Westonbirt, A tribute to Edith

For those who knew her, my mother, Edith Grady, died early Saturday morning at the age of 98. She loved Westonbirt and so I continued with a long-arranged weekend trip to see the autumn colours with Phil, Shelagh and Miles - thanks for your company. We were rewarded for getting there early by a beautiful misty morning with all the trees decked in dew drops. The leaves have gone from many of the trees but there were still some hanging on making wonderful backlit subjects.

Cambridge Firework Display

A couple of images from a very wet bonfire night on Friday in Cambridge. The fireworks at one stage were vanishing into the clouds and smoke so lots of oohs and not many aahs. The crowd scene at the end was my favourite from the evening.

Goodbye to Guernsey

Final early morning view from my bedroom window and time for a short walk along the coast before getting flight back to UK. Many thanks to my hosts, the Guernsey Salon for looking after me and showing me their beautiful island. I will be back.

More like August than November

Today has been a wonderful warm and sunny day. Thanks Jan for showing me round today. It was certainly all about the sea and the variety of colours and forms that the sea takes. We started with placid blues at our first stop going on to the varied colours in the sea bathing pools. The waves were building up there - enough to surprise me and wet my camera. On the other side of the island, the waves were crashing over the rocks giving a great display and yet with emerald seas and warm hands.

Guernsey dawn

Three images of this morning's sunrise (not so early now!) - I was using 8-density neutral filter to slow down the shutterspeed in the first two. The last image shows the Peninsular Hotel and its wonderful location right on the sea.

Guernsey in Stormier light

It was raining when I set off for my morning walk but it stopped fairly soon leaving dark skies and emerald waters. I took quite a few close ups of the seaweed (to follow!) but liked the colours of this view of the rocks.
The sun came out later and illuminated this fishing boat. The Peninsula Hotel is just left of the boat on the other side of the bay.
After lunch Robin and Evelyn took me to their side of the Island and showed me Pea Stacks, impressive rock stacks that feature in quite a few Renoir Paintings. The light obliged to give some very interesting colourings.

More fromMorning Walk

Continuing from early images, the sky remained pink for some time and even the male stonechat on the gorse glowed an orange hue. The third image continues dogs and dog walkers theme.

Guernsey Sunrise

This was the view from my bedroom this morning. I then went for a walk down to the shore (at least 100 yards) from the Peninsula Hotel where I am staying and watched the sunrise. The sky in the West was also very striking with cloud trails.

Off to Guernsey

When it eventually arrived at Stansted after a technical fault at Jersey, this was our plane to take me 2 hours late to Guernsey.
Photo for Phil - it was noisier in this ATR152(? correct me if wrong) than in your Beechcraft. Also it was a head wind so quite slow progress.

Anglesey Abbey

We had a short visit to Anglesey Abbey yesterday in lovely autumn sunshine. The trees have not yet turned fully but I concentrated on the light through the leaves and the silver birch shapes.

A Wet Tuesday

Very wet day in Cambridge today. I couldn't resist all these coloured umbrellas.

Fox

This Fox was out in the warm sunshine just by our bungalow. Remained staring at us for some time before running off into the bushes.

Fallow Deer and Grey Wagtail

I was staying overnight very close to Bradgate Park (Leicestershire) so got there early as the sun came up. The first one is very high ISO (128000) but I like the way the orange sunlight is just catching the antlers. The Red deer are in full rut at the moment and very noisy but I decided to contcentrate on the Fallow deer today
The Yellow Wagtail was flitting around in the stream - the yellow under the tail shone out in the bright light.

For Noreen and Trinna

A few images from the Cambridge Botanic Gardens yesterday. A perfect autumn day with clear cold air but sill a bit of warmth in the sunshine for insects and people to enjoy. Thanks for your company and hope you got some photos that you are pleased with.

Innate swimming reflexes

Here are a couple of images from a series of images that I have been doing of babies at their early (4 to 6 month) swimming lessons.
It is amazing how easily they float (the jacket is for warmth not buoyancy). They also make swimming movements when underwater and have a gag reflex that closes the windpipe. This disappears at 9 months. They keep the eyes wide open.

More Dogs

A Pomeranian, Greyhound and Whippet/Saluki cross all in full flight - literally in the case of the greyhound.
The Spaniel shows the effect of shaking the head hard on floppy jowls and the Border Terrier is just enjoying the sea

Fish Quays

Here are a few images from Fish Quays early in the morning. The first image is taken at f2.8 and the second, a bit later as the light improved, at f18 giving more definition to the light sources. The Fish Quays themselves I thought ooked good as monochrome.