Fungi in Gamlingay Woods

We had a stroll in Gamlingay Woods this morning and found several types of fungi especially lots of Mycena pura - Lilac Bonnet and some very large Funnel caps (?Clitocybe giganteum).

Contrasts at Blist's Hill

Jane and I had a very sunny day for our visit to Blist's Hill Victorian Village on Thursday. I decided to work on high contrast scenes and adjustments.

A Shrewsbury Bug and Another Travelodge

Good to see Jane and her mother on Wednesday. We hunted the garden for macro subjects and found this rather splendid Green Shieldbug. 

Tamworth Travelodge has slightly less attractive surroundings to Stafford with an electricity substation, railway, Lidl and lots of roundabouts. The internal staircase is more photogenic.

Unusual Surroundings for Travelodge

Staying at Travelodges for next nights while lecturing in the Midlands. Impressed by the Lakeside setting for the Stafford M6 Travelodge. Still practising with the Fuji XT camera - this time on small insects. My 18-35 mm zoom has done a reasonable job on Macro subjects especially if used on Manual focus with the focus assist on.

CRUFC Beat Top-of-the Table Taunton

Cambridge Rugby Union Football Club played very well to secure an impressive win 32-19 against Taunton to go joint top with them in the table. I was trying to concentrate on situations where the ball was being passed or very evident in the image - the first image sums it up - 'it's my ball'

Bath -Testing Fuji Stablisation

I took a few shots during a short evening stroll around Bath on Wednesday (after a long day at the ARPS Assessments). I wanted to test out the minimum shutterspeeds that I could reliably handhold the Fuji XT1 and 18-135mm lens. Although some images from as low as 1/4 sec were acceptably sharp, generally the cut off is 1/8 second - still very good for a largish zoom lens.  

Laycock Abbey

I called in at Laycock Abbey yesterday on my way to Bath for the RPS distinctions. I hadn't visited before and only had a short while to look round but here are a few images reminding me of its various roles in history first as a nunnery, then as a family home after the Reformation, the home of William Fox Talbot, inventor of the photographic negative and, finally, as a Harry Potter film location. The autumn trees looked wonderful in the glimpses of sunlight (tree images straight from Fuji with no adjustment!)