Frozen

It was a rather challenging theme for May in my online photo group: 'Frozen'. Given that we're heading for summer here and in the last couple of weeks the weather has warmed up, clearly we weren't going to get any frost or snow! So... thinking cap on... I ended up freezing some Welsh poppy heads (I have plenty of them!) in water in a container and then propping the resulting very large ice cube up by the window so sunlight shone through it. It's not at all an original technique but I've never tried it before. As always, 95% of the images were useless but I got a couple I liked and decided this was the best composition. 

Hmm, that reminds me... gin and tonic, anyone? 

On the bench

April's theme for my online photo club was fairly terrifying for me... We had to take photos of 'people that we don't know, sitting on benches'. I rarely take pictures of people and rarely take candid shots so it was a challenge. First up was a lady reading a book, beside the canal. I was on the bridge above so there was little chance of her seeing me. It helped that she was wearing a bright red jacket. 

Then I tried one from above and behind. Again, less chance of being spotted. Four folk just 'watching the world go by'... (Which reminds me of when I was a child, sitting with my family on a bench at the seaside. My sister and I got bored and wanted to leave but my parents told us to 'sit and watch the world go by'. After quite a long time of this, my sister asked impatiently: 'When is it coming?') 

My third subject was the groundsman at the cricket club, taking a rest, perhaps contemplating the coming sports season, or remembering past glories - who knows? I stood a fair way away with a long lens! 

Then I got bold and shot from the hip whilst trying to pretend I was fiddling with my camera, capturing a young couple chatting over a takeaway coffee.  It needed straightening up in processing - but not a bad effort! 

The cycling couple having a breather on a bench (again caught with a long lens) were eye-catching in their brightly coloured hoodies. 

Well, at least I tried. 

Sunset theme

The theme for my online photo group for March was sunrise/sunset. That was quite a challenge for me as I'm never up before sunrise and - as I've said many times before - I can't see the western sky from my house so I have no idea when a 'decent' sunset is developing. It's a matter of popping out in the hopes that something will happen. At least when there is some colour in the sky I can get double value by photographing it reflected in the river by the cricket field. This was a bit of a weak effort as sunsets go, but not unattractive. 

Minimalism

The theme for my online photo group for November was 'Minimalism'.  It was a good excuse to play around with some ideas and try some mono and high key effects, not my usual style. 

White on white is hard to do! …

This one is all about light and shadow:

 

Signs and portents?

Mostly I try to see and capture the beauty in the world through my camera, though you have to acknowledge that there is much that is not so lovely. Out on a country walk, I spotted a length of baler wrap, caught on a barbed wire fence and flapping around rather pitifully in the breeze, like some kind of malevolent but trapped spirit!

On another more urban walk, a tree fern (or similar... at least I hope that's what it was!) protectively wrapped for the winter seemed also to exude a somewhat sinister vibe. I'm not given to fanciful notions but in both cases I felt simultaneously a little amused and yet also a little shivery. Perhaps our deep and primitive ancestral fears are still there in our collective unconscious. Or maybe I've been watching too many dark crime dramas! 

On the other hands, rainbows seem always to represent hope, beauty, a pot of gold or good fortune, as well as inclusivity, love and friendship. So I reckon the one I saw the other day cancels out any evil spirits that have crossed my path! Actually it was - albeit very faintly - a double rainbow so twice the value. Did you know that in a double rainbow the colours are reversed? 

Texture

My online photo group theme for December was 'texture'. This was my entry - taken when the canal was frozen over. My explorations were sadly curtailed by catching Covid just before Christmas, otherwise I might have found something a bit more exciting for the theme. 

Blended moments

I'm struggling a bit to find my mojo again, since I've had Covid (though I guess it is still 'early days' in the overall scheme of things). It's such a dreary time of year, with little light most days, and I haven't ventured far yet so I'm back to the same walks, same views. It's hard to find something new and engaging. I am, however, trying to make sure I get out for a short walk every day, mainly to rebuild my strength but also because, if I'm not 'out there', then I definitely won't see anything new and engaging! 

Yesterday I walked along the canal towpath and then back via Salt's sports field. I was briefly entertained by a couple of pairs of goosanders on the canal. They dive underwater for so long you think they've gone - and then pop up, comically, often quite a way from where they submerged. I'd love to see what goes on under the water. They were unfortunately too far away for a decent photo with my phone. 

I was then intrigued by the shimmering reflections of bare-branched trees, with something very beautiful about the tonality of black tracery on blue-grey water, as well as the gentle movement. On the way back I passed behind the stands on the football field, painted blue and nicely weathered. I 'collect' such textures for use in creative photos, so it occurred to me that if I superimposed one of the reflections and one of the textures, then in one image I have a kind of summary of my walk: there and back in one. It was fortuitous, I guess, that the colours worked well together, and that wiggly line of foam on the water is really what makes this for me. So - a Covid brainstorm or a valid piece of creative art... perhaps both! Fun to do, anyway. 

Toes

The monthly theme in my online camera club recently was 'toes'. Now, you really wouldn't want to see mine so I had to go in search of someone else's! Thankfully one of the Saltaire lions obliged, with this gritty mono of his paws and claws. 

Goose step

Another monthly theme for my online camera club - 'From a low viewpoint'. I know from past experience that the local geese don't like my big camera and will quickly walk (or swim) away. But they don't seem to mind my phone, oddly. Perhaps they're more used to seeing phones. Anyway, I managed to get a couple of shots of this Greylag before s/he decided I wasn't going to provide food so I wasn't very interesting. The phone is useful for low-angled shots, as the lens is so close to the edge of the phone. You can get even lower to the ground than with a camera lens. The only problem is getting back up again! 

 

Sunday meditation: Hello Kitty

Does it happen to all parents, that you end up with a stash of minor possessions that actually belong to your long-flown-the-nest offspring? I've a couple of boxes of bits upstairs that I feel reluctant to throw away. One box furnished me with some material to construct a 'modern still life' recently, when I was playing around with the idea. A Hello Kitty (used to be a lip balm, I think) and a few bright tops from the tubes of Smartie sweets! Colourful, at least. 

For a few weeks I've been using Sunday posts as a meditation, finding quotes to go with whatever the picture suggests to me. There turns out to be not one single mention of cats or kittens in the Bible. That in itself is worth pondering .... 

Today is, however, Valentine's Day or the Feast of St Valentine in the Western Christian Church, a celebration of love in many parts of the world.  I did find a Valentine's Hello Kitty:

I'll give you a 'Fact of the Week' too: Smarties are oblate spheroids. (So is the earth... but the earth isn't a Smartie.) Now you know. 

Sunday meditation: Pearls

My online photo group had 'a modern still life' as its theme for November, so I was playing around with ideas. There's a cherry tree down the road that I noticed had really prettily coloured autumn leaves, so I went and collected a handful. Simply arranged, I loved the glow and texture of them. However, they didn't really look 'still-life-y' enough so I draped a string of pearls over them. It then looked quite sweet, I thought. 

I'm sure there's a metaphor for life in there, struggling to get out! I'm not sure quite what it says but it started me looking for 'pearl' quotes - and there are lots: 

“The world is your oyster. It’s up to you to find the pearls.” – Chris Gardner

“As a pearl is formed and its layers grow, a rich iridescence begins to glow. The oyster has taken what was at first an irritation and intrusion and used it to enrich its value.” – Susan C. Young

“Life is made up of a few moments all strung together like pearls. Each moment is a pearl, and it is up to us to pick the ones with the highest luster.” – Joyce Hilfer

 "The pearls weren’t really white, they were a warm oyster beige, with little knots in between so if they broke, you only lost one. I wished my life could be like that, knotted up so that even if something broke, the whole thing wouldn’t come apart.” – Janet Fitch

"The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." - Matthew 14: 45-46

A JCB photo

My online photo group project for September was to take a photo in the style of the renowned landscape photographer, Joe Cornish. Well, if I could do that, I'd be a renowned landscape photographer myself, I guess, but anyway, I thought I'd have a go. Joe Cornish lives somewhere in North Yorkshire, so he often features the coast and North York Moors, often includes heather and often photographs at sunset or sunrise. He has a distinctive style that features a strong foreground (usually with a prominent JCB - a Joe Cornish Boulder), a middle ground and a background, all in focus. 

I had an errand to do in Ilkley one day (not at sunrise or sunset but never mind) so I decided I'd have a walk on the moor in search of a few boulders and a view. Not too difficult to find up there. I expect Joe's camera equipment is rather more sophisticated than mine but I did take my tripod with me, for once! The heather was just about finished, sadly, and I haven't got the hang of getting a landscape pin-sharp front to back. (I haven't the patience to work out hyperfocal distances or do focus stacking.) Nevertheless, I managed a few halfway decent images. This is my favourite. More jennyfreckles than Joe Cornish, no doubt, but who cares?