Bedworth Near Nuneaton

I stayed over at Bedworth after giving a talk to East Midlands RPS on Sunday so I could go to the Photography Show at the NEC today. Bedworth is an ancient market town and for a time relied on coal mining. The last pit closed in 1982. There are a lot of empty buildings in Bedworth including a fine brick built pub. The train journey involved a change at Coventry.

Spring Markers 2016

After an unusually warm winter, March has been cold and dull so the flowers have remained about the same for the last 3 weeks. Thus on the 21st March same markers out as previous years - coltsfoot, wild daffodil, primroses, dandelion, celandine, plum

Ely and CCC Points of View

 A really grey and chilly day for our annual Points of View competition, this year set by Helen in Ely. She set us 5 interesting topics: Cathedral (outside), Water, Curves, Monochrome, Funny Face. Generally I found that I only had one or two images that worked for a topic but here are a few extras for the Cathedral and for Curves. 

Paxton Pits

A first visit of the year to Paxton Pits - not many signs of spring on a dull cold morning - only the Blue Tits and Robins were singing. New lens performed well even where a very large crop as in last three. 

 

New Lens, New Bird

Having had my Canon 7d and 100-400mm stolen from the boot of the car (along with other gear) when I was unable to carry them with me on a general walk, I have decided to see how I enjoy nature photography using the lighterweight kit of Fuji and their new 100-400mm lens. Yesterday afternoon when it arrived was not ideal to try on birds but had a go at the bird feeder through the window and very surprised that the first bird recorded is new to our feeders, a siskin. Considering the conditions and through glass, pretty impressed with lens - hope for brighter conditions today.

The Strid, Bolton Abbey Estate Yorkshire

I had a walk along the river at Bolton Abbey on Thursday up as far as The Strid, where the water flows very fast through a gorge. I did a series of shutterspeeds to see the effect on the water and decided around 1/8th to 1/15th gave a result that suited the location. I used the Big Stopper for 10 and 30 second exposures, interestingly not a lot different in the results.