And so this interminable dreary weather continues, and is hampering my month of shadows, 😦 not a day for being outside, and I don’t want to spend another evening waiting for darkness at 11pm to mess around with lighting, it is Friday after all. PARTY!!!! Well, a glass or 2 of wine and the stereo system anyway.
But I noticed, whilst watching Skye, that even without sunshine & lighting, there are shadows to be found. And Earlier today I spent a happy 1/2 hour photographing the birds that visit my Happy Eater tree, through the front window.
a tiny ray of sun caught this chap for a fleeting moment
and Mr.Blackbird
Skye had one of her poorly turns yesterday, every so often she goes out and eats grass, gets tummy ache, sits hunched up and tense for ages, tries to be sick but just chucks up spit & grass a few times. Today for most of the day she has slept, but looked comfy, and this evening is stuffing her face with posh food and is back to being her annoying self. 🙂 Relief! Still can’t forget Storm and all that went down with her.
Last time i macro’d my blossom tree it was a rainy day, and I cut a bit off and shot it in my conservatory and processed it to look like a sunny day. This week, we’ve had not 1, but (count ’em) 2 sunny days!!!!! 🌞☀️Though it was not hot, mildly warm at best, but still, SUNSHINE!!!! And this evening as the sun went down, the beautiful golden light washed over my blossom tree, so I got my tripod into the garden, and took some pictures. And there is nothing to beat the real thing! 🙂
More flowers, well I went to ASDA and do a bit of shopping so thought I may as well. This first shot though isn’t a macro, it’s my blossom tree being rained on and I stood in my doorway and took some shots with my zoom lens.
My blossom tree is doing its thing big time now, and I wanted to do a macro of it in sunshine on the tree. But our incessant crap weather isn’t giving any quarter, so I’ve tried to emulate a sunny day,at night 😀 , by shooting an offcut in my conservatory under fluorescent lights and with an LED angle poise lamp. Initial processing in LR, then Potatoshop with Paint The Moon actions and RadLab filters. A bit of an embuggerance but I think it more or less works. 🌝
We are still in Modor, and although the rain keeps on coming, we have had mild temperatures, so things are going a bit wrong in nature. I looked out of my bedroom window and noticed a little pink spot on my Happy Eater Blossom tree. Couldn’t believe it at first as it doesn’t usually flower until the middle of April, but it has got itself confused and this one little blossom has popped out a bit early.
Hopefully it will sort itself out if the temperature drops to where it should be. But look at that sky! YUCK! Anyway that isn’t the daily photo of course, as I’m still in still life mode, so here is today’s offering.
It has been very nice to have a long weekend, and really nice to have the last 2 days with sunshine and blue skies. I haven’t done a lot of photography, but on Thursday I had my lunch parked up in a country lane in Hexam, and had a little company.
Easter Bunnies (nikon S1)
We haven’t really done much this weekend, Easter weekend is bonkers with traffic on the roads, and we like being at home anyway 🙂 but we did go and visit Shelley & Cal for a cup of tea on Saturday, and managed a trip to ASDA today 🙂
My polaroid camera came back from repair and seems to be working OK, although it’s taken a few crap shots before I got the hang of it again, still a bit hit and miss but I think I’m getting there. I’ll add some to the SX70 project up in the menu there if you are interested. But I will post a couple in the main blog as I really like them,
Blossom (sx70}
Thats my blossom tree in the from garden, which is just coming into flower now.
tomato soup to be (SX70)
I’m into making soup at the minute, and today have made a job lot of tomato and basil soup, lush it is too.
Got another shot of our visiting Bluetit
Mr.Bluey (nikon S1)
I took this shot of Phil back in 2014 when he was reading the menu in a chinese restaurant, and as I’m trying to be more B&W at the moment (inspiration from Reinhold and Emanscamera) had a go at this one, I like it quite well.
Looking down (nikon S1)
My big thing this weekend has been cleaning up all my cameras and lenses, as I have decided to part exchange all my Nikon equipment that I’ve amassed over the past 5 years and tread a different path. I’ve been thinking of it for a while, as I’ve had 2 cameras and several lenses sitting on a shelf doing nothing, and my main camera the D700 along with any lenses is really heavy to carry around all day or take on holiday broad, it hurts my shoulder after a while. I mostly use the S1 when out and about in the car at work, which I will keep, but still need something better for outings etc. No doubt when the new stuff arrives there will be a post about it.
Goodbye dear friends (nikon S1)
I have to say I’ve had 2nd thoughts and 3rd & 4th, but I have done my research on what I want next and am quite excited about it now. I know, it’s not the camera but the photographer which makes good or bad shots, but this is a matter of weight and shelved lenses being wasted, more than anything.
So now I must get back in to a work frame of mind, and prepare for tomorrow,
This morning Europe got a (nearly) total eclipse of the sun. So at 09.30hrs I stood in the back garden with my camera, but mostly all I could see was a cloudy sky. I held on though and the clouds thinned out enough for me to get some shots. I read up on shooting an eclipse, and you’re supposed to have solar filters and low ISO small aperture etc but my little compact Nikon S1 didn’t have any of that, I suppose the clouds were enough filter. Anyway I managed a few as the moon travelled across the sun, and that was cool to see. It didn’t go dark, the birds kept flying and tweeting, so not very dramatic here.
Also my Tree of Birds has had a few visitors, this little chappy has been coming for a few days and is usually too fast to catch, but today he sat on a branch a while and I got him.
Long Tail Tit
Cute 🙂
A pair of Great Tits ( 😀 😀 😀 sorry ) have been visiting too, here’s one of them at the trough.
Great Tit
and the acrobatic blue tits also making use of the fast food emporium on my tree.
Between our two lives there is also the life of the cherry blossom Basho
Love Japanese haiku, and there’s a plethora regarding cherry blossom. My tree is just on the verge of popping it’s blossoms, fingers crossed for some blue skies to contrast it with!
fraggle ~ rocking a camera across the Universe 
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