Monday, November 30, 2009

On holy ground

Another pic from the derelict St Johns church in Slebech.  Not entirely sure this counts as holy ground!  Built in the mid 19th century to replace an old Knights Templar church, it was constructed facing the wrong direction and the architect, Thomas Rowlands, hung himself in the tower.

Old gravestone of a young girl, entwined beneath a gnarly tree.
 
Candles in a leaded window.
A moment in time. (but what time?!)

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The Fisher King

In a surprise early start to a challenge I have set myself for next year, I managed to take my first Kingfisher photo!  (Hopefully more and better photos of Kingfishers next year).   I spotted this little guy fishing the nearby stream, with the heavy rain swelling the stream he (looks like a male with all black beak) stopped to fish a small wier pool about 20m away.  Heavily cropped, but my 100-400 lens and new sensor just about provide a blurry yet bloggable shot...

Snap snap snap snap snap..

I've gotten a bit trigger happy again, while I get used to my new camera, not helped by the much faster shooting speed which manages to rattle off 2-3 shots before I know it!  I will try and filter out a lot of the practice snaps, but here are a few left overs from the last couple of weekends rare daylight...

A family of Shaggy Ink Caps amongst autumn leaves.


Church on Sunday

St Andrews church, Castle Combe.  Founded in the 13th century and expanded over the years.
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The bell tower.

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A rusty old tap on a rain collection tank, proof that church graveyards have been eco friendly for decades!
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My favourite from this batch, subtle light, tones and nice strong geometrical forms.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Cotswold Falconry

3 shots taken on a visit to the Cotswold Falconry center, a fantastic place for photos of captive birds, had a brilliant time.  Howwever weather and light conspired against taking too many shots...



Photo Flurry

With my PC finally installed and working with my new camera, here are the photos from the last couple of weeks.  The first 5 being the final images on my 350D and the bottom 3 taken on my 50D (not that you'll get to see too much difference with them re-sized down!






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Rainbow, taken through circular polariser really makes it pop

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Old and New

Some of the almost last (not quite the last that I'll post) shots taken with my 350D..  a misty telegraph line and a European Wolf (I think she is Latea) from a trip to the UK Wolf Conservation Trust.

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Lastly one of the first shots from my new camera, taken in less than ideal conditions (dismal rainy morning) using ISO 800.  I've left it full size if anyone is interested in taking a close look...  (only photoshop processes were a 1 degree straighten, a slight crop and desaturate the colour).

Hmmm, so much for full size.. I guess blogger must restrict photo sizes then.  Oh well, it's as big as it's going to get on here.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Website tidy up

Just a quick note that I've finally updated my webpage Marks-Wasted-Time.co.uk, removing some old photos, adding some new photos and tweaking the code to work a bit better with a wider variety of browsers (tested with Chrome and Firefox - which at least now display things in roughly the correct place!).

Now I just have to go back and re-edit the kit page with my new camera ...

Goodbye to an old friend..

After nearly 25,000 photos, the time has come for me to wave farewell to my trusty 350D camera.  It's been my trusty companion for three and a half years, as illustrated throughout this blog.  Carried everywhere, from my first ever digital snaps onwards it's been there with me to see winter sunrises, wild animals, far away shores and many, many moments in time, captured forever.  It survived freezing mornings, pouring rain, the odd knock, mists of sea-spray, condensation and endless dust and dirt, to which I salute it and wish it many more happy years of use.

With great thanks to my mum, I have a new toy to play with!  An all new Canon EOS 50D.  With several years development and a whole level of advancement over the 350D it's quality, functions, ergonomics and performance has impressed me a lot, even in the few days I've owned it. 


I am going to be upgrading to Windows 7 this week, so it may be a little while until I have some sample photos posted, but once they're processed they will start appearing here soon.