Tag Archives: photography

Mystery river fly

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Insect on gate
I found this beautiful creature sheltering from the rain under one of the curlicues of our wrought-iron gate. It is some sort of river fly but I haven’t conclusively identified it more specifically. Any river fly experts out there? It has two long tails, unlike the common mayfly which has three, and apparently only one pair of wings. I found it nowhere near a river so I an guessing it is one of the river flies that will inhabit standing water. Anyway, whatever it is, it’s a beauty! Here’s a close-up:
close-up of insect in gate

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns

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Jersey, Channel Islands

                            … For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
The still, sad music of humanity,
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue. And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man;
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things…

William Wordsworth, ‘Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey’ (1798), ll.88-102

Incredible flying bees

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Carder bee on geranium
Despite the drop in temperatures over the last couple of days, the hardy carder bees have still been out and about, seemingly tougher than the honey bees who have almost disappeared. Believe it or not, this geranium is called ‘Jolly Bee’!
Agastache 'Blackadder'
They are still happily visiting carder bee heaven. I can now be more specific than my earlier identification of it as a member of the mint family; it is Agastache ‘Blackadder’.
bee on purple flowers
This one isn’t flying, but I liked the light so included it anyway.
bumble bee in flight
There were a few bumble bees about this morning. This is the first time I have seen them feeding on the solanum jasminoides flowers. Perhaps they are less fussy at this time of year when other flowers are fading. Look at that pollen sac! Amazing that it can fly at all.

The first day of Autumn

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phalangium opilioThis week there has been a nip in the air. There are suddenly fewer winged insects about and a first-day-of-the season safari round the garden this morning yielded some distinctly Autumnal sights. This harvestman was crouching on a fading rudbeckia flower.
lychnis coronariaThe lychnis coronaria have gone to seed. I took a quick photograph before shaking the seeds liberally over the border. They are very reliable self-seeders in my garden, even colonising the lawn given half a chance.
sepia macroThe hollyhock seed heads are opening. I do love the way the seeds are wedged in – they remind me of oysters.
Despite the chill, the speckled bush crickets are still about. This male stared at me rather belligerently, I thought.
speckled bush cricket
All these shots were taken at 3,200 ISO. Not too shabby. The new camera passes the ISO test.

Tiny spider busy at work

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spider weaves its web on flowerWhy is nothing ever easy? My new camera arrived today but did I spend the afternoon putting it through its paces? No, I spent it trying to sort out all the pesky patches and downloads needed to enable my software to read the new camera’s RAW files. Anyway, I got there in the end. So this is its debut shot. To give some idea of the scale, this spiderling is considerably smaller than a garden ant and the flower is a tiny alpine campanula.
A tiny spider weaves its web

Last light at Kimmeridge

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Another photo from my evening shoot at Kimmeridge Bay last month. The iconic landmark on the headland is Clavell’s Tower.
Built in 1830 by Reverend Clavell as an observatory and folly, the tower has inspired writers ever since. Thomas Hardy took his sweetheart, Eliza Nicholl, to the tower and included an illustration of it in his Wessex Poems. It was also the inspiration for P. D. James’s novel, The Black Tower and was used as a location in the television adaptation of the story. Moreover, it appeared in the music video for The Style Council’s single, ‘Boy Who Cried Wolf’.

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Between 2006 and 2008 the whole tower was painstakingly moved, stone by stone, 25 metres inland to save it from cliff erosion that threatened to send it crashing into the Bay. It is now operated as a holiday let by The Landmark Trust.

Yellow field before the storm

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cottage and rapeseed field, Alfriston, East Sussex

Many of my images are inspired by paintings. I think the same basic compositions work in both mediums.  In this image I was inspired by the watercolours of Michael Morgan RI, an artist whose work I greatly enjoy.  I was recently lucky enough to acquire two of his originals which, together with one of his limited edition prints now provide permanent inspiration on my walls.

Which artists inspire you?  Feel free to post examples of your work below.  I find the crossover between genres interesting and would love to see what influences my fellow photographers!

Kite surfers do it in style

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St.Ouen's bay jersey
While I was on Jersey last month I had a chance to watch kite surfers doing their thing. What an amazing sport.
La Rocco tower, Jersey
I wonder what the eighteenth century builders of La Rocco tower would think if they could see this scene.
St.Ouen's Beach, Jersey
I got chatting to one of the surfers and he told me it’s really quite easy. Not sure I believed him. The lighthouse in the background is La Corbiere, which featured in a couple of my earlier posts.
La Rocco tower
One of the tricky things I discovered about shooting kite surfers is that you have to choose between wide shots to get the kite as well as the surfer or close ups to capture the jumps and rolls the surfers do. The trouble with the latter is that without the kite the shot can look a little weird. Needless to say, however, I gave it a good try and some closer shots will feature in a later post.