I hate getting cold but did go out into the frozen wonderland that was the UK in December 2010 to take my image called -12. After 10 mins, the ends of my fingers were numb, so back to the car I went.

My next photographic journey was to Richmond to see Garry Brannigan's exhibition early in the New Year. I met Garry's family, had a good chat with his mum and dad and was very impressed with his images and printing.

This is where things now started to go wrong. Having patted myself on the back for NOT getting the usual cold at Christmas/New Year, I came down with the most horrendous cold ever which just wouldn't go away. While sparing you the gory details, I must have kept Beechhams and Kleenex in business for just over two months, while 2 lots of antibiotics finally persuaded the lurgey lurking in my lungs to depart at the end of February.

So, between coughing fits and feeling exhausted, I took not one photograph for neary 12 weeks - going to work was trial enough!