Happy Bday going over old stuff

Another day, it is my brother' birthday today, Happy Birthday, John. I remember being 45 it is much the same as 44 and so far 46. So after yesterday's contemplation I have come back to carry on talking/ writing about my day and my pictures. I was talking to one of my colleagues at work and I tried to explain how actually keeping up the writing even if it is only in this blog will keep something going while and actually as I think this through give me the opportunity / reason to use far more of my pictures that I would previously.

So this picture I took of a Cormorant flying over the English Bridge in Shrewsbury, I would have liked and saved on my system along with the others I took that day. As I spend more time looking through my pictures as I download them, mainly because I have a reason to be looking, to write this blog and to illustrate what I have seen.

So most of my pic at the moment are taken in Shrewsbury with the English Bridge as its Centre point. I been working in shrewsbury for the last 5 and a bit weeks and have been able to walk down to the bridge and on into the town during my lunch time. As it has rained so heavily over the last few weeks the Severn has risen well above its "normal" and as you will have seen in previous posts I have been able to give an idea of how high it has come. This picnic table in the abbey garden on the bank should give you and idea of the rise in water level. As far as I can see this falls well within the "normal" range of the river at this point, the re is no panic or rush to evacuate the town, life goes on as normal. There are just paths that have locked gates, though given the where the river is now, going for a walk on the right side of the fence is a bit of a gamble.

I will have to wait until the water levels drop some way before I can go for a good walk along the bank. Even from the bridge I have seen some good birds, Cormorants being regular sightings but I have also seen a kingfisher and today a pair of Little grebe could be seen diving for fish on the downstream side. I did take some pictures but as yet have not downloaded them to see if I got dabchick or water in the shot.

Over the last few days the weather has been better, well it seems to have rained less that and the last couple of drives into work along the M54 have been good. The sky was blue but with a reddy tinge and I remembered Pinky Blue and Altered Images. Their first hit was Happy Birthday which great, until Dan, my youngest brother was given for his birthday, I think he wore record out he played it again and again and again. I did seriously want to strangle both him and claire grogan, Fortunately I resisted the temptation. With that circular note I think it is time for bed.

Craft Fairs and beyond

So yesterday I went to Nottingham to the Surface Gallery to fair they held there, they are doing another today, but I felt it would be too much to do both days. Although it was an early start, Nottingham is over an hour away on a good day, I was there and set up in good time. The rest of the day was although very positive in the comments of those passing by, no one took the final step of putting there hand into their pocket and buying something. I did have a couple of people who looked and asked about my website and will, I hope look further and be in touch later.

So did I learn, well not much that I did not know before, there is a massive gap between people admiring what I do and wanting to pay for it. I suppose we have very different agendas in this case me and the public, they on the whole are looking to be impressed also if I think about it most of the people who come and talk to me about my stuff have no intention of buying anything and want the conversation, I empathise and have found myself doing exactly the same thing on numerous occasions.

There is cost going to the fairs, both financial and emotional. I do spend a lot of the time sitting around waiting for something to happen. Yes I could be reading a book or working on something but it it really hard to concentrate on anything when you are waiting for that next person,they could be the one.

I do need t have a serious think about how I sell and generally market my pictures. Dan has had some in his shop for a couple of weeks no and again there seem to have been no takers. although the feedback is very positive from passers by, it does seem that there is no real market for my pictures in this context. Family and friends apart.

I don't want really to say goodbye to the dream of running my stall and selling my pictures but I think the reality is that I don't make any money at it. I have learned a lot doing it and I may well do some more bigger events, but i will need to have to invest in frames and printing and other bits and pieces. hmmm.... not sure

I will continue writing about my day to day stuff and putting up what I take. I have also started working on version 2 of the website though I hope it will improve . I know most of this is rattling around in my head and will take a while to come out.
OK more later

pictures with people

It rained again this morning and the whole day has been fairly over cast so I went for a walk into shrewsbury but left the camera behind. I am never too sure about pictures in towns or more especially with people in them. I am sort of used to my children and what they will do. But having pictures with people in them, because they are there I don't seem to be able to work out what to do with them if anything.

I have just had the email from the Surface Gallery in Nottingham and I will be there with my wares.


OK more later

sunshine after the rain

So the sun came out properly today. It has been raining or overcast for days, I feel for the those in Cumbria. Coming in to shrewsbury today I could see what was meant by the term flood plain. OK it is only small scale on the Severn this time but there is almost the feeling of, by the way don't forget me.

As I said, today the sun came out, it does make a real difference. I went for my walk at lunch time and after passing the abbey came to the English bridge. Looking upstream I think you get the idea of how high the river has got. The line of dots in the water it the top of the railings marking the top of the bank with the path on the right hand side. Looking downstream the view was just as dramatic.

Anyone fancy going for a picnic? I am just curious if anyone had managed to empty the bin.

I have talked on a number occasions about The English Bridge, which I use to get into the main town and have taken my pictures from of the Severn, I even saw a kingfisher speed upstream while standing on it a couple of days ago. So here is a picture of the upstream side. I will have a look at the downstream view, however the path on both banks is currently under several feet of water, so maybe next week or when ever it has dried out.

Today I walked through the centre, it did seem to have more people in than I have notice before. I suppose it is Friday and today there were lots of people dressed up to collect for Children in Need.

I am growing to like the Centre more and more with its little shops and small scale tourist bits. You cannot fail to see the town has a history.

I was able to continue my collection of church spires as well today with a visit to St Marys. Well visit is a bit too strong a word for my wander past. At the moment I feel I cannot really stay very long as I have to get back to work. So maybe soon I will be able to go straight to the places such as St Mary's and either have my lunch there or something like that. Anyway I got a couple of pics of the Spire. Why is it a different colour stone to the rest of the building. I just stood in front of the church and looked up. this is the result.

It is getting late again and I need to go to bed. Thank You for the comments made and I will keep this going.

I have been thinking about the website and what I should do next. It does do most of what I wanted it to do. I like the way the pictures are displayed. It is different to many other sites. I will need to refresh the content of the categories though I don't think I will do too much fiddling with that section. I think the background needs to be another colour apart from white, however the way I have done my logo means that I have a don't have much optionat the moment. I think I will need to redo this.

So probably the content will stay much the same, though I could start putting in more higher definition pictures. Though this does have its downside in it is easier for others to "borrow" them. Though at present I don't see this as a major problem. The more people that see my pics and like them the better.

Anyway time for bed, I look forward to reading your comments.

So to part two. I came back and started again which is probably a surprise to me. I have been thinking about what to write about and am not sure I have any more ideas. There are the pictures I took in and around shrewsbury over the last few days.

This is at the moment my favourite. This large branch has come downstream quite a way. I took this picture from the left hand side of the English Bridge on Tues 17th Nov. today I walked past and on it sat three cormorants, looking chilled and quite pleased with themselves. My camera was sitting at home. I do claim in mitigation the horrible weather in the morning and the fact it had only just cleared when I went for my lunch this afternoon.

Anyway looking behind the branch by the flooded bank were these willows their branches dipping into the water as if the the whole tree was trying to drink up the water flowing around them.

As I said in my earlier post I managed today to identify the church my spire was attach to, St Alkmunds. I will endeavour to find a little more about the patron and the history of the church itself. I had a quick read of its history on its website and it is old.

although I try and take my camera with me when ever I go out especially on my own, I find that there are days when I just don't see anything to take, it may be the light or it may be something in my head, but then there are other days when I will walk past the same places and see "something", that I can take. More often than not I try and have the "image" in my head and then try and frame it with the camera and the lens I have. Even though I have a a screen to view my pics on the camera. it is only small and more often than not it is not until I get back that I can see if I captured the image I have in my head.

It is getting on now so I will finish this and come back soon

Wednesday part one?

So I have 15 mins before going to pick up child from brownies and I decided to start some thing. I managed over the last few days to take my camera out with me as I have begun exploring shrewsbury. My last missive should have shown the first evidence of that. I have even found that the mystery spire, well I had to walk up and find out that it was St Alkmunds Church.
I managed to walk past it today. I had however not brought my camera. It was a grey murky day threatening to rain and doing so off and on all day. So I went for a walk and a little explore. More later

shrewsbury the sun came out at lunch time

Today started with rain, lots of it. I got up as it poured down, I drove across to Shrewsbury along the M54 and slowly the weather cleared by the time I got passed Telford and on to the A5, the sun was coming out and the day seem to be set. Today was the first day in Shrewsbury that sun seemed to be out. Prior to today it has been overcast and dull. I have managed to take a few pictures. However today was as they say sunshine and showers. or should I say shower. Lunch time dawned and I was covering on Reception. So as I went to the car to get my sarnies the heavens opened. I got undercover and muttered to myself. After about half an hour the rain and clouds cleared and the sun appeared. So I walked down past the abbey to the English bridge and actually took my camera. It was the first time I had walked down that way with my camera. I had the my 75 - 300 mm lens, I am starting to use this again, I am not sure of this as the right one for just wandering around looking for things.

I get as far as English bridge, the river is quiet high, some of the bank side is flooded but I concentrated on the own itself.

Up river there are a number of buildings and well you can see the results. I am not sure at this moment, maybe it is too close to the event and there is too much going on in the picture for me. there is sky, clouds, buildings and trees, and other bits and pieces. I do prefer simpler pictures. One image, one colour, one story to tell. May be I am too simplistic in my view, but I do prefer those pictures that don't have so much going on. So I began to look for simpler things and shrewsbury has at least 3 spires that can be seen from the bridge. So I tried with this one. anyone who can tell me the name of the church?

Turning around I looked back towards the abbey and took this one of the rod leading to the abbey. I think I like it. In the lower half the lines lead to the centre and the abbey. The rail bridge separating the top and bottom of the shot. OK I like it and it works at the moment. Lets see how I feel after 6 months or so

this is part of my lunch tome walk up to the bridge and into the town. Today was the first I had brought my camera. I had started off feeling uncomfortable with it. It made me standout. Though the fact that I wore a bright yellow coat probably had more to do with it. Once I started taking pictures. they were what was important and as I walked back to the office I felt able to stop and take pictures that made me highly conspicuous and what I was doing very obvious but I felt able to carry on regardless.

I think my favourite picture of the adventure is one of the simple ones.

The top of the willow in the middle of the stream. I like it. It is simple, there are only 2 elements, the "top of the tree, and the water. I am sure there is more I could say on composition and however the angle of the willow reflects the movement of the water and how.... well I could carry on and analyse this to death.

Any way time for bed

Abbey to Pigs and not quite

so another session sitting in front of the screen thinking about what to type in. Ok so I have tried to plan this. I have not been out today, to take pictures that is, as forecast the clouds sat over Shrewsbury all day and it just grey and flat all day. I did have a quick walk around the Abbey one day I will go in and have look. I read Cadfael by Ellis Peters years ago and it is odd to see a place that was so large in the stories now much smaller than I imagined. I can see where it has been rebuilt and holes filled in. This sort of got me thinking about pictures I had taken of buildings especially those I had look at and gone mmm not quite..

So this is a picture of the lighthouse at the mull of galloway. It works there is a lot of grass and that is about all I The sky is well full of clouds so there is no contrast to the white of the buildings.

Sometimes I think the idea is almost there. So this picture taken from the London Eye works sort of. I suppose I just never really liked it very much. I could have cropped the right hand side, but even then the central image is a shadow on green water. As I look at it now I like some of the detailing in the shadow but it just does not grab me.

Talking of things that grabbed me I was taking some pictures of a Pig at Monrieth animal World in S W Scotland not that far from Mull of Galloway as the crow or seagull flies. Of all the pictures I took this was my favourite.

I am sure there is a "category" I can put it in, but I felt I needed to save it for something special. I will I think print it out. I am not sure if anyone apart from his mother will like this but I do.

Anyway I have spent far too long doing this and I need my bed.

Hello Cristina I hope by the time you read this I will have sent you a reply. Hope all is well.

Sunday Post Shrewsbury and Sandwell Valley RSPB

Sunday night and I have got round to starting. I have found it hard to get out and take pics over the last week or so. The weather has not been great and the need to be at work has meant I am stuck inside most of the time. The nights are drawing in so by the time I finish it is dark and although in theory I could get up very early before dawn and well there are children to get up and as I have an hours drive to work, I have limited options. As a have said before the drive to work has its compensations with the colours and the landscapes that I can see as I head west. I have managed to get out at Dinner time on a couple of occasions and am slowly exploring Shrewsbury especially around the Abbey. I will even take my camera.

I did manage to get out one afternoon last week when the light was good, I had a wander around the car park and found a couple of things to have a look at.

The leaves on the trees have been turning various shades through yellow red and brown for quite some time now and I saw these leaves and liked the yellow. I think this is the best one I may have to look at these later and see if my opinion changes.

I also took an number of pictures of my old standby at this time of year, the assorted red berry. I should know enough botany by now to be sure of the species, but as yet I have not got around to looking them up and I have several of these going back over the last few years. OK before you rush out an email lamenting my tardiness. I have had a quick look on google images and think it is a Rowan or Mountain Ash. Anyway I like the red of the berries against the green and especially the aged look of both leaves and berries. It is now the second week in November and part of me thinks that they should both be long gone.

Today is Sunday and I managed to get out for about half an hour this afternoon, the children were watching telly and had finished their homework. I had cleaned out the Rabbit and the Guinea Pig well someone had to do it and the children were watching telly. I remember my father demanding we all go out and go for a walk. I used to hate it and now I am inflicting it on my two. Well it is just too much effort to prise them away from the telly and the sun was dropping like a stone towards the horizon. So I let them get on with it. Fortunately I do have a reasonably tolerant wife who humours me on these occasions.

It was quite late when I got out, I headed over to sandwell valley and the RSPB reserve there. As I arrived the only cloud in that half of the sky slid over the sun. Although there was not much of a breeze there was enough to keep it moving so that as I walked down the path to the lake the sun came out. This was my favourite picture I think it is a phragmities flower head. I like the way the elements have been picked out by the light. There is the golden quality of the evening sun that colours the picture.

Looking across the lake the sun was slowly going down behind the trees and I managed to take this picture. It is quite close to the image I had in my head as I framed it up. I like the sort of inverse dark Halo effect of the trees in front of the sun. Given that I had no special filters on the lens and have not touched it up in photoshop. I don't see it winning any prizes but I like it.

I have for a long time tried to take pictures of birds in flight with varying degrees of success, mainly no success at all. I remember the week after getting my 1st camera trying to catch swifts as they sped past at chasewater near Brownhills. To say I was not successful is an understatement. Anyway I have improved, have a look at the picture of a pair of geese I took a couple of weeks ago, I can do smallish flocks quite well, (I am pleased with the results, but I still don't feel I can to flocks justice.

So for example I took this of a flock of geese at Martin Mere a couple of weeks ago and it is OK. This and quite a few others like it. They just don't do anything for me . The reason for this bit of wittering is that while I was by the lake for some reason almost all the smaller birds took to air at one point. The ducks and geese were fairly laid back but there were good numbers of gulls of varying hue and a flock of Lapwings flew up.

So could I get a good picture of them as the circled the lake before coming back to land. well this was about the best.

They are coming around looking to land bake in the same place. I am not over the moon with it. I am sure there is much more I could do with it.

If you do have any advice .....

Anyway time draws on and I need to go to bed. Until next time.

Moving forward to work

This is more of a quick note to say I have not forgotten about this. I have not been out for a week or so. I did go to the Ironbridge fair on sunday. Although I had lots of feedback on the pictures that I took all positive. No one actually bought anything. We are having a week off this week as the room has been booked for another event. I think this is where I will have to properly re evaluate how I sell my stuff. I don't think the Ironbridge craft fayre is the best place to sell the larger pictures. I can probably make some money from making up cards and smaller print with the occasional larger one. However the most I ever charged someone was £15 and that was me knocking money off to get a sale. At the end of the month I am doing a "Craft Fayre" in Nottingham (28th November, More details closer to the event.

I have now printed out and framed some of my more recent prints and soon they will be hanging up in my brother's showroom. Hopefully someone will buy them.

Going back to work has been sort of a shock to the system. I am still not really sure what they want me to do. We do n't have enough clients to do much more than one - one job search with. This I am doing, I have typed up CVs and tried to get involved. There just does not seem to be enough to do. So it pays the mortgage.

It is now getting past my bed time even though I don't have such an early start in the morning only Telford tomorrow not Shrewsbury at least first thing. The drive in is so much nicer than crawling through the traffic on the way though birmingham. Yesterday there was the most spectacular rainbow arching over the motorway. I am enjoying coming in to Shrewsbury and looking into Wales. OK I get very nostalgic as I used to live in Newtown and this was one of the ways "home".