A frustrating week to say the least... weather has not been kind to a Natural History photographer for one thing... and I have been tearing around Cambridgeshire looking at houses - the two combined mean I have had little chance to take any pictures... A trip to Sutton Hoo last Sunday followed by a visit to London have been the highlights - and the only photo opportunities - apologies for the sparsity of images this week... I hope the quality is OK for you all...
So... where to start...? Well, the highlight was the trip to Sutton Hoo in Suffolk - known for its remarkable treasure - Saxon Lord burial mounds, the site is also great for natural history; indeed the best part of the day out for me was looking at the burial mounds whilst listening to both nightingale and turtle dove singing simultaneously...
So, do you remember the good old days of film? We'd go out with our Canon, Nikon, Minolta, Olympus or Pentax (the big 5 as was) and shoot away on print or if you were serious about the image slide film; and spring woods might come out like this...
do you remember? Colours a bit washed out... maybe focus a tad out... well with the new technology we can do a bit better... mainly because we can chimp (check the image on the screen immediately) and adjust settings accordingly... so now we can get this...
or even...
an English bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) wood... I have wanted to take this sort of shot for a while... I had 10 minutes at Sutton Hoo and managed these...(the top one has been processed to show the way old film used to come out BTW...). I love the intensity of the blue and green, the shadows beneath the trees helps the richness and saturation of the hues.
Lurking amongst the bluebells are...
Pink campion (Silene dioica) - one of my favourite spring plants... This is part of my attempt to slowly photograph our native flora... maybe to show them in a slightly different way; to draw attention to the common place rather than the rare... a fascinating project for the coming years...so keep a look out HERE or HERE for regular postings...
Of course the thing that the site of known for is the amazing Saxon treasure... and most strikingly... this...
the helmet of a Saxon lord or possibly king... it is one of my favourite objects... it is beautiful and threatening at the same time... it is our version of...
whilst Tutankhamen's death mask is extraordinary in its golden extravagance... the Saxon helmet of Sutton Hoo just knocks it into a cocked hat...
The family house was also fascinating, complete with period furniture and artifacts...
and that wraps up Sutton Hoo... - the day after (Sunday) we went down the London... Lucy and Quinn went to the Tate Modern for the Matisse exhibition and I had a wander around on the south bank...
a selection of London images...
Millennium Bridge and Thames beach...
The Shard... tallest building in the UK, with Tower Bridge in the distance and The Globe Theater front right...
People enjoying a walk along the South Bank...
St Paul's Cathedral dome... with the London School in front...
Millennium Footbridge with St Paul's beyond...
Some of the people down there also caught my eye..
chilling...
The peanut seller...
The photographer...
Many feet...
and the odd phenomenon of adding "love" padlocks to bridges...
So, after the bank holiday and houses to view I had little chance with my Nikons... apart from a few grabbed shots in the garden...
a few studies of garden columbine... as you can see I have been experimenting with a new processing tool - called Perfect Effect 8 - it works as a stand alone or plug-in to Lightroom and Photoshop and is another tool; it gives me slightly different effects... I like it but will try not to over use it...!!! I have also been having some fun in Photoshop during the evenings...
I like the effects here - give a dream-like quality to the images... indeed the first one would make interesting wallpaper... (?)
And that about finishes off the week... more house hunting this weekend so let's hope we find somewhere so I can get back to shooting...
Hope you all have a great week,
TTFN
So... where to start...? Well, the highlight was the trip to Sutton Hoo in Suffolk - known for its remarkable treasure - Saxon Lord burial mounds, the site is also great for natural history; indeed the best part of the day out for me was looking at the burial mounds whilst listening to both nightingale and turtle dove singing simultaneously...
So, do you remember the good old days of film? We'd go out with our Canon, Nikon, Minolta, Olympus or Pentax (the big 5 as was) and shoot away on print or if you were serious about the image slide film; and spring woods might come out like this...
or even...
an English bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) wood... I have wanted to take this sort of shot for a while... I had 10 minutes at Sutton Hoo and managed these...(the top one has been processed to show the way old film used to come out BTW...). I love the intensity of the blue and green, the shadows beneath the trees helps the richness and saturation of the hues.
Lurking amongst the bluebells are...
Pink campion (Silene dioica) - one of my favourite spring plants... This is part of my attempt to slowly photograph our native flora... maybe to show them in a slightly different way; to draw attention to the common place rather than the rare... a fascinating project for the coming years...so keep a look out HERE or HERE for regular postings...
Of course the thing that the site of known for is the amazing Saxon treasure... and most strikingly... this...
the helmet of a Saxon lord or possibly king... it is one of my favourite objects... it is beautiful and threatening at the same time... it is our version of...
whilst Tutankhamen's death mask is extraordinary in its golden extravagance... the Saxon helmet of Sutton Hoo just knocks it into a cocked hat...
The family house was also fascinating, complete with period furniture and artifacts...
and that wraps up Sutton Hoo... - the day after (Sunday) we went down the London... Lucy and Quinn went to the Tate Modern for the Matisse exhibition and I had a wander around on the south bank...
a selection of London images...
Millennium Bridge and Thames beach...
The Shard... tallest building in the UK, with Tower Bridge in the distance and The Globe Theater front right...
People enjoying a walk along the South Bank...
St Paul's Cathedral dome... with the London School in front...
Millennium Footbridge with St Paul's beyond...
Some of the people down there also caught my eye..
chilling...
The peanut seller...
The photographer...
Many feet...
and the odd phenomenon of adding "love" padlocks to bridges...
So, after the bank holiday and houses to view I had little chance with my Nikons... apart from a few grabbed shots in the garden...
a few studies of garden columbine... as you can see I have been experimenting with a new processing tool - called Perfect Effect 8 - it works as a stand alone or plug-in to Lightroom and Photoshop and is another tool; it gives me slightly different effects... I like it but will try not to over use it...!!! I have also been having some fun in Photoshop during the evenings...
I like the effects here - give a dream-like quality to the images... indeed the first one would make interesting wallpaper... (?)
And that about finishes off the week... more house hunting this weekend so let's hope we find somewhere so I can get back to shooting...
Hope you all have a great week,
TTFN
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