Where's Lorry?

I made this image, which is one of a series, at the peat works in Burtle. There's an articulated lorry concealed somewhere, if you can spot it.

Reserves Committed

Another, and the final, image from the Shapwick set.

Reflecting on Shapwick

Yet another image image from Shapwick NNR. Sorry about the punning title.

Back to Shapwick

Yet another image from Shapwick NNR, my favourite fall-back.

Beach Nut

Another image from the Weston set.

Weston Sky

I don't normally shoot sunsets, but this one was too good to pass up. The landscape in question is Weston bay, with Sand Point in the background.

The Dark Knightshayes Rises

Another Knightshayes image.

The Dark Knightshayes Returns

Another image from the Knightshayes set.

The Dark Knightshayes

An image made during a half term trip to Knightshayes, hear Tiverton.

Yellow Pages

This is an image that I've been meaning to post for a while, so now that I'm getting a bit desperate, it seems like as good a time as any.

South Bank Show II

Another image from the London trip, this time of the Royal Festival Hall.

South Bank Show

Recently, I found myself in London for a couple of days, at a fairly dry conference. However, I did have an evening to myself and as I was staying south of the river, spent some time on the South Bank. As I hadn't bothered to take a camera with me, I ended up making some images with my camera phone.

In case you don't know, this is the front of the National Theatre. A few more images to follow.

Distressed

I was pondering on passing this off as an image that I found at a car boot sale, hence the distressing. The faded colour scheme resulted from all the fiddling round to try and get the colours in the various layers vaguely the same and after that, I just went with it.

Hear That Sound?

I'm still scraping the barrel. Here's another image of Clevedon Pier.

Pier-ing At The Sea

Those of you who've been paying attention - and if not, why not? - may remember that, way back in February, I posted some images of Clevedon Pier.

Anyway, I seem to have hit a bit of an impasse with my current crop of images, so I searched back through stuff that I've taken this year and came across this one, which I hadn't processed, due to the presence of some extraneous elements in the frame.

A few minutes spent with GiMP, and here we have it. You may notice that I've gone for a non-standard format, but this image really needed it. The result is probably, of the three that I've posted, closest to the image in my head when I released the shutter.

Also, I do like the Lowry-esque figure near the middle of the frame, I think it's presence adds something. 

Shockproof

How, I hear you cry, has he made this image?

Well, its a bit of a cheat, to be honest.

Many years ago and apropos of nothing that I'm aware of, my father bought an ornament making kit. This included some chemicals and a couple of moulds, the idea being that you could make an acetate block containing items of your own choosing.

My father chose an old watch and some pre-decimal coins. I must have been around five years old at the time and I have a relatively clear memory of them being made - the smell of the chemicals being the strongest impression.

These two object d'art hung around my parent's house for years, and now they're found their way into our house. God knows why - they're not that attractive and the block with the coins has scraps of newspaper stuck in the surface of the acetate - but they seem to have survived every cull of unwanted items.

And now here one of them is, immortalised on the web.  

Flowerhead

An image from a recent trip to Stourhead.

I Beg Your Pardon...

Its been a while since I've posted a mono image - there was a time when I desaturated most of my images. Anyway, this one has been hanging around for a while and as I've hit a bit of hiatus, I thought that I'd process and post it.

The rose was orange, btw. 

Knoll Point

I made this image during a recent ramble up Brent Knoll. Btw: what is the difference between a walk and a ramble?

Anyway, I had my Tamron super-zoom fitted, which isn't the fastest lens in the world, but on this occasion, its produced a perfectly acceptable bouquet, I think.

May Bee

Enough with the insect photos, already.

Hedge Brown Eyes

A hedge brown butterfly in our garden.

Bee For Real

More entomological antics from our garden.

Eyes on the Flies

These mini-beasts are the gift that just gives on giving. Whatever that means.

Even More Beastly

Another mini-beast in our garden.

Super Fly

Another image of a mini-beast from our garden.

Beastly

The mini-beasts are back...

King of the Road

A second image from the same set as the poppy, which was of a group of flowers growing wild at the side of the road, amongst them this dandelion.

Semper Vivum

Back closer to home, a poppy seems appropriate given the current anniversary that we're observing.

Perimeter Walk III

These lilies are growing wild all over the levels at the moment. I've only noticed them over the past couple of years - maybe I've been particularly obtuse, but I don't remember them being around a few years ago.   

Perimeter Walk II

Another image from the Space Walk set.

Perimeter Walk

Recently we attempted the Somerset Space Walk, along the Bridgwater Taunton Canal. Unfortunately, our son's incessant moaning prevented us from completing it, but I managed to make so images of the canal bank flora.

Huntspill Walk

Another image from our half term walk along the Huntspill River.

Clover Field

For various reasons that are too dull to relate here, half term found me out for a walk along the Huntspill River. I made a hash of shooting the scenery, but fortunately I had my macro lens with me, so I set about making images of some of flora, of which this is one. 

Chive Bunny

Another chive. The composition of this image is slightly odd, which is a result of the breeze that was blowing the flowers around, but I think it works.

Chive Aid

The pot of chives in our garden is flowering again. The chives that is, not the pot, obviously.

Anyway, here's an image.

Drive II

This is a slightly different treatment of the same flower as the in the previous post. Firstly, the depth of field in this image is quite shallow. Secondly, the post processing has resulted in a less contrasty image.

Something different next time.

Drive

This particular plan was growing on the drive, at the base of the garden wall. The image was made using a sheet of black paper as a background and available light.

I have a couple of other images using different treatments of this subject, which I may post shortly.

Slim Pickings

The lean period continues, I'm afraid. I have another set of images still in the camera, maybe there'll be something decent amongst those. In the meantime, here is a rather sorry mono image of a flower from our garden.

Got the Mumps

For those of you unfamiliar with Somerset, this is not Glastonbury Tor. It is, in fact, a nearby landmark which is somewhat smaller and less well known - the Burrow Mump. 

In this case, the church fell into disrepair because the locals decided that they couldn't be bothered hauling themselves up the hill on a Sunday morning, and built another church at the bottom.

As you can see, a couple of hardy souls made it to the top on the day that we visited. In fact, we made our way up there shortly after this image was made - there's a handy car park at the foot. All the place needs to be perfect is a tea shop - it is NT after all.

What A Scream

Not sure what sort of flower this is, but I do like the "Scream" mask in the top centre of this image. I'd like to be able to say that I noticed it pre-capture, but I didn't.

Everything's Beachy

Many years ago, I lived in a place called Bollington. The town has its own symbolic structure, a brick pyramid call White Nancy. Burnham has one also, the old lighthouse, which for some reason, I've never photographed . 

Anyway, now that my son is attempting his Cubs photography badge, I'm touring these local landmarks. To be honest, I could have picked a better time. With the tide out, the beach isn't very photogenic.

So, hardly a classic with which to get this blog back up and running, but needs must.

Unfinished Monkey Business

Another image from the Barrington Court set. This is a detail from the main door of the house, one of four apparently random animals.

Long Tall Gallery

On a bank holiday, visiting a National Trust property is a legal requirement of British citizenship. Anyway, on Good Friday, we went to Barrington Court to see the IGPOTY photography exhibition and I made this image of the Long Gallery.

Spring Break II

Finally, I have a few images that I'm prepared to post. This is of a daffodil from our garden.

Spring Break

Another image of a spring flower. Pickings have been rather slight recently - hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly.

Croak Us, Vernus

Time for the obligatory image of a spring flower.

Wellington Booted

A couple of weeks ago we took a trip to the Wellington Monument near, er, Wellington.

The place is an object lesson in the transient nature of fame and public approbation. The monument was supposed to be much taller and have an enormous bronze statue of the Duke on top. But funds, provided by public subscription, soon ran out and the work that was done was of a poor standard. That fence around the base is to keep visitors safe from falling masonry.

The Duke might have felt aggrieved at the contrast with Nelson's Column, but may also have reflected that Nelson had to died to earn it. In any case, the place has a somewhat bereft air to it, as the whole site is poorly maintained, despite being owned by the National Trust.

People, Watching

Another image from the Clevedon set, this time of the marine lake itself. One thing that I was reminded of during this shoot is that long exposures don't make much difference when nothing is moving, and when then evening is very still...you get the idea. I could have saved myself the bother of staying until sundown.

Anyway, I've only just noticed the people, but I think that they add something.

Going Postal II

During the recent trip to Clevedon, and whilst I was waiting for the sunset, I found these posts. There's nothing to explain their presence, overlooking the Severn Estuary - they're obviously of fairly recent origin though.

Pier Review Two

A slightly different framing of the previous scene - not sure which I prefer, so I've posted both.