Hammer House of Horror

OK - I'm showing my age with this title! I went to the amazing Crewe Hall for a networking event today - must find out something about its history but it was very gothic and darkly beautiful. Dark wood panelling, huge fireplaces, elaborately decorated ceilings, carved marble coats of arms, gargoyles and menacing statues at every turn. It was a beautiful, sunny early Spring day, blue skies and warm sunshine but I still felt a cold chill whenever I was alone!

I decided to make this a black & white shot to make it more menacing and then experimented with posterising the background. I couldn't decide whether to use this effect but I consulted my wise 9 year old advisor, Sam who stated that the project is not just about taking the shot, but using the right kind of editing too. Job done! Thank you oh wise one!

Faintly embarrassed smile?

I got some very strange looks setting up and taking this one! Just a simple shot today to show what a good mood I'm in! I booked some great new business for 2012 and treated myself to a quick lunch at a nearby deli. The olives, pitta bread and hummus were delicious - couldn't finish it all and so had a quick play with my food - just as the waitress came to see if I wanted anything else! Anyone else finding that the 365 project makes them chat more to complete strangers, explaining what they're doing?

Strong

Lots of abstracts to be found at the local park where my kids like to play after school. This is a close up of the chains, ropes and frames that make up a spinning spider web climbing frame. I like the textures and composition but wasn't sure whether the intense orange/red rope was a distraction - I decided not in the end and tend to rely on gut instinct - I liked it so it stayed in colour!

Look away now...

In the car and Sam is tensely following the live report on today's Carling Cup Final-  Liverpool vs. Cardiff - on my phone. We got home and I saw my 366 shot for today. I'd got a few others in reserve but I knew this was going to be the one. Didn't want to spoil the light with flash and couldn't use a tripod so it's ISO 6400 and therefore quite noisy - but personally I don't mind that. Oh - and I had stopped and parked on our drive to get this shot safely of course!

If you don't want to know the final score. look away now - 5-4 to his beloved Liverpool of course!!

A right bunch of villains

Abi's pirate themed birthday party today and we did a photoshoot - no wallflowers here! Don't normally post collages but felt it was a fitting tribute to a group of friends who won't be together again next year - as they go off to different high schools in September. (We find out next week which ones!)

Potty about Harry

A break from the arty stuff today with a shot that says something about our life at the moment. Sam isn't one to play with toys for long - he makes it do what it does once, builds it once and occasionally breaks it once. But he's been crazy about Harry Potter lego and has spent most of his birthday money on 3 different sets - and that's saying something for the son of Scrooge! He begged me to photograph his lego and we did a deal - I'd do it as long as it was a 366 shot with him in it.

The Big Bang...?

It's getting kind of hard looking for a good shot each day. the problem with getting nice comments is that you feel that you have to deliver a better picture the next day. It's my daughter's 11th birthday today and I was trying to get a funky shot of her but it wasn't meant to be - she was far too giggly and giddy. We went out for a meal at an Indian restaurant with very modern decor and sat right underneath this amazing light - job done!  I was going to tint it a bright colour but decided to leave it as shot (apart from a little tweak of levels and contrast).

Alley

Our local town of Knutsford is a great place to stroll around with a camera and today I discovered an alley between the two main shopping streets that I'd never noticed nor ventured along before. It is quite steep but not quite as much as it appears in this image. I played around a lot with effects on Photoshop and really liked some of them but was disciplined and made myself pick just one with the contrast turned up a bit. If you'd like to see the others take a look at the Facebook page for Picture it Big.

First tulips

On 2nd February I photographed some dwarf tulips when they were just green shoots peeping out of the bulbs. Today's shot is of those same tulips now gloriously in flower. I've been playing around with my new studio lights and tried a few different lighting set ups. Two lights did a great job giving me some lovely soft shadows and modelling but I felt that something was still missing - the waxy texture of the petals and the leaves was lacking. This final shot is a combination of natural daylight (overcast day) with just one light on the other side. I much prefer this result with the natural textures preserved. Great fun playing around!

Almost a tweenager

I don't normally post straight forward portraits of my kids for my 366 but I've got a new set of studio lights and have been playing around with them. Abi was such an accommodating model and I loved this shot of her (amongst others). I know it's probably not perfectly lit but it works for me. I used infra red to convert to monotone because I really liked the effect on her pink wig. I asked her about her forthcoming 11th birthday to get this smile.

Perfect Sunday afternoon

Pint of Robbos (for him), glass of wine for me, the Sunday papers, warm, friendly pub and kids playing happily outside - I couldn't ask for more. Pity it had to end.

The joy of Winter gardening

I've been desperate to get out in the garden and weed around all the shoots that are poking through the soil, so that all the crocus, daffodils, bluebells, tulips and alium will all look at their best when they start flowering. The hard frost of late has prevented me doing anything and when it finally brightened up today I was straight into my wellies, woolly hat and bodywarmer (definitely not a fashionista!) and into the garden. Half an hour later the sky blackened and stinging balls of ice lashed me and I was forced to give up before I had really even got started.

I love high contrast, super detailed black & white portraits and have had a go at achieving a similar effect with this. Does it work? - would love your views / advice.

Lethal Weapon(s)

My brother's family have got a cute little black kitten called Nero - an adorable bundle of super soft fur - and the kids had loads of fun playing with him tonight. Oh - he's so cute, mummy ... owwwww! They soon discovered that gorgeous bundle of fur had lots of super sharp claws that rake your skin - no need to tell you who won this game of grab the ribbons! They treated him with a little more respect after that first blood!

Stegasourus tree?

Soooo hard to choose today's pic! We went to the Cambridge Botanical Gardens and I've got lovely pictures of snowdrops and that lovely flame red spiky plant Cornus Sericea and one of my all time favourite plant subjects, orchids. The others will be on my facebook page shortly but this is the one I chose for the 366 project. It's an amazing tree called Ceiba Pentandra and I love the spikes and the colours. The kids were taking pictures today - it was great to see them looking for close up abstracts and different angles. Abi had a go with my 5D and 50mm lens and declared it "awesome" and asked if she could have one...

Diet Coke (and cheesecake) break

Today's 366 pic comes from Fitzbillies in Cambridge. Nipped in for a quick coffee and sandwich and a rest after having wandered the streets in search of inspiration. I've got a couple of other shots which could easily have been today's but the atmosphere here was so friendly and ever so slightly bizarre that it had to be this one. I enjoyed a very tasty guinea fowl ciabatta and cappucino accompanied by the odd outburst of lyrics from Louis Armstrong's cheesecake. I really liked the companiable and informal refectory style table, which I shared with the chef and another member of staff. They weren't at all fazed when I asked if I could take their photograph and another rendition of cheesecake got them laughing.

Our Valentine's message to mummy & daddy

There just didn't seem to be any good opportunities for photos today and I wasn't inspired at all. Two painfully boring hours in the cinema watching The Muppets Movie just about killed me off for good and I had resorted to photographing the kitchen tap. But I really did want to mark Valentine's Day somehow and the kids are always full of "good" ideas for my 366 shot. Today they really excelled themselves - I love it!

Take a punt at guessing what we did today...

Love today's 366 pic as it will always remind me of a really fun family outing. We were snuggled up with hot water bottles and blankets (and occasionally sheltering under umbrellas) on our tour along the river Cam.  Sam and I took lots of photos today and I have several other favorites but this one is so essentially Cambridge.

Technology overload

We're staying in Cambridge at the moment and when I came down for breakfast this morning I was greeted with the sight of 3 laptops lined up on the breakfast bar - just like being at home! Such a geeky gadgety family!

Happy birthday, Sam!

Sam is 9 today and we're in Cambridge. It's quite snowy so a real bonus for the kids. We are staying in a friend's house just a short walk from the city centre. This pic was taken on the way to Yo! Sushi on the Canon 5D, no flash, just high ISO and ambient light. Love this camera!

Decorative effects... or not?

I'm not sure where I stand on using effects in Photoshop - until recently I've stuck to minor enhancements - exposure, colour correction, level tweaks, converting to black and white and removing small blemishes. Then I started messing with curves on portraits and loved the effect, as did my customers! Now I find my self wanting to experiment more, driven by the 366 shots other people are posting with fantastic effects. So occasionally I'm going to give it a go but will try not to fall into the trap of overdoing it. I think there's a risk that you can take a very average shot and then add effects just to disguise the fact that it is just average. Just like piling on the icing and decorations to hide a bad cake!

Today's shot is icing cutters for cakes - I was using them as stamps on an art project using ink. I liked the original shot (taken on a light box) but really liked the abstract effect of enhancing the edges.

Getting a fix of his Crackberry

I know I'm not the first to coin this phrase, but whoever did was genius. No matter where we go, no matter what the occasion out it comes. Today we had nipped out for lunch and Nic was checking those all important messages and emails before he even picked up the menu. I was about to complain (again!) when I realised that the first thing I had done was take out my camera and start looking around for today's 366 shot. Both of us are guilty as charged - totally addicted to our chosen piece of technology.

I'm trying out a few more Photoshop effects at the moment and this one has been subjected to tonal changes and additional noise or grain. I quite like the final effect but I'd love to do a shot of hands one day which show every wrinkle and fold. This will be very dependent on the right light and today we were at the mercy of John Lewis restaurant light!

Shot on my Panasonic DMC FS12.



A cold snap

This wonderful piece of ice was formed on a blade of grass hanging over the pond in our garden and the icicles formed from water dripping from the fountain. I photographed it in situ for a while but wasn't happy with the composition as there were a lot of things cluttering the shot. As I tried to clear some of them the ice snapped off and I rested it on the table to show the kids later. It ended up being my favourite shot.

Odd one out

I had a vague idea today of taking an arty shot of some eggs in our porcelain egg dish but was thwarted when we only had 5! Then I spotted the toy rugby ball and it all fell into place. Firstly the "odd one out" title popped into my head and then the idea of picking out just the ball in colour. This effect can look overdone but I think the simplicity of this image suits it - I hope you agree!

Spectating

Guess where we now spend Sunday mornings? I've managed to hang onto my Sunday morning lie in until now, avoiding football practise, swimming lessons etc. However, Abi has started ice skating lessons and is doing rather well. The downside of that is that as she moves up through the grades the lesson time gets progressively earlier. 9.30 on the ice is already a shock to the system but 8.00am will be positively life endangering for me.

It's not a great spectator sport either. Don't get me wrong I love watching her learning how to skate backwards, on one leg and jumping and my heart is no longer in my mouth, but for obvious reasons the temperature is sub zero and the catering and seating facilites are firmly stuck in the 80's. Greasy food, unidentifiable hot drinks, plastic chairs and strip lighting.

The obvious solution is for me to join her, but I'm in the category of no hopers - Todd off Eastenders would be racing past me as I cling grimly to the barrier. So I'll carry on watching from the plastic seats, bundled up like a telly tubby and sipping decent coffee from my flask.

Gridlocked and frozen up

Lovely day to be stuck in town. The bottom car park in Northwich got inexplicably gridlocked today for two hours over lunchtime. Nothing whatsoever to do with the sprinkling of snow and ice. We were the lucky ones who decided not to move the car and set off, only to be stuck 10 metres away for 90 minutes. We headed back into town for lunch. I was slightly stressed by the prospect of Sam's birthday party starting without us, party food, cake or prizes!

 It did give me the opportunity to find a 366 shot - icicles formed really quickly, on the cash machine and these on a car wheel. Even the water drops on the wheel arch are solid ice.This was a fairly monotone shot anyway and lends itself ideally to black & white.

And the traffic cleared just in time to allow us to get home for 2 and 1/2 hours of noisy hellish fun...

Champagne anyone?

Stunning weather today - my favourite for being outdoors taking photographs - clear, crisp, vivid blue sky and wonderful light. I drove to Alpraham near Tarporley taking in the frost covered landscape and keeping a keen eye out for today's 366 shot. I had a meeting at a lovely country pub / restaurant, the Tollemache Arms, and was looking forward to stopping at the Staircase Locks on the way home, certain of getting a lovely wintry shot of the canals.

I walked through the doors of the pub straight into a staff education session which had run on longer than expected. I wasn't, however, about to complain, as the topic was Perrier Jouet, an upmarket champagne and the teaching session involved lots of tasting! I hesitated for all of a milli second when offered a glass - I also considered the cost of a taxi home but decided on the sensible option of just a small glass.

Perfect way to spend a Friday lunchtime. Wish I had the Perrier Jouet lady's job! But so much for a winter's afternoon picture and I never did make it to the Staircase Locks!

Spring IS just around the corner

On one of the coldest days of the winter so far I take heart from all the many signs of spring. My garden is full of shoots - some weeds admittedly - but mostly tulips, daffodils, bluebells, alium, crocuses and more. Glad to see that all that hard work planting over 100 bulbs in October has paid off. I've brought a little bit of Spring inside with this little pot of dwarf tulips.

Plant portraits will probably feature a lot in this 366 as I love gardening (a real amateur though!) and photographing plants and gardens is a real passion, especially close up.

Canon 40d, 50mm f/3.2 lens.

My other office

I love working for myself and working from home - most of the time. But sometimes I miss the background noise of a busy office and the presence of others around me. I worked in an office environment for over twenty years (wish I hadn't worked that out - feeling old!) and I have to admit it was hard making the adjustment at first. It took at least a year for me to not feel guilty if I wasn't at my desk or out working 9 till 5 and although I don't miss the pressure, stress and company politics, I do miss chatting with colleagues and the occasional work's do.

Nowadays a coffee shop offers a change of scene and a decent coffee prepared by someone else. I feel a sense of kinship with other people obviously using a table in Costa as a hot desk. Despite the hustle and bustle and sometimes very loud chatter and gossip I find I can concentrate well and go back home feeling refreshed.

Today's 366 is a bit grainy as my phone camera sets its own ISO, but by supporting it on the table and focusing on the nearby notebook I got a steady shot and soft focus in the background.

31/366 Or in other words - January

Having reached the end of the first month I'm so glad I started this 366 project. I must admit that when I started out I anticipated that I would run out of steam, time, ideas and motivation, but so far none has proved to be a real issue. From the moment I wake up in the morning I am looking for that day's picture, but not in a pressurised sense, just an awareness and a kind of personal competitiveness - I'm always striving for today's to be the best yet, or at least better than yesterday's. I have a notebook where I scribble ideas for a future day's shot.

What I didn't expect was that other people would be waiting expectantly for my post of the day. I've been really pleasantly surprised and motivated by comments from friends and family. The majority of people don't comment on the blog or Facebook, so you can't tell how many have looked at it, although my blog now gets around 100 hits a day. This has heightened my sense of keeping it interesting, fresh and engaging.

There's a surprisingly large community of bloggers, photographers, enthusiasts who are also doing 366 projects and I'm enjoying being a part of that, looking at what other people have been doing and occasionally getting a comment from them on one of my pics! Can't tell you how good that feels - I do need to get out more! To see other people's 366 type it into Flickr or take a look at this link

Aside from the feeling of wellbeing I hope I'm learning and developing my style, by working outside my comfort zone, being more aware of composition, colour and style and trying out new ideas. I've enjoyed looking for new angles - shooting from directly above in several cases and using reflections. I've experimented more with shutter speeds and high ISO settings and used my tripod for the first time in ages.

So I'm looking forward to February - I was going to set some parameters or limitations but having run a very small poll on Facebook I'm going to stick with what I've been doing. I would encourage anyone, whatever the camera, whatever level of ability to give a project like this a go. We're going to end up with a great record of 2012 - I've already starting laying out a book with Bobs Books (my favourite photo book publisher). 

Malevolent gate post

Today's 366 is another gate post spotted whilst out dog walking. This one isn't pretty like the last one, but it's certainly got something about it that begged to be photographed.

Stay still, Daisy!

OK, I know, another one of the dog. But we're feeling very sorry for her as she's come up in hives all over her body. I spent extra time playing with her today as she seemed a bit fed up and she kept bringing me her new toy. She has got such a comedy cute / ugly face that I wanted to capture it. I'm not going to divulge how many shots I took to get to this one, which isn't perfect - eyes aren't quite sharp. But there's still a lesson there about indoor photography, low light, slow shutter speed and moving dog. Even a twitch of her wobbly jowls would end up blurred. And calling her name or whistling for her attention caused her tail to go into major wagging mode - no way could I set the right shutter speed to freeze that! Hence the very shallow depth of field of f/1.8and a high ISO (800) to give me more light and a slightly faster shutter speed (still only 1/25).

Yup - he's off again!

He's only just got back, Daisy's just got over the excitement of his arrival and now it's departure time again. At least we humans know how long he's away for, whereas Daisy doesn't know whether it's a short stay away or a long haul. And Nic is her main human, her pack leader. However much I feed her, walk her, train her, it's him that she pays most attention to. Nic believes it's because he is so masterful, I know it's just because nature gave him the deepest voice.

Anyway, it is just a short one this time - he'll be back in time to take her for a short walk tomorrow evening and a long cuddle on the sofa.

Delighting in a Dyson

Cutting it a bit fine with today's post! I took this earlier today but held off in case I saw something during our trip to Derby. But I always have a gut feel when I have the daily shot in the bag - it just feels right - and I should have gone with this straight away.

We've had a cleaner for eleven years (I was surprised when I worked that out) and me and cleaning are very unfamiliar partners. I am used to occasionally swishing the broom around and only used elbow grease in the kitchen as I'm anal about clean kitchen surfaces. So it's come as a bit of a shock and somewhat of a novelty to have to dust, vacuum and bleach on a regular basis, having reviewed the household budget and worked out how much we could save if we did it ourselves.  So far (after all of 3 weeks) I'm quite enjoying it, so rewarding seeing all that dirt in the Dyson's cylinder, but watch this space...

A Shelfish lunch

Fresh fish on ice in the fishmongers or at restaurants always looks like providing lots of potential for photographs to me. I had the opportunity to grab a few shots today at Loch Fyne in Knutsford. Nic and I had seized the chance to go for a late anniversary lunch, whilst both kids were safely out of the way in school (hence the "shelfish" lunch - as in selfish!)

This isn't quite the end result I wanted - the overhead lights are reflecting on the glass cabinet and hiding the words on the wall. And I just had my Panasonic DMC FS12 on me. But it's a start and I wanted to still use it as my 366 pic as Loch Fyne is special to me & Nic - we went to the  Loch Fyne restaurant at Loch Fyne when first met, on our way to Islay. And the meal today was just as delicious.

More pics of seafood will follow, I promise. Next time I'll take a serious camera & lens and get in close on an ugly beast like the guy perched on top of the ice.

But mummy my room IS tidy!!

I know this is not a unique mother daughter battle and in fact my kids are apparently quite tidy according to some visitors to our house. But I really struggle with this issue as I hate mess. It unsettles me beyond any reason, preventing me from concentrating or relaxing until it's sorted. If Nic's slippers are on the floor in front of me when I'm watching TV I have to get up and put them away.

I'm trying to get the kids to keep their own rooms tidy - weekly pocket money isn't paid unless rooms are tidy on Saturday morning. And generally they seem to manage this, but come Saturday evening there's the usual clothes, toys, books, hairbands, night vision goggles strewn across the floor again. Unsurprisingly their pocket money is put straight away into money boxes, which are then carefully returned to their rightful place on the shelf. How much more difficult is it to also put books back at the same time??

Logic tells me that this is all a pointless and ongoing war that I will never win - and I am managing to stop myself tidying their rooms for them. I'll just have to be content with reigning over the remaining rooms in the house - with the exception of Nic's office (a 366 picture for another day if I can steel myself to cross the threshold) and the garage - another of Nic's domains.

Just a gate post

I've passed this gate post hundreds of times walking Daisy and thought about photographing it but never got round to it. With this 366 project on my mind 24/7 I had the motivation I needed today. The colours and textures are wonderful and prove that good pictures aren't always in the obvious places.

I took this with my compact camera - Panasonic DMC FS12, on the macro zoom settting. It also looked great with the posterising effect I used yesterday but I held off and just tweaked levels, contrast and saturation.

Now why can't I do that?

Crochet that is. I love knitting and keep spotting wonderful things I want to crochet. So I met up with my friend Jo today to learn to crochet some quick flowers for my beanie hats. Her nimble fingers (photographed) produced flowers at a rate of knots (excuse the pun!) whilst mine got tangled and I got mardy (Derbyshire expression for sulky and angry and frustrated!). This is the second time I've been defeated by crocheting (read about the first time here if you want) and I'm not giving up yet. Jo runs courses in lots of lovely crafty things so I'm going to go along and give it a final go - third time lucky.

Two things struck me as I edited today's 366 picture - I could do a whole month of pics of hands at some point - having already done hands holding camera this week. Secondly I hadn't thought of using photoshop effects but as this project is designed to be a learning, developing project for me, taking me outside the norm, out of my comfort zones, then why not!? Although I promise not to go too mad.

Happy anniversary

It's our 12th wedding anniversary today and I wanted to mark the occasion. Nic is thousands of miles away somewhere over the Atlantic and we've both been too busy over the last few days to have any special time together. So I was feeling a bit mopey until I caught sight of this wedding picture and suddenly felt cheered by the thought of how far we've come, how much we've shared and done together. What's a few thousand miles when I'm surrounded by things we've created, bought or made together (including 2 mainly lovely kids who are totally oblivious to any sense of occasion and are demanding something to eat).

So as I head off to a SATS meeting at school tonight instead of a candle lit dinner for two, I'll still have a smile on my face and thoughts of how we'll celebrate on Saturday instead.

Practise what you preach

Today's picture is from the course I ran on Digital Photography for people with compact cameras. I love the fact that this lady had written on her hand the three tasks I had asked the group to do during the practical session - Garden (using rule of thirds) - Person (relaxed poses) - Object (close up). I also think it's typical that, having told everyone to set their camera ISO to 200 rather than AUTO for general outdoor pictures, I had accidentally left mine on ISO 1600, hence the grainy appearance of this photo! Talk about "practise what you preach!".

This was taken with my Panasonic DMC-FS12. I've been trying to stick to Canon 5d and 50mm f/1.8 lens this month, or failing that, my phone. But as today's course was for compact cameras that what I had with me.

Perfection drip by drip

I know I've posted a picture of coffee before but I do love a nice cup! Making the coffee is all part of the ritual and enjoyment and I got a better shot than I hoped for when I took this picture.

3 beanie hats

I'm back into my knitting big time - always quick, small projects having learned the hard (and expensive) way!) that I'm not good at sweaters and blankets! This started out as two beanie hats for a friend and her daughter, but I had enough wool left over for the stripey one, which is now everyone's favourite. I finished them today and borrowed Abi' school friend's head so that I had three. Guess which one is Sam? He is glowering underneath it but was bribed to sit still for me!

Reflecting on a warm and happy home

The temperature has dropped outside, darkness has fallen, the wind is lashing the rain against the window pane and I'm sitting in my usual spot in the family room, contemplating how cosy and warm our home looks in the reflection.

Canon 5d, 50mm 1.8 lens on a tripod, as I didn't want the reflection to be too blurred. Tripod was necessary as shutter speed was 6 seconds to achieve the desired result!

Hi mummy

It's approximately 3.24p.m. and here's how it goes: "Hi mummy," (thud!) "bye mummy!" The thud is the school bag hitting the ground at my feet, followed closely by the coat and anything else that Sam has had to bring out of school with him. Towards the end of term I'm in danger of getting buried up to the waist in PE kit, paper mache blobs and other carelessly despatched handiwork. One day in the future, when all I get is SLAM!, THUD! and "Hi Mum" if I'm very lucky, I'm sure I'll miss being treated like a sherpa.

Oh and taken on my phone again as I had another busy day out and am running out of inspiration for shots at home!

Hello stranger

All the 366 shots to date have been taken with my Canon 5D and a fixed 50mm f/1.8 lens (lets in lots of light, creates great soft focus effect but doesn't zoom). But today I found nothing to inspire me until I was in Costa with the kids after school (yes, Nic, sorry - have transgressed!). I only had my phone on me so its usually very average camera had to suffice. It's normally only good for daylight shots and the flash is rubbish. Low light shots are always very noisy (grainy). But it has coped with this high contrast shot very well. I turned the flash off and then on the computer later I turned it into black & white and nudged up the contrast - all on Picasa by the way - excellent free download from Google.

It's in the kitchen drawer

"Where's the... spare AAA batteries / car key / torch / any small object that doesn't have a home anywhere else?" - "In the kitchen drawer!" of course.

Oh no, not in that drawer! The drawer where everything is kept but where you can never find anything when you really need it. The drawer that gets stuck constantly because it's jammed full. The drawer with coins at the back that are no longer in circulation. The drawer with said obsolete coins stuck to the bottom with some unidentified sticky mess. The drawer with the reel of thread with a needle stuck in it - ouch! The drawer with the shoe lace tangled around paper clips, spectacles no one wears, keys that don't fit any locks...

Yes, that drawer!

Toasty!

Well, I really was panicking today as I hadn't done a 366 shot in daylight hours. I was looking at the fire thinking how gorgeous it was and have been playing around with different camera settings for about half an hour. This final shot of my tootsies warming nicely was shot without flash on ISO 3200 and at a shutter speed of 1/60 to make sure it was steady. My Canon 5D can handle low light conditions brilliantly and delivers a good result even at high ISOs.

Brrr!

Sam has been feeling very left out as he is the only family member not to be featured yet in the 366 project. So when he uncharacteristically offered to help me today, it was well worth a photo. It was his choice to not wear coat or gloves, not me being cruel!

4.15 Time for tea

I was panicking today - hadn't really got the 366 shot in the bag and then driving along the lane just a mile from home I was admiring the mist lying low in the fields, with the sun low in the sky. It's not easy parking up safely, avoiding cars doing 60mph and spotting gaps through the hedges but it was well worth it to find these guys munching on their tea. Anyone care to guess why tea time is at 4.15?

Bloomin' gorgeous

Nic bought these lovely roses for me a few days before Christmas instead of a poinsettia. I can't believe they've lasted so long - well done, Waitrose Fairtrade! I thought they deserved to be today's 366 pic.