Steve swaps snapping bikes for birds
Steve Snelling usually spends most of his weekends during the spring and summer months snapping pictures of motorbike racers from across Shropshire.
He has supplied our newspaper with numerous images over the years, capturing the county's best club racers on circuits up and down the UK.
Whether it's the Wirral 100 Club meeting at Anglesey, in North Wales, the Tonfanau meetings, also in Wales, or tracks closer to the Midlands – like Darley Moor in Derbyshire, and Mallory Park, in Leicestershire – he drives his campervan, in between his normal daytime job working as a binman for Powys County Council, to meet with friends, racers and fellow photographers.
But with all club racing cancelled, or at least postponed, for the foreseeable future due to the cornavirus pandemic, Mr Snelling, who lives in Caersws, Powys, has decided to take pictures of some of the stunning wildlife right on his doorstep.
Mr Snelling has been furloughed and is self-isolating at home, as his asthma puts him in the 'high risk' category, which means he has been advised to stay in for at least 12 weeks.
However, the extra time has meant he has been able to occasionally get out of his house and take some stunning pictures of county's glorious birds.
He said: "As a keen photographer of motorcycle racing, what do us snappers do on lockdown?
"As a local boy, living in Caersws, I've swapped bikes for birds – the feathered sort, of course!
"As I'm off work for health reasons, one day I was sitting outside my house in Caersws to get some fresh air.
"I started noticing all the different species of wildlife and decided to pull out the camera and have a go."
Mr Snelling, who turns 59 today (TUES), took up photography as a hobby in 2007, concentrating on his favourite past-time, motorcycle racing.
He has since visited most circuits in the UK, from the Isle of Man to Anglesey, taking photos along the way – and now he has decided to capture some local wildlife.
"I’m overwhelmed by the response on my website and although motorcycle racing will always come first, you never what might happen in the future," he said.
"Now I know I can keep taking pictures once the race season finishes.
"And, as this race season is on hold for the time being, I will give this a good go and see what I can do."
To view any of Mr Snelling's pictures, of wildlife and motorbike racing, go to stevesracingimages.co.uk, or search for his name on Facebook.
