Crossed Lines

Phew what a scorcher today, 32 outside and it hasn't cooled down much now.

The batteries seem to be failing in my keyboard so I'll be brief! This is an older image that I was never quite sure of, it had sense of foreboding but not enough, I had another crack at it this evening and came up with this.....

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Dusty (ish)

Another really muggy, sticky day here in the East of England, I reckon I lost a few pounds just mowing the lawn, which is probably a good thing :)

I've been awaiting the new Textures Part Two tutorial from Chromasia and now it's been published it was well worth the wait, I can recommend it without reservation. Anyone who's been following me for a while will know that I do like to dabble with textures every now and then. So with new information I produced the above image.

The original was not technically any good at all, although I have to say I liked it in a way, my wife called it her Dusty Springfield look :) Reading the new tutorial gave me an idea for this image however. I realise, as always, that it may not be to every one's taste much like HDR is or is not but I'd appreciate your thoughts either way. You can bet there will be more to come soon enough as it's it's really captured my imagination ;-)

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Feeling Hut Hut Hut

Blimey Guv, what a storm we're having here!

I just managed to save the PSD file for this image before the electric went off! We all sat and ate our paella by candle light which was pretty good I have to say :) both the boys were here, which is often not these case these days, so that was great :)

This is another image processed using Lab Colour (sorry color) mode, I'm yet to work through part two so more to come I'd say!

Let me know your thoughts as always, they're much appreciated.

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Shower of Inspiration

We've had everything except snow here today. Wind, rain, lightning & thunder which then cleared to leave a beautiful summer's evening!

Still this gave me a chance to try something else and I popped outside in the rain and snapped a few frames :)

I follow quite a few blogs amongst which is Chromasia & it's associated tutorials and picked up on an interview with Dave which I found most interesting and inspiring, you can hear the podcast here. After this I headed over and took a look through the tutorial regarding working in lab colour mode, something I'd skipped over before but hadn't really given it a go. I'm working on one image that I might post but I also processed the above with this method.

Let me know what you think as always. I can highly recommend Chromasia, whether you'd like to learn more about the vast application that is Photoshop or if you just like great images, if you skip back a few there's a series of three infrared shots that I really enjoyed.

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Hill House

I must admit I'm still reeling from the card cloning scam and have to say my bank couldn't care less, they can't even give you times of transactions because "their computers don't work that way" I kid you not folks.

Harping on about it won't help but just be careful folks, I thought I was. Watch out for mobile top ups on your account, mine were 02 but it would seem they use most companies to check if the card is working, it's easy to do......

The image then. Again shot whilst we were walking around looking at the gardens a week ago Sunday. I go past this house every day but I've never taken much notice of it, I think it's attached to a business based on the site but the house seems run down and empty. Rather strange since property of this sort is snapped up round here, perhaps I'll make an offer-oh no, got no money ;-/

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Blind Faith

Well it's Father's day and it started out ok. A quick check of our bank account this morning though revealed all was not well, one of our cards has been cloned!

Yup they cleaned us out, I'm sooo angry, we had to spend hours checking through transactions, phoning the bank, cards cancelled etc and now have no money and even if we did no access to it. Chip and Pin, safety in numbers, what a load of old codswallop!! I know I'm not the only one, so many friends getting in touch to say they'd had the same happen. I noticed because not only did they go spending our money in an electrical store they had the cheek to take whatever it was back and get a refund!!

Oh ranting about it won't help, I just hope we get it all back but as they seemed to shopping locally it's pretty hard to prove who spent what.

Still I watched the British Grand Prix, went for a nice walk, took some photos and cooked up a nice dinner which we enjoyed with both of our boys so all's not lost :)

This image comes from Gardens Open day last week, we climbed the very narrow staircase up the tower and came out into the light only to find a very narrow foot way and low walls. My wife clung on for dear life (I kid you not) whilst I shot some frames and this guy sat on the roof of the staircase cool as a cucumber reading his paper!

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Grow; Old but Never Up

Well it was Gardens Open day here in the village this weekend just gone and despite living here for fifteen years we'd never gone and had a look around the various gardens and thought it was high time we did just that!

It also proved to be good inspiration for photography as we got to see the village from aspects never seen before, including a rather hair raising trip up the church tower, more to come on that.

One of the gardens we walked into was a complete surprise as it was filled with an enormous railway layout! There were four older gents there running these beautiful models around, one was actually coal fired and every few circuits had to be stoked up, amazing! Anyone who knows me knows I love this sort of thing, I refuse to grow up and I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one :)

I have another couple from here that I might post.....

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Like Yer Hat

It has to be said that I don't feel like blogging much at the moment, in fact I don't really feel like picking up the camera even.

We've all felt like this at some time or other and probably more than a few times. It's best to wait and not force the issue otherwise they'll be no enjoyment in it which, for me at least, is what it's all about. I have a lot of shots in the can but can't work up any desire to work on them, it'll come back, soon I hope once I've got some other projects completed and off of my mind!

So having said that I'm blogging, go figure. I was flicking through some older RAW files and came across this. It always made me smile but I'd never processed it. I know it's not a great photograph but it is a great expression and I remember the moment clearly, the sudden realisation that the lens was pointing at him and his hat just as I clicked the shutter. As I lowered the camera I looked beyond him and pointed at something else, seemed to put his mind at rest
;-)

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All Mod Cons

We poppped out on Sunday to attend a fun day in support of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) organised by Predator Motorsport. It was a fantastic day out with plenty going on and all in aid of a good cause.

There were lots of bike and cars on display round by Predator's building and some of the Welwyn Stags Scooter Club had turned out with some gorgeous scoots. It was good to see them and bump into some old faces. The scooters are something still close to my heart and whilst I sold my Vespa last year (because it was going to be a money pit) the desire to get another Lambretta is still very much alive if only finance would allow, next year perhaps ;-)

Anyway this is a shot of one of the Lammys, an Li125 Special. I was a bit disappointed with the shots I got to be honest but just like the car show I was talking about a while ago with all the scoots being so close together and all the people milling around it's hard to get a good shot!

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Cool In The Shade

That's it, holiday over and back to work in the morning so roll on August for two weeks off then!

I spent my last day on my own apart from Tez (who frankly wasn't much help) re-pointed the patio, planted up some tubs, pots and baskets, trimmed back some shrubs etc. All sounds like hard work but it's nice to get the jobs done and it was another glorious day, too good to be inside.

I shot this a couple of weeks back on just such a day. I paused for a moment whilst walking, looked up through the trees at the brilliant sunshine streaking through, the hedgerows had a heady scent all around me and all was right with the world.

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