Nature has a way of soothing the soul and lifting the spirit.
Hello and welcome to “Moments In Time”, my photography blog, and thank you for visiting! Photography is one of my passions, and one of the ways I record and interpret the beauty and wonders around me.
I find peace and liberation from the modern way of life with its fast pace and stresses by being close to nature. All aspects of nature always awaken my curiosity, and never fail to excite and inspire me.
All it takes are a few moments to simply stop, have a look around, listen and open up the senses to discover some of the interesting and fascinating wonders of nature. It is a hope that these pages will help in identifying some of these wonders and to further knowledge in these discoveries. It is also a hope to instill appreciation and conservation in the varied habitats and species which rely on them for future generations to enjoy and be inspired by.
Pete Hillman June 2016.
My current equipment is the Nikon D7200. I use a Nikon Speedlight SB-700. I have a Sigma 105mm macro lens for close-up work, which is my very favourite lens, as I love macro photography. I also use a Nikon 18-55mm lens for general photography, and a Nikon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens for those far away photos. I don’t use a tripod as most things I photograph are taken in the moment, hence all the images on this blog are handheld. I do a little digital processing to try and bring out the best in the images I take before uploading them.
I have recently added a Raynox DCR-250 conversion lens which I attach to the front of my lens so I can get that little bit closer.
Please note that I am only an amateur in all that I do here, so if there are any mistakes made in identification I would appreciate it if you could let me know via a comment so I can review it.
WordPress theme: Baskerville 2.
Beautiful pictures and I am so impressed by the breadth of your nature interests! I look forward to spending many peaceful moments here, looking around.
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Thank you very much for your lovely comment and for your likes 🙂 I will look forward to spending time on your side of the pond.
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Wonderful nature photography shots, Pete!
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Thank you 🙂
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I’m delighted to have discovered your site. Beautiful work from the heart of a naturalist!
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Thank you for your kind words Margie :0) I am pleased I have found your wonderful site which is so detailed and full of the beauty and the wonder of nature. I will look forward to visiting more!
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Hola… ¡¡Tienes unas fotos hermosas!! Feliz semana… 🙂 Te sigo… 😉
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Gracias 🙂
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Con gusto… 🙂 😉
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🙂
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Hi Pete, Hi, Thank you for following Jane’s Lens. I hope you enjoy my work. Your nature shots are terrific!
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Thank you Jane, and thank you for following here. I appreciate your comment and your likes, and I will look very much forward to seeing more of your wonderful images!
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You have such a wonderful gallery. I like them all. Well done 🙂
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Thank you 🙂 I appreciate you stopping by.
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Hi Pete,
Your blog is such a wonderful collection of photos, interesting creatures and the beauty that nature brings us. I have talked a few times on my own blog about wanting a pond in my garden one day to attract wildlife. I very much look forward to seeing what joys yours brings to you.
Kind regards,
Laura
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Thank you very much for stopping by and for leaving such a lovely comment. I had always wanted a wildlife pond in my own garden, but I kept putting it off, until I finally took the plunge this year. And within a short space of time I was amazed how much pond life was visiting and taking up residence there. In my ‘Garden Pond’ tab behind ‘Garden’ you will see what I have discovered so far. I hope you do build your own pond one day, Laura, and that you experience the daily delights as I have! Best wishes, Pete
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I just discovered your website. Pete you have a true eye for details. What an amazing pictures you make. Congratulations!
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Thank you for visiting, Greta, and for leaving such a lovely comment and for following 🙂
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Your two paragraphs at the end: “I find beauty, wonder, peace…” And “All it takes…” both capture how I feel outside when I photograph nature. It’s neat to discover people that have the same interests from across the globe!
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Thank you for your lovely comment 🙂 It is indeed neat to join up with kindred spirits from around the world, and very interesting to see the flora and fauna on their side of the fence, so to speak.
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Great Photos! I love to take pictures of animals too but I’ve yet to learn some techniques. Happy to have seen your blog. 🙂
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Thank you for visiting and for your thoughts 🙂 I am sure you will soon learn some techniques for your photography!
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Hi, you are really talented and I like your photos of animals! I looking forward to see more… 🙂 Bye. Kamila
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Thank you very much, Kamila 🙂 I also look forward to experiencing more of you blog! Pete
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Pleased to meet you.
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Thank you, and pleased to meet you, too.
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Hello, so glad you visited my blog so I could find you. We have a like interest in seashells and photography so I look forward to reading more from you.
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You are very welcome, and thank you for joining me here! Yes, I have always loved seashells, collecting them and photographing them, and wondering what the animal inside them was up to in life before shedding its shell.
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I think I could have written your ‘About’ page! They say the best things in life are free, and that’s so true of nature.
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Indeed it is! Thank you for your visit here and for foll0wing 🙂
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P.S. Many thanks for the likes and the follow on my mushroom blog! 🙂
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You are welcome, Jude 🙂 Great images and content there! And thank you! 🙂
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Love your site layout Pete.
Just perfect.
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Thank you very much, Vicki 🙂
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Your new home page (or is it one I’ve never discovered before?) is a great showcase for your year’s photos. It’s an impressively wide selection of both well and lesser known species with some beautifully atmospheric images too.
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Thank you very much for such a lovely comment, Judith 🙂 It is just my ‘About’ page, and clinking on any post will open up with a similar layout. My home page is:
https://petehillmansnaturephotography.wordpress.com/
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Since I started following your blog I’ve gone straight to individual posts and not visited the Home or category pages so I’ve not seen the full array of photos. I’ve enjoyed catching up on some I missed.
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Thank you. I appreciate all your likes and time spent here 🙂
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Hi Pete,
Many thanks for the follow on my photography blog, and for the many ‘likes’ on posts yesterday. It’s kind of you to take the time to look at so much, which takes time. I find it quite hard at times to comment on and like the (too many) blogs I follow, and write my own posts etc.
I was just re-reading your ‘About’ page and a lot of your thoughts are the same as mine especially with regard to how nature is wonderfully calming and good for the spirit. I was brought up on a farm in Oxfordshire and moved to Canada when I was twenty-two, ending up in the Rockies in the very depths of nature. Now in a most wonderfully isolated spot in France with no one in shouting distance. Silence definitely feeds the soul.
Re photography, like you, I hardly ever use a tripod, and I do some photo editing, I also use photo editing to create pictures for cards and a simple book I’ve written, and for sheer fun.
Thanks again for following all my blogs! 🙂
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You are more than welcome, Jude and thank you 🙂 You appear to have travelled far and wide, and and have lived and live in some amazing locations on the planet. It is fabulous being close to nature! 🙂
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I would be interested to know which software you use for your digital processing. I just use what is available on Apple photo, and wonder if something more specialist is worth the cost.
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Thank you for your query, Brian. I use an old version of photoshop, Adobe CS4. There is a new version available, and Adobe Lightroom, but you have to pay monthly for it, which is why I have not gone for it yet. It all depends on what you want to do. I only usually crop, adjust levels, reduce noise and sharpen. Maybe remove the odd artefact or two which may be a distraction from the main subject.
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Hi Pete – I just saw your “new?” home page. Wow! What a huge and amazing selection of images. I was trying to scroll down to the bottom to leave a comment, but it just kept loading up more photos. How many do you have on that page?
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Hi Michael – Thank you very much for your lovely comment 🙂 The home page has always been there, and each image represents a post, and there are 923 posts to date, hence 923 images on this page. Some posts have one image, others may have four or more. The top menu makes it easier to navigate as it breaks the posts down into catergories.
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Thanks Pete – I don’t know why I never noticed it before. I’ll have to check out the categories.
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I love nature and photography! Your site is very interesting
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Thank you 🙂
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Beautiful photos!
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Thank you very much, Erin 🙂
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Hello Pete,
I’m glad I found your website ! and I will frequently come back.
Your photos are wonderful, You can see by looking at your photos that you are fascinated by nature.
Wish you a nice day,
Els
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Hi Els,
Thank you very much for your lovely comment 🙂
I have visited your blog and you have some beautiful photographs on there, and you are certainly passionate about the natural world and phototography as I am 🙂
Best wishes, Pete
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Lovely photography Pete and a site well worth re-visiting. Regards Brian Hicks.
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Thank you, Brian 🙂 You have a great blog, too. You have some fabulous images there!
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Love the photos, but especially the invertebrates!
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Thank you 🙂
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Just found your lovely blog. I moved to France this year and am in the process of setting up a wildflower garden for the local wildlife. You seem to see such a wide variety, it just shows there is so much going on if you encourage these little visitors. Lovely photos too.
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Thank you for your lovely comment, Judi 🙂 Sometimes it is just seeing what has been there all along, and encouraging more, diverse wildlife into the garden can only be a good thing 🙂 All the best with your wildflower garden!
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Hi Pete, I have a question. Do you have the WordPress 3G plan? Your blog is .wordpress.com. With so many photos on your blog, are you running out of media space?
I used 74% of the media space. I’m trying to figure out if I want to upgrade? If I do, they would ask me to change to .com, .blog, or .net. Last time I made a slight change of my link, many bloggers couldn’t find me.
Eventually, I need more media space. I’m wondering how you handle the space situation.
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Hi Miriam. Thank you for you query. I don’t have a plan for I have only used 25% of my 3GB allocation at present. I must have thousands of photos on here and have been blogging virtually every day for almost 18 months, so I figure I have quite some time left yet before I run out of space 🙂
I would not like to pay for the extra space. I had a website before this which I had built up over several years, but whilst it started cheap enough, the price rise became much too high for a non-profit hobby site, so I cancelled it and began on wordpress for free.
I think as I approach the end of the 3GB I will just add another blog through the WordPress Admin, Part 2 of my ‘Nature Photography’, then ask folk if they wish to join me there, and I would start 3GB a fresh 🙂
I hope this helps in some way, Miriam. Best wishes Pete
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It sounds a good plan, Pete. I don’t know how I used 74% of the 3G. One time, my media got scrambled and a lot of photos got duplicated. I don’t know what to delete. I’ll look into it. You’re not the only one doing it that way – start a new blog with another 3G. Thank you, Pete, for the idea!
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You are welcome, Miriam 🙂
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I deleted some duplicates and save 10% space. It’ll give me some time to think about what I want to do! 🙂
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Good idea, Miriam! Sometiems a little spring cleaning helps 🙂
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Thank you, Pete! 🙂
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🙂
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🙂
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Yay I’m the 100th like. Also, your photography is REALLY cool!!
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Thank you very much, Rocky 🙂
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No problem, Pete! 😄
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Thanks for this lovely introduction.. and the great pics. I don’t think I have read it throughly before. So sorry. It would wonderfully have answered my questions of before. x
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That is so very kind of you, Elisa, and no need of you to apologise. Thank you very much 🙂
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Such a nice photo of the intrepid photographer 🙂
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That is so kind of you, Diana, thank you 🙂
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Looking great Pete!
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It’s good to meet you!
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What a great blog you have. I like macro photography too. I’m from the Isle of Wight and have just seen one of your posts about the chalk cliffs at Ventnor, very interesting!
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Thank you for your lovely comment 🙂 I have visited the Isle of Wight on a number of occasions and love the Isle so very much.
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Good morning. In your site is not easy to find how contact you.
I wish to use one photo of Coreus marginatus for article of entomology.
Best regards. Guido Pedroni Italy
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Sorry for the late reply Guido, and of curse you may use the image. Best wishes Pete
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Happy New Year Pete… thanks for sharing your beautiful photos with us!
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Hi there Pam,
Sorry I am late in replying, but thank you for the well wishes for a New Year which again seems to be flying by. I hope you are well and you are enjoying your Year there! Best wishes Pete
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Popping in to say hello. You seem to have dropped off the grid, Pete.
Hope all is well in your neck of the woods?
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My dear blogging friend Ark,
Thank you for your comment, but I am good thank you. I can’t believe where the months have gone since I was last on here. I hope all is well with you and yours over there.
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You’re back! If only for a flying visit?
Life is such that bloggers succumb to it – life – like ”normal” people, and sadly some end up with the Choir Invisible.
Several blog pals have gone this way unfortunately, so when the ”airwaves” are quiet for any length of time there is a general feeling of concern.
In fact, during the time you were off the air our area had no phones or internet for six weeks after a spate of cable theft.
It was disconcerting and family and friends were getting in a bit of a tail spin.
How we rely so heavily on such means of communication.
That said, it’s nice to know you’re alive and kicking, Pete.
Yes, everything is hunky dory over here in Johannesburg – now that the lines of communication have been restored.
Regards
Doug
(Ark)
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Thank you very much Ark! I am hoping to stay now things have settled down here somewhat. Sorry you have had your own issues there, but glad things are up and running again. I will look forward to dropping by and seeing what you have been up to! Best wishes Pete
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Ah! nature – perfect! enjoying your photo’s – eco
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Thank you very much for visiting and for your lovely comments eco! 🙂
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