And since to look at things in bloom

And another week draws to a close... Spring is finally here although we in the UK are currently having some chilly nights with cool, breezy days,,, however, plants are starting to shoot, insects are beginning to show themselves and birds are starting to sing and hold territory...

Monday started out with a lovely cold, frosty day so I just had to see what I could find in the garden...

Just three of the moss with frost macros I shot that morning... I love the way the light sparkles through the ice...jewel-like...

Actually, I did have a client meeting booked that day, but Quinn was sick and off school so I had to rearrange for next week...

On Wednesday I had a tutorial - this week we were shooting portraits - my client wants to put images of his staff on a notice board and also on his website so we went through simple lighting techniques using a single flash. His PA, Naomi was a helpful and patient model...

I wandered back into the garden the next day, as the weather was keeping me off the fen... I found these...

The first two are studies of grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum) - I have shot these before earlier this year in fact but I really like this plant - love the colour and the details... so couldn't resist...

This is smooth sow-thistle (Sonchus oleraceus) another common species of waste ground...

Between these shooting opportunities I have had time to revisit shots from my personal archive... many shot on film and subsequently scanned. The scanned images have been sitting on my hard drive waiting for decent post processing... here are a few... especially for my Australian friends and relatives...

Part of the 12 Apostles group off Victoria...

"London Bridge" also part of the 12 Apostles group..

Both these taken in the Uluru/Kata Tjuta National Park... I still miss the light and the colours of Australia even though these images were taken in 1998!!! So long ago... Hey guys down there, I would love to come back...

The last one from these old scans comes from Greece; the island of Lesbos to be exact. Taken in 2001

All these old shots were taken on my trusty and well beloved Nikon F90X with a variety of lenses. Medium was Fuji Velvia - wonderful film...

I had a booking for a new job on Thursday - always good to get bookings...so that's a school event with workshops and a concert... can't wait!

So finally, I did venture out onto the fen yesterday and despite listening in amusement to some birders failing to ID a bird (they didn't know what it was and spent 20 minutes trying to work it out) The amusing thing was that the one species they were sure it wasn't was in fact what it was... hey ho... I did get these..

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) male... always a tricky species as they are less bold than others... I do love the colours of a male though...

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) male - maybe over shot these as they can be so confiding and another where the plumage is attractive...

Little grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis), also known as dabchick. Now guys - it really was a little grebe... honest...!

Redpoll (Carduelis flammea) and another favourite of mine...

Now, whilst photographing birds you get a high percentage of shots where the bird moves, or flies away... usually I delete these but one type of shot is proving to be popular on FACEBOOK - it seems the one with the bird blurred and in flight has it's fans... so here are three for you... what do you think?

Long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus)

Redpoll...

Reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)... not sure why they are proving to be popular....

That about wraps it up for this week... hope you enjoy the wildlife stuff... let me know if there are any shots you would like to see...

Keep up with me HERE or HERE and I look forward to seeing you all next week...

TTFN

Ma Nature's lyrical, with her yearly miracle...

Well... it's finally here... I write this on the Vernal Equinox...longer evenings beckon, balmy summer nights etc... etc... so let's have some weather to go with it... welcome the birds back from Africa, the insects back from their crevices/eggs/pupae or whatever and let's see some life back in this land... Welcome SPRING...

Yet another good weekend last week with a Sunday picnic in the garden, plus some weeding and the grass getting its first cut of the year.. still managed to find time to capture...

Daffodil...against the blue of a spring sky...

The day's eye (Bellis perennis)... often overlooked but a delightful plant in our lawns and grasslands...

22-spot ladybird, just resting on a leaf...

Whilst crawling around taking these.. I found this...

Lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria)... great little plant that is part of the buttercup family even though the structure of the flowers and form of the leaves have nothing in common with the 40-odd other species of buttercup we have in the UK. I am really pleased with this image and even more pleased to find that..
THIS FACEBOOK PAGE is using a version of this image as their header for a week... go and have a look and see which one you like the best...

I didn't manage to get out and about until Wednesday, where I found these...


Grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum) - one of the first signs that spring is well and truly on its way... I feel these are garden escapes as the genuine wild ones are pretty rare and have fewer blue bell-like flowers...

So after that... I found out that I had placed in the top 6 in a black and white nature photography competition on line - no prizes just the kudos that the organisers liked this image...

Garden hellebore...

Another thumbs up for my style of nature photography... With all this praise (?) I was tempted to revisit the fen and my favourite feeding station...

Blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)...

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)... male

Long-tailed tits (Aegithalos caudatus) perched above and collecting nesting material below...

Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) - leucistic form... commonly seen around this bird feeding area at Wicken Fen... despite the lack of pigment in his feather he is a handsome fella...

On the way out of the house I was taken by some bleeding hearts in our front garden...

I have a meeting arranged for Monday with a company who may need some images for their new website - which is something I am looking forward to and what I'm looking for now is a model... I need someone who wants some pictures taking... so any of you out there need some shots, just let me know...

Updates as ever can be found HERE of if you don't Facebook you can see up to date images HERE so there is no excuse for not keeping up to date...

I shall leave you with this guy...

Robin (Erithacus rubecula)

Hope you all have a good week and have enjoyed these...

TTFN

Let me take you by the hand...

And another week flies by... why is it that the older you get the faster time flies... we are now in the middle of March... seems like yesterday it was January... Still... mustn't grumble...

The week started in London... as part of my Birthday present I was treated to tickets for the David Bailey exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Bailey (and his contemporaries Duffy and Donovan) on the world of photography - particularly fashion and portrait photography... their influence is immense and can still be seen on a daily basis throughout the world in magazines and on advertising hoardings...This retrospective was fascinating and inspiring... he has taken so many iconic images and it was great to see his prints of some of the most famous images from the late 20th Century... his printing is impeccable, his presentation is perfect... whilst the subject is vital, it reinforces my belief that processing is just as important as the moment of capture...

Before going round the exhibition I had an hour or so to wander around with my trusty Nikon and see what I could see amongst the throngs in Trafalgar Square - one the most impressive piazzas in the world (IMHO)... what did my Nikkor 20-35mm f2.8 lens see?

Balustrades... outside the National Gallery

a group of tourists...

Cafe society...London style...

St Martin's in the Fields... exterior

St Martin's in the Fields... interior...

Trafalgar Square itself... with the National Gallery overlooking the fountains... a great place for people watching...

A series of people images... the last one is my favourite...

When I came out of the exhibition there was a Rally happening in the Square - for International Women's Day... so I captured some images of that...

Love the colours on all these... the Nikon D2Xs is amazing with colour... it may be old but the palette it produces are second to none...

So that was a productive day... what else would the week bring?  Well the weather on Sunday was perfect, but as it was a family day the Nikons stayed in their bags...I hoped Monday would be as good... and it was! So I trundled off to Wicken Fen to see what I could see...

Reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)

The composite above is a new thing I have been working on - it enables me to show different versions of similar images...

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - a long name for one of our smallest species...

Wren composite...

Flushed with this success I went back a couple of days later...

Chaffinch - female (Fringilla coelebs)

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) - really happy with this sequence... love the background and the colours... not to mention the lighting...

Great tit (Parus major)... The gear I use for these shoots is... Nikon D2Xs - an old body at least 2 generations out of date but still capable of producing some great shots. With it I use my Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 AFD ED lens, usually at 200mm end with the camera set to high speed crop. This means that coupled with the 1.5 factor of my DX sensor the 200mm end of the lens is effectively a 350mm lens. I rest the lens on a bean bag in a hide (blind) and sit and wait...

I went out again today (Friday) armed with this combination and captured these...

Blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)

Chaffinch - male (Fringilla coelebs)

Long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus)

and to make a change from the birding scene... a muntjac deer (Muntiacus reevesi) that was also feeding nearby...

all in all a good week... really happy with the Natural History images I have been getting...but for all you insect and plant lovers out there, I have also been looking down as well as up...

blackthorn blossom...

bumblebee... (Bombus pratorum)

small tortoiseshell butterfly (Aglais urticae) in early spring sunshine...

willow...(Salix spp.)

yew flowers... (Taxus baccata)

So I hope you have enjoyed this selection - let me know what you think - always happy to receive input... keep your eye on My FACEBOOK page for daily updates or my FLICKR site for some images that may not get on to my FB page... yu just never know...

Hope to see you all next week,

TTFN