Category: Photography

Nests

The aerial men came out today.
After months of a pixilated picture all broken up or frozen (on certain channels worse than others) we now have a new aerial, a boost box and clear pictures on the two TVs in the house. It wasn’t cheap, but I hope it’s worth it. We don’t watch a great deal of TV, but it is most frustrating when the one thing that deserves watching is in fact un-watchable because of a poor picture.

Whilst clambering on the roof the TV aerial man discovered that we have a wasp nest in the edge of the roof. The wasps didn’t appreciate his presence. Rather disconcerting for him. If it had been me discovering a swarm of wasps while I was on the roof I’d have fallen off. One good reason I’m not a TV aerial technician.

Anyway the wasp nest discovery explains the changed appearance of the wood on the porch. Continue reading “Nests”

Not a competition entry

I have found the idea behind the current photo competition quite inspiring, so although this isn’t an entry I thought I’d share.

We had a trip to the Oxford Botanic Gardens on Sunday:

This is a black pine: a detail of the trunk formation

Continue reading “Not a competition entry”

The Bucket Seat.

Billy Wong, a long time fan of Easy Rider, thought that he had managed to put on hold his wife Suzie’s plea to trade in his motor cycle for a new 4×4. Even the arrival of the new baby, Fatty Wong had done nothing to change his mind. Instead, he invented the motor cycle Bucket Seat and now had dreams of becoming one of China’s new fast growing band of seriously rich executives. Continue reading “The Bucket Seat.”

Photo cropping – 11th photo comp.

Ara’s requirements for the latest photo comp are I think not a simple close up cropped from an existing picture but perhaps something cropped from the picture which has nothing to do with the subject and changes the whole context of the photo (and in my case is actually quite funny!)

I could of course be wrong 😉

E.G.

Have you read the signage?

This bakkie wasn’t supposed to be in my shot at all, here’s what I was trying to get Continue reading “Photo cropping – 11th photo comp.”

11th Photo Competition.

Crop It, or Move Closer!

It’s always difficult to set the theme for this competition. Does one aim to inspire greater efforts of photographic brilliance or keep it fairly open?

Since most of my better efforts are achieved more by luck than judgement – I usually know what I’m trying to photograph, but don’t always think about the composition – I’m a great believer in Cropping! It can change the composition and the focus of the picture wonderfully and usually for the better. You have to start with a reasonable number of pixels in the first place, or the results can be disappointing. It’s sort of the reverse of the Devil is in the detail.

Continue reading “11th Photo Competition.”

Well used or worn out?

This morning Scout went off with his little group on his  Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award

He had borrowed from school a suitably sized rucksack and bought it home the other night with his usual school bag inside it. It sat on the dining room floor for a couple of days, while the dining room table filled up with all the necessary items: sleeping roll, sleeping bag, saucepan, first aid kit, compass, torch, waterproof socks, and junky food being just part of it. Lots of fun-sized chocolate. You get the picture.

Prompting him to pack it on Thursday night to check it out didn’t bring any results. Then last night he started to pack, which was when he started to discovers its short comings. Continue reading “Well used or worn out?”

I Decided to Paint my Smallest Shed Today.

I was moved to paint my shed today, I know not why, idly surfing the net this morning I was overcome with an irresistible artistic urge to paint my smallest shed.

The smallest shed was acquired back at the end of last year when I was summarily evicted from the then exiting smallest shed (now the second smallest) together with my definitive collection of gasoline powered tools, THAT small shed has become a sort of shrine to the garden gods, odd potions, pots, bags of expensive dirt (sorry-potting soil) and chemicals mingling with the usual collection of hand tools, which inexplicably were allowed to remain.

Yes, that is a small refrigerator on the right, it holds that vital accompaniment to serious gardening , cold beer.
Continue reading “I Decided to Paint my Smallest Shed Today.”

Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre.

Mock orange flowers
shine white in the dark storm light
restless in the wind

The grey storm clouds surrounded us yesterday evening, but only  a few drops fell.  The wind has been blustery. The moon was hiding. Today has been changeable, and very wet at times (especially when I planned to repoint the patio)
Here is the end of my weather report. Continue reading “Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre.”