Pick 'n' Mix

Starting this week with an odd selection of left over images of possibly the most diverse collection of subjects that even I have posted before. They're an acquired taste I must admit, but hopefully something of interest ..

ISO100, 275mm, 1/6400s, f/5.6, -1ev, levels, colour balance (reduce yellow), desaturate blue

Sunlight refracted through ice crystals in a cirrus cloud. The pure beauty of this is way above the abilities of me and my camera to capture, so much of the subtle colours have been lost. I often don't post up things like this, considering it a failure to capture how something looked, but maybe it's possible to look at the image and let your imagination make up for it's short-falls.

You can always rely on great light inside an old church it seems. This time inside St John the Baptist church in the fabulously history rich Colerne. The village has a long history dating back to hill fort remains from many year BC, it was mentioned in the Domesday book (11th century) and the church houses fragments of an 8th century Saxon stone cross. The church itself dates from 1190, with many medieval features still remaining, including a large array of well preserved gargoyles and carved faces. The bell tower holds 8 bells dating from 1652 and a single handed clock from 1685, one of only a handful of hour-hand only in England, but unfortunately not very photogenic since the clock face was restored in 2008.

Flowers at Lacock abbey walled garden.

Channel mixer, vignette, added noise, added texture, colour balance, reverse curves (lower contrast), dodge/burn and generally just trashed it to look like an old photo.

A bit of fun with an old car parked up at the suitably ye-olde looking Reybridge.

Wedding shoot went brilliantly on saturday, glorious weather, lots of happy people and no disasters. The staged studio lights were a complete hit, working really well technically and bringing out everyones inner celebrity, with a queue forming for the best part of an hour. Was great fun and got some really nice photos, bride and groom were happy, so another successful event in the bag.

Just one more lesson learned this time... when you're photographing the bride arriving and everyone else is making their way into the venue, make sure you don't get locked out!!