"Where the bee sucks, there suck I"

The quote is from William Shakespeare's Tempest and seemed quite apt. I took lots of photographs in one of my favourite local gardens but plumped for this one as I'd actually captured a bee "in the act" and more or less in focus!
This was taken at Bluebell Cottage Gardens, Dutton, Cheshire.

Vague virus

This sums up today I'm afraid. A vague virus of some sort - the kind that make you generally feel woolly headed, a bit sick, headachy and generally pants (Brit expression for rubbish - also means knickers!) But at least I got time to play with my new lens and see what its DOF was like at longest focal length. And I didn't have to move from the sofa!

Inky reflections

My original intention was to get some nice sunset shots of the lake, but I got interested in the reeds and then in the reflections they made on the surface of the water. They reminded me of ink swirls in water. I found it really hard to decide between pics today so hop over to my Facebook page to see a collage of other shots (please LIKE my page too!). https://www.facebook.com/pages/Picture-It-Big/124623150892721

Vacancies

Waiting for some bugs to check in to their new hotel!

I never "herd" them coming...

This isn't a great shot, everything was against me - for starters the intense back light and the black hides of the animals' hides fooled the camera meter, the speed they were moving at and my blind fear of cows. Well, actually these guys are young bullocks. I was fine with cattle until a few years ago when I had a close run in - or lie down - with them in this very same field. They got far too interested in the dog and surrounded us. Daisy bolted and I ended up face down in the mud amongst their hooves. Terrified doesn't quite cover it.

On today's walk I turned to Nic and said, "I'm so glad these fields don't have cows in them any more," to which he replied, "what, those cows?" and pointed behind me. I turned round to see the whole herd bearing down on us. This pic was taken from the safety of the other side of the gate!

"The tulip's petals shine in dew, all beautiful but non alike."

 

I had this idea whilst watering the garden last night and the low evening sun caught the spray of water from the garden hose. I've been looking for a way to photograph these beautiful tulips but wanted to do something a bit different. So I set this shot up tonight at the same time of day, wrestling with tripod and garden hose and taking a lot of shots until I thought I'd got what I set out to.
The quote is from a poem by Scottish poet, James Montgomery.

My cup overfloweth

On a day like today it really does feel as if my cup overfloweth. We've been outside for most of the day, gardening, eating al fresco and cycling to a friend's cake sale. Spring is well underway, with daffodils, tulips, blossom and magnolia trees all in full flower. And we have a woodpecker in the garden somewhere. This shot is of our garden fountain - a series of cups flowing into one another.

Aglow with beauty

I lay down in the garden on my stomach to photograph tulips in the front garden, then tried to shoot some from the viewpoint of my hammock in the back garden - so so results. I came in to the house to have a look at my efforts on the computer and lo and behold these beauties were lit by the sunlight on the window sill. Isn't that just the way it is sometimes! I'll try again another day for the ones au naturel in the garden.   

Late afternoon in town

I was running a few quick errands in Knutsford this afternoon and saw the opportunity to take a quick pic on my phone. The light was amazing - very bright but low and I waited a few minutes for some people to appear in shot. I like the result - lovely long shadows, some reflections and lots of interesting parallel and horizontal lines.

Blighted beauty

I planted over 100 bulbs in October and all my hard work has finally paid off and the garden is filling up with colour... and pesky greenfly!! They're only in the front garden but have covered every tulip flower. I'm squirting with soapy water in the hope that I'll defeat them but I am feeling a little outnumbered.

Full of the joys of Spring

Since I last posted a picture of Daisy she has been diagnosed with canine lymphoma. She's having chemotherapy at the moment and has perked up a lot - as you can see! She's lost a lot of weight and tires easily but we're going to make sure that she enjoys many more romps at the lake.

 

Dazzling daffodils

Driving at nightime I've been struck time and again by the sudden bursts of yellow daffodils in the headlights and wanted to capture that fleeting moment on camera... easier said than done!! Number one problem was finding a safe place to pull over with headlights pointing at daffodils - most seems to be on dangerous corners! My headlights caused too many metering problems and I was about to give up when a car came past! Its headlights lit up the whole bank beautifully and I quickly pressed the shutter! Too quickly I think as it's not sharp but I still like the overall effect. i've captured the moment and the mood. I tried a plastic wrap effect and loved how it made the tree and fence look.    

Precious droplets

Quick shot of some water droplets caught in the leaves of a sedum plant. They were sparkling like jewels amongst the leaves in the sunshine this morning. It amazes me how plants are "designed" to catch and store water. This fleshy plant presumably gets some water in this way.

Not so perfect night sky

This was supposed to be a shot of the beautiful clear night sky from our garden with star trails. I had a lot of problems and made do with a freeze of the sky rather than star trails. I wasn't going to post it - but a) it's getting late and b) I emarked on this project to get me out of my comfort zone and learn stuff. So here's what I learned:

• It's very very difficult to focus on the sky at night - autofocus is out and manual really tested my poor old eyes!
• There's a lot of light polution that you can't see with the naked eye. I need to be out in the countryside away from towns and villages.
• I didn't have a clue how to use the bulb function - I had to run in and look it up!
• I need a remote trigger so that I don't have to stand and hold the shutter - very boring after just 3 minutes.
• My sensor needs cleaning - amazing how a dark sky shows up all those bit so of dirt!

So, I don't mind if I don't get lots of lovely comments on this one - but I will try this again another day!

Happy St. Paddy's Day

A little tribute to St. Patrick's Day - my maiden name is Patrick so I like to mark it in some way and I don't like Guinness!

I've got my beady eye on you...

First 366 shot taken with my new Tamron lens 28-300mm f3.5-6.3 which arrived today. This shot isn't as sharp as i'd like but I can't blame the lens for that- should have upped the ISO slightly to get a faster shutter speed. Hard to be pin sharp at 1/60 and 300mm. I won't tell you how many absolutely rubbish cliche shots of swans I took and how I could have kicked my self for twice missing the shot as the swan stood up and spread out its glorious wings to their full span.

Pale in comparison

Continuing the theme of Abi's footwear with selective colouring. It's gone quite cool again and we decided to light a fire - other half has man flu too so we need to pamper him a bit! I was gathering all the slippers up and was struck by how bland and boring our's were - in comparison with Abi's mega cute, fluffy footwear.

The concept was fine but execution was a little harder! I wanted to use natural light but the firelight was intense and plunged the foreground into darkness, so I used a fill in flash with a slow shutter speed. Selecting the edge of the fluffy slippers in Photoshop was tricky too, especially as the top edge was glowing from the fire. It's not perfect but at least I'm getting plenty of practise this week!

Oh, and if you're getting the impression Abi has a thing about shoes you wouldn't be wrong. She's an 11 year old Imelda Marcos!

What lies within...?

This abandoned Morris Marina has facinated us for many years. What is its story - how did it come to be there and why hasn't anyone had it moved? Is there anything inside it, what lies in the boot...? It sits on a piece of land we regularly pass by on our dog walks. Each year it becomes more entwined and overgrown with vegetation and I imagine that one day it will just be a lump in the hedge. I was zipping past in the car today and it struck me that it would make a great 366 shot. As I stood at the side of the road taking aim with my camera, frantic barking ensued from the adjacent house and a chap appeared, with a wry, world weary expression on his face. Apparently I was by no means the first person to have the car in their sights, nor to ask about its history. It left more questions in my mind but it seems that around thirty years ago a man asked if he could leave it there for a few days and he never came back! The reluctant raconteur disappeared back into his house before I could ask why he hadn't had it removed. I suspect he enjoys having such an enigma on his property.

These boots are made for.., flowers!

I've managed to continue the theme of footwear - still Abi's - this time it's her old wellies. I saw this idea at the Eden project last summer and have been desparate for her to outgrow her current pair. I've played around with the curves in Photoshop to boost the lovely colours and quite like the result.

Get your skates on!

The theme of feet / shoes / selective colouring continues, this time with Abi's ice skates. I couldn't go to her skate lesson tonight and even had I been able to, it's nigh on impossible to get a good photo of her on the ice - scratched plastic barrier, nasty strip lighting, camera shake from freezing temperatures!

I don't get too hung up on formal composition rules - if my eye likes a shot then chances are it's obeying some rule or other. I didn't give a lot of thought to this at the time, but I think the repetition of pattern / stripes - the chair slats, the laces and the stripey socks - rescue this from being just a snapshot. But let me know if you think different - composition isn't my strongest point.

I'll try to explore the footwear / feet theme more this week but not necessarily with selective colouring - I just felt it worked well on today's and yesterday's shots.

These boots were made for ... Abi!

Abi has just bought some awesome boots with her birthday money. They sum her up so well and I wanted to get a picture of her in them that reflected her quirky cuteness (sorry but I am allowed to be so biased as her mum). I like the fact that she could almost be levitating - whilst doing Riverdance!!

Just hangin' out

Abi and her friend squished into the single hammock plotting goodness knows what. I spotted their feet dangling down and thought "there's my 366 shot for today!" Light was a bit difficult and I had to be quick as they didn't sit still for long!

Let the dog see the (White) Rabbit

I've been working on a shoot all day for a company called White Rabbit and photographing gorgeous bedlinen, cushions and lights for babies. Their pet dog, Susan, wandered on and off set every now again - never when we were actually taking a picture - just inbetween. She seemed to love posing under the studio lights and I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of her. This is my favourite - her ears seemed to have a mind of their own and 100 different positions depending on her mood.

In the frame - Jean

This lovely lady is Jean, married to Brian. Between them they do most of my framing and they are a lovely couple who enjoy life and are a pleasure to do business with. I went to see them today with a slightly more unusual request; I need a frame with no mount, backing or glass, just the frame, in order to create portraits with a difference at events. Jean and Brian were willing models as we decided what size to make the frames. This one will be the solo portrait one and they're making a bigger one for two to three people. You can see from this how being in a picture frame makes people laugh and I'm looking forward to using it at a party for teenagers in a week's time.

The wanderer returns

Sam has been away on a residential course with school for a few days and in his absence we've had some bad news and I was feeling quite world weary as I waited for him to come out of school today. The sight of him dragging his case, carrying his bags and wearing his deerstalker hat (back to front!) made me break out into the first non-strained smile in days. It's only a snapshot taken quickly with my phone camera, but I played with Photoshop to add an offset effect and liked the way it made it look as if I was looking along the empty path and then he appeared.

Taxi for Mr Shakespeare!

We spotted this lovely old pub in the centre of Manchester and I was working out how to photograph it with the hanging baskets catching the light. A line of taxis was in the way and I was getting frustrated that I couldn't get the shot I wanted and Nic suddenly said "Taxi for Mr Shakespeare" and that was it - I knew what I wanted to do! Thanks, Nic!

This is shot 66 out of 366 in this leap year so that feels like a landmark to me - just 300 more to go!

Pots of colour

I saw these pots of hyacinth in a garden centre today and just loved the brightly coloured plant pots - so much nicer than the usual black or brown ones! I'm not mad keen on hyacinth - the fragrance is so strong - but I do love their structure and colours.

Shells

This photograph was inspired by a beautiful book - "beach - a book of treasure" by Josie Iselin. I fell in love with it at the Eden Project shop and bought it even though I couldn't really afford it at the time! Ever since then I've been scouring beaches for shells, drift wood, pieces of pottery, sea glass and got really lucky when we went to Cape Verde in 2010. But see how long it has taken me to get round to doing anything with them!

I love this shot - it's not perfect by any means - the black fabric has a noticeable grain to it when you zoom in and I'd like to experiment with different light including a combination of daylight and studio light. So watch this space for more shells.

For Gran

Gran, my husband's mum, sadly passed away in the early hours of Saturday morning, after suffering a series of strokes since Christmas. We are all very sad and feeling somehow quite empty, but I think we will eventually be very comforted by lots of very happy memories of Gran before she fell ill. The kids will remember her fits of giggles when presented with toys that moved, sang or made noises - it became a custom to buy her gifts that would get her to giggle. We will always remember and laugh about the annual holidays to the great British seaside, when we created an enormous encampment on the beach, whatever the weather, ate salmon sandwiches with too much butter and drank tea out of a battered tartan flask as we sat wrapped up in fleeces and blankets. I will never forget how she used to visit garden centres whilst on holiday and buy more plants than would ever fit into a Ford Fiesta (although miraculously they did!).

Her garden was her pride and joy and I spent many hours in it over the years taking pictures of the flowers. When we went yesterday to be with the rest of the family and to make arrangements, the helibores were stunning and Gran would have loved them. She has left a huge hole in the Burkinshaw family and we hope that she is happily telling Grandad off somewhere for having the television turned up too loud!

Puppy power

I couldn't resist doing this! Daisy has starred a few times in my 366 project - she has such a photogenic face and is such a challenge to photograph as she never stays still and averts her eyes from the camera too! We were playing in the garden early this evening and the light was nice and I got a shot of her that I liked. From certain angles - straight on or if she looks up at you - she still looks quite petite, whereas from others she is a real powerhouse of solid, rippling muscle and broad shoulders. As I was admiring her cute face from this higher angle I remembered one particularly cute picture I had taken of her as a puppy and just had to do a montage to show how much she has grown! She was about 4 months old when the first shot was taken and today she is 4 and three quarters!

The puppy picture was sold to Hallmark cards - my niece used to work for them - and Daisy still features on a birthday card and we spot it occasionally in the shops!

February

February has flown by and a further 29 shots have been completed. I wondered if I would be a bit jaded by now, the gloss wearing off my enthusiasm, but truthfully I've found the opposite is true! This is largely down to me discovering a web site called 365project where people from all over the world post their daily shots. It works a lot like Twitter - you follow people and hopefully they follow you and comment on your pictures. Some of the photographs are simply amazing - I've been seriously humbled and I've learnt a great deal by looking at their work. If it doesn't sound immodest I can see where I've improved in certain areas - particularly with composition in non-portrait shots - and it's been very rewarding to get positive feedback. A couple of my shots in February were "favourited" several times and I made it onto a "newcomers" page with the shot of the alley in Knutsford.

Oh - and I'm particularly proud of the fact that I have never cheated - every single shot has been taken on the correct day. On the 365 project people often post "fillers" - shots they've taken at sometime in the past - well, that's just not cricket as far as I'm concerned!

So I'm well motivated for March and in danger of this taking over my life! Some would say it already has! Thanks for following me and please keep letting me know what you think!

Resting in peace

Yesterday a gothic, gargoyle bedecked hall, today a graveyard! But there's no hint of horror here, rather a sunny, completely peaceful and very picturesque churchyard. There was lots of scope for today's 366 picture and I chose a low angle of the path created by gravestones, leading away into the dappled shade of the trees. I only had my compact camera with me - it doesn't deal with hard contrasting light very well and I had forgotten to change the ISO setting - 400 was too high for the conditions and also always gives quite noisy pictures. I might try a similar shot again with the awesome Canon 5D and a new lens that I've just ordered.

Oh, and when I shuffle off this mortal coil I would like to rest peacefully in a place like this!