Saturday 7 April 2018

TREES

Well, its a long time since I've been here!    Unhappily I can't get out much now, with or without a camera, but I thought I'd post something, so that you all know I am still here!

Been a nasty old winter up here, snow, wet, snow, wet and not warm either.   Still, I like trees, so have had a rummage around in my archive and found this one!




I know its not spring, and technically its not a tree (though its trying hard to grow up!) but it is a very pretty cotoneaster down the bottom of our garden.   It seeded itself a while ago, and is doing very well.   Its a bit wild down there, i.e. it doesn't get a lot of attention, but I feel sure the wild life loves it!


Thursday 29 June 2017

IN THE PINK

Its been a while since I was here, but I found these Pink shots for this weeks Thematic Photography.





Three horticultural ones - all from my garden.


 

And a sunrise with early morning flight trails.

Go to Carmi to see what others have posted pinkwise!


Wednesday 17 May 2017

ARCHITECTURE

Architecture, or human created structures is this weeks theme for Thematic Photography.    Architecture is really all round us, and even the blandest shop fronts, for example, can carry amazing architecture above, where old houses have been converted at ground level, but the remaining floors are as originally intended.    Even if it is only the exterior which has remained!   Sometimes, where big, Victorian rooms have been divided, it has been done without regard to the original decorations.   My dentist, for example, practices in a lovely old Victorian house, but the rooms have been divided into very much smaller rooms, and the lovely plaster work round the tops of the original walls suddenly ends at where an interior wall has been put in.   Looks a bit odd when you are lying back looking at the ceiling while he prods your teeth!


Anyway, here are my shots of architecture, or man-made creations!



Portuguese pavements are usually beautifully decorated with tiles, which makes walking along quite an experience!


I love the patterns made my the repetition of windows and balconies.   These are in Barcelona


Even drinking fountains are beautifully built and decorated.   This is in Nerja, Spain.


The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is quite spectacular.   The shapes of the roofs and walls change as you walk round the outside, so that first of all it looks compact and solid, and then from another angle looks as though it would fly away!


The Watts Chapel in Surrey was like nothing I had ever seen!


So I will just quote from the official info!

"Landscape, art and remembrance are beautifully blended together in this Grade I listed building. Visitors are drawn to the bright red brick of this Arts & Crafts masterpiece. Up close, the extraordinary design and decoration both fascinate and overwhelm all who venture up the winding yew tree paths.
Mary Watts was the artistic force behind the creation of Watts Chapel, and she dedicated it to 'the loving memory of all who find rest near its walls, and for the comfort and help of those to whom the sorrow of separation remains.' G F and Mary Watts both rest in Watts Cemetery, as do many other people who have played a role in the Artists' Village over the years.
In 1895 Mary began to run evening Terracotta Classes at Limnerslease, the Wattses' nearby residence and studio. At these classes Mary would teach local villagers how to model tiles from local terracotta clay with the beautiful and symbolic patterns that she had designed to decorate the walls of the Chapel."

Do go over to Carmi at written inc. to see what others have posted, and of course, post your own!

Thursday 4 May 2017

GARDENS GALORE

With Spring springing fast and furiously, well here, anyway,  Carmi asked us to take our cameras into the garden.

It being very windy here at the moment, and quite a lot of the early spring flowers having finished, I took this shot of the early morning sun shining through the tulips I have in a pot.    The wind seems to be shredding anything else!



To see what others have posted, go to Carmi at writteninc.  and maybe post your own!

Tuesday 25 April 2017

REFLECTIONS

Sometimes, just seeing things 'back to front' as it were in a reflection enable us to see things quite differently, or spot things we hadn't noticed before.

So over at Thematic Photography this week its all things Reflective.   Most of my offerings are watery: probably because water offers the most variations, from flat calm to a fair amount of movement, which can give us lovely shots.


Reflection of a clump of harts tongue ferns in our small pond



An abstract picture of reed stems reflected in a lake.



Off Cobh waterfront in Ireland



Another waterfront, this time in Tromso, Norway.



A very still day in winter at the end of the lake in our Park




A backwards glance at a following car in a narrow lane in Derbyshire.

Do go to the link above and see what other reflections have been captured, and maybe post yours as well!



Wednesday 12 April 2017

ORANGE

Its all things ORANGE over at Thematic Photography this week.   Carmi has started us off with some multicoloured carrots, but there are other things orange around!

Go to the link above to see how orange is shaping the world of others!



A nice bright orange tulip cheers me up in the early Spring!



Terracotta pots at the Garden Centre.    They look awfully bright when I first put them in the garden, but luckily they soon get dirty!



Sometimes we do have decent sunrises!   This is looking from the back of our house.


And you can't get more vibrant than a good orange nasturtium!

As for Carmi's carrots, does anyone know if they stay purple or white when they are cooked??   Not sure if I fancy a purple carrot!

Thursday 6 April 2017

PICTURE OF A PICTURE

I'm still stuck with a camera phone, and I don't find it very easy to hold still!   However, in my office I have a whole battery of family photographs, so decided they would be great subjects!   Had a lot of trouble with reflections, but they still show portraits of people long ago!



My Grandfather and Grandmother, possibly on their wedding day, but certainly somewhere in the 1890's.   Don't you love those big sleeves?


My Grandparents had six children, these are the four girls, the date at the bottom of the photographs is 1925, I think my Aunt Vi, at the back woiuld be early twenties, the others probably still teenagers, only that word hadn't been invented then!


And this last is one of the embroideries my daughter did for her Art Degree Finals at Manchester.   She loved the countryside around the Chilterns where we lived then, and was inspired by the fields at the back of our village.

Go to this link to see what other pictures of pictures have been posted.