Day One in Norway

 We have made it to Oslo where we are staying overnight at this hotel before the flight to the Lofoten Islands for 8 days tomorrow. There has been heavy snowfall recently and very cold conditions resulting in some beautiful frosted trees, captured during a short walk just as the sun went down.

Frosty Cambridge

It was a crisp frosty morning yesterday - Cambridge looked at its best with soft lighting and frosted grass.

Exhibition at Addenbrooke's Hospital

I have been putting up an Exhibition of Images  in The Gallery at Addenbrooke's (located in the corridor between the Concourse and the Rosie Wards). They will be displayed until the 12th March, hopefully raising some money for the Trust.

A Few More Center Parc Birds

This Sparrowhawk stayed on a branch in a dark area a long way away for about 10 minutes; it was great to have more than the usual fleeting view. Plenty of activity on the northern lake with three Great Crested Grebes often very close, plus Coots and Mallards (also Tufted , Pochard and Goosander). Sad to see very few Chaffinches and those that were there had diseased legs with typical squatting position. Other birds, especially the Robin, for 4-year old Sadie who enjoyed time in the hide during their visit.

Starry Skies at Elveden

A third starlit night at Center Parcs so some long exposure shots of the lake, the pines and the stars (30sec, F8 or F4, iso 800 or 1600)

Star Trails at Elveden Again

 Another attempt at mastering star trails and this time pointing towards the north. The first composite has 20 images, the second 11 images at 60 sec intervals (30 sec, f4, iso 500 plus 30 sec processing). Obviously a slightly longer recording series is required to get a good spin. Interesting to confirm that the earth revolves around the north star and to see how the big dipper can be used to locate it!! The last two images show Jupiter rising in the east - a very bright planet. I lit the duck in the final image with a torch.
(NB. Need 75 mins of recording to get good trails, turn off long exposure noise reduction to reduce the processing time)

Star Trails at Center Parcs

I am still trying to master using the interval timer on my Fuji to take multiple images for star trail composites. The first picture here is from 60 images (30secs f4 500iso) taken at 80 sec intervals - clearly too long as the trail shows gaps even when gap-filling software employed. I had set a 20 sec interval between exposures but clearly an extra 30 secs has been added presumably because it is taking more than 30 secs to process the image (even with a very fast card). Trial suggests minimum interval (1 sec) will give the shortest interval. Would like to find a north facing view for next trial - watch this space.

Bird Portraits at Elveden Forest

 We are spending the weekend at Elveden Center Parcs, hoping to concentrate on bird photogrpahy though the weather doesn't look that good with overcast skies. Today there were large numbers of Coal Tits and Blue Tits on the Feeders along with Blackbird, Jay and Wood Pigeon. We spotted the Sparrowhawk in a tree after all the birds had disappeared suddenly. A very tatty looking individual but the yellow eye is unmistakeable.

Preparing for an Exhibition at Addenbrookes Hospital

 I have been busy printing and framing 15 pictures for an exhibition in the corridors of Addenbrookes Hospital for 2 months from next Thursday. The Art Project director there requested Cambridge scenes, always a good selling topic to raise money for the hospital. I have tried to include a few unusual ones to go with misty snow scenes and monochromes

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