Weekly photo - family portrait.

Posting my weekly photo early today as I won't be able to get to the computer tonight.  It was family portrait time this week and as I said at the beginning of the week I am one family member down now so this is one I took on holiday - a holiday snapshot really, there was no thought gone in to it when it was taken, Mick and his girls!  Funny just realised I have one just like this taken at Paignton Zoo years ago when they were little, must fish it out to do a comparison!  I turned it to b&w due to the sky being white as it was so bright - hence Mick having slits for eyes!!!

I've just had a look at the list and seen the theme is vehicles this week, should be fun. Anyone welcome to join in - just let me know so we can link up.  Louise will be posting her's later.  Kathi has joined in as well this week :) thank you.

Polo at Watergate Bay

Last night the annual Polo match/demonstration took place at Watergate Bay, I missed it last year but thanks to hubby (as always) he got me there (on bike to save trying to park) just in time for the start, (6.30pm).  Neither of us had ever seen a game before and didn't really know what to expect - all I knew was that I wanted to photograph it - well try to!  The weather was not the best, blowing a hooly and very, very cloudy and dull - never the less I did my best to remember what settings I would need to use and this is what I came up with.  Admittedly a tripod would of been a big help, as would a lot less wind and sinking into the sand as I stood there!!! 

 TV mode, ss 1/200, f9, expo comp +2/3, ISO 500 (high due to light and need for a faster shutter speed), focal length 140mm, WB cloudy.

 TV mode, ss 1/200, f9, expo comp +2/3, ISO 500 (high due to light and need for a faster shutter speed), focal length 120mm, WB cloudy.

 Finally had a go at panning (missed that week)  TV mode, ss 1/200, f8, expo comp +2/3, ISO 500 (high due to light and need for a faster shutter speed), focal length 80mm, WB cloudy.

TV mode, ss 1/500, f5, expo comp 0, ISO 500 (high due to light and need for a faster shutter speed), focal length 50mm, WB cloudy.

Weekly photo - creative

Here we are Sunday again already and what a busy week.  We are finally settled with all exam results now.  Bernadette is off to Bristol uni to study law and Amanda did well in her GCSE's with a mixture of B's, C's and one A - so she is off to Truro college to do her A levels now.  So all in all we are very proud parents :).

This week's photo theme was to be creative - I didn't get as many photos taken as I had hoped but they will save for another day.   Kathi joined in this week by getting creative with Picasa, Louise's images can be found here.  Here are my offerings.

 A side view of the petals on a Dahlia in the garden. Settings, SS 1/1000, F2.8, ISO 100, WB shade, 90mm focal length.

The dried Poppy heads after harvesting my poppy seeds for next year. Settings, F2.8, SS 1/2000, ISO 100, WB shade, 90mm focal length.

Next week's theme is 'Bokeh' below are some links you may find useful, a tutorial and images
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPcdWxhLwoA 
http://www.flickr.com/groups/bokehcity/pool/
http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=bokeh&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&oi=image_result_group&sa=X
open to anyone, post by Sunday of next week and  just let me know so we can link up to your photos.

Weekly photo catch up

Wildlife

Taken in Funchal, Madeira.  Lizards everywhere, this one was peeking his head out of  the stones in a wall. I love these little guys they remind me of my childhood - playing with newts in the garden pond!!  There is a connection honest!

Low light

These were taken as we left Santa Cruz, Tenerife. I'm fairly pleased with these considering I was on a moving boat - albeit a big boat.

Urban

The next two images were also taken in Sant Cruz, Tenerife.  I was blown away by the graffiti that decorated the town and it was decoration - in my eyes.  No foul language (not that I could read anyway!) just incredible art work.

I have several more graffiti images, but I'll post them another day.  So that is me up to date with the weekly photos.  Thanks for looking and reading and hope you enjoy.

A different perspective

A flying visit to post my wkly photo for a different perspective - a photo of Mick fishing Sunday evening.  I sat the camera on the rocks as low as I could baring in mind the incoming tide. 

Weekly photo - so far behind!

I am so far behind on my weekly photos it is unbelievable, but by tomorrow I promise to be up to date. I have fallen behind for various reasons, one being so much going on at the moment that my mojo took a break for a bit, but I am delighted to say it is back. So here is my take on a self portrait, I thought long and hard about this one, I have never liked photos of me and although nowadays I am happy for them to be taken I don't regard myself as at all photogenic so I tend to pull silly faces instead!!! Very childish I know :)  So instead of silly faces or trying to look good I decided to take photos of things that make up me .... like so

Guess I ought to explain for those who don't know me.  Flip flops - I live in them all summer I have several pairs these one's here are my scruffy one's for gardening etc (in fact now I look at them they may even be Bernadette's, we have similar and I do pinch her's!!)  Tomatoes - I eat them all year round in any form at any time.  I always have a couple first thing in the morning whilst watering the greenhouse (which is where these are) one of my Uncle Lew's memories of me at 2yrs old was me sat on the dining room table having eaten my way through a bowl of tomatoes Aunty Mary had put there for tea!!  Nowadays I sit at the table :) My faithful trainers that have run many a Race for Life with me and are now helping me train for my challenged half a marathon.  Last but not least is one of my Panda's I adore them, yes I had a Panda as a child which I still have today although he is rather thread bare nowadays.  He is sat with my other love perfume my two favourite First and Serenity.  Then in the middle is me with my beloved camera and my new lens!!!!  But that is another story. So there you have it my self portrait.  I shall post the others tomorrow, just in time to start this week's challenge!!

Forgot the links to Louise's , Sam's and Yvonne's though Yvonne took her's for a Scrap class she is doing it fitted in with our weekly challenge. 

The week that flew by....

...in a complete daze.  It seems like only hours ago that I was sat here posting to say no photos this week and here I am doing it again - no photos this week - so now two weeks behind.  It has been so busy this week with parents evening at work and the end of year performance by the children - they were brilliant, I was so proud of them.  Plus it was the village Garden and Craft Show yesterday which took up Friday afternoon with cooking, the evening setting out the hall and displaying the school children's exhibits that was from 4pm -9pm then back up at 7.45am - 6pm .... so a very long and exhausting end to the week, but it was a good show and it all went off very well so worth it.

I did have a break Thursday evening - a friend had asked me to go to see Dreamboats and Petticoats at the Hall for Cornwall.  It was so good, pure escapism.  I think that is what got me through the last couple of days.  If you like musicals and rock 'n' roll music it is a must to see.

So back to the weekly theme - which was a different perspective, Kathi has joined us, here are her photos.

Wkly theme- a different perspective

This week's photo theme is 'different perspective'.  My initial thoughts on this theme were looking for different view points to take a familiar scene.  Then I thought I would google different perspective and found all sorts (as you do when you google!!)          
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=different+perspective  found these on flickr which is similar to what I was thinking of. Then  I found these.   I am actually playing catch up this week as I haven't completed last week's self portrait yet but I will do it.  It is just so manic this week with end of term performance and the local Garden and Craft Show on this weekend, but there is so much behind the scenes work as with any event so I shall be tied up with that Wed and Friday evening then all day Sat.  It is always a good day and very well attended and.............. it also means I have completed one of my other 'pre mid life crisis' challenges which is to finish my jumper that I was knitting yeah :):) so pleased - admittedly I shan't be wearing it until the winter but it is done.  Will post a pic later.  As for the other challenges ...well... I can now run a mile without stopping 12 to go then I can enter a half marathon.  Bits for the others are in process as well, including those that haven't been published!!
Now off to sort out photos for Sat's show.

Weekly photo - slow shutter

Slow shutter was the theme this week and as I found myself in Fowey Thurs evening I had a go with slow shutter blurring movement and this is what I got.

A small boat coming into the harbour,

followed by the gig rowers returning from a training session.

It was a stunning evening with the sun going down but the sunset didn't really come together as expected and there were way too many people walking around to get any nice shots of the narrow streets lit up, hence I settled for these images.  I like the last two best because of the lighting on the houses and the fact that you can still make out the shapes of the rowers.

Weekly challenge

Running late with this as well - obviously going to be one of those weeks.  Right this week our theme is to use a slow shutter speed, this can be to create a blurring effect from a moving object ie vehicles, water, light trails, star trails, painting with light photos. Or for night time photography when you need to have the shutter open for a longer in order to let more light in.  Anyway have fun and get creative.  Anyone welcome to join in just let me know so we can link up on Sunday.

Here is one of the first one's I did a couple of years ago.  Hopefully we will see an improvment at the end of the week!!

Weekly photo - shadows

Here I am a day late - basically I just ran out of time yesterday - or maybe I was just trying to fit too much into a 24hr slot!!  Anyway shadows was last week's theme and I have really enjoyed looking for them even if I haven't photographed all of them, but I can see it is a theme I shall carry on with.  So here are my offerings, they vary from patterns on the ground like the two below....

to obvious shadows with the cause of them being shown as well......

to an unflattering shadow of me - that is a shoulder bag sticking out of my back!!

to Amanda playing around as usual during an evening stroll on the beach to collect seaweed for work

Kathi joined us this week as well, her photos can be see here 

This weeks photo theme

This week our theme is 'shadows'.  Here are some examples on flickr,  most seem to be using the sun to create the shadows but unfortunately in traditional english summer weather we have clouds and rain - so I think we may have to be creative for this week's challenge and create some shadows or look very carefully.  Have fun and just link up to show your images by Sunday.

Weekly photo - candid

This week's theme was candid.  Sam is on the ball tonight and has uploaded her's from last week and this week's already, they can be seen here and I am sure Louise will be posting her's soon.  As for me well, I managed a couple, the first was taken during an evening in Truro on Thurs with some of the others from camera club.  We had a stroll around the cathedral and I saw this girl sat on the grass busy chatting on the phone.

The second is of Amanda, she had one of her guinea pigs out and she was busy talking to it, as I went to take the picture she looked up and had to pull a face!! Taken via the window.

Weekly challenge - candid

This week our theme is candid, I found this description of candid photography and thought it explained it fairly clearly.

"Candid photography is best described as un-posed and unplanned, immediate and unobtrusive. This is in contrast to classic photography, which includes aspects such as carefully staged portrait photography, landscape photography or object photography. Candid photography catches moments of life from immersion in it.
Candid photography is opposed to the stalking involved in animal photography, sports photography or photographic journalistic intrusion, which all have a focus on getting distant objects photographed, e.g. by using telephoto lenses. Candid photography's setup includes a photographer who is there with the "subjects" to be photographed, close, and not hidden. People photographed on candid shots either ignore or accept the close presence of the photographer's camera without posing.
The events documented are often private, they involve people in close relation to something they do, or they involve people's relation to each other. Candids are the kinds of pictures taken at children's birthday parties and on Christmas morning, opening the presents; the pictures a wedding photographer takes at the reception, of people dancing, eating, and socializing with other."

Hope that gives you an idea as to what to look for and I look forward to seeing the results. Anyone is welcome to join in just leave a comment and a link, up load by next Sunday the 19th June.  Most importantly - have fun, that is what it is all about.

Weekly photo - animals

Animals one of my favourite subjects to photograph but unfortunately I haven't seen many this week other than a few cows that wandered into the field behind us hence they are my subject for this week's photo.

A friend showed me this link during the week http://go.jmleclercq.com/kr  ...... one day.

Weekly photo

I'm posting this early as Mick is home today so I probably won't get another chance today.

Reflections was the order for photos this week, I was going to try and be creative with this one but as the week started to unfold the creative ideas didn't materialise - still they are in my mind to try at a later date. The weather here has been pretty good considering it is half term and on Friday Yvonne and I went to Pine Lodge and I came away with these images,

I personally really love this one as initially I don't think it looks like a reflection and I love the colours.

Not as fond of this one, feel it is cut straight down the middle (lack of thought re composition) and it makes me feel as if it is top heavy and going to fall over!!   

Loise was very inventive and has a stunning image here

Sam has joined us as well and her lovely images are here

Next week the theme is 'animals' - I should have saved my previous post image til next Sunday!! "lol"

Weekly photo - action

Well I didn't actually manage to take an action photo this week instead I was in the photo.  Yep today I did my abseil, 95ft down the tower of the Falmouth Maritime Museum - now some of you may say that is nothing but considering I have a fear of heights and have never abseiled before I think that is pretty darn good and I am feeling very pleased with myself and my friend Barbara who did it with me and just to prove it - here we are ....

Climbing over the railings and having to sit on the green pad looking down, then you 'hop off' and just go for it!!

Me dangling in mid air - Barbara was gone I was somewhat slower "lol" but she did wait for me so we could pose together :)

It was great but all over way to quick - we would both like to do another one but much higher - 200ft was mentioned!!  Watch this space.

Thanks to everyone who encouraged me, sponsored me (raised £173.50), came to watch me and took photos for me Yvonne, Nick and Matt look forward to seeing them all - it really means a lot to me and is greatly appreciated.

Louise managed some great action shots here
We are doing "reflections" this week some obvious ones ie mirror, shiny surfaces water and some not so obvious likness, looking back, memories.