London never ceases to amaze me – Richmond may not exactly be central London, but it’s part of Greater London, sits within the M25, is connected by both London Underground and Overground trains, and is part of the same bus network that serves Trafalgar Square and the London Eye. It’s only a five mile cycle ride from where I live – closer than the office!

And yet, there’s a great big whopping park, filled with woods, grasslands, ferns and plenty of wildlife – from flocks of bright green parakeets (not so native) to herds of red and fallow deer. Under the guide of Darren Hector, we took a route down from Pembroke Lodge to the ponds, back up round Sidmouth Wood to our starting point.

We didn’t see much rutting – I only witnessed one fight from afar – but there were deer aplenty, and lovely autumn colours as a backdrop.

This is my favourite shot of the day, a beautiful red deer taking a wander in the dying ferns before lying down for a nap – which you can see here on Flickr.

I posted a long time back that I wanted to compile a set of 32 (or 33) images, one from each of the London boroughs. I thought this would be a good challenge, get me out to new places and let me practice photography all at once.

I have singularly failed actively to pursue this project. I may as well have set myself a 27-photo challenge, one for each EU member state. (Are we at 27? I think we are. Maybe 17, for the Eurozone – but better hurry…) Or 192, for each UN member. I digress.

Doing something new was what I wanted to achieve, but it was the challenge of actually getting out and travelling round that led me, I think, to failure. I had no purpose other than to go and take photos of something, and that purpose didn’t really make me jump out of my chair.

When I was home for Christmas in 2009, I did manage an early morning start to catch the sunrise at Britain’s most easterly point; I tied in an existing trip with a photographic goal. I tied a visit to the Isle of Wight with the goal of taking some great photos of splendid wooden boats at sea; I went on holiday and photographed common, garden birds feeding.

Sometimes we just need that extra little helping hand to meet our photographic challenges; setting goals that tie in with other activities is one of them.

The great series of photowalks run by PhotowalkLondon (of which I count myself part) takes us all over the city; maybe, if I can make sure I’m there on the last Saturday of every month, I’ll get my 32 boroughs after all.

No images of my own to go with this post, unfortunately; this month’s PhotowalkLondon was a treasure hunt along the South Bank between Blackfriars and Southwark bridges, and as I’d helped organise it I was allowed to sit in the pub all afternoon – how terrible!

This was the first PhotowalkLondon after the Summer recess, and although it wasn’t the best attended we’ve ever organised, I think in many ways it was pretty good. We set a list of 25 clues – some like ‘Wheel’ were there for creative interpretation, some like ‘All the world’s a stage’ were pointing to specific things – and off trundled the competitors. We’d had a good afternoon a few weeks ago coming up with the clues, and I think those who took part enjoyed solving and finding them.

The best image of the day was a joint award, but Darren and I both liked James’s entry for ‘Lunch’, with the reflected cobbles aligning perfectly with the stainless steel shelves.

The next walk is in Richmond Park on 29th October, and following walks will all take place on the last Saturday of each month. There’s a great programme ready up until April, and I’ll be leading a walk early next year, so keep an eye out for details. All walks are free to join, and come with a friendly bunch of photographers to show you around.

I may have mentioned PhotowalkLondon once or twice before…but this time we ventured slightly outside of the city, to the calm and peaceful Virginia Water.

This is ‘The Cascade’, an artificial waterfall at the corner of the rather large artificial lake built for the pleasure of the royals, some time ago. It’s not as peaceful as once it was, as there’s now a rather busy main road running near to it, but it’s still a little calmer than central London.

You can see more of my shots from the walk in this set on Flickr, and from others around the place – a search for #PhotowalkLondon on twitter might throw up a few images.

In other news, the task of organising the next event has fallen to me (I drew the short straw in the pub after!) – you can RSVP here for a boatride down the Thames. We’ll be hopping on and off the boat at each pier to see what we can see, ending up at the O2 for a quick drink…

Yesterday I attended my first PhotowalkLondon, a monthly photowalk organised on Twitter. There were only about ten of us, but it was a good walk around South Kensington – you can see the route here – and I’ll be sure to go on more. I think the next one is going to be along the Regents Canal, which is closer to me and offers some potentially interesting shots.

I don’t think I really made much use of yesterday’s walk; the photos I’ve uploaded to Flickr aren’t that great but are the best of a bad bunch! One problem I’ve found is that unless I have people to shoot, I don’t really know what to shoot and end up with a lot of rubbish. There are, of course, lots of people on the streets – but I’m too self-conscious most of the time to take photographs of strangers who may not be aware I am there. If they know I’m there, they’re probably going to stop doing whatever it is I found interesting about them!

Anyway, props to Phill Price for leading the walk, and I look forward to next month’s!