Pond Life

Dusting of Snow on the Frozen Pond.  Nikon D80

24th February 2013

It has been cold again for the last few days and the pond has not managed to thaw out.  We had a dusting of white stuff in the night which settled on the ice.

It is not long before the frogs will be out and wanting to spawn.  It will not be the slop-slop-slop of humping frogs that we hear if it does not warm up, it will be serious banging of frog jack-hammers on the ice.

Small

Amplifier board.  Nikon D80

23rd February 2013

I thought it was time for some more macro photographs.  I happened to have been doing a little soldering recently and thought the surface mount components would be a photographic challenge.

It is interesting how you can lose all size reference with macro images; the resistors and capacitors around the edge of the board are 2mm long and the capacitor right in the centre of the image is only 1mm long and less than 0.5mm wide.

A bit of a sod when they 'ping' out of the tweezers; no chance of ever finding them again amongst the dust on the floor.

Going Horse

Westbury White Horse.  Nikon D7000

22nd February 2013

I was on my travels today and happened to pass through Westbury.

It was back in May when I last photographed some of the local landmarks so I thought it seemed time for another one.  I should have taken a picture last month, given that the new business is named after them.

Cats in the Garden

Catkins on the Hazel Tree.  Nikon D7000

21st February 2013

The Hazel tree in the chicken pen had a good crop of nuts in the Autumn.   It is covered in catkins at the moment; hopefully it is a good sign for lots of nuts this year.

The weather has turned cold again today, hopefully it will not deter Spring....

Primroses

First Primrose Flower.  Nikon D7000

20th February 2013

The last few days have been quite warm and sunny and it has encouraged spring to start in earnest.   More flowers are opening daily and the first primrose opened this morning.

Fingers crossed for a Daf being ready for St Davids Day.

Fresh Blooms

Clematis Flowers.  Nikon D7000

19th February 2013

Today the first of the evergreen clematis flowers has started to open.  Hopefully we will get a good long season of flowers this year; last year the plant flowered well into April.

Evolving Slowly

Alex's Gorilla Slippers.  Nikon D7000

18th February 2013

Alex had some new slippers for Christmas.   He has enjoyed wearing them, however recently his feet have started to evolve into something quite alarming.  The smell would wrinkle even a Gorilla's nose and is even providing stiff competition to the odours that emanate from Liz's toes.

Lets just hope Katie does not join in the competition either.

What's Brown and Sticky?

Xena waiting for her stick to be thrown.  Fuji F11

17th February 2013

The usual answer to "What is brown and sticky" is apparently 'a stick', however although the sun has been out for a few days, it also applies to the lawn, Xena's feet after she has walked on the lawn, the chicken pen ....

Xena has enjoyed the sun though and spent much time trying to persuade me to stop digging the veg plot and to throw her stick for her.  I took the option I enjoyed most too.

I will finish the digging another day :)

Taste and Flavours: Spices

Cardamom and Cloves.   Nikon D80

16th February 2013

In another attempt to capture pictures of 'the senses', I thought a picture of some spices may be good.

There were some Cardamom pods and Cloves that Jo had used to flavour the rice for tonight's curry that seemed good for an image.

I am always amazed how such strong flavours can be contained within such small packages and how so few items can impart such a significant flavour.

Weeds

Weeds.  Half-Plate view camera, f/16 for 8 seconds
through a yellow filter onto pre-flashed
Ilford VC paper as a negative
through 210mm enlarger lens.

15th February 2013

I managed to get into the garden for a little while today.  The ground is still saturated, but at least the sun was out.

I found a half-plate sized film holder while tidying the study later that I had loaded with some photo paper for a negative a few years ago; I thought it was time it saw some photons.

The weeds that had started to grow and were now dehydrating seemed like a nice stationary subject as even though it was bright outside, it still needed an 8-second exposure.

The big advantage of using large format film is that even a low-res scan of the negative yielded a 44 MPixel image, which gives plenty of scope for cropping out smaller regions of interest.

Crop of the nettle leaves.  Half-plate camera.

Valentine

Fun with shadows.  Nikon D7000

14th February 2013

Its an old idea that has been photographed many times over the years, but it is not an image I have put on the blog so far :)

I needed a good thick book so that there was a good fold in the centre to get a heart-shaped shadow; some of the Harry Potter books are thick, but the text is not really fit for Valentines Day.

The Bible was the next choice; I took a few pictures before I thought to have a flick through to find some text that worked well and a bit about weddings seemed fitting.

I did really well all told as I resisted the temptation to put my finger into Jo's wedding ring as it would definitely have got stuck; not quite as bad as when I got my finger stuck in the wall though ....

Abstract: Snowflake

Snowflake.  Nikon D7000

13th February 2013

I thought I may try some abstract photography today.   I have never been a fan of abstract painting, however I do enjoy abstract sculpture.

As photography is an accurate depiction of how light passed through a lens, it is not always obvious how abstract pictures can be made.

Often abstracts are considered using repeating patterns, or macro shots of a small part of a larger object.  I decided to go for the 'some blurred, some sharp' option today.

It seemed like a good idea to photograph the snowflakes that are falling; it was trickier than I thought to capture an in-focus flake, but at least I got one.

Wot No Pancakes?

Lemon Slice.  Fuji F11

12th February 2013

Its pancake day!

I made some pancakes this morning for the kids, but forgot to have one myself :(

I did find a slice of lemon to photograph; it was for squeezing on my curry however and is not quite the same thing.

Eleven

Dice.  Nikon D7000

11th February 2013

I saw these dice sitting on the side today and noticed that they summed to '11'.   I thought I would try to be clever and have 11 on one side, and 2 on the other for the month.

After much twiddling with my dice, I remembered that the spots on opposite sides of a dice always add to 7, so if one dice was a 6, then there was no way I could make a number as low as 2 with the other visible side.

Ho hum, I will just have to try again another day which is a bit more conducive to dice stacking.

A question for the mathematical; which day (or days) of the year has the most ways you can stack the dice?

Dirty Duck

Duck in the mud.  Fuji F11

10th February 2013

Despite the weather, this little chap still has a smile on his face.  

He could do with finding his way to a bath though.

Tits in the rain

Long-tailed tits.  Nikon D7000

9th February 2013

We had a rare visit from a pair of long-tailed tits this morning.  They braved the rain in the search of food.

Despite there being corn and sunflower seeds out, they seemed more interested in pecking the lichen off the branches of the apple tree.

As long as they leave the buds alone which are just starting to form, I do not mind.

Onion Breath

Onion in veg shop.  Fuji F11

8th February 2013

I popped into the fruit and veg shop today and noticed the current window display.

There was a nice family of onions, along with cucumber, a artichoke and some potatoes, all striking different poses.

I wonder what will be posing in the window next week when the current occupants have passed their prime and started to droop.

What's white and yellow and tastes great?

Eggs.  Nikon D7000

7th February 2013

The egg mountain was growing again, so Egg and Chips sufficed for this evenings menu.

We managed to demolish 8 eggs between us and I was quite taken by a 'three colour' picture (black, white and yellow).  It is amazing just quite how many tones there are of the individual colours though.

Pick Me! Pick Me!

Horse Snot.  Fuji F11

6th February 2013

Today I said hello to a muddy horse in a muddy field.  It came quite close and thought the camera looked tasty.

Despite being a little horse, it did more remind me of Donkey from Shrek; apart from the mud that is.

Urban Fungus

Satellite fungus attacking a building.  Fuji F11

5th February 2013

I walk past the building most mornings but as the sun was out, I thought it was time to capture the odd fungus that is attacking some of the buildings in the area.

The strange black mushrooms are sprouting all across the brickwork and must be doing untold damage to the buildings.  This 'satellite fungus' also apparently attacks the brains of the building's residents too.

Perspective

Vanishing point in Tesco's.  LG phone.

4th February 2013

Whilst stood waiting for Katie to hunt through the aisles of Tesco's this evening, I was taken by the seemingly endless rows of 'stuff' receding into the distance.

I think a nice pleasant walk into town is called for tomorrow; the greengrocers has one row of fruit and veg and his bananas look much tastier.

Food: Sunday Roast

Roast Beef.  Nikon D7000

3rd February 2013

I have posted a few food related pictures so far on the blog, but liked the range of colours today on the chunk of beef that had spent a few happy hours in the oven.   Yum.

Happy Weekend :)

Broken Toes

Concrete Feet breaking up from the frost.
4"x5" negative, 55mm focal length pinhole camera,
f/190 for 25 minutes onto preflashed Ilford VC paper
as a negative through a yellow filter.

2nd February 2013

The sun came out today so I thought I would grab the chance to take some pinhole photographs.

I chose one of my old 4"x5" box cameras that I made a few years ago (it was looking lonely on the shelf).  

I set up the camera near to some concrete toes I made a few years ago; I tried a new mix of cement in an attempt to get a very white surface.   The mix has turned out to be porous and so the frost has blown the toes apart.

I used photographic paper as a negative and unfortunately, even though the sun was out, the exposure took 25 minutes.   It was quite windy at times and at some point during the exposure, the camera seems to have moved a fraction, blurring the image slightly.

I might try again if we ever have another sunny day...

One, two, three, Kick!

Liz's Trophy.  Nikon D80

1st February 2013

The many years that Liz has spent dancing were rewarded again tonight as she was presented with not only her certificate for passing the Gold Star level exam, but also the dance school prize for Dancer of the year.

Well done Liz!