Category Archives: Pictures

Err, posts containing pictures!

2010

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2010

So , 2010 then, hello :)

I suppose traditionally this would be time for one of those typical new years state of the nation posts when one reflects on everything that happened over the past year etc. Well, hmm, some good stuff happened, some utterly shit stuff happened and some stuff I’d really rather happened differently happened. There, that’s that :)

I’m actually rather looking forward to 2010 for all sorts of reasons. Got a few goals, obviously, will post about them in the next couple of days. There are a couple of things I’m starting right away though:

The first of which is a new ‘Pic-a-Day’ project: ‘365 2010‘. The intention as before is to get me taking more photos and looking for more creative photo opportunities. Is doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll take pics every day, but I am going to try and post one for each day. And I’m only planning to post new pics taken specifically for this rather than dig through my archives.

I’m also planning to try and get my blogging head back into the personal development stuff I used to write about a few tears back as that seemed to go down quite well with some of my mates. I’ll crack on with some goals-related stuff tomorrow. In the mean time, have a pic.

20100101-17921/365
Oh yeah, I do have one new years resolution planned…
21.1megapixels

“Today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday, and all is well.”
 - anonymous

Gliding…

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Finally got to use up the voucher Kel’s parents gave me last year for a glider lesson up at Nympsfield (www.bggc.co.uk)

I was such a plank – when they gave it to me for my birthday last year I figured I’d wait until the spring and go then, and then promptly forgot all about it!

So, just before my birthday this year I figured I’d better book it up before the voucher expired, which I did. Trouble was then for the next 4/5 weeks we had a constant cycle of cancel/rebook due to the weather. Eventually we got a really nice clear day and I got a great flight. I’ve had a few glider flights before as I used to work with a guy who was an instructor and obviously I’m no stranger to small planes having been skydiving for a number of years too so I was really looking forward to it.

Some pics: (from my flickr set)

Our bird, basking in the sun and waiting to go play…


The tug


Snug for a big bloke like me :)


Any chance of a lift mate?



Ta!


- The water you can see is the the ‘S’ bend in the river Severn, here

Ooh look you can see my house from here! (Ashmead is the little village dead centre)


Cam from the NW.
The buildings in the middle at the bottom are Cam Mills then a bit further right that’s Tescos.

Looking back towards the Gliding club (the far left end of the hill)


Bristol & Gloucester Gliding Club is basically the whole top of the hill.

The valley to the right is Woodchester park, complete with the famous Mansion


Lovely day…


Annual Increment '09

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So, another year, another ++ and still alive – WOOHOO!

Had a fairly chilled day really, typical saturday stuff followed by a thoroughly pleasant meal at the Mezzé in Thornbury tonight. It’s a pretty new place (well a completely refurbished old pub) and they’ve done a cracking job. The food was excellent and the service was some of the best I’ve had in years so top marks all round there really (though I did eat too much!) Highly recommended.

It has to be said, Kel excelled herself in the birthday pressie department too, especially given my love of cats and photography.

She made me a little photo album/scrapbook type thing to tell me about it, see..

How ace is that :)

Slight change of plan..

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Newnham Church

I’d been planning to go take some pics today but the flipping weather couldn’t make up it’s mind all afternoon and thick grey clouds weren’t exactly conducive to my plan. I wanted to revisit Arlingham Passage where I’d taken this pic last year. At the time it was just a quick handheld snap taken on a nasty grey day but I liked the look of the place and always meant to revisit there with a tripod and a bit more time.

Trouble was, by the time the clouds actually started to break it was already about 7pm and with sunset about 8:30 at the moment that meant the sun was way too low in the sky and behind the church. Cue a complete change of plan. I got myself a pint from the pub (orange juice of course!) and waited for the sun to drop some more so I could break every rule in the book and shoot directly into the sun for some silhouettes.

The results were several things that looked like this:

Sunset over Newnham Church

or this:

Sunset over Newnham Church

Feathering feathers.

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As I’m getting more into my photography I’m also trying to improve my Photoshop skills and so I figured I’d spend a few mins this evening working on compositing, primarily as an exercise in masking and blending layers.

falcon_silhouette.jpgFrom Callum’s hawk-flying session on wednesday I had a few silhouette shots where I’d been following the birds around a rather dull and grey sky. Most of them looked rather like this -> which let’s face it, is hardly the most inspiring picture in the world.

So, I found a recent pic I’d taken of a sunset and set about dropping the rather lovely falcon (a Peregrine/Lanner cross) on top. I must’ve spent a good 20 mins faffing around with the mouse (thank gh0d at least for Photoshop CS4′s amazingly useful canvas rotation thing) before I remembered my little Wacom tablet was sat behind the monitor – DOH!

Anyway, 10 mins later, this was attempt #1:

Rushmire Sunset

and #2

Sunset Falcon

No Callum, it's not an Eagle… :)

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Peregrine/Lanner FalconHad an interesting evening over in Cromhall yesterday with Tony Bryant, a thoroughly nice bloke who runs Raptorcare and knows just about everything there is to know about Birds of Prey.

The visit was mainly for Callum’s benefit as he had a voucher from his Nan and Gramp ages ago but we’ve only just got around to using it. Got to say it was well worth it, Tony really know’s his stuff and he made us all feel really welcome and at ease with the birds.

We got to meet loads including a Barn Owl, Eagle Owl, several Harris Hawks, Peregrine and Lanner Falcons and an amazing Peregrine/Lanner cross called Sheena. That’s the bird in the pic on the right (click for bigger version).

Apparently he also does half and full day courses where you can actually take the birds out hunting. Think I may just add that to the wish list for later in the year :)

More pics over on my Flickr..

Buy some quick while you can still afford them….

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Silverburn Gallery logoHappy to say that the new Silverburn Gallery site is now online and features some of my photos for sale as limited-edition prints

I’m pretty chuffed about this to be honest as that’s twice now in a just a few weeks that I’ve been approached by people that consider my photos good enough for public consumption.
My bit is online here so you’d better get and buy them now as you never know, I may just get dead famous and they’ll be worth £loads one day!

Goooood eveniiiiiiing Clevelaaaaaaaaaand!!

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Steve Grimmett -7986

Had a cracking good night last night. Went to a most excellent pub in Swindon called Riff’s Bar, which is yer typical old country pub that just happens to be run by a couple of musicians and they seem to have quite a regular scene there. Well worth checking out.

Anyway, three bands on last night, a local band called ‘Dodging the Bullet‘, then my friend Stu’s band Which Way Up followed by the main event which was the legend that is Steve Grimmett.

rik_bogiez.jpgI’m showing my age when I mention that I first saw Steve live with the band Grim Reaper back in the late ’80s when I was a young metal head that still had hair like that over there –> I’m happy to say he’s still got it (no, not just the hair!)

Steve’s band have that classic British metal sound that I grew up on. They are tight as a very tight thing and production on stage is awesome even in a small venue like Riffs. In the studio they have a keyboard player too so Pete Newdeck (drums) handles that stuff with a laptop and a click track which makes for a much bigger sound than you’d ever expect from a three-piece. If you’ve not heard them already go check out the myspace page and buy the CD. There’s a new one due later in the year too.

Anyway, some pics from the thang!

Steve Grimmett -7904Steve Grimmett -8104

Steve Grimmett -8070Steve Grimmett -8082

More up on Flickr