Christmas Eve in Cambridge

Traditionally I visit Cambridge on Christmas Eve for last minute shopping but this year it was just a visit to the quieter areas. Sad to see previously bustling areas so empty but the beautiful light still made it a pleasant experience.

Flooding in Toft and Cambridge

Toft has been flooded twice already this year. This was on Christmas Eve after the floods had gone down enough for traffic to get through from Bourn. Brookside was still impassable as were the local footpaths. In Cambridge, Coe Fen was flooded giving great reflections.

Happy Christmas and A Healthy and Peaceful 2021

 

Light Painting with Finger Lights

We found a box of finger lights forgotten from a previous project and the girls had great fun dancing and drawing with them. Sadie, as expected, was quite precise with her drawing - I like the two swans in the third image; Meredith was much more flambouyant. Single flash during5 second exposure.

 

Hellebores in Winter Sun

 We took the opportunity a couple of days ago of a walk in the sun across the fields to Caldecote church with its wonderful garden. The Hellebores are looking great (Helleborus foetidus and H. niger) and I was surprised the number of insects sheltering (?feeding) in the flowers.

Cyanotypes and Trees

Projects often don't work out the way I planned but sometimes the results can be just as interesting as a 'success' would have been.  I printed the tree outlines on what I thought was ink-jet compatible film but discovered it was not stable or solid enough to act as a mask when exposing a cyanotype-coated paper to the light. However the exposed cyanotype before removing the film and washing the print proved an excellent starting point for further manipulations in the computer. Different papers, exposure time and types of light have created variations and combining some with negatives of the tree images has furthered the variation.

Toft Firelight and Carols

Tonight's firelight and Carols was very well supported with around 100 people (plus dogs) spacing themselves out around a fire listening to a Brass quintet, hearing varied readings and singing carols. 

West Stowe Country Park

We took a walk round West Stowe Country Park yesterday in very dull lighting. The Greylag and Canada geese entertained us; I was interested how similar the plumage was between the two species. The area of the bird feeders was very dark so the shutterspeeds were slow and ISO high. One Bluetit had a very interesting eye abnormality. Great to see Coal and Marsh tits together.