Friday 31 December 2010

One I found Earlier

I have been archiving some images from my hard drive and found this one from last Christmas that I had forgotten about and wanted to use, It is Imogen in here new rocking horse, I took it with my Canon 450D and a canon 90 - 300mm EF lens


And the bells we use to pretend that we can hear Santa coming and get the kids to go to sleep, one of us gets the kids to stand at the front door as the other hangs out of a window 'shakin what yer momma gave yer!'

Thursday 30 December 2010

Bristol Trip

The annual Christmas outing of the Pixxel8 minus 3 (Ruth, Pete & Beck) was arranged, after some deliberation Bristol was the chosen location, now the next difficult decision was what time to go, I being a lazy B*!@D want a late start but I bowed to the masses so we set of at 06:30 HRS!! me driving and just 2 hours to Bristol in the fog, seeing mist scenes on the Mendips and surrounding countryside on the way.

We arrived and dully parked we search for a cafe to have breakfast and plan the day. one was found by the docks, ordered our food and found that the conveniences were inconveniently out of action, so Sub-Way next door sufficed.

I made a point of just using my 17 - 40mm wide angle zoom on my full frame camera to try and get different images of the same subject as the rest had medium to telephoto lens's, I hope I have achieved this?

It was still misty and overcast so we looked for interesting structure to fill the space of empty skies, we walked around the docks and river frontages all day, up to the Cathedral, with cafe stops along the way. At  the Bristol Museum we found a nice bench to rest whilst Eric surveyed the scene (well he was one a Quantity surveyor), back down to the docks and another walk round, stopping at a waterside pub for early dinner of Beef and ale pie (well for me anyway as they had only one portion left) Coca-Cola with not enough syrup! and Steve to pay for a pudding which never turned up!

Out again into the night to get some low light shots, Eric had forgotten his tripod so a rally round to loan one off each of us in turn, obligingly of course.

Turning 8 o'clock we headed back home for a cup of tea and bed.

Icebound at Bristol Docks

Sunrise

Nessie 


Wednesday 22 December 2010

Little Snow Angels

Well that was a surprise, a local amateur weatherman said no snow for us..... A bet he feels a little silly now!  I got up this morning to snow, lots of snow, all 6" of it (or 150mm for the metric lot) as it was my day to look after the kids whilst 'er in doors' went to earn a crust I decided that a better way to wear out the little cherubs other than vegging out in front of the telly, was to suggest a winter walk, or in this case sledge ride.

Here are some pics to prove it, all taken wit h my Canon 5D MKII and Canon 17 - 40mm f/4.0 EF L lens.




Sunday 19 December 2010

Carols at St Marys and ISO at 2000

Attended a Christmas Carol service at St Marys Church in Stretton, and me being me I took my camera for some low light photography. Knowing that I was taking hand held pictures in low light situation I opened up my latest lens acquisition, a Canon 17 - 40mm EF L, to it's largest aperture of f/4.0  and upped the ISO to 2000 to try and achieve a reasonably hight shutter speed as I possibly could, Luckily it was a full moon....

Here are some images, edited for white balance and some crop.




Tuesday 14 December 2010

Kelly Revisited

Another blast from the past, here is a shot of Kelly taken during my studio session last year, I thought it too was worth another look.

I used one bare bulb flash with barn door fitted to create harsh shadows and light fall off in the corners.

Sunday 12 December 2010

Talulah revisited

Whilst I was editing some images from a recent family portrait shoot I decided to have a look at some of my previous work, I came across this one of Talulah that was taken last summer during a location shoot on the Burton Washlands, this one has the bridge by the library and cherry orchard in the background. I thought it was worth showing off.


This was taken with my Canon 5D MKII and a Canon 24 - 105mm f/4.0L and I used some fill flash from a 580 EXII speedlite.

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Winter Walk at -7

What a glorious day for taking images of the winter spectacle, very low temperatures of around - 7 (well for Burton)  a low winter sun and a riverside walk, what more could you ask for..... I even had a fellow Tog, Steve to tag along with! so off we set over the Burton Washlands walks by the river Trent during our lunch.

Here are a couple of images (only adjusted for white balance) that were taken with my Canon 5D MKII and my newly procured Canon 17-40mm f/4.0 L EF wide angle lens and of course a polariser fitted for good measure...

Views towards St Peters

The Trent looking towards the Trent Bridge

On the Bend

Friday 3 December 2010

A Winter Walk to Work

I decided to walk to work today as the roads on our estate were like glass, so never wanting to mis a photographic opportunity I took my little 450D. My route took me from Midway along the A511 down to the Swan junction where I then detoured through the Stapenhill meadows and along the viaduct to the college. I got a couple of shots which I like.... what do you think?

 Bridge to the washlands from the viaduct

 The Trent viewed toward Trent Bridge

Trent Bridge