Sunset
Posted: November 27, 2022 Filed under: photography, Uncategorized | Tags: colourful, nature, photography, sky 1 CommentLife happens and when it does it can change everything -especially comfortable habits and routines. So it is that my regular photography hobby has been on the back burner for ages , without much chance of getting back into the swing!
However, I made myself grab my old Stylus camera to take an auto shot of this quickly changing sunset from my window. The winds were quite strong and the sun was disappearing with every second.
I was pleased to have captured this one and hope it’s worth sharing …..
Still Life Christmas
Posted: December 18, 2020 Filed under: Christmas, Still Life, Uncategorized | Tags: Christmas, festive, fun, Jesus, still life 5 CommentsI hope you will enjoy my fun Still Life pictures for Christmas ! I really enjoyed doing them as they’ve been a welcome distraction from the stresses and strains of what’s been going on in my life currently. I know that nobody can escape the troubles that seem to be affecting everyone the world over these days. For myself , I have found strength and help from reading God’s word, the Bible – it seems to appropriately address all my fears and struggles and is a source of great comfort to all those who love the Lord and turn to Him and trust Him for their needs….
I don’t know whether I will post another blog before Christmas – so I wish everyone a very Happy Christmas – may you find the forgiveness, peace and joy the Saviour came to give us. John 3:16
Eileen
Fun Still Life
Posted: November 17, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: creative, fun, MOT, shoes, still life 3 CommentsSearching around my brain for inspiration and thought I’d ask if my lovely daughter in law had any fancy high heels that I could borrow [ no- not to wear!!] So, imagine my joy when my son turned up with these very glamorous shoes – I couldn’t wait to have a go at them….
Shoe and Roses
Sitting Pretty
Well, that’s it for another day – with many thanks to my daughter in law! Hope ya’ll enjoy seeing my efforts as much as I enjoyed creating them. Just sorry it’s taken me such a long time to post anything again. Eileen
Roses
Posted: June 18, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: creative, Flowers, nature, Olympus camera, roses, soft focus 4 CommentsI won’t bore you all with yet another apology for being inactive here … I will just post as I’m able and I’m very grateful to have an outlet to share on with no demands or pressures, especially with the strange circumstances we are all currently in. I thank the Lord for His good gifts every day.
These are just a few ‘creative’ shots of the roses that are growing in my very small patio garden, which is currently somewhat inaccesible to me as the local council have erected massive scaffolding across it to access work going on to the flat above me. The squirrels are enjoying running up and down it though….
I do enjoy using the tools and effects that are available in my Paintshop software, but I am very aware that these can be overdone and the work can end up looking ‘orrible! I also use my camera’s inbuilt artistic modes at times – in particular the soft-focus which gives a lovely effect.
This last rose is really that colour! I’ve posted pics of it here before, but this is very recent. It was bought for me by dear friends a few years ago and has been flourishing , even though it catches all the strong winds that blow around the blocks of flats here.
Bye for now and many blessings, Eileen
It’s Been A Long Time!
Posted: May 12, 2020 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: amusing, bird bath, birds, crow, nature, wildlife 2 CommentsI hadn’t realised how long it’s been since I last posted anything here. My only excuse is that ‘Life’ intervened and I seemed to have so much to cope all at the same time, which depleted my energy – even for taking pictures.
So, over the last few months I took the occasional photo but couldn’t do any post processing or tidying up. But maybe the spring weather has brightened me up as I’ve slowly started to gather myself with the good Lord’s help to take new pics and pp the older ones…. hope you like them!
I don’t mind constructive criticism from anyone, as often a fresh eye can see things that you can’t and we are always learning in life aren’t we – no matter what age we are! Sometimes there may be nothing particularly wrong with an image and it just comes down to personal taste and preference – there is no right or wrong – just personal opinion – but that can still be useful at times … so I thank you for your interest.
This may not be the most technically correct and sharp photo , but I’ve posted it for the amusement I got from watching this huge crow bring a large chunk of bread, [thrown from someone’s window who lives in the same block of flats that I live in] to the bird bath I have in my little patio garden and dunk it in the water, look at it for a little while, and then peck it into smaller bits to eat. I thought that was very clever … but it did leave me with a lot of cleaning up of the water to do – after all – who wants to bath in a load of soggy breadcrumbs?
He did the same for several days. I wonder if the ‘Lock down’ has interrupted his benefactor’s supply?
Garden Visitors
Posted: September 8, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: birds, bluetits, fun, nature, photography, squirrels, wildlife Leave a commentI’ve mentioned before, I’m sure, that I am fortunate to have a little patio garden and I’ve been making an effort this year to attract more birds and butterflies. The Bees have always been plentiful. I’ve been unsuccessful with the Butterflies as usual, but now that I have a new bird table and bath the birds [and squirrels] come several times a day. The bonus is that all the cats I used to see prowling around over the years have either moved away or died off. There is just one grey cat left from the flat upstairs. I am a cat-lover, but they can be a nuisance stalking the birds.
I also have a family of foxes playing on the grassy areas in the evenings and I throw them left-over scraps or old fruit if I have any.
I’m mostly behind the glass windows to watch the birds etc , so the pics aren’t super,duper quality, but I hope I’ve captured the fun that I have trying ….
That’s all for now, have a great day, Eileen
Macro Flowers
Posted: September 2, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: alstroemeria, close up, Flowers, macro, photography, Rose 2 Comments
Much of my time is spent indoors and I love using cut flowers as my photographic subjects, sometimes in Still Life but mostly exploring them in macro.
I don’t think I’ve spoken much here about the cameras and lenses I use. Some years ago I decided to upgrade from the simple auto ‘point and shoot’ cameras I was using because , although they do take marvelous images, I wanted to achieve more. I was, and still am, an avid reader of helpful articles and tips – I wanted to learn all I could to develope my camera skills.
I asked for advice in a Parks camera shop what camera to start with and the Olympus Stylus1 was recommended, so that’s the one I went with. I couldn’t really afford to go for an all-out DSLR and lenses – too heavy for me anyway! So it was a matter of initially learning what I could with this camera before moving on when I felt ready to buy a camera with separate lenses.
As the Olympus Stylus had served me well [and I still use it for convenience when I’m out] I decided, mainly because of it’s light weight, to stay with Olympus. Started with Olympus OM-DE-10 and now learning to use the Olympus OM-DE-10 mk lll. My favourite lens is the 60mm macro – used for these shots.
The big nuisance for me though are the over-complicated menus , which, at my age and the accompanying tired and less efficient brain, are a pest to navigate and remember. I’m awful with the techy side of things and hope I can get by with the artistic side instead. [I learned about composition, colour,texture etc when I used to paint almost every day!] And now, over time, certain camera settings have become a habit with use and practice , so it’s easier to find things !
I often admire the work I see from other photographers and find myself looking at the equipment they use and it’s very tempting to think ‘if only I had the cameras and lenses they have, I could achieve so much more !’ But, as the saying goes ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’ and I’ve learned to be content with what I have and thank the Lord for His creative gifts … ha ha – there’s no way I’d have the strength to hold that heavy DSLR and goodness me – those Lenses !!!
Well, that’s all for now dear friends, hope I will have helped someone who may be just starting out on the same journey , Eileen
Same Walk, Different Pics
Posted: October 26, 2018 Filed under: History, Landscape, Nature, photography, Uncategorized | Tags: History, leaves, nature, photography, sunshine, trees Leave a comment
This is the first lady angler that I’ve seen at the lake! Fortunately she very kindly said she didn’t mind me taking her photo. The sun was streaming across the lake behind her – back-lighting and high-lighting herself and the trees either side of her. Perfect!
This single leaf also posed perfectly for me ….
It was a really dazzling sun-shiney day with lots of high- lighty bits of nature to see … this could be titled a patchwork or an abstract I thought.
There is this huge Weeping Willow tree along the path leading to the lake and it looked magnificent on this bright, sunny day ….although the figure and dogs are the focal point of the pic.
I did some searching on line yesterday to see what I could find out about the Ifield Mill Pond and Bewbush Water Gardens and boy – what an interesting history – much too much to tell here … so, just briefly :
A park was recorded here as early as 1295. The manor of Bewbush seems to have passed down, linked with St Leonards Forest by inheritance to various Earls and Dukes, etc over the centuries, becoming known as the manor of Holmbush/ the Holmbush Estate from 1787 and being sold on to ‘humbler’ folk titled ‘Lord of Bewbush’ and eventually MPs and the like.
Lots of improvements had been done by a Thomas Broadwood after 1824 and he planted and landscaped much of the estate. Whether it was him or later owners who planted my Bald Cypresses there I don’t know, but maybe there’s a way of finding out? My source [A History of the County of Sussex] says he created a large Lake and several smaller ones – so I guess that must be more or less where we can walk now, since Crawley Borough Council bought the whole area , now known as the neighbourhood of Bewbush, in order to expand the housing requirements for all us ordinary folk. And grateful I am too!!
Bald Cypress [Taxodium distichum]
Posted: October 20, 2018 Filed under: Nature, photography, Trees, Uncategorized | Tags: autumn, colourful, nature, photography, photos, trees 5 CommentsI’ve often wondered about this tree that I’ve passed every time I’ve walked around the local lake. I obviously haven’t caught it at its most spectacular up until now! When I got back home I took the time to search on line for its name but of course, it wasn’t showing up in any British tree lists, so I widened my search and it turned out to be a conifer.
What threw me was that I didn’t class it as a conifer because I’d mistakenly thought all conifers were evergreen and this tree clearly wasn’t. Anyway – the clue was in my pics because I saw what sort of looked like clusters of tiny cones and then some larger spherical green ones hidden among the bright colourful foliage that I hadn’t noticed when I was taking the pics.
It’s a very large tree and I wonder how old it is …. maybe I will see if anyone knows on my local FB group.
Oops – maybe next time I’ll take a pic of the complete tree!!
bye for now, Eileen
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