Busy Weekend

It has been a very busy weekend starting with Frances and Christopher's wedding to photograph on Saturday. The weather was definitely April showers but, kindly, the sun shone for the outside photographs.

London Salon Entries

Phew- just made it in time for my entry for this year's London Salon . On-line entry closes this weekend (22nd) but also time to enter manually and the prints have to get there by 27th April. The prints are designed to go side-by-side and that is what took the time!! I am influenced by ancient Chinese paintings where perspective is very different to Western art. They do not have single point, linear perspective but  the perspective points shift as the viewer's eye moves through the landscape. So a scene may include a lake shore, above which tower mountains; yet both the lake and the mountaintop pavilion will seem to be at eye level.

Newest Family Member

Grandaughter number two, Meredith, was born yesterday (18th April)and looks amazingly similar to Sadie as a new born.

 I visited the National Trust Landscape gardens at Claremont on my way to talk at Epsom Camera Club - thanks for your hospitality and especially Rosemary for the meal before the meeting. The gardens have features from leading historic landscape gardeners including John Vanburgh and Capability Brown but are somwhat spoilt for me by the masses of rhododendrons blocking the vistas. Two birds that don't feature in our local gardens - the Ring-necked Parakeet and the Mistle Thrush were making a lot of noise in the trees. An obliging Heron kept moving ahead of me round the lake.

Cambridge on a Stormy Sunday

 Walked round Cambridge on Sunday morning showing Charles and Janet some of the photographic gems. The weather was very varied from sun to hail. Occasionally the light was right for the scene.

Our Swallow is back

A male swallow was perched on our conservatory door this morning - the first seen this year (6th and 7th last two years)and looking decidedly tatty. We have closed the garage this year and opened a side shed door. I do hope they take to the new quarters - we have too much good stuff stored in the garage to have droppings everywhere.

The Law Faculty Cambridge

As part of our Camera Clubs annual Points of View competition, we were able to photograph in the Law Faculty. I loved the shapes and colours. The building was designed by Norman Foster and  completed in 1995/ It contains the Squire Law Library, five auditoriums, offices and several seminar rooms. It is four stories high, with a further two stories below ground.

Still No Nightingales

Visited Paxton Pits today hoping that the Nightingales would have arrived (6th April last year) but no sign of them on the Heron Trail (one had been sighted/heard in Rory's Wood). Here are some of the species that we did see so very much not a wasted visit - Great Crested Grebe, Common Tern, Greylag Geese, Chiffchaff, Cormorant, Robin, Heron, Tufted Duck, Black Headed Gull. I hope that the Nightingales will return in their usual number (30 males recorded singing last year).

Blossom and Stormy Sky

The pear and plum blossom looked great against the very stormy sky that we had this afternoon

Grasstrack Racing

We went to the Grasstrack racing at Wood Walton near Huntingdon today. It was very cold standing on a drafty plateau and the racing was delayed by two hours but enjoyable once it got going. Today the veterans and Juniors put on a great show with lots of flying soil to add to the drama. I tried some slow shutterspeed panning as well as action shots with 1/1600 sec shutterspeed.

Hoe Plymouth

A quick visit to The Hoe in Plymouth yesterday on a gloomy morning. The Tinside Lido was built in 1935 when outdoor swimming was very popular. It was closed in 1992 but has now been restored to its original 1930s art deco glory. The Terraces with changing areas and steps to the sea to the left of the pool are less well preserved. 

Many thanks to Linda and Plymouth Camera Club for a very warm welcome.