Weevils enjoying a little recreational rodeo.
“Do you come here often?”
“Only in the mating season.”
Spike Milligan, The Goon Show
Yeehaa!
8
Monthly Archives: June 2012
Monument Valley moonrise
Our visit to Monument Valley in April 2009 happily coincided with a full moon.
Reigate
We spent yesterday in Reigate, a quiet market town in North Surrey. The only camera I had with me was my iPhone so, in the true tradition (if there has been enough time for there to be a tradition) of iPhoneography, I have lightly edited the images on my iPad and uploaded directly from there.
Reigate has the remains of a castle so I get to continue my series on castles. The castle was built in the eleventh century and fell into decay in the seventeenth. None of the stonework remains but the earthworks have been turned into a pretty, and peaceful garden.
Underneath the castle gardens is a network of caves. The most well-known, The Barons’ Cave, is reputed to have been a meeting place for the barons who devised the Magna Carta. The stone pyramid in the top photographs guards an underground
sallyport.
The few remains of the castle were removed in 1777 when the land was converted into a garden. The mock medieval gateway was built at that time.
We thoroughly enjoyed our day in Reigate. The town has a lot of interesting independent shops, a fine array of eateries and an Everyman cinema (in which we saw Prometheus). Best of all, the sun shone: a rare event here this summer!
Shooting the City
On the whole, I find photography a solitary activity, and I am happy with that. I very rarely go out shooting in a group. When I do, I usually end up deleting the images I take; I just can’t seem to relax into it.
But a couple of years ago I did enjoy a stroll around the City of London with fellow members of a Flickr group, T189 Oct-Dec 2008. All members of this group, which I administer, took the Open University’s short digital photography course in Oct-Dec 2008.
Although activity in the group has gradually waned over the years, there is still a core of supportive and keen digital shooters and it was a pleasure to meet some of them in person on our City photo walk.
And I didn’t delete every image.
Trapped
An aphid caught in a web awaits its doom.
Dar’st thou die?
The sense of death is most in apprehension;
And the poor beetle that we tread upon
In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great
As when a giant dies.
William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, III.i
More cricket antics
If only all spiders were so pretty
You may have noticed that my blog tends to feature minibeasts. But rarely will you find a spider, because I am quite simply scared stiff of them. I know, pathetic. But perhaps I wouldn’t mind them so much if they all looked like this one. This is a common crab spider, misumena vatia. They hang out on flowers in gardens in southern England. They are clever, because I have noticed that they favour the more scented blooms, maximising the chance of some hapless insect happening by. They come in white or yellow, which I much prefer to brown or black. But they still have too many legs.
One square metre
One question I am often asked is how I manage to spot all the bugs I shoot. It really is just a matter of training your eye. The more you start to look for the smaller creatures around you, the more you start to find them.
One way to train your eye is to find a small area of vegetation, say one square metre, and see how many insects you can find and photograph. You will be surprised after a little while just how many are there.
All of the shots in today’s post were taken in one clump of weeds by the Wey Navigation towpath. The photo shoot took about 15 minutes in total. In fact, I found several other insects in the same clump.
Why not give it a try and share the results on your blog and/or in comments here?
My Internet is down and I am blogging on 3G, which is expensive, so please forgive me if I am a little slow in replying or visiting your blogs until the pesky thing is fixed.
Exhibition awards
Last week was my camera club’s annual exhibition. I was lucky enough to receive several awards and, at the risk of blowing my own trumpet, thought I would record the successful images here. A better-edited version (my internet is down and this is the only version I have on my iPad) of the top image, Sprinkler Fun, won Best Projected Digital Image (PDI) in the exhibition and was used as the image on the Exhibition flyer.
Rose Explorer Best Print in the Exhibition and Best Nature Print.
Who, or what, are you? Best Nature PDI
Two Ladybirds Highly Commended print
Storm over Nantucket Highly Commended PDI
Orchard, Capitol Reef (better edit) Highly Commended PDI
Santolina Highly Commended PDI
Mirror, mirror on the wall Highly Commended PDI
Wild grizzly cub, British Columbia (better edit) Highly Commended PDI
The judge was very encouraging and since the awards presentation on Friday I have begun to think a little more seriously about the possibility of trying for a Royal Photographic Society Associateship. But first, I would like to start making better prints. Until now I have been relying on Redbubble. Their matted prints are good, and nicely mounted. However, I think the time has come to do it myself. If any of you have any tips or printer-recommendations, I’d love to hear them.
Splash!
I offer this shot not for its quality but because it reflects the “summer” we are having in England this year! The conclusion to one of my very favourite plays seems a fitting quote. Obviously written by an Englishman. 😉
When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.But when I came to man’s estate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
‘Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,
For the rain it raineth every day.But when I came, alas! to wive,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.But when I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
For the rain it raineth every day.A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that’s all one, our play is done,
And we’ll strive to please you every day.
William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, V.i
Focused Moments 