6/365

Wolves are from cold climates, but I made Mo the Meerkat wrap up warmly in a hat and scarf before I let him go out to play in the snow.

Er... right...

Possibly entering second childhood here, but this is so much fun. :)

Tags: 365 photo project, photography

5/365

Everyone else has been posting snow photos for ages, but this was our first decently snow-covered day.

The mist hung over the lower ground. This was taken at the point where the sun was trying to break through.

Tags: 365 photo project, photography

4/365

Nearly twelfth night, but not yet quite time to take down the Christmas cards.

(Taken yesterday, but I don't always have time to process the photos on the day I take them. Fortunately the group I'm in allows you to post retrospectively, as long as the photo was taken on the correct day.)

Tags: 365 photo project, photography

3/365

We're starting to get back to normal now after the Christmas holiday.
I took this on the walk up to the Quaker meeting this morning.

Then, as I arrived back home at lunchtime, G insisted that we went to see a film. So off we went to Llandudno and we passed some glorious scenery en route -- snow covered mountains under a cloudless sky -- but I couldn't stop to take a photo.

Anyway, we had pasta for a late lunch/early tea and then saw Sherlock Holmes. It was very silly and very enjoyable. We had a good run back, despite temperatures as low as -5 dec C.

It's bedtime now, but I just wanted to post today's photo.

Tags: 365 photo project, photography

2/365

It snowed a bit in the night and everwhere looked really pretty, but by the time I was ready to go for a walk, not only had the snow disappeared, but it was raining!

So on this horrible grey afternoon, I watched Dr Who on the BBC iPlayer, along with a couple of furry friends.

Tags: 365 photo project, photography

Photo-a-day 1/365

Last year I played host to Chump the Minkie and George, two little furry toys who were travelling around the world staying with members of the 52 Weeks About You Flickr group.

I had great fun showing them some of the local sights, so this year, for the 2010 group, I volunteered to organise another little fellow to undertake a new round the world tour.

Meet Maurice the Meerkat!

Tags: 365 photo project, photography
Current Mood: accomplished

The observant amongst you may have noticed that I've stopped posting the 365 photo challenge photos. That's on account of me abandoning the challenge due to deadline stress.

To be honest, I'm amazed I lasted as long as I did. Trying to take a photo a day over the winter months wasn't easy, but in the end I managed a total of 91 days from early December to early March. I was unemployed when I started, so had plenty of time to spend on photography. Now, however, I'm not only working but doing several degree level courses. I have a heap of assignments to mark and several assignment deadlines looming over the next month or so. I might pick up the challenge again over the summer when I'll have another short period of unemployment (the problem with teaching short courses on a course by course basis). Or maybe not. I will see how I feel.

Was it worth it? Yes, I think so. I've taken quite a few photos that I wouldn't have taken if I hadn't been doing the challenge and some of them weren't too bad either. I've learned that the most unpromising thing can make a decent photo if you can find the right way to look at it. I've also learned not to take too many photos in one session. Most of the time went not in taking the photo but in selecting and processing. After getting into the habit of taking masses of shots, just because I can, I've moved a little way back towards the film days and now just take two or three. If it were a special photo or it had been a big struggle to get to the location, for example as the ones I took of the sunset over the estuary, I would still take plenty and pick the best, but for more routine shots, I'm more prepared to trust my first instincts and check via the review facility that the photo is sharp, then leave it at that.

I'm still in the photo-a-week group, but I find that's eminently doable, even when I was working full-time and commuting last year.

Tags: 365 photo project, photography
Current Mood: busy

From the field work day last Sunday.

There was a wonderful 5 minutes when there was a big enough gap in the cloud to let the blue sky show through!

For the rest of the time, it was really grey. :(

( More photos here )

Tags: 365 photo project, field work, photography

The lake looked lovely last week as I was driving home from my Welsh class, so I pulled over and snapped this.

The light was tricky and I had to fiddle with it in Photoshop to get the darker parts lightened enough without blowing the highlights completely.

Tags: 365 photo project, photography

Aimee thinks the mouse mat is really a cat mat!

It's just as well I know all the keyboard shortcuts. My mouse was underneath her. :)

Today, for the first time, I let her out to explore the garden. She's been out twice before, once on purpose and once when she just jumped out past me, but both times I enticed her back in right away.

This time I walked down the garden to encourage her to do the same and she also slid through the fence to briefly investigate the gardens on either side.

Tags: 365 photo project, aimee, cats, photography
Current Mood: amused