When you wish…

Thank you all for sharing the stories of how you got into photography last week, it’s really good to learn a little bit more about all of you, and whilst our reasons for getting into photography is so varied one thing that is definitely the same is the passion.  This year in the sales I went to a local store to see what they were getting rid of that I could use as a subject… This beautiful candle holder is one of the items I found. I don’t tend to use candles much but, I sure liked the holder Setup for this was to put a lamp behind the holder and shine it through… some blue card underneath was used to capture the shadowy stars.

So, this week I’m pleased to say that once again I took photos… just need to process them now so that I can add to my wordpress photo stash

As always… have a great week

Text

So, this is the first of my new batch of photographs. It may not be the most exciting of things, but, I like it. I tend to take a burst of ‘created’ photographs and then, if I’m lucky, I end up in a place where I get another batch of photos and that’s how my blog year tends to pass. As last year ended, so did my supply of photos! So, I had to once again think of what to photograph… got the camera out and got nothing, a complete block. After a while I grabbed a book, not to read, but to photograph. This was the first one I got, nothing special, been done before but the start of my photographer’s unblock Don’t worry, they do get better…

On a side note, last night I started to watch the film ‘Life in a Day’, a collaboration between Ridley Scott, Youtube and a lot of everyday folk from across the world. I’m sure many of you have already heard of it, and that some of you have watched it, but, if you haven’t, go and legally watch it for free here. I guess that people that have a passion for photography are also the same sort of people that are engaged enough to be interested in at least some or all of the following things… other cultures, nature, people, emotions and in general can appreciate that we all lead such different, amazing and diverse lives. All of you who read this blog have a connection with me in terms of photography, but, we’ve all had such different lives from things that have happened to us and shaped who we are today, to the jobs we’ve done, our ages, our friends, our passions and even our cameras…

Why did you get into photography? Please let me know in the comments… for  me, my Dad loved taking photographs and he captured some great memories. After my children were born I decided to take a photo a day, everyday for the first year of each of their lives. Eventually I started to take photos of non-Humans… and then via a friend I joined a photo group which pushed me to upgrading to an SLR and getting more engaged in different aspects of photography and… to this day, I’ve still not read a photography book – one day… I will

Have a great week

Splash

So today I finally took some new photos. This is not one of them I haven’t looked at any of the images on my computer as yet but I’m hoping they turned out okay. So, for me and probably many of you, that’s the first week back at work done. Reality sucks…

Have a great week

Box of Delights

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all the best for the New Year. Thanks for all the support over the past year, and good luck with your blogs over the forthcoming year.

Merry Christmas

So, the kids are tucked up in bed awaiting Santa Claus and finally asleep, the presents are wrapped and I’m now watching Gremlins and posting my Christmas blog. To me, the best Christmas photos involve lights, and Christmas lights tends to lead to beautiful bokeh shots. That being the case, here’s my contribution to this year’s collection of such photographs

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and hope you all have an enjoyable, safe and relaxing one. I hope that Santa brings you whatever you are wanting and that you don’t spend too much in the post Christmas sales

As always, have a great week

Please… no more photos

Welcome back… to me I’m now back from South Korea and finally have some time off, two weeks Thanks for the comments for the last two blogs and I’m doing my best to catch up with all your posts that I’ve not gotten to as yet. Sad to say that I didn’t take my SLR to SK with me as I was going to be there on business and didn’t want to leave the camera in the hotel room all day. Still, I did take some photos with a phone I had and with my pocket camera. Will post more about South Korea soon.

So, the tree is up, it’s nicely decorated, the presents are all bought and just need to be wrapped and it’s time to sit together, enjoy some good food and watch Christmas movies. For me, I try to watch the following every year: Elf (best Christmas film!), Serendipity, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, Home Alone, The Grinch, Love Actually,  Black Christmas (the original version), Miracle on 34th Street, Misery and Gremlins  -  What films do you try to watch every Christmas?

Well, here’s my weekly post and one that I quite like… after asking the kids to pose together nicely, Joshua and finally had enough and flopped to show me his disapproval. Turns out that it ended up being one of my favourite photos of the day.

Joshua in St James Park

A rarity, a post schedule two weeks in advance. This photo was taken two weeks ago in St. James Park, London. The day was particularly breezy and lots of leaves made for great shots of leaf fights. This though, a non-leaf fight photo was one of my favourites. Joshua decided to wander out of the main photo and I managed to grab a shot of him standing still (another rarity).

Have a great week

The Woods

As this post goes live (I schedule in advance), I’ll be up in the air on my way to South Korea, for work. It’s my first trip there and I’m honestly slightly nervous! All I’m waiting for is to come back to my wife and kids. The good thing about the trip is that it’s left me with less time and that’s caused me to work flat out to finish the bathrooom. So, almost all wall tiles are now in place and the grouting is done Only four left to go (they need some cutting) and 20 floor tiles left and then it’s pretty much completed and that, I hope will leave me in a position to relax during Christmas. Luckily I’d completed the present shopping last month so, nothing to worry about there I seem to have less and less time these days which is why I tend to go through a week of blogs on a Sunday night. So, forgive me if I don’t comment on any blogs this upcoming week but I’ll do my best to catch up as soon as I can.

This week has been busy, 1 birthday, 1 child’s Christmas play and 1 wedding anniversary!

The photo below was taken two weeks ago. The sunlight was wonderful that day (especially considering it’s November) and I managed to get some great family photos… and those have now been put into this year’s photobooks… perfect presents for grandparents.

Have a great week

The Light Family

The last of my fun experimental photographs taken at the cottage during my earlier break with friends. Thanks to Steve for posing for these whilst I painted. These were done when we’d finished everything else we wanted to create and were bored late on the last night we were there. The car was done after all the people when I was still bored

Have a great week

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ammar

Wow, today’s been a killer. I’ve been renovating the bathroom over the last couple of months in the background when I get the time. So, gutting it was the easy path. The tiling is tiresome and that’s what my day’s been today… tile, tile, tile… now I’m tired! Still, almost over and the aim is to finish it before Christmas…

Anyway, here’s a rarity from me… a portrait shot. This is Ammar, a friend of mine. I took this photo looking up which caused the sky to blow nicely…