Across the Cosmos

We've had a whole load of these flowers - I believe that they're called cosmos - growing in troughs this year. This is an image of one of them.

The Black Dahlia

Generally, the images made using dark backgrounds  - usually paper - in direct sunlight have been pretty unsuccessful, and I haven't been able to post any that I've made.

However, you may remember that the dahlia images that I've been posting were made using a cut flower in my light tent and I decided to have a go with the black backing. This image is the result, and I'm fairly happy with it.

Twice Dahlia, After Meals

Yet another image from the red dahlia set. This completes the set of profile views.

The Dahlia Mail

Another image from the red dahlia set.

The Blue Dahlia

Actually, it was red. 

I've been pursuing my flower photography throughout the summer, but I've only got round to processing the results recently. This is another cut flower, shot in the light tent and one of a series that I'll post over the next few days.

Axbridge Afternoon

Another image from our afternoon in Axbridge, made with the Nokia 1020. The mono conversion was done in post using GIMP.

A Grave Mistake

More than two tears on, we're still trying to get rid of stuff from my father's house. This led, last Saturday to an unsuccessful attempt to attend a car boot sale. I won't bore you with the details, but the upshot was that, in the late afternoon, we found ourselves mooching round Axbridge.

This image was made with my camera phone, from a vantage point near the Sea Cadet centre which is in the old station. The body of water in the distance is Cheddar Reservoir and the feature on the horizon just to the right of centre is Nyland Hill.

Scrapheap Challenge

The holidays are over and I had to take my car in the get the water pump replaced. This image was made whilst I was waiting for my lift, having dropped the car off first thing in the morning.

I'm really pleased with the 1020 as a camera, somewhat less so as a phone. I'm having a bit of a hard time getting Tu GO working at the moment - I suspect that there will be a post about this in due course.

Jekyll and Hide

Another image of Lindisfarne Castle, this time viewed from the Gertrude Jekyll Garden. 

I have a very vague memory that the last time we visited, which would have been in nineteen ninety-two or thereabouts, the garden was derelict and overgrown. In any case, it isn't now and we spent a very pleasant few minutes there as the sun went down.

The Gospel Truth

Having decided to holiday in Whitby, we thought that we could fit in a trip to Lindisfarne, which I visited with my wife on our first holiday as a couple err-hum years ago. On that occasion, it was November and everything was closed.

Anyway, a week before our holiday, I actually decided to look at a map of the region and discovered that Lindisfarne is 130 miles north of Whitby. Oops. We also had to factor in the tidal causeway which links the island to the mainland. Around the time of our visit, it was impassible between midday and six pm, which made a day trip from our base near Whitby difficult to organise.

So, we canned the idea of a day trip and decided to drive up on the Saturday at the end of our holiday and stay over in a nearby hotel. As long as we left our accommodation around eight am, we could get onto the island before the causeway closed and spend the day there. No problem.

On the day, we were still packing the car at eight thirty and finally got away about nine am. Still, we agreed that we could make it. Apart from the fact the A1 was one long series of minor accidents, which held us up just long enough to prevent that.

So, we had to replan. Go to the hotel, check in and then find something to do with the afternoon and go onto Lindisfarne in the evening. In Alnmouth, we raided the hotel's supply of tourist leaflets and discovered that boat trips to Lindisfarne were available from Seahouses. Back into the car and off to see if we could get onto the island that way.

After nearly an hour hacking about on country lanes, we got to the harbour to discover that no boat trips were running that day - apparently the "convenient" causeway opening times meant that there was no current demand. 

So, we had to replan, again. Back in the car we decided to go to Bamburgh Castle, which we finally reached about three pm.

And so, at six pm, we finally made it onto Lindisfarne, were we spent  a few hours before the sun set. We walked out the the castle (pictured above), strolled round the village and peered at the priory through the locked gates.

As we drove back down the causeway about nine pm, my wife said "Next time, we'll come when the place is actually open..." and I thought to myself, "What next time?"