Barnard Castle

Various shots of Barnard castle from our walk through the woods and along the riverside this weekend. I wanted to get a few different angles. I must admit it is times like this where I'd love a *really* good wide angle lens!

The above is my attempt at recreating a very old image that I have on my wall that used to be one of my grandparent's. I'm not sure I was on the right place on the bridge but it's almost the same.


I've walked this same route so many times and in so many different ways since I was a young child that often I forget to look up and see just how impressive a view it is. The river Tees however never ceases to give that sense of peace and tranquility.

Rubbish!

I don't know why, but I have this desire to make pretty pictures from objects that most would not consider 'pretty'. I've been looking at our compost tub in the kitchen all week thinking about how much colour and texture there is, so I decided to take a few shots this morning. I would have spent more time on it but it is October and I live in Manchester and I started to get quite wet! The rain did make the ground look shiny though...

Obviously with these two photos I've done a little bit of post-editing, but mostly just a little change in saturation and contrast, not much more.

50mm play

I bought a new 50mm lens the other day and have messed around with it a little bit in the house but today was the first time I went out with it. Unfortunately I've been feeling quite ill so my park trip ended pretty quick. These two photos were the beginnings of me making the most of the aperture!

Piccadilly Gardens

The unexpected but very welcome sunshine prompted me to take a few photos in Piccadilly gardens this afternoon. The shadows on the sound barrier added a little something extra to the scene.


Of course, because of the beautiful weather, half of Manchester took to the city centre and I had to stand here for about 20 mins just to get a few mediocre shots without humans in the way!! There's a fine line between having people in the background giving an impression of the hustle and bustle and random figures ruining the shot!

Snuggles

Kitten snuggles.

Almost two weeks ago my beloved cat Brooklyn went missing. We've looked all around the area and put up posters but no sign at all. We had been planning to get a new kitten to add to our little family but when Brooklyn disappeared I decided that I wanted to get two kittens instead.

Pomme...

.... and Hopscotch.

They've been with us just over a week and have settled in nicely. This afternoon there was a rare moment of stillness in decent lighting. On the whole they're either hidden away or running around like maniacs so as soon as they cuddled up in the sun out came the camera!!

N.B Do you have any idea how difficult it is to take a picture of a black cat lying next to a black cat?

Sandy dog

Whilst on the beach in Abersoch I spotted this little dog playing in the water and decided to have a go at some 'action' shots. The sun was really bright which made for lovely colouring but in every shot there was something in shadow that would preferably have been in the light!

I set the camera to f/11, 1/400, iso 200 because I wanted to capture the water splashing as well as the dog in action! I probably should have had iso at 100 but I'd read a book recently that suggests a default of 200 and I hadn't changed it.

I'm quite happy with the result considering I was following a random guy and his dog around the beach trying not to look too suspicious and stalker-like. I may have to borrow a man and his dog again one day and take more time over it, because let's face it, doggy photos are cute!

The Jaffa Cake of all Jaffa Cakes.

When there's a birthday you have cake.

When you're the household baker you have to think up what cake to make.

When you're baking for a 3 year old it's easy to come up with something exciting.

When the birthday boy is 31 it's not so easy.

When you see a good idea you steal it! And this was a fabulous idea! Fabulously delicious.

It really did taste as scrummy as it looks. Possibly more so. It was definitely more-ish and almost flawless. I wish I could claim that it was all my own idea, but alas it was not!

The Giant Jaffa cake is very easy to make though. Bake the sponge in a frying pan.

Make some orange jelly with half the amount of liquid as usual and set it on a plate. Put the jelly onto the sponge.

Melt the chocolate and pour onto the jelly and sponge, et voila!