Photo a Day May - Day 6

The weather's been doing something very strange today, brilliant sun and then rain so I thought I might have to get creative. However, there was a Bee on my radio

Said Bee on Said Radio

I think it was looking for BBC stations...Bee puns

The light was fairly nice so a good chance to get up close and macro personal with a bee again. 

Until next time

Where in the World? Bath

Todays post will be quick. I spent the day in Bath and snapped a phone picture of a street entertainer juggling fire on a unicycle

Bluebells and Bugs

More May photos! 

In this post I shared some images of the lovely, giant, buzzing flying behemoth that is the Rose Chafer. Their chosen method of procreating is to lay many eggs that then hatch into larvae and are a pleasant surprise when you find thirty of them at the bottom of a flower pot. Here is one of those grubs:

Rose Chafer Grub

I love Bokeh, in theory, I love it when other people do it but personally I can't get my head around taking an image that is deliberately entirely blurry. I'm working on it, starting with bluebells. I may eventually get to the city lights/glitter/perfect desktop background but for now I need foreground

Bokeh Bluebell

Daily May

I haven't posted in over a year, I've wanted to but haven't. Insert excuses here. 

I want to make this blog more free, less 'SLR or nothing' so this May I will be taking a photo every day in May. I may post a few at a time sometimes (like today) but,  by the end of the month there will be 31 new photographs on here. Some of the photos will be natural history, some will be still life, architecture, people or toy photography; some will be using my SLR, some my phone. It doesn't matter what I use as long as I take one photo. 

It's ambitious but it should be fun and remind me why I love Photography in the first place. Plus it will give a little bit more of an insight into me and what I enjoy.

Close up Tulip (May 1st)

A close up of a tulip in my garden. I always come back to photography macro first. It makes me clean my camera like Lady Macbeth (where does all that dust come from?!) but there's nothing like it.

Lego 'Scratchy' Minifigure (May 2nd)

I've had a Foldio for a little while now and I'm trying to make sure I use it. I also love Minifigs and the Lego series came out recently.

I'll be back.

Winter Lights

It has been a long time since I've posted. Sometimes you can spend so long thinking about doing something that you never actually do it. I want to post a lot more regularly so I'm starting with some images I took last year at Westonbirt Arboretum. I'm not usually one for taking Artistic shots, I tend to try and accurately portray what I see but there is something about Winter lights that makes it hard not to be a little creative and, well, blurry.

Try getting someone else to take a picture of you with your SLR. I'm a Blur

Elephant at Large

It's Autumn. There's no escaping it. There will probably be no belated summer sunshine, it's likely to be rain from here on in. In the little free time I have at the moment I will be trying to get in more photography as I miss it.

Elephant Hawk Moth (Deilephila elpenor) Caterpillar

 Here is the Caterpillar of an Elephant Hawk Moth that was found in my neighbour's garden. A stunning, Alien-like creature in a very cunning disguise. Even knowing that the head and the face are the tiny muzzle shape at the front, my gaze is always drawn to those giant faux snake eyes. 

Elephant Hawk Moth (Deilephila elpenor) Caterpillar eating

This beautiful and bizarre creature will hopefully overwinter as a Pupa and be seen again next Summer. I've never seen an Elephant Hawk Moth so the prospect of seeing such giant, vibrant native species is exciting.

These images were taken with on-board flash which I am often apprehensive to use but it really gave depth to the greens here.

Onwards

Where in the World? Northumberland and Scotland

For the second week of Gallivanting we stayed in Northumberland, surprisingly near to a train line. 'Station Cottage" turned out to be right next to a level crossing. Hooray for double glazing.

As it is so very close we did dip in and out of Scotland. I've been to Scotland a few times now and it is beautiful however, like here in England and in Ireland and in Wales, it's no stranger to rain.

Here are some images of what Motorways call THE NORTH:

Bamburgh Castle

Statue of St. Aidan in the shadow of Lindisfarne Priory

St Abb, Scotland

 The Northern half of the trip was less about Manor houses and a lot more focused on Castles, ports and windy hilltops. A nice contrast to the immense lushness of Dartmoor and the sandy Devon Coast. 

I am now back in the West Country and unsure whether to prepare for Winter or hold out for a late Summer. For now I'll be the one wandering around in a coat, sunglasses and espadrilles.