Archive for the ‘ramblings’ Category
Monday, June 14th, 2010
A note left in the Reflection area at Race for Life
On Saturday my dad and I drove up to Bristol to pick up my sister, Ruth, who was running the Race for Life – an excellent charity event set up by Cancer Research to help fight cancer. We picked her up at 13:30 and headed up to the Clifton Downs at the top of Bristol for a picnic. The weather was lush and having not been up on the downs before, it was nice to see lots of green in the city.
Around 285,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed each year in the UK. At Cancer Research UK we are working hard to improve our understanding of cancer and develop better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat the disease – Cancer Research
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Tags: bristol, cancer research, fund raising, race for life
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Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
Looking out to Launcherly Hill
Two posts in an hour!! Steady Dave!
I spent much of the the May bank holiday chilling out down round where I grew up, catching up with friends and family. Had a great weekend and managed to get out on Monday with my camera, just a mile or so from where I grew up. I spent some time with my Dad on Monday afternoon and we took the dogs out for a walk on the levels. What had begun as a warm and overcast day, turned into a beautiful clear summers day, with the perfect amount of cloud to make the sky interesting. It was so nice to be back there – I realise, every time I visit, how much I miss it. The clean air, the smell of cow shit, green hills, flat landscapes with hills popping up in places. LUSH!
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Tags: photography, somerset levels, summer
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Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
Looking over to King Tor from Whitchurch Common
It’s been a long time since I posted, due to work and life commitments but I think of posting most days but never do it as it seems like a very time consuming process. In reality, it’s not and I need to kick myself up the arse to do it more. So, anyhow, here’s my first post for a while:
A week or two ago, I spent a few days down in Cornwall with family and on the way back, after 3 days of grey weather, the sun shone and there were beautiful deep blue skys. I decided to detour from my normal route home up the A30 from Launceston, and went across to Dartmoor to do some photography. I am so glad I did as it was such nice weather, the Dartmoor Ponies had had foals and everything was lush.
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Tags: dartmoor, devon, photography, ponies, two bridges
Posted in gallery, landscapes, photography, ramblings | 1 Comment »
Friday, April 9th, 2010
Abbie Louise at near top speed
I recently had the good fortune to be asked to spend a few days taking photos on a clients yacht in the Mediterranean. I met Tony almost 10 years ago when I was asked to build a website for his business – a group of care homes for young adults in the Sussex & Kent areas. Long story short, I am still working with Tony and having looked after his company website (The Boulters) for around 10 years, we have developed a good working relationship and I have a great deal of respect and affection for Tony.
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Tags: freelance, gibraltar, living the dream, photography, spain, travelling, yachts
Posted in photography, ramblings | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010I have been waiting for this for a while now. I am flying out to Gibraltar tomorrow for four days photography on a yacht – a client of mine has just moved out there and is chartering his 58 foot motor yacht, ‘Abbie Louise‘. He needs some up to date photos for the website, so asked me to fly out and spend a few days shooting. I can’t wait! For various reasons, it’s been years since I left the UK and I need some sun, sea and to see some other places. I have never been to that neck of the woods, so am really intrigued by it all.
Anyway, I thought i’d better buy a new camera bag to replace my ailing Lowe Pro one I got with the camera 3 or 4 years ago. I got a Crumpler – they seem tough and well designed and after just a day of having it, I am well impressed! I’ve managed to fit two camera bodies, 4 lenses, all my power leads, accessories, a laptop, and a few other bits and bobs inside and its still small enough to take as hand luggage 
– Here’s a photo:
All my camera kit for my trip to Gibraltar
Right, I’d better head off and get my train! I shall be uploading the fruits of my labour on my return on Monday.
Cheers
Tags: crumpler, gibraltar, kit, photography, travelling, yachts
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Wednesday, March 24th, 2010Prior to my photography trip to Gibraltar, I had to go to Newport to get my passport renewed. My old one expired 3 years ago! Having spent a couple of hours in Newport, I was glad to take a drive up to Usk with my Dad and cousin Linda. We visited the Castle in the rain and all were very charmed by the place. Privately owned and a little ramshackle, it’s a wonderful place and definitely worth a visit. The keep is about 840 years old and other parts ranging from the 1400′s to 1700′s. Inside the castle grounds, there are a couple of rather territorial geese, a very chilled out sheep, 3 hens and this very regal looking Cockerel. My cousin wanted a photo so she could draw it at some point.
Cockerel spotted at Usk Castle
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Tags: castle, newport, passport, pub grub, wales
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Wednesday, February 17th, 2010It’s been a funny couple of weeks in a creative sense. I’ve been really quite busy work wise; working over in Bristol for a week on a short contract, which while it was good to be working with other people again, did sap me a little due to not being used to getting up at 6am – it’s been a while since I had to commute! I took my camera with me every day with the intention of getting some good shots around Bristol but I found I got nothing. I tried…found a nice graveyard with some old and gnarly gravestones, a really interesting place up in Clifton, but I couldn’t seem to get my eye in; My perception of light was awry, resulting in me getting my settings all wrong (I work in manual mode), taking badly composed shots and generally finding the whole process very frustrating. This seems to have been the case for the last two weeks and it almost feels as though I am new to this whole photography lark.
The Cranes in the Docks, Bristol
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Tags: bokeh, doubt, friends, photography, project 365, web development
Posted in photography, project 365, ramblings | 1 Comment »
Friday, February 5th, 2010And here is my 14th photo of the project. Two weeks in and only 50 to go – that seems like a hell of a way away. I had a meeting about some freelance work over in Bristol today and of course, took my camera. This is obviously one shot I took there. OK, Im tired of typing. It’s all crap that’s in my head that I am typing out for reasons I am not sure of. I mean who wants to read shite like this? Look, it’s a picture I took, I like taking pictures.
Boat in Bristol Docks
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Tags: boat, bristol, photography, project 365
Posted in photography, project 365, ramblings | 1 Comment »
Sunday, January 24th, 2010OK, I’m not sure why I took this on my way home from the pub after our team came 5th in a local pub quiz. Something about the ‘pillar box’ that is very British, much like the old telephone boxes we see so few of today. Not that I am particularly patriotic but I do like to see objects and structures that are from a time before computers ruled our lives. We used to write to each other; I remember getting letters from friends and eagerly awaiting the next love letter from a girlfriend…opening the letter, smelling it, smiling at the familiarity and uniqueness of the ink on the paper. Sitting and reading, rereading and getting lost in thought and then spending time writing a response and then wandering to a nearby postbox and popping the envelope through the aperture. This doesn’t happen anymore, well, it hasn’t for a long time and while I love our technological age, with information on tap, social media and the instant nature of modern communication – I have made my living from it for the past 8 years – I do miss the simplicity and deliberation of a time without all of this.
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Tags: bath, photography, pillarbox, project 365
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Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Sunset in the park - Street light bokeh
Following on from my last post, I feel I should mention one of the other steps I’ve taken to further my career as a photographer – investing in quality lenses. I know, it’s not all about the tools – so many people have the kit but don’t know how to use it or don’t have the ‘eye’ for it – but good quality glass really does make a difference to a photo. Depending on how well you know me or how much of this site you’ve looked at, you may or may not know that my interest in photography started many years ago when I used to borrow my dads Olympus OM10 when I went for walks around the village (North Wootton) that I grew up in. I often took macro shots of flowers and one year, I entered a photo in the village fête photography competition and got 1st or 2nd and then I stopped for some reason.
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Tags: photography
Posted in photography, ramblings | 9 Comments »
