Coot Aggression

 The coots continually scrapped during our time at St Albans Veralim Park today. The light was very poor but managed a few interesting shots. It often appeared to be the eternal triangle situation. I wonder if they actually drown their opponent ever.

Tits in Flight

 The hide at Elveden Center Parc is the best place I have found to attempt to get birds in flight as the feeders are very high and the background a long way away. Despite two visits and a lot of exposures, I still didn't achieve a really sharp image image where it needed to be. Also, as I was shooting fairly late in the afternoon, I had to use ISO1000 to get an even tolerable 1250th of a sec at f7.1 - more depth of field and faster shutterspeed should be possible in the morning if the day is bright. Unfortunately will have to wait another year to try again.

Tree Creeper

Not a brilliant photo as it was quite gloomy at the time, but a record of a new species for our garden list as this lovely little tree creeper spiralled up the fruit trees.

Anglesey Abbey

The light was very dull and the temperature very cold when I visited Anglesey Abbey yesterday afternoon. The very shallow depth of field seems to work well with the bracket fungi on the log walls. A bit of fill-in flash (Sony RX100) with the second tree helped lift the image a bit and picked out the snowdrops. The light was right for the ivy trunks and the strange figure that appeared.

John Lewis Fish-eye

 A spent a bit of time with the fish-eye lens when I had finished photographing the staff etc for the JL project. Here are some uncorrected and corrected images showing a range of distortions.

The London Salon

Now is the time to start preparing entries for this year's London Salon. (File updated 19th feb with correct date)

Snowdrops at Chippenham Park

We enjoyed a visit to Chippenham Park for the snowdrop weekend today in beautiful warm sunshine. The flowers were at their best. Images 4 and 5 show the difference in the image that you get from normal viewing height and from using the camera close to the ground.

John Lewis Project Part 2

Another shoot at John Lewis today - took Sadie and Meredith in as models for interaction with the children's department staff.

Leamington Spa Travel Lodge

 Leamington Spa Travelodge is probably the grandest TL I have stayed in. The conversion inside and outside has been very well done.

Southampton Museum and Art Gallery

 We visited Southampton SeaCity Museum and Art Gallery but found that photography was not allowed anywhere in these buildings - a definite no for future visits.