This next photo was back into the dark again so I turned the ISO back up to 800 so I could get this shot at 1/180th of a second.
This is a blog where I show images of things I see as I wander about, mainly in the Holme Valley at the edge of the Pennines in West Yorkshire. I'm fairly new to photography even though I'm not that young and I'm very enthusiastic about improving my skills. I like to process my photos to make them look as good as I am able. I love to share my images and some day I would like to start selling them as prints and framed and share with more people.
Tuesday 28 September 2010
Fungii
This next photo was back into the dark again so I turned the ISO back up to 800 so I could get this shot at 1/180th of a second.
Friday 24 September 2010
The Old Entrance at Beaumont Park
This shot was taken from the old railway bridge and looking into the entrance. From here you can get a better idea of how overgrown it is with the ivy and bits of trees everywhere. I imagine that in its heyday this area would all have been kept very trimmed and clear of ivy. I'm not sure whether it shows up on this photo but the stones on which the gates are hung have been replaced with nice newly carved stones. The workmanship is good and matches the original stonework very well apart from being clean. I guess it won't take long for them to weather and merge into the old stonework better. Behind me there are more trees towering above the old railway line and it is quite dark down here even on the brightest days.
Tuesday 14 September 2010
Ethnic Dancers at Lire in France
I've decided to randomise my posting because day by day over three weeks seems a bit of an ordeal, plus I've not made that much progress on going through the nearly 1300 photos and 50 video clips since we got back. I'm starting with the ethnic dancers at Lire because these a straight video clips that all I've had to do with them is upload them to YouTube. I made mention of these dancers on the 1st September in my post about Chateau Brissac being closed but didn't have any photo to include of the dancers. They did about 10 or a dozen dances which were all brilliant and I videoed these three clips, hope you like them.
Friday 3 September 2010
Poix de Picardie
It was very hot again on the way so we had to shower as soon as we got to the hotel. There was a pizzeria on site so we decided to go there instead of venturing out again in the car. The food was very good, we had a lot of wine and when we left the barman insisted that we join him in a shot of calvados for his birthday.
Today we moved onto Poix near Amiens. As usual we took an unexpected detour around Rouen, I think we get lost every time we get anywhere near the place. Finally arrived and the hotel is quite nice, there is a bar and restaurant in the hotel so we may well eat here tonight. We went for a walk around the town and there's nothing much to see although we did visit the local ancient church. In the attached cemetery we were surprised to find a plot of World War Two war graves of commonwealth airmen. There were almost one hundred graves and there was a big plaque explaining all about why they were there. Many of the airmen were Canadian, Australian and from New Zealand but most were from the UK. The photo attached was taken in early July this year and looks exactly as it did today.
Apparently there is a three day festival of hot air balloons going on here and some of the balloonists are in the hotel. We've found some information on the interweb that there are eleven balloons which is far less than the hundred and fifty plus that we saw last year at the chateau at Brissac. Lynne just picked up a brochure in the bar with the itinerary and tonight is the inauguration so we'll give that a miss. Tomorrow they're doing a competition during the day and then in the evening they are at the nearby racecourse when they are doing a blowing up the balloons and there is a concert by 'Un Notre Parfum' from Rouen followed by fireworks. We might go to that although it depends when we get back from Amiens. There is another competition Sunday morning and something else in the evening but we will be heading back to Calais so will miss it.
Wednesday 1 September 2010
Chateau de Brissac, Ferme a Mardi
The next day we chilled out around the gite and I went out for a couple of hours on my own to take some photos. On Tuesday we decided to got to the chateau at Brissac-Quince where we had been to the hot air balloon festival last year. We took a scenic route on the south side of the Loire and arrived around lunchtime. Went to a pizzeria where the waitress earned herself no tip by ignoring us as much as she could and serving everyone else before us. Fortunately the food was good otherwise I'd have given them 1 cent tip as a protest. After lunch we wandered down to the chateau where there was a sign that it would re-open at 2pm so we sat and waited a while. When there was no sign of life after 2 we had another look at the sign and noticed a small addition which said 'Ferme a Mardi', so I guess it doesn't open on a Tuesday, great. So we took a different scenic route back and chilled out by the pool again.
Today is our last day at the gite so we've been getting stuff packed ready to throw into the car in the morning and head towards the next hotel at Villianes de Juhel. We've picked a few stops on the way there as it's only a couple of hours from here and we can't book in until after 5 pm. It's quite hot again today but very windy as usual which keeps it quite cool unless you're out of the wind.
The Poppy Wave at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
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After leaving Mount Gabriel we drove to Kinsale, which was quite a long drive. We had lunch and then went to find Charles Fort which is jus...
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Last week I managed to get out in the morning for a walk before it rained again. I had dropped my wife off at work and had a couple of erra...
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A few days after the Poppy wave was unveiled at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in September I managed to get out and take a few photographs in...