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| Lamp filament, Canon S120 |
I saw a strange light bulb today; it was a decorative one rather than efficient at putting out light, but the filament did create some fantastic linear patterns.
I could not resist!
Monday, 30 November 2015
Abstract: Lines
I saw a strange light bulb today; it was a decorative one rather than efficient at putting out light, but the filament did create some fantastic linear patterns.
I could not resist!
Not Red or Purple
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| Green Kiwi Fruit. Nokia 630 |
As yesterday was not clear if it was red or purple, I thought I would go for something that was a distinctive colour.
I knew Kiwi were green and this one did not disappoint.
Autumn Reds
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| Red leaves. Nokia 630 |
I spotted these leaves today; the colour was just shocking.
It was tricky to decide if they were red or purple.
So I took their picture :)
Shapes: Swirls and drizzles
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| Swirly Ice Cream. Canon S120 |
I was looking for interesting patterns today. I came across a selection of ice cream. Most of the different flavours had been hacked at well, but this Vanilla with chocolate drizzles had only got a minor tickle to the rear.
The contrast of colours is rather nice too.
Shame I cannot eat it any more :(
Rain drops on purple
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| Wet flowers. Canon S120 |
With Autumn progressing, I stumbled across a bucket of flowers today. They are obviously imported from somewhere, but the rain had given them a fresh sparkle; a quite nice cheer for the time of year.
A visitor for the Winter
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| Robin, Nikon D7000 |
There has been a regular visitor to the garden over the last few weeks, and I think it may be here for the winter.
I finally managed to capture a picture of it this morning. It hid amongst the leaves in the dark of the tree, which made it trick to photograph.
A Worry for Adam
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| Wilting Fig Leaves. Nikon D200 |
As Autumn progresses, the fig leaves are starting to wilt. As the leaves shrivel, the chances of me going fancy dress as a biblical character are waning; although they have space to shrink a bit more...
A turn of yellow (just)
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| windfall apples. Nikon D7000 |
There are vast quantities of apples off the trees now. These are some of the first to fall off the 'yummy' apple tree.
Even though I don't like apples, these ones I do not mind eating, so they are going in the fruit bowl rather than a crumble.
Keep bouncing, its not bent enough yet...
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| Pigeons on broken aerial. Canon S120 |
The bent and broken aerial is providing a handy perch for the local pigeons
I am sure they are bouncing on it to try to break it off; they do not seem to realise that it will not quite be the same if it snaps off!
As long as it does not crash down the roof onto the car...
A touch of sunburn
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| Apple with sunburn. Nikon D7000 |
We have had good and bad bits of the summer. The worst scenario for the apples is rain overnight, then sun all day. Although it feeds the tree well, this particular type of apple is super prone to sunburn.
As the water droplets sit on the surface from the overnight rain, they act as little magnifying lenses for the sun, scorching the skin.
The skin of these apples must be super sensitive as none of the other varieties suffer in the same way.
No Fall Out
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| Fall Out Boy on stage. Canon S120 |
This evening we had a quick trip down to Wembley to see Fall Out Boy. It is the second time I have seen them now, and they were just as good this time too.
Katie, Becks and Charlie were in their element, especially when the band came through the crowd and played on a small stage just feet from them.
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| Fall Out Boy. Canon S120 |
Sunday, 1 November 2015
Very high and yellow
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| Artichoke flower. Nikon D7000 |
The artichokes are flowering at last. Being a member of the sunflower family, the flowers are supported on a very long stem of around 3 metres.
Shame the flower is not quite as big as the Dandelions below!
Dusty Tassels
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| Tassels. Nikon D7000 |
Lisa the lamp has been in the living room for many years now. The lampshade she supports is trimmed with many small tassels around its edge.
I must dust them sometime.
Turning Fast
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| Autumn Colour. Canon S120 |
The trees are putting on a spectacular display this year. The many colours of the trees are changing fast. This tree had a very good range of colours and was putting other nearby trees to shame.
Fingers crossed for low winds for another few weeks to keep the trees clothed.
Fruit Skeleton
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| Grape Stems. Nikon D200 |
Many fruits have a skin to peel off. Grapes can be peeled, but they also leave a framework behind that betrays their existence.
In some fruit like oranges, the peel can have a use too.
I am not sure what I can do with grape stems; apart from photograph them.
Heading In
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| Earwig,. Nikon D200 |
As the weather starts to get cooler, I have noticed many insects looking for a good place to spend the Winter. This earwig was wandering around the living room.
It is now looking for a corner to hide in outside.
Every day Objects: Loose Thread
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| Cotton Reel. Nikon D200 |
I thought I would get close again to something that is often kicking around the house.
I found a reel almost devoid of its cotton coating.
I broke out the flash gun; despite many attempts, one with a feint shadow actually looked the best as it gives more of a 3D feel.
Taking its Turn
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| Apple in the peeling machine, Canon S120 |
The windfall apples have been taking their turn today on the apple peeling and coring machine.
Once mounted, turning the handle quickly removes the shiny skin coating from the apple, removes the core, and turns the flesh of the apple into a sliced spiral of future crumble material :)
Shiny and brown, with a jacket of spikes
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| Conkers. Canon S120 |
The breeze last night brought down many leaves; and also a school boy's dream of pocket fulls of conkers.
The nuts have ripened well this year and are of quite a reasonable size.
The jackets are just as spiky as usual though, doing their best to protect their cargo from childhood games.
Macro: Fly
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| Fly on an apple. Nikon D200 |
The sun is out so I broke out the extension tubes again. I hooked up my old 100mm manual lens and when to hunt some subjects.
I found that there were quite a few flies out; one landed on a nearby apply in some sunlight and stayed just long enough for me to get it into focus.
Battle of the Jacks
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| Phone connectors. Nikon D200 |
There is a constant battle these days to find a phone charger jack that is the right shape for my phone.
We have a household dominated by Apple devices, only I buck the trend with Android and the micro-USB.
I have resorted to keeping a stash of cables, but can still get caught out such as when we are in the car.
Oh for manufacturers to all agree on one standard!
Turning the keys
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| Ash keys, Canon S120 |
The colours of the leaves on this Ash are beginning to change colour. The contrast of the yellowing leaves against the dark clusters of keys is rather attractive.
This ash tree seems to be avoiding the die back issues at lease.
Contrails
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| Contrails. Canon S120 |
This morning I was up just before the sun. The angle of the light lit up the aircraft contrails to make them look 3D and stand out.
As Autumn progresses, at least it is becoming plausible to be up before dawn without getting bags under your eyes.
Peeping
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| Cat peeping from shed. Canon S120 |
There are some old sheds, but then there are great old sheds with wobbly knotty boards, and lots of gaps for small creatures to hide behind.
This cat had found a safe place to hide today; peeping out on the world.
Packed to Go
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| Matt's car. Canon S120 |
Liz is off to Uni today.
Matt was a star and offered up transport.
Luckily he picked up a new car yesterday that is a fair bit bigger than his old one; even then it was stuffed!
Super Moon
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| Moon. Canon S120 |
This evening as we headed out for a meal, the moon was huge and low in the sky.
There seemed to be many folks taking advantage of the long clear view from the motorway bridge too.
The meal was nice as well.
Late Purple
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| Magnolia. Nikon D200 |
The Magnolia at the bottom of the garden is attempting to flower again.
It is not the first year it has tried it, but only occasionally have the blooms come to much.
I suspect that this is as far as it will get this year.
Falling in the Wind
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| Apples. Nikon D7000 |
The apple tree is unloading its stash now; there have been many windfalls over the last few days.
I plan to set too and peel a stack of these and freeze them down to supply my Winter crumbles.
Something has chewed my nuts
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| Nibbled hazel nuts. Nikon D7000 |
The hazel tree at the bottom of the garden seems to have quite a few 'shells' on it, however quite a few of them are empty (Spring was obviously not that good for fertilisation).
The few that do contain a bounty have been raided by some devious mammal.
I am not sure whether it is a squirrel or a mouse, but I need to find a way of getting the good nuts off the tree before they do....
Autumn Colour
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| Chestnut leaves. Canon S120 |
As autumn starts to bite, there are some rather spectacular leaf formations occurring. I spotted this horse chestnut today with an almost purple tip to its leaves.
Someone has planted it very close to their garden wall; give it a few years and I am sure the conker tree will win!
Late flowering
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| Clematis. Nikon D7000 |
The Spring flowering clematis on the patio is having its second flush of the year.
I doubt it will set any useful seeds, but the flowers are a pleasant sight.
In the Spring, the flowers have a noticeable scent, but this late batch do not appear to be very fragrant.
Looking Tyred
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| Bike wheel and Ivy. Nikon D200 |
There is a bike that has been sat for a while on the patio. There is a small Ivy plant which has taken its opportunity to wind itself through the front wheel of the bike.
The bike is looking a bit sad now, with its flat tyres and rusty brakes; I just need to clear out the garage to find it a home.
Macro: Spider
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| Spider. Nikon D200 |
The weather was still today so I put a 100mm lens on extension tubes and broke out the tripod.
This spider very kindly stayed still for long enough to get a crisp exposure; or more likely, the flies were kind enough to wait before they flew into her web :)
A sight to make eyes sore
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| Ivy flower. Canon S120 |
Today while picking a few blackberries, I noticed that my eyes were starting to get a bit irritated. I then noticed the bursting of the dreaded ivy flower.
The fly that had landed on the ivy heads does not seem to suffer from Ivy-fuelled hay-fever like I do!
Shades of White and Purple
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| Flowers, Canon S120 |
The flowers in the living room are rather pretty at the moment; often bunches of flowers have shocks of colour, but these are far more subtle.
The many small petals give the appearance of a smooth gradation of colour, but really it is the petal density that gives the shading effects.
Black and Grey Rainy Day
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| Rain drops, Nikon D200 |
This morning was dry, but then there was a feint pitter-patter of rain.
The drops were big and very splatty; making lots of patches of random size with very wobbly edges.
It started to rain very heavily as I was taking pictures; good job the camera is weather sealed!
Peeling and Flaking
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| Bark. Nikon D200 |
The bark on the apple tree in the garden is often in a state of flux. The top surface peels slowly over time, flaking away to leave smooth bare patches.
I wonder how many insects are going to take their chances over the winter on some of the looser flakes.
Dew Drip
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| Hawthorne. Canon S120 |
Although it was not raining by the time we walked back from the school, there was an appearance of 'very heavy dew'.
The Hawthorne bush was decidedly soggy.
Striped Naked
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| Orange. Nikon D200 |
Many fruits are soft and delicate with skins that are designed to be consumed. Oranges are interesting in that as a fruit for a snack, we discard the peel, yet for preserving oranges, we discard the centre and store the peel!
I used to really enjoy a session of marmalade on buttered toast, but alas the high sugar content is a necessary evil for preservation.
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