Bridlington Canines

I continued the theme of dogs and their owners today in Bridlington but this time asking people if I could photograph them with their pet. They all wanted to pose their animals for me - but, guess what, the Springer Spaniels and Border Collies were having none of it. The Collie attempted to lick my fisheye, which was a bit close focus even for that lens.

Cleethorpes

A few images from Cleethorpes yesterday - all the fun of the fair there plus the traditional donkeys. Not much in the way of sunshine except for the cheery welcome sign.

Dogs at Cleethorpes

I visited to Cleethorpes today on a dull grey day but there were lots of people about and many of them had dogs. Took a series of dogs - the characters of the breeds were clearly displayed even in these small cameos.

Fun with Fungi

As well as the wide angle shots, I also tried some closeup work as there were so many beautiful small fungi. I was using a 5omm macro plus a 25mm extension ring. This has resutled in a very narrow depth of field in the first image taken wide open at 2.5. I wanted to try and get all the water drops in focus so I tried f11 but the background is beginning to intrude. I liked the way the stalks go out of focus on the third image but probably should crop above the in focus moss.

If You Go Down to the Woods

All the wet and now mild weather has resulted in a bumper crop of fungi in the woods and fields. These were taken yesterday at Gamlingay Woods, Cambridgeshire. I will get them identified and add the species when time permits but thought this might encourage other fungi enthusiasts to get out in the woods this weekend.

Wimpole in Storm Light

We had a club outing to Wimpole Park this morning. Heavy rain was forecast and did arrive on time at 1 o'clock but the four hardy souls who got there at 9 am were rewarded with some amazing light. I had taken a 8-strength Neutral Density filter to try long exposures on moving clouds but it was too windy as the camera moved too much on the tripod. However, using shorter exposures (higher ISO etc), the filter did produce some dramatic images of the house bathed in sunshine with very heavy clouds behind. The tree shots were as shafts of sunlight lit up parts of the park.

Story of a Sunrise

Flowers in the Rain

Just a few wet flowers that attracted my attention when looking round the garden in the rain.

Saturday's Wedding

Angi and Phil's wedding on Saturday was a very happy event - how could it fail to be with 8 small boys and several sets of balloons. It made photography a bit difficult especially when trying a group shot as none of the children wanted to stay still for more than a second.

If you were at the wedding, the photos can be viewed on

www.photoboxgallery.com/annmiles

Autograss Racing

We had arranged to take photographs at the Autograss racing at St Neots today and, despite a very cold wind and intermittent rain, we stuck to the plan and spent 6 cold hours on a field watching cars go round and round a dirt track. The Specials gave the most action during the day with some spin-offs and battles with the cones. The Saloons were more 'sedate' but still ended up the wrong way round on occasions.

Horses

We have had two pairs of horses in the field along our lane for many weeks now and, every time there is some lovely evening light, I think 'I must get out and photograph them'. Well last afternoon I did. Here we have mother and daughter on the left and the larger male foal on the right - his mother is quite nervous of the camera so took off at fast rate most times.

I tried two different monochrome conversions on one of the pictures - either with maximum or minimum green channel and adjustments on other colours. I liked the minimum green channel conversion and used this for the other monochromes.