30 Day Photo Challenge - Week 4

Still just about managing to take a photo each day for my #30dayphotochallenge - last 10 days!

Day 30 - This Year
Well the challenge is over. I didn't particularly enjoy it, and didn't really get any great shots, but I did it. This Year... well, better than last, but was somewhat overtaken by the fact that I started a day job during the middle of the year, so not as much photography time as I'd have liked. I thought it was only fitting to take a picture of my office, with a little OTT monochrome processing. My office is the one at the top of the shot, as if you'd ever be able to find it from this! Now it's time to have some fun with some friends, camera-free. Until next year...

Day 29 - Time Travel
I had thought of getting off the Tube at Earl's Court to photograph the Tardis that sits outside the station, or photographing the time capsule in Canary Wharf, but neither of those was practical. Instead, I went back in time to a place I used to drink over twenty years ago when I first started working in London - the Princess Louise on High Holborn. It still feels the same with all its little rooms and intricate decorations. So, not really time travel, but it felt a bit like travelling back in time. Here is my lovely hubby, processed to make the shot look a bit old. This would actually have been a better shot for yesterday's topic of candid. Ho hum.

Day 28 - Candid Photo
I didn't actually go out today, until the evening when I met a friend for dinner, as I was working from home. This made the whole candid photo subject a little tricky.

At lunchtime I noticed a woman sitting on the bench opposite my house having a cigarette and reading the paper. I didn't get a particularly interesting shot, but it was the best I could do from the inside of my house!

Day 27 - Feel Good
It felt good to wake up early this morning and head down to Richmond Park (again) in my borrowed car, on the first day of nice weather in almost a week. As it got later more and more people arrived, running, walking their dogs, photographing the deer, cycling. I stopped to look up at some parakeets and then felt a number of eyes on me - the older deer were lying camouflaged in the dried ferns, and they were all checking me out. I particularly liked this one with his antlers covered in ferns.

Tomorrow - Candid Photo

Day 26 - Absolutely Anything
Boys in the Woods. The highlight of my day was a very muddy, squelchy walk in the lovely woods down the road from my parents' house with my boys. It was so mild we were walking in t-shirts! The dog was in much need of a bath when we got home...





Day 25 - I Woke Up Like This
Just woke up Henry to take today's snap. Sometimes when he's been asleep his face is slightly squished to one side.

Day 24 - Christmas
Delicious lunch made by my sister, mum and aunt. Stuffed now!

Day 23 - Out of Context
If I gave any description of this photo, it would give it some context, so I will give no explanation...

Day 22 - Green
I love the plane trees in London, and in the sun they often look pretty green. Their bark is special in that it comes off, protecting the tree from the pollution - which is why they thrive on London's busy streets. Most are probably over a hundred years old, having been planted in the 19th Century, apparently.

30 Day Photo Challenge - Week 3

My 30 day photo challenge, inspired by Photocritic, is now at the end of week 3. I'm still going...

Day 21 - I Feel...
I feel lots of rather negative things today. Uninspired, directionless, a bit flat. I also felt like playing around with a bit of photoshop, so here's what I came up with (another self-portrait), which captures how I feel...

Tomorrow's subject is "B is for...".

Day 20 - I See...
Back in London, and today's photo challenge subject is "I See...". This is a fairly wide open subject, and I hadn't quite decided what to do until I noticed the dog looking out of the window. He used to do it all the time, but only occasionally now. He puts his front paws on the back of the sofa, and from there he can just look out onto the dog exercise area and road opposite the flat. Who knows what he actually sees though...

Day 19 - Size
On the way back from our weekend away in Ipswich today we passed a massive half-built structure along the harbourside, that I captured for today's subject - size. We stayed there in 2011 too and it was in the same state then. A bit sad!

Day 18 - Candid Photo
This isn't too hard, as I'm surrounded by a large group of people and no-one seems to notice me taking photos any more. This is Yoav and baby Sofia.

Day 17 - Aftermath

I'm a day late! Ooops. Well, I'm at a weekend Christmas party in a lovely old coaching inn in Ipswich and was hoping to take a picture of "aftermath" just before midnight. Of course I forgot, so I've taken it this morning instead. Don't know where the rest of the bottles are, as there was definitely more consumed!

Day 16 - Silhouette
Yesterday's photo almost qualifies for this subject. Today's is not dissimilar, with the London plane trees silhouetted against the sky. There were lots of pretty pink clouds in this morning's sky. I couldn't decide which photo I liked so decided on a triptych.

Day 15 - 4pm
I had a choice here - either something dog-related or sky-related. At 4pm the dog gets his dinner, and just before 4pm, the sun sets. I decided on the latter - not wanting to include too many easy dog-related shots, so went outside to the lovely Eel Brook Common to see what the afternoon skies were presenting me with. Unfortunately there was no dramatic sunset, in spite of a glorious sunny day, so I had to be happy with a pleasant but very vague glow from the earth's shadow to the east.

I thought I'd add an interesting little fact for the day that not many people seem to be aware of... 

Today's sunset in Parsons Green, London was at 3.52pm. Tomorrow it will be at its earliest of 3.51pm and again at that time for the next three days. On the 15th December, it's back to being at 3.52pm and from then on it will be later and later until its latest on June 24th (on June 26th it starts getting darker earlier again). 

As for the mornings, sunrise is later and later each morning until December 28th (with the latest sunrise at 8.06am) where it stays for a few days, until January 3rd when it starts getting light earlier in the morning again (this goes on until June 12th when sunrise is at 4.43am and lasts until June 23rd, after which day it starts getting light later again).

My point? Well, everyone assumes that it'll start staying light later in the evening after December 21st - the winter solstice, but this isn't the case. That is the shortest day and the day on which the sun is lowest in the sky, but the evenings have been getting lighter for a week before it, and it's still getting darker in the mornings for another week after it.

So now you know.

Tomorrow's challenge is "silhouette".

Click for my first and second weeks of my 30 day photo challenge.

The Kiss

Every now and again I look through some old photographs and suddenly notice some that I've forgotten, but which bring back happy memories when I look at them again. Here is one:

I recently looked at some photographs that I took in Brussels last year, on the annual beer-trip my husband and I take to Belgium. We found a wonderful bar (Moeder Lambic Fontainas - there are two, but this is the central one) and settled ourselves down to sampling some lovely Belgian ales.

The sun was setting slowly and the light pouring into the bar was beautiful. My husband was happy (drinking the beers) and I was happy (taking photos (and drinking the beers)). A couple came in and sat across from us. They probably didn't even notice me, with my huge camera pointing out towards them; they were in love, totally caught up in each other. The pictures I took make me smile when I look at them, as they were clearly totally entranced with each other. I felt as if I was interrupting a moment, but they were oblivious to me and my camera; they had eyes only for each other. His smile says it all, I think...



Even without the couple I still really liked the bar, with the delicious beer (served with small pots of barley), the repeated booths and chairs and the early evening light pouring through the huge windows. From time to time the barman would head outside with a tray laden with golden beers. I captured a couple of shots of this and thought it would be a perfect shot to try out colour-popping with in post-processing.  I'm not too keen on the effect usually (seen far too many red buses or telephone boxes against black-and-white London scenes), but I think this worked.

Looking forward to another trip this summer, although not sure where this time...