Time for an update..

Checking out my blog after a very long absence and testing new options etc – watch this space !!

Time to catch up..

Where has time gone!! Yes I know it’s been ages since I last posted on here and really no excuse other than to say that with travelling to Cape Town each year for a two month break from the UK winters and then in the summer months busy in my garden, the house, visiting friends etc the time seems to rush by.

Since I last posted I have upgraded my camera to a Canon 5D Mk11 which being a full frame meant a change in lens and sadly I did have to sell on my most favourite one the Sigma 10-20. However new lens have been added and I have many photo’s to share with you.

Over the last year I have also started using my iPhone4s for taking photo’s as I have found on our trips especially to London it is much easier to carry than the big camera and lens although there have been many times when I have been heard to say “I wish I had my proper camera with me’ !!

Here’s a photo taken this time last year as a reminder that we did have blue skies and sunshine when out in Cape Town unlike what I’m seeing as I look out of our window now at the grey skies and rain, not a good idea to stay in the UK this year!!

HELLOooooooooo……

And you all thought I’d gone and left you never more to continue with my blog….well not quite but oh my word life has really been busy since last December but I suppose some would say it can never be that busy that I couldn’t have written just a few lines!!

To be honest what I wanted to do was change my whole web site and blog but Christmas, New Year and then seven weeks away in Cape Town seemed to have got in the way and I’m having a rethink about it all yet again..

So in the meantime I am posting just a few lines to say ‘Hello’ to all my friends and no I haven’t forgotten you. My DH has now retired and life has changed a little but we’re getting into a ‘flexible routine’ and of course it does mean I have some-one to go out with to take photo’s.. On the photography front I have to confess to having upgraded my Canon 400D to the 40D and I’m really pleased with it although yet another new learning curve!

I’ve had my very first moment of excitement with my photography when after a day out to Hyde Hall to a Kite festival event I had posted a couple of kite photo’s on my Flickr account only to be surprised when I was contacted my the editor of a Kite Flying Club in Suffolk asking me if they could publish two of the photo’s in their newsletter, of course I said yes and I was thrilled. It’s these little things that always encourage one to continue onwards!!

So where do I go from here, well I’ll try and get back into a routine of posting here on my blog and keeping you updated with my life and I’ll be talking to my good friend Kenny about redoing my web page but in the meantime here is a link to my Flickr page where you can see some more of my photo’s..

If you are here reading this please leave me a comment and then I will know that you haven’t deserted me!!

Snow…

Yes this morning we woke up to our very first ‘tiny’ viewing of snow!!

Unfortunately the snow we woke up to this morning was not the nice big soft white snow flakes gently floating down but nasty little bits of snow falling from a horrible grey sky and bitter cold. We knew it would be followed by sleet and then rain so if I was going to get any photo’s with a hint of snow then I had to brave the elements.

So I only rushed out to the garden with camera in hand trying very hard to remember some of the tips I had read on P4AF when I had asked the question about taking photographs of frost and snow….needless to say I couldn’t remember everything so I just took a few pics quickly and rushed back indoors!

They’re not brilliant and I can see where they need improving but I can at least prove to you that we did have a few flakes of snow this morning..

On my last post I showed you a photo of the whole of the ‘white flower’ the one I didn’t know the name of, but now I can show you a close up of the same flower which I have posted above.

Whatever the weather in your part of the world I hope you’ve had a good weekend, if you did take any photo’s perhaps you’ve posted them on your blogs in which case I’ll be dropping by to catch up with you.

Take care and I’ll catch up with you soon. Thanks for dropping by and any comments left are much appreciated.

Beverley

Plans…

What plans – my intention was as mentioned in my previous post not to leave it so long before posting some photo’s again but life never goes to a plan does it and I have so found this out over the past couple of weeks!!

It all started when I tried to load the update from Microsoft Service Pack 3 and the ‘error’ message kept appearing. Ok too many things going on in my life that I left it for a day or two and then got a reminder so I tried again only to get the same error message. Also I noticed that certain programs stopped working on my PC..Service pack 3 had obviously loaded in part and this was then causing problems..

Anyway I won’t go into all the technical bits about it mainly because I got lost along the way as my dear hubby tried to explain to me what was happening. Anyway lets cut a long, long story short and tell you that I now have a new hard drive installed and I’m still in the process of loading different programs etc. and also stretching my memory to it’s limit in trying to remember all the passwords I need to access the different sites, forums etc that I visit.

So that’s the story of where I have been of late and maybe, just maybe I’ll get back to taking some photo’s soon.

The photo of the ‘white flower’ at the top is one that I took in the week whilst trying to find some calm in what was at the time a most frustrating PC day!! By the way the label was missing so I can’t even give you the name of it ..says it all doesn’t it!!

Oh and if any-one of you my visitors have spare time to give away please send it in my direction!

Regards to you all

Beverley

I’m back..

Yes I know it’s 3 weeks now since I last posted but I’ve been really busy and I’ve had to put a few things on one side including my blog whilst I got on with ‘other matters’…

So not a lot happening on the photography side for me at the moment and as I type this and look out of the window I don’t think much will be happening for a while to come as the weather is really not at it’s best. We put the clocks back here in the UK last week and ever since then we seem to have had either dull, wet or windy days none of which inspire me to go out there with a camera. Anyway I did take a few photo’s a couple of weeks ago so I’ll put them here for you to see..

The first one at the top of the page is a photo of a fungi that was growing at the bottom of my Beech Bonsai Tree. It was only 2cm in size and I had to use my Macro lens to even get a good look at it but I was quite pleased with the end result. This next photo is one I took looking across part of the gardens over at Hyde Hall, although it doesn’t show it as I had hoped but the clouds appeared to be hanging so low in the sky that they seemed to be touching the tree tops at times..
So I’ll end with a few more pics I’ve taken recently including the last of the fushia and the grass flowers. This weather is finishing them off very quickly. Next time I’ll hopefully come back with some more interesting ones for you, although they may well be of ‘winter’…now there’s a thought to leave you with.

Thanks for popping by and I’ll try and not leave it so long the next time…

Take care
Beverley

Autumn…

for some reason this year I’ve got a ‘thing’ about Autumn. Maybe it’s because we’ve not had such a good summer and therefore I’m wanting to benefit from the Autumn sun and colours so bear with me on this one.

So let me tell you about the chappie on the left…yes he’s been made up with wood and doesn’t he remind you of the logo of Bertie Bassett on the packets of Bassett liquorice Allsorts sweets whether that was the intention or not I’ve no idea but I will see if I can find out more about him next time I visit the gardens.

Yes I’ve been off to Hyde Hall yet again but it really is a place I can visit time after time as the gardens are continually changing as time moves through the seasons. Anyway I went all on my own last week and spent about 5 hours wondering around with my camera and Macro lens. It was such a beautiful clear day with a blue sky, very warm sunshine and not too many people there as it was midweek.

So here are a some of the photo’s taken with the 100mm macro lens which I must admit to using for all types of shots and then I decided to use my new lens as I wanted to catch some colours beginning to appear on the trees but I hope the next time I go back they will be more advanced than this

Finally I’ll leave you with my own little bit of Autum in our garden. Many years ago I was fortunate to study Bonsai and this Beech tree I started 21years ago this November and as you will see it now a fully grown (bonsai) tree and yes it’s leaves are also changing and they will of course all drop and the tree will go into it’s winter mode!!

When I look at the photo’s I’ve posted they really do not do them justice in the small size so please do click on them to view them at a large image.

I hope you’re enjoying your season whether you are here in the Northern Hemisphere or where you’re beginning to welcome Spring in the Southern Hemisphere..

I’ll see you again soon, and take care.

Beverley

New Lens and a visit to the park..

Last Friday I met up with my photography friend Terry and off we went to Weald Park this time for me to try out my new lens and for Terry to see the deer…..well have I a lot to learn about the lens!!

So first off I thought you might like to see a photo of my camera with lens and extender
big isn’t it and heavy but, I managed and surprisingly enough after awhile I didn’t really notice the weight. The only thing I would say is that with a lens this size on the camera people do tend to look at you thinking you must be a ‘professional’ how wrong they are!!

I did have the camera on a Monopod to help me steady it and I wanted to try and get some decent photo’s maybe of birds in the distance, the deer and anything else that was interesting. Ok the deer photo’s we’ll forget but I’ve done just one for you it’s ok but I’ve posted better before As for the birds well they are ‘ok’ but that is all. Here is one of the Heron which was far away across the lake so a reasonable distance away. The lens has at least allowed me to crop in and get an ‘acceptable’ view of it and the other one is of some birds flying overhead, goodness knows how I managed to get them as it all happened so quick

On our way back we called in at another Park and this time I left the new lens behind locked very safely in the car out of site and put on my 17-70 sigma lens. This was in the hope of perhaps getting some pics I would be happy with, again a little disappointed but there’s one of the leaves turning into their Autumn colours which I’ve posted at the top and here’s one of a wooden carving in the children’s area – took this one for fun!!

so there you are just a quick post to update you and to let you know that I’ll be trying to improve on the taking of photo’s again at the end of the week when we do have a forecast for some really nice sunny weather – we’ll see!!

Because I’m a little disappointed with my pics from the new lens (need to practice more!) and because looking back on this post there’s no bright colours except for the top photo, I thought, I would leave you with a photo taken this morning in the garden of one of the last of the summer roses – taken in the rain!!

Thanks for dropping by and I’ll see you soon.

Beverley

It’s Autumn already…

and as far as I’m concerned I haven’t had summer yet. Well ok we did have a few days of blue skies and sunshine and yes at the beginning of summer there was the odd week or two where it was hot and we had doors and windows open but now although we’re having a few nice days the evenings are beginning to draw in and it’s quite chilly first thing in the mornings and late at night.

So I thought I should start looking around for some Autumn colours for you but to be honest the trees haven’t fully turned yet and neither have I been anywhere where there are the ‘right’ sort of trees for the colour but I will be doing so over the next few days.

Therefore in the meantime I went over to Hyde Hall last weekend and there were some wonderful vibrant colours in the gardens which gave me an excuse (not that I really need one) to click away with the camera. I had my Canon 50mm Lens that day as it a easy, lightweight and not to obvious lens on my camera and these photo’s were taken with that lens..

The previous week I had a another fun day out I as went off to some more marshland called Two Tree Island down by the river Thames estuary. Chris and I met up with another friend Terry for a day of hoping to get some good photo’s opportunities of maybe birds, flowers, insects etc. It was one of our lovely days weather wise and although I seemed to be clicking away with the shutter I wasn’t over happy with the outcome of the photo’s. It’s not easy to spend a day like that one walking around not only with a camera but a tripod which to be honest is what I needed to get those really sharp piccies of the flowers and butterflies so I’m afraid you’ve only got the one photo below.

Although we were told by quite a few others walkers/bird watchers/photographers that the kingfisher and Osprey were around and had been seen by many of them it wasn’t to be for us so I’m afraid I don’t have any real exciting photo’s for you although this is one I took of a bird (seagull variety – you can tell I’m not familiar with birds species!!).

To finish off my post I thought I would leave you with a lovely photo of what to do with your old wellies – don’t throw them out but fill them with soil, cut some holes in them and hang them on your potting shed!! Thanks for visiting and I’ll see you all again soon. Take care and stay safe!

Beverley

My venture into ‘Wildlife’..

Yes, I like wildlife but I’m not very good at being ‘up close’ to it. So it was with some trepidation that I set off with my friend Chris to Rainham Marshes to see what photo’s we could take. Well Rainham Marshes is great for those that love bird spotting but I’m not sure that it’s something that I will be doing a lot of of at this stage of my photography but, who knows what the will happen in the future!

In any case I do not have a good enough lens to handle small or come to that large birds at a distance. So yes, I’m now saving up for a better zoom lens that will handle the distances and also because I don’t want to take a tripod along with me I really need Image Stabilization which of course increases the cost of the lens!!

Anyway, although I did take some photo’s of birds they really aren’t very good so although I’ll post one here for you I’m not at all happy with it but I did come across some other little creatures living in the marshes.

The flower at the top is of the wild Chicory and there was quite a lot around and it does make for a a pretty photo. The photo’s below are of the Water Vole which we were very lucky to see as there are not that many around and are not seen that often. The Marsh frogs are in abundance down there but not that easy to see in the water with the reeds around them but I did manage to get a couple or so shots of them and we saw a few of the Speckled Wood Butterflies..

That’s all for this post. As the weather is so miserable and grey at the moment I’m not sure when I’ll get out to take some more photo’s but I do hope it will be soon. In the meantime thanks for visiting and take care.

Beverley