a creative take on ‘White Nancy’ like the previous competition winner, Jude?

Thanks to Steve and Jude for their entries featured in this post. As always, you can click on the images for more information and work by the photographer-artist!