Autumn

On my walk with the dogs this morning I filled my pockets with chestnut burrs, they remind me of tiny little hedgehogs and are so sharp! I love to think that in a couple of months they will burst open and then we will have beautiful shiny conkers on the ground. I will collect handfulls of them and place them in bowls around the room because I read an article last year that said spiders are scared of them, sounds very silly but it works, try it!

Black and white wednesday

I was walking past a park the other day and there was a game of ping pong going on so I stopped and watched for a bit then I picked up my camera and luckily got this man mid shot, he was concentrating so hard on the game, I'm sure he won. It's black and white Wednesday again at the Long Road to China, do give it a go, it's great fun.

The creative exchange.

Lisa has a fantastic blog at White cotton tee and she has started the creative exchange and today is day one so I thought I would post something using lightroom.

I so admire and envy all those wonderful textures everyone uses on their photographs and get a little downhearted when I find they are used with photoshop but lightroom does have a wonderful selection of presets which are just a click of the button and the one I used for this photograph is called yesteryear 2.

I took this photograph whilst watching my son's rugby game a couple of weeks ago, I am no great fan of the sport and keep reading articles about how much more dangerous it is now than say twenty years ago. The picture was slightly out of focus but once I used the yesteryear preset it instantly took on a wonderful retro feel and I could put these boys back a few years and make them look like they were in an old Time Life magazine, or a slightly faded old photo. After I did all of this I felt better about the game funnily enough. I took about a hundred photos during the match and my son did say this was his favourite but it hasn't stopped him wanting to play!

Early morning in the garden

After a night of heavy rain the sun came out this morning and the raindrops on this plant were like tiny crystals.

The sunday creative

It's sunday creative again at Madeline Bea and the word is 'Nothing'. I have been thinking about it non stop since I read the challenge, how do you photograph nothing? do you photograph a blank page or canvas?, quotes for nothing, etc etc and finally I decided that absolutely nothing is better than a cup of tea at four in the afternoon.

Scavenger hunt sunday

I had such fun with the list this week although nobody would let me photograph their eyes, not even the dogs and especially not the cat. Anyway, it's great fun so do give it a go and check it all out at Ashley's blog

1. Minature

I chose this great minature Alfa Romeo key ring.

2. Water droplet

It has been a very wet week this week so lots of droplets around in the garden.

3. Bedhead

My daughter had perfect bedhead at breakfast the other morning.

3.Colourful

I wish I could paint, I love looking at theses colours, they belong to my son who can paint.

4. Eyes

I need to work on my eye photography as this one was tough, this is a rather blurred picture, apologies!

New colours for autumn

I planted white cosmos in the garden for the summer but today this beautiful one decided to open up for autumn, a rebel in the garden!

Macro Friday

Today it's macro friday again at Blogging from Bolivia. Although it isn't a close up of the apple I did take it on my wonderful 60mm macro lens this morning. I love using my macro for portraits or just simple shots like this one. Do check out other entries.

Visual Chinese Whispers

I was reading an article this week on photo projects and one they suggested that sounded fun was visual chinese whispers. Basically someone starts with a photograph and then the next person posts a photograph on their blog prompted by that photograph and so on and so on.  If anyone fancies doing it it might be fun, we can just keep it going as a whisper chain through cyberspace and link back to each other on our blogs if we want to.
Here is my first chinese whisper, eggs here from the supermarket have an English lion on them incase you are wondering what it is on the egg!

Black and white wednesday

I went to watch my son play rugby on saturday, the injuries during the match included one broken nose, a broken wrist and two concussions. I hate watching my son play as I want to protect him (not the done thing!) so I watched through my camera lens which made it a little bit easier to bear and took this picture of one of team running with the ball. It's black and white wednesday over at The long road to China so don't forget to have a look.

A weed in the garden

I am not letting go of summer even though we put the heating on and the chimney sweep is coming next week - did you know that you must touch the chimney sweep for good luck each year? - anyway, it is the most beautiful morning again so I couldn't resist going into the garden with my macro, I don't know what this weed is it looked so beautiful.

Abundance

The word for the Sunday Creative this week is abundance. I was cleaning out my closet yesterday, swapping summer and winter clothes and I realised that I do actually have an abundance of pashminas. Do check out Madeline Bea's wonderful blog and see other entries.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

I have been meaning to do this wonderful challenge for ages and finally today is the day. The very very talented Ashley Sisk hosts it so do have a look. Here are my interpretations of the items for this week.

1.wish or dream

My husband dreams of getting a Porsche, I wish I could afford to buy him one, I took this picture of a toy one and gave it to him instead,

2. Clean

My husband likes to have a clean shave using an old fashioned shaving brush. It always looks very nice sitting in the bathroom, reminds me of 50's movies.

3. Currency

We travel a lot so we always have a drawer where we put leftover currency from trips, it makes for some very interesting colours I realised when I was taking this picture.

4. Pair

I love this pair of cufflinks, they are very English. They come in so many different colours but these are the ones I tend to use on a classic white shirt, mind you not many women's shirts come with holes for cufflinks but quite a few do.

5. Square

It had to be the classic Tiffany box for this item. I was given this ceramic one years ago, I love it. 

Saturday morning

It is such a beautiful sunny morning, this really is the best time to take pictures, I am now set for the day. My son is playing rugby this afternoon and I should take my camera and lots of pictures but I spend most of the match hiding my eyes behind my hands hoping he comes out unscathed from the scrum!

Macro friday

I decided to do a different macro from my usual flowers today so I picked a lovely antique silver salt pot we have, I love the detail around the rim. It's hard to go out of my comfort zone but I am determined to try. It's macro friday over at blogging for Bolivia, do have a look at the others or join in.

The very hungry caterpillar

I like to think of my garden as organic, basically there are a lot of weeds that bring bees and butterflies and caterpillars, I never spray anything but as I was taking a picture of this little fellow this morning I was thinking how a few months ago I wouldn't have looked for insects like him to photograph, I would have probably tried to get him off my roses but now I take a picture a day I love the fact that you can see so much through a macro lens.

Black and white wednesday

Today is black and white wednesday again over at the wonderful Long Road to China. I see the wild poppy heads in the garden every day and watch as they get more weathered by the elements and if you rattle them you can hear the seeds inside. I find such beauty in their ageing.

Comfort

The theme for the Sunday Creative hosted by the very talented Madeline Bea is comfort. Whenever I need comfort I run a hot bath, pour in some bubble bath, light some candles and all becomes well again. Do have a look at all the other wonderful entries or have a go too.

Lazy Sunday

Today is a nice lazy day, the sun is shining and all's right with the world as I am currently absorbed in my book 'We the drowned' by Carsten Jensen which is an epic tale of life at sea in the 1800's. I decided to practice again with my 24-70mm lens today and because I am participating in the 365 days photograph journey, I am being very disciplined and going out everyday (usually in my garden) to take a picture of something. I read an interesting article the other day on finding inspiration, some suggestions were to roll a dice and to make whatever you roll your number for the week - four ducks on a pond etc, or select a poem or song and illustrate it one verse at a time. I do find I look at book covers and think I could take a different shot, what gives you inspiration?

Pink and fluffy meringues

My roses are loving this cooler weather, I just picked this big bunch - all pink, white and fluffy - they remind me of meringues, the smell is absolutely wonderful. I put them in a beautiful silver rose bowl vase but when I tried to photograph it I just ended up with reflections of me and a great big camera, how do you stop reflections in silver anyone?

Macro friday

The weeks seem to go by so quickly at the moment and today is macro friday over at Blogging from Bolivia. I thought I needed to brighten things up as it's very grey and wet here in Kent so I took a picture of a gerbera from a bunch of flowers someone very kindly gave me.

Nature's larder

Yesterday I went for a walk with my basket and the dogs and came back with all these lovely fruits picked straight from the trees and hedgerows. The farmers allow us to pick the apples and pears off the trees in the local orchards and the sloe berries and elderberries grow wild, you can make delicious sloe gin and elderberry wine from them. I am not sure whether I will actually get around to making all these things, I promise myself each year that I will, we shall see...

Black and White Wednesday

Sometimes I find that I spend the day with a camera around my neck or in my bag and I search for inspiration which ends up being very frustrating but luckily last week I was walking down the street and spotted this dog with half his body in the shop whilst his owner tried unsuccessfully to pull him out. I deliberately took the picture with this crop as I wanted to show just the legs all working against each other.
It's black and white wednesday on the long road to China, do check it out.

Early morning

After a night of heavy rain the sunlight early this morning was absolutely beautiful on the flowers in my garden so I had to get out with my camera.

Today is back to school day which means a new year, new subjects and back to routine. I am hanging on to summer and I'm convinced now everyone is back at school there is an Indian summer just around the corner.

Macro Monday

It's macro monday again at Lisa's Chaos, do have a look at all the fab photos and join in.

I picked these crab apples this morning, and I think I will finally try and make crab apple jam or jelly, does anyone have a recipe?

Timeworn

The prompt for todays Sunday Creative over at the very talented Madeline Bea's blog is Timeworn. As soon as I read that I knew what photograph so represented this for me.

I went to Morocco a couple of months ago and there was an obligatory stop at an argan oil farm where this wonderful old lady was sitting on the floor with her bowl in front of her, grinding the fruit from the argan tree. We were told that she was in her 90's and would happily pose for the cameras and we just needed to leave some money for her when we left. She was so happy and looked so wonderful and timeworn and had one of the most interesting faces I have seen for a long while.

The golden hour

My favourite times of the day are first thing in the morning just after dawn when everyone in the house is asleep, it's when I take the dogs for a run through the orchards and hop farms around us. The other time I love is the golden hour just before sunset, if both these times are bathed in sunshine I just feel that everything is right with the world. What is your favourite time of day?

Macro Friday

I was in the garden this morning looking at how everything is changing. The fir cones are tiny at the moment but I suppose by Christmas they will be ready to put around the tree or paint. What is it about the beginning of September that makes It feels so autumnal even though they promise a sunny weekend? Everyone is heading back to school, I can't believe the summer is over.

It's macro friday at blogging for Bolivia do have a look at all the fantastic photos and join in.

Paris streets

I live in the countryside where everything is very quiet and slow during the day and at night the only sound you hear is the occasional hoot of an owl or the cry of a fox. I love going to cities and just watching and absorbing the atmosphere - people in a rush, people sitting in cafes, things happening everywhere and looking up is a feast for the eyes at all times.I think being in Paris is all about watching and listening, and one of the best places to watch was around the fountains in the Tuilleries at lunchtime. Every chair was taken and I just sat absorbing the atmosphere.

I was transfixed by these boys on roller blades playing tag.

They went round and around at speed and then chased each other but they were all in their own worlds listening to their headphones, it's again something you don't see here in the countryside.

Paris

We have just got back from three wonderful days in Paris, there was so much to see, watch and enjoy. Paris is just so alive and full of beautiful people and sitting in a cafe watching the world go by is just the most perfect way to spend time. I walked everywhere and took my camera, there was so much going on and the weather was absolutely perfect. It was a wonderful break.