Woods water and meers Merrion's and Martin

Back again to the blog. I started back to work on Monday and (today is Wed) and although I have had the time to write I just have not got around to doing it. So what has happened since last I posted.

I managed to take the children out a couple of times last week and took my camera. They like Merrions Wood in Walsall, it is easy to get to and we have spent a lot of time in there over the last few years. To be honest I don't go there as often as I should, it is a great place for a walk. Especially at this time of year with the leaves all shades from vivid green through orange and yellow to brown.

These two pictures should give you an idea of the place in October,

full of colour.

It is not the biggest nature reserve in the world, but I am quite fond of it. Although I have seen some good birds including grey wagtails and woodpeckers there it is the trees that are the real stars of the place especially as they grow old and die.


I took this picture of a fallen tree, I loved texture of the bark and could quite happily spend "hours" looking for insects and other stuff in the crevices.

The next picture was taken further in I suppose showing the next stages of decomposition.

If anyone knows what the name of the fungi I would be very grateful if they would tell me.


On Sunday I was able to go up to Martin Mere
owned by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. It was a place I have wanted to visit for years especially after seeing the signs on the M6. I had a great time and my family enjoyed themselves. There was a play area for the children , but they were also fascinated by the otters and birds in the centre. I got to see a Red Crested Pochard, which I remember from bird books as a child but had never seen.

These were the best picture I got of the little dears as the were never really still long enough for me. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it.

I think the children will remember the otters longer than the birds, they were very cute and "performed right on cue".

I was able to get a couple of picture and this one was quite good, well I like it anyway.

OK so I have said enough now I will try and update the website with these and more pictures from the last week or so over the next couple of days.

Late Thursday

So it is Thursday evening and I have not been out with my camera for a couple of days now. I have taken it with me but the weather has been overcast with showers and I have been in Birmingham during the day. I was doing the parent bit today, taking the children to school doing there tea and generally being there. I also managed to get a hair cut. It has been quite a calm day even when the children were around. We managed to catch up on the Sarah Jane Adventures on the iplayer so they were happy and it made me feel quite nostalgic.

I have been looking at my web pages and going through my pictures the site has been up for a over a month now and on the whole I am pleased with it. As I have discussed before there are few areas I would like to improve, such as getting a guest book sorted, I also need especially if I want people to buy pictures is to put up a price list and find a mechanism for them to pay me. I have signed up with paypal and have to finish that off.


I have to find ways of getting the product out there. I should have links to my facebook page and I am considering talking to some galleries to see if the will take some of my pictures.

I will continue to up date the site and add in more pictures but at some point I will have to replace things I think rather than add in more. Either that or have a radical rethink on how it is constructed at present.

Bed time methinks

reflections on what sells

So it another day and I am sitting down to write something and need some inspiration.

OK so what can I really write about today. I spoke to my brother yesterday about getting some pictures put up in one of his shops. sounds good that my brother's shops. People will be able to buy them if and I will get some of the money. sounds good to me. Now I just have to choose the pictures. I will probably have about 6 or 7 printed out at A0 I now have to decide on which ones. I will then have to get them framed up and begin to work out a price. This does seem like a step in the right direction. I have been thinking about the Ironbridge Craft fayre and although there are lots of people through and those that look say nice things actually getting someone to buy is rare.

So for example this week most people, who actually spent time looking at the pictures looked at this one "Over the Edge" explaining how they liked the colours of the sea, the greens and the blue. a lot of people asked me if it was taken in Cornwall and I have to confess it was taken at the Mull of Galloway.

I have it in an A4 print mounted in and 11 X 14 mount and I think it looks very good and so do quite a few people who have seen it over the last few weeks. I suppose it is the nature of the fayre, the price I am charging for the picture (£20) which given that I need to cover my costs and make something out of the whole shebang is a good price. I suppose people are not expecting to pay that sort of money for a single item in this environment. I did sell cards for £1 and £2 each and I would sell them on a regular basis, but almost all the stall holders are selling and making up there own cards, though it is probably the most bought item in the whole fayre, I don't think I could compete with them.

I suppose it is the quirky nature of some of the pictures that attracts people to look and the amount of people who are drawn to this one. I love the picture on the whole because of what it represents, my family, but also the colours are great and it does work as a whole.

The problem with it is also that this is my family and someone "buying" this image has no connection to that.

On the whole, I don't sell images which include my family but with this one I felt there was enough distance.

So what has sold, well I have sold this picture three or four times over last couple of months. People like seascapes and dreaming. It does work on a number of levels with all the straight lines drawing you out to sea, there is the colours of the rocks and the sky. I like it but not that much, maybe I am too close to the picture and am not able to see the wood for the trees as it were.

I will get this printed up as one of the shop and see what it looks like. I will also have a look at the picture of trees in Glentrool. This is one of my personal favourites and a few other people have said how much they liked it even buying prints. But no one at Ironbridge has bought one.

I think it to an extent it is in the wrong place but I need to build up to find the right place. Christmas is coming and people are starting to look for presents, finding something different may be the advantage that I have.

I have to go go back to what people are expecting to buy and what they are expecting to pay has a big say in their purchases. It may be in a different environment such as a Gallery where people are going in looking for something specific and with a expectation of paying a "good price" for the item, it will seel more easily.

So how to get my pictures in a better place.

If you do have any ideas please get in touch. I will carry on soon

Updates new pictures and sales and more pictures

sorry but I do find it difficult to make a start to these things. It is now Tuesday and since my last missive I have updated the website. I have expanded the front page and added in a recent pictures page this I will try and up date as I manage to go and take more stuff. In addition I reworked "Say Hello" pages to take out the flawed guest book. I assume it is something I have done. I will try and fix it at a later date. I also put in one of the few pictures of me that I possess as taken by one of my Children. My wife refers to it as the Axe Murderer, and wants a "better" one. I quite like it.

So what do you think, its me and I have had a shave.

I had tought I would be able to update the site with new comment and photos regularly given that I had more time on my hands. This may not be as often as previously thought as Pertemps have offered me a job starting next week. So I will return to the world of full time employment, not quite what I had in mind but it will pay the bills and give me more time to develop a market for Vertrouge. We will see how things go.

On Sunday I was at the Ironbridge Craft Fayre, the new venue seems to be working as we have had over 100 people in every week this month with over 150 this week alone. I try and keep count just so I know, but all the other stall holders seem to be very keen on knowing how many we have had in.

I actually managed to sell a picture this weekend, This one, called Out to Sea, This is one of my most popular pictures I have sold several copies of it. I took it in Goring by Sea last November, the companion to it "low tide " has a man on the beach, I like it. I took them in the afternoon after my Doris Hayes' funeral, just before sunset. She would have liked the walk on the beach.

Talking of walks I managed to go back out to Sandwell Valley this morning. the light was different today. The sun hid behind the clouds for much of my time there only deigning to make an appearance as I walked back towards the car.

I got in about 8:30 there were more people around and although the was no mist there was a fair cloud cover.

I got a few picture of the colour of the water, I do like the golden glow that you get from the the low sun especially filtered through low cloud.

I walked clockwise around the lake starting from the farm. The light was not as good as on other days I had been there. I took photos, but they did not "feel right" even when I was taking them and looking at them later I was not particularly happy with them.

I suppose there is almost and immediacy effect, in a way I am still comparing the actual picture with the shot I thought about in my head, if the match is not there then I am not happy. However often I will come back to stuff I shot some time ago and the greater the distance in time between me taking the picture and seeing it again the fonder I am of it.

These two I am not sure about. I suppose I wanted to reproduce the autumnal feel and add in the dimension of the path curving away

I look at them and am not sure if I have got it right. I know I tend to be hyper critical of stuff I have just taken so may be they will mellow with age.


It was not until I came on the final section that the sun really made an appearance. I think it was as I looked to take a shot of my on going favourite the Teasel

It may not be my best picture of the spiky form but it made me happy today. After this although the sun hid itself every so often, It reappeared on regular intervals.

The seagulls and the lapwing on the lake and Islands were particularly flighty this morning and seemed to fly up for no reason. I originally put it down to them noticing me, but once I saw the Sparrowhawk that had settled on the Island take off and head towards West Bromwich, I understood the nature of the threat.

OK more tomorrow or definitely next time.

Sandwell Valley, an October Morning, Pictures

Actually got up this morning and went out and took some photos. I am quite surprised myself. We not the getting up bit, I don't really have any choice, staying in bed with two children who are getting up and need to be got ready for school is not an option especially as my wife has to leave for work and the rest I will leave to your imagination.

I went to Sandwell Valley just outside Birmingham. I got there about 8:30 and although the sky was clear and the morning cold the mist that had risen from the lake had yet to clear. Having parked by the farm I went for a walk around the lake.. this was one of the first shots I took. Away from the lake the sun was out and it was a bright morning. Here the mist still prevailed. I liked the effect of the mist on the light and reflections

I did try and get a couple of birds in the picture but I don't think it worked very well so I carried on walking.

After seeing one jogger go past me and then return a minute later talking animatedly into his mobile, I felt I had the place to myself the mist having the blanket effect keeping out the rest of the world.

Further up the track I came across one of my favourite subjects, teasels lots of them. At this time of year they are brown pin cushions but draped with spider silk and against the background of the grey water they worked well.

I continued walking around the lake, as the sun slowly burned off the mist. Looking up I was able to get this picture of autumn leaves. The blue of the sky contrasts well with the green and red of the leaves.









This contrasted with the view of the lake itself as the mist clung on to surface so from the same position I was able to take this picture of the gulls and coots waiting for the mist to clear.








From this point the path leads away from the water and took me uphill through the trees out of the mist and into the light. Well perhaps the imagery is going over the top a little, but I like the picture I took.

I walked, ambled is probably a better word for it, up to the RSPB centre at the top of the hill and although tempted to stop I moved on down the other side. Nearly all the trees are into the process of producing wonderful colours although mostly green, there is so much red and yellow in the leaves. I don't think I have done it justice.

Further round and down the hill the rive on one side and the lake on the other the sun has finally burnt off the mist and it is a good day to be out. I see a pair of Canada Geese flying towards me and I manage to catch them as they swing past. This is the best one. I am actually quite impressed with my self. Normally I would have put my finger on to the lens or tried to focus on the pylons in the background.

So feeling quite smug, I debated whether or not to run straight home as I was sure this was the high point and it was always good to go out on a high. I decided to carry on, and was rewarded by the view across the lake of the Gulls Cormorants and Coots against the autumn tinges of the far bank.

So just up the path was my car. I had been out for the best part of 2 hours and I wanted a cup of coffee and some breakfast. So home I went.

Update site new pictures new site

So back again after Saturday evenings session. I went to Ironbridge of Sunday and met lots of people but although I did not sell any photos have been able to start work on a new project which if all goes well will bring me in some income. I will set up a website for the fayre and maintain it and it should help me do some more stuff. Anyway that will take a little working on.

I have been over the last week or so been making some changes to the site as I have talked about in previous missives. I have probably done most of the changes that I can do at the moment. I have changed the fonts on the main pages and had experiment with setting up a guest book. I am not sure what I have done wrong but as yet it does not work and so I have taken it out. Maybe a little more learning or it could even be that I will have to look at getting some outside help. I have already asked a couple of people for advice and need to think about what to do next.

I have also put up some new pictures, when I say new I mean more that I have not put them up before, though some are actually new. I have put up one of my oldest pictures. I have been taking pictures of teasels for years and have never seen another one where the flowers are spread over the surface like this


In comparison the most recent additions to the collection in terms of the date taken are city pictures.

I took this in Birmingham at the end of September. I like the straight lines and the lead up to sky. Anyway I like it. I would print it out properly just to see what it looks like on paper , but my printer has run out of ink. It is quite scary watching it print out on photo paper at the best quality print settings and watching the ink run out. I have got the XL cartridges from HP. but it seems to go through them at an alarming rate. Anyway at the moment I have not much ink in the cartridge so I don't think a print run is in the offing.

I am sitting here trying to work out what to say next. I am not sure about what to do to improve my site. I do need a way of selling, I think a price list and proper contact page with may be even a shopping cart... mmm not sure yet. I am not yet convinced that this is the best way to show off my wares as it were. It is a good starting point and I think in the long run I will need to put more info about each picture. Also I do need to think about marketing this and the pictures over a longer period of time. It has only been a month and I am still learning. So it is nearly bed time so I am off until next time.

Saturday Afternoon beyond redundancy

This week I seem to have spent most of my time looking for a new job, redundancy does that for me.Having looked online I found a couple of things that look promising and sent my CV off. I have even spoken to a couple of agencies sometimes. I think the thing that really gets me is that when agencies having found your CV ring up about a job that have found and I spend 15 mins half an hour going through stuff with them and then spend time updating the CV as requested. I get my hopes up and then hear nothing, what is worse is when you chase the person you spoke to is never in or if they are can not be bothered to ring you back. One day when the boot is on the other foot....
I have gone through some of the IT support stuff I have been working on. I have been to see a small business advisor and gone through a couple of ideas mainly looking at IT support for small business and for small charities and voluntary organisations. A lot of this will be built around developing a network of contacts both to give me work and people I will be able to get information from . This is beginning to sound / read like a business proposal, so I will stop here

Well I came back half an hour later and decided to carry on with this. I have started to update the pictures on the website and have on my version created a couple of new categories. Did my usual trick of using one page as a template for the next and forgetting to save the original apart from stupidity I am not sure what else to call it. I have also looked at the fonts and decided to use Arial on the main pages but carry on with Lucida on the pictures page. I have seen on systems which don't have Lucida installed and it defaults to Times New Roman.

What next to talk about while I have the inclination. I have over the last couple of weeks started to read the Guardian again. OK so I did not actually stop but I have been able to buy the actual paper and spend time reading it. I also use their website much more even subscribing to their podcasts. I spend a fair amount of time on the bbc website but it is nice to read something where there is an opinion. It is really hard to keep writing with my daughter playing with the mouse and cables because she wants to get my attention and I am steadfastly ignoring her. She is now pointing out all my spelling mistakes. Ah some piece and quite. I used to read the Guardian and buy it almost religiously but what with working and the demands of children and a very tidy wife, it was just easier not to buy it. when did I get time to sit and read the sports section let alone any thing else. Now I have more time and am beginning to enjoy it again. I like Ben Goldacre's Bad Science, read this to get a good idea of what he talks about. I did actual hear the piece on the Simon Mayo Show he refers and agree with him that the way science is presented in the news media leaves something to be desired to say the least.

Ok more later but my tea is ready and I am hungry

Thinking aloud

So another week has crept up on me and I have not written anything. I now have lots of time on my hands, redundancy does that for you, but I seem to spend most of my time not doing this. I have had a look at setting up a guest book and found one that seemed to do all the things I wanted from HTML Goodies. I think I learned more from Joe Burns about HTML than any one else having bought the book. I like his style, he gives you an opportunity to do and learn new skills and keeps it light an easy to read. Anyway I got so far with this guest book and have loaded it up to test it. I am not sure that I have got my coding right ( anyone with any ideas ) please get in touch. I hope to have resolved the issues fairly soon. I am loath to attempt to contact BT and ask them. It seems to get more difficult with each pass. Once I talk to a person it is usually very good if thy know what they are doing (Richard, Thank You) but I am not very patient with support by email. When they say we will get back to you within one working day when all you want is a little support. mutter mutter ...

So back to reality. I went back to the Ironbridge fayre I sold some pictures, in fact this is the one.

I took it at Chasewater earlier this year. I like the detail of the feathers and the movement that is implied. He (I think it was a Cob) was having a good flap in the pool as I was walking by. 10 seconds later my daughter came and demanded I push her on the swing.

I have also sold a couple of others from the website and

So my what next. I am going to continue to work on the website.. at this precise moment I cannot remember what I have said before so if I have said this my apologies.

I keep looking at the font and I am not sure it really works. It conveys the informality that I want to get across but there are places where I think it is difficult to read, also on many of the machines I have looked at the page Lucida Handwriting is just not one of the available fonts so it defaults to Times New Roman. this works, but is not the effect I wanted. Then again when I look at other peoples sites and most seem to stick to the common fonts Times New or Arial, so may be I should focus on content rather than making it look different. I will have also to sort out the issue of feedback. I need to sort out a more effective way for people to comment with me. I also want in the longer run to be able to sell my pictures online. so a shopping cart may have to be looked at.

I will also try and put more pictures and more categories up there.

I have run out of things to say so I will finish here and hope that next time is not far away