All of the images are © Dave Ayres Please don't use them without my prior permission

Living close to Belton House it is inevitable that I’ll spend a lot of time there. Add in some snow and a clear sky and it is almost compulsory to go for a walk. Today was no exception and we were not the only family dragging the kids around while they moaned and shuffled their feet. I wonder what age it is when a walk on a cold crisp morning is something you want to do rather than torture your parents put you though?

The good thing about the snow is that it seems to erase the boundaries of where you can walk. It isn’t that you can’t (a good double negative) walk to these places in summer it is more than there are paths and people tend the stick to them. Cover the well trodden pathways in snow and somehow I get free licence to wander all of the place, just as long as I stay the right side of the fence line and only go through gates that are unlocked.

Being such a model citizen paid dividends when I came across the view shown above. Normally most of the images are taken near the house as with the second image, but with the fence providing the lead in lines, the tree framing the right hand side and the shed providing the focal point in the middle, what is not to like … except perhaps the pylon you can see sticking out of the tree line.

Returning to walks on crisp cold mornings, perhaps the time they become a good idea is when the next stop after the walk is the pub on the way home for a roast dinner and a pint.

FastTrack Grantham is a networking evening with a difference. Lou Hudson and I came up with the idea one day while chatting - no plan, it just happened. The basis of it is that companies together can do more than if you try just by yourself. There are connections and referrals that can make all the difference. We wanted a business club that was actually that – a Club for Businesses that appreciated that putting something in the mix was the best way to get a lot more out of it.

Judging by the feedback on the night and the fact that no one wanted to leave (seriously – not even the promise of drinks had anyone heading for the door), the first meeting has been a success and we will now start the work towards the “Fasttrack2 – The Grantham Expo”, knowing that there are others who wish to get involved. Thanks for the offers of assistance, much apprciated.

As well as a great event, it was wonderful to put faces to some of the names – I’m sure I’ll miss someone out if I start naming names so please check out the hashtag #Fasttrack. There will be other people using it as well, but it is easy to spot the Grantham locals. The Priory were superstars in providing a warm and inviting setting. The image above is from the room we were using – just before kickoff. It looks as if we are about to have a private “Film Noir” evening

I was trying to think of images I’d taken recently that would go with the theme of new beginnings. On the 8th February I’m one of the speakers at Fast Track Grantham, which amongst other things, gives the businesses in the area a chance to meet the people behind the social media feeds. There are a couple of exciting things on the agenda, but if I blab it all here then the presentation would be a bit flat.

If you have a place booked – great. If not then either get on the waiting list by clicking here or follow Lou Hudson1 on twitter.

But I digress. It was a wonderful January morning today – cold, crisp and frost on the ground. Exactly the sort of morning that requires me to go for a walk. Most of the family were on the same page, although my teenage son required a little extra encouragement. While we were out, apart from seeing hot air balloons launching we came across the first snow drops of the year.

Looking at the footfall traffic in The George later on Sunday morning it looks as if Grantham still thinks it is hibernation time, hopefully Fast Track will provide some energy and wake a few people up.

According the weather man we are in for a cold snap. I don’t think anyone has told mother nature, who seems to think it is time to get going. Perhaps the same is true for the economy. If the News departments stopped putting a black cloud on everything, then perhaps we could all get on with spring.

And that is about as radical as I get on this blog ...

I’ve commented more than once (stuck record more like!) about the diversity of the briefs that I’m lucky to get. Some are very precise – photos of our head quarters against a clear blue sky - for example. Others ask for a lot more artistic interpretation, normally these are conceptual briefs where the client is looking for me to add to the overall process. Either way is great. Just occasionally a brief arrives that looks like one and turns out to be the other.

Images of old gravestones is what the e-mail stated. Sounds good I thought to myself, then …define old? Old by date, condition or style. And gravestones, does that include monuments or are we strictly in need of gravestone only. I asked my questions and the reply was “Exactly … we were wondering the same thing. What do you think?”

Consequently over the past week or so I’ve been collecting lots of different images in lots of different styles and if you were wondering what the photographer was doing in the grave yard, if it was me … now you know.

By the way – I mention stuck records as I said that to my kids once . They looked blankly at me and asked what I was talking about. I ended up saying, stuck download. Not quite the same but was as close as I could get.

May my job never change, I enjoy it too much. Here are two of my favourites from the collection.

Where I live on the Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Leicestershire borders (The 3 Shires) is close to the A1 and with a 1 hour 10 minutes train service to London. From a work perspective it is just about perfect. However – there is always a however – when the air is clear and the winter sun is out it is hard to find a shot that doesn’t have a pylon in it.

Compared to some parts of the UK, the terrain here is as flat as a pancake and if you can see 10 miles then the chances are that there will be a line of pylons between you and the horizon. In picking my spot for tomorrow morning and hoping that the weather holds, I did find this part of the 3 Shires that doesn’t have a pylon in the view. Behind me there is a big castle – I’m sure the two are not linked (Just kidding Your Grace!)

The prequel for Alien is out sometime this year and I didn’t realise I was even thinking about it. Looking at the images it must have been in there somewhere.

The past week has been all about planning and executing food photography. Fantastic fun poking around second hand and charity shops looking for the props that matched the clients brief and then a couple of days in the studio with my colleague Tony Crossland (@tcrosslandphoto) working our way through the requirements.

A couple of the images reminded of the movie posters for the original Alien film. I wonder where they got their inspiration ??

The dedicated food photography page can be found by clicking here

Interesting how blackcurrant looks more like red wine in a photo than red wine does. It also removes the temptation to drink while working, although the agency did arrive with a few bottles, just in case.

When I asked the agency to describe the flavour of the wine, they said fruity and as I was eating a banana at the time I light heartedly came up with this as the visual representation of the flavour. What started as an off the cuff comment the agency liked as a concept and the theme ended up in the final images.

Using bananas was eventually rejected however as a little too "adult".

That is it ... 2011 is officially over and 2012 lays out before us - very poetic (yea right). Part of New Year's Eve was spent in the rain in Yorkshire, however I could run back to a warm fire unlike this chap and friends. Then again they are better dressed for the weather.

I had also better come up with a way of organising these blog posts - or delete the older ones - the page is getting rather long.

I hope that 2012 is more than just another revolution around the sun for you ...