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New Year’s Eve

Before throwing myself into the evening’s festivities I took advantage of the first glimpse of sunshine for several days. The first image was taken at about 07:41am (The EXIF Data shows 08:41, perhaps I really should put the camera’s clock right). The morning really was beautiful, and although there was plenty of bright sunshine everything was shrouded in a hint of mist. Despite doing a certain amount of experimentation with exposure settings, several of the images did have a distracting blue hue. Not wanting to spend hours on post processing on New Year’s Eve I decided to convert some of the images to B&W.   I really must work on my blue snow syndrome.

A very Happy New Year to all my readers!!

View from a bathroom – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
View from a Bathroom – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Slightly misty – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Slightly Misty 1 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Railway stuff – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Railway stuff – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Snowy Sunshine – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Snowy Sunshine – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Wintry Tree Tracks – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Wintry Tree
Tracks – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Slightly Misty 2
Slightly Misty 2
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Snow

It’s been snowing relentlessly all day and has now turned quite wintry, which is no big surprise really because after all, it is late December. Despite the cold and snow and not wanting to mollycoddle a weatherproof camera I decided to leave my cosy armchair and take the K-30 for a walk. If you think the snow looks a bit grey on some of the images you’re not mistaken…. very cold, very cloudy, snowing heavily and terrible light.

Wintry Tree – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Wintry Tree – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Wintry Crows – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Wintry Crows – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Wintry Trees – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Wintry Trees – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Wintry Fence 1 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Wintry Fence 1 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Wintry Fence 2 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Wintry Fence 2 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Wintry Road – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Wintry Road – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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A dream belatedly come true.

What everybody has been dreaming of since before Christmas has now arrived, better late than never I suppose.  Whether it will still be white tomorrow is another matter and so I thought I’d better enjoy it while I can. Shovelling snow is actually quite a pleasant way to pass the time on a wintry Saturday morning with nothing better to do. Chatting with neighbours who have not been seen since the end of summer and watching snow ploughs eagerly going about their ploughing with their dramatic display of headlights and flashing beacons.  Having cleared the drive and garden path I was sufficiently pleased with myself and so took time off to go searching for a reasonable snowy image or two.

Garden Path – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Garden Path – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Apple Tree – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Apple Tree – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Wood Pile – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Wood Pile – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Garden Chair – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Garden Chair – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Christmas Lights

Somehow I just can’t get the hang of photographing Christmas lights. All the shops are dripping with them, the Christmas markets are ablaze with them and the pedestrian streets are all aglow. But it doesn’t matter where I point my lens my images just don’t look ‘right’. But there’s no mistake, Christmas is just a few days away and a blog without Christmas cheer is just not on, so below I’ve included just two of yesterday afternoon’s efforts taken in the town and one taken in the garden upon returning home.

Despite its simplicity I’m quite pleased with the garden image. The logs symbolising Yule logs and  a few fairy lights to give it a seasonal flavour – Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas Lights – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Christmas Lights – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Christmas Lights – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Christmas Lights – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Logs and Lights – F40, 25sec., ISO 800 (with Tripod) - Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Logs and Lights – F40, 25sec., ISO 800 (with Tripod) – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Waiting for a train

Christmas lights are everywhere, the smell of mulled wine and all things festive fills the air.
Where then, you may rightly ask, are all the Christmas market and pretty lights photos?
Well, I’ve certainly been doing my fair share of mingling with the masses but the camera has always been sitting at home.
A colleague pointed out to me this week that my last blog posting was about a month ago!
But, as luck would have it, I missed my train last Tuesday evening and decided to use the time wisely;-)

A Selfie!
For some reason Celebrities seem to do it regularly and various politicians are making quite a name for themselves doing it too,
so I suppose it’s only natural that I too should put my very outdated mobile phone to questionably ‘good use’.
My selfie is unlikely to reach the boulevard press, but that wasn’t really my aim.
I didn’t want to embarrass my family or shock and disgust the world at large either, there are plenty of others willing to do that it seems.
But I thought perhaps a shoe, a knee and a hint of leg would elevate me to the ranks of famous and influential without damaging my reputation.

The other photos were also taken whilst waiting for the train in the recently finished new bit at the main station.

Selfie – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
Selfie – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
Empty space – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
Empty space – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
To the trains – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
To the trains – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
Escalator – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
Escalator – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
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A stroll in November

A stroll in November, the golden leaves are disappearing rapidly and winter will be upon us very soon. All the more reason to go for a brisk walk through the local countryside…. well it would have been brisk if I hadn’t kept making photo stops 😉

A stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Saturday morning in the garden

Stepping out into the garden on Saturday morning I had a whole list of things to do. There were some urgent rabbit hutch repairs to be done, the tortoises needed to be bedded down for the winter, I ought to do something with the garden gate and of course there were numerous leaves to be gathered up. But first things first, I fetched the camera and captured a few ‘Saturday morning in the garden’ images.

I’m happy to say I did manage to get all my jobs done by late afternoon, and in the evening was able to enjoy a pumpkin show in one of the neighbouring villages. The decorated pumpkins were fantastic to look at, but photographically the event was quite a challenge. Despite the bright moon and the orange glow of dimly lit pumpkins it was dark, very dark. Several of my photos were at best mediocre, but I was quite pleased with the elderly pumpkin couple with their pumpkin cat… rather due to the subject matter than the image quality.

The heating is on – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
The heating is on – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
The sun is shining – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
The sun is shining – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Leaves on the step – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Leaves on the step – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Pumpkin couple with cat – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Pumpkin couple with cat – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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A walk around a lake

Today’s images were captured today whilst walking around a nearby lake. I had intended to simply lake a photo or two of the lake, but of course there were piles of sugar beet lurking nearby and of course couldn’t resist a steaming field.

Beet – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Sugar beet – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Ploughed field – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Ploughed field – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
More beet – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
More sugar beet – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Hide – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Hide – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Near the lake – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Near the lake – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
The Lake – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
The Lake – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
The Lake 2 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
The Lake 2 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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A Saturday in October

Perhaps I should have tackled one or two jobs in the garden on Saturday, the damp lawn needs cutting before the snow comes and a few shrubs need a good trim But sometimes one just has to get one’s priorities right, so I decided on a stroll with the K-30 🙂

The lawn... too wet to cut – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
The lawn… too wet to cut – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Too nice to stay indoors – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Too nice to stay indoors – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
The grapes have been picked – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
The grapes have been picked – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
There's work to be done – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
There’s work to be done – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
There's work to be done2 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
There’s work to be done2 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Feathered meal? – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Feathered meal? – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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A little bit of Autumn

Last weekend I was very tempted to fill up my SD card with leafy subjects, after all there does seem to be an abundance of them at the moment. However the few images I captured just didn’t reflect what I had in mind at all. Perhaps this weekend will prove more successful.

Mist over fields – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Mist over fields – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Sugar beet – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Sugar beet – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Autumn Decoration – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Autumn Decoration – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP