Lunch and Piglet

Here's Lunch again. This is not offered as a photograph to admire but something amusing, I hope. The cat is Piglet, our 17 year old, and the two have something of a polite stand off. Piglet will sometimes half-heartedly chase Lunch off when he remembers that he was a young cat once but most of the time he just sunbathes and eats.

Foxgloves

Are the blots and spots on foxglove flowers as individual and unique as finger prints? I know it was cruel but I delighted in telling my 13 and 14 year old pupils that the flower got its name because of its ability to cover the pungent smell of the fox. This meant that foxes used to slip them onto their paws when they went out raiding chicken coops so the chickens would not smell them. Hence foxgloves, with the pattern of spots being the foxs' paw-prints. I was always amazed when intelligent, well educated pupils, those who were sophisticated, knowledgeable and globally connected, still loved this story and believed it hook, line and sinker. Kids need stories and they get fewer and fewer these days as they are deprived of childhood by commercialism and sexual exploitation. Lolita is only 8 years old today - how does society deal with that?

Hisbiscus Bits

Supermacro of the centre of a hibiscus flower. Still getting used to the camera; I'd like to have got it all in focus maybe manual control and a smaller aperture would have helped but, believe it or not, this shot was handhelp with just elbows resting on a table.

Penstemon

Looking down the throat of a Penstemon

Osteospermum

The macro facility on my Olympus enables me to see elements that are so small I can no longer see them with my unassisted eyes. I was fascinated with the blue centre in the middle of this osteospermum.

Reflections on nature

We are biologically programmed to find beauty in nature. Our very survival depends upon this. The bounty of nature and its processes of growth, respiration, reproduction and decay provide us with an environment that can sustain life. Only by protecting and nuturing our world can we assure our survival. But mankind has done huge damage to nature's systems and has destroyed much that we depend on. From the destruction of the world's forests to bringing the world's largest ever creatures to the verge of extinction, we have ignored the beauty of nature. This beauty is found everwhere; in rivers and clouds, in trees and flowers, in deserts and mountains - nature has laid on for us a visual treat.
It is a continual contradicton that some people are so insulated from nature that they think nothing of damaging parts and destroying others. From the yobs who kick hedgehogs and fox-cubs to death, to the multi-national forestry and fishing companies, nature takes second place to visceral satisfaction or increasing profits. Yet even some of these people find beauty and satisfaction in nature even without realising it. Whether it is in a sunset, a body or the taste of a favourite food. Teaching people about the beauty of nature, showing that it is a friend to be admired rather than an enemy to be exploited and battled against may be one step we can all take to help protect the future of our beautiful planet.
It is in this spirit that I make my own insignificant contribution. I hope to include pictures of flowers, trees and other natural subjects as this blog develops. Some of the pictures will be by Elaine (my other half) and some by me. Many of these will be from my garden - a living, organic work of art.
If you like the flower and garden pictures you may want to look at Gary Gardiner's lovely site http://www.rockatinniswood.com/ where his pictures of tulips are particularly stunning.

Bash-Bish Falls Watercolour

This is the 'final' product; the original is the shot below.

I've enhanced the saturation and altered brighness and contrast. Having done that I used a watercolour filter to achieve this result. I've smoothed the edge with the eraser tool and cropped the image. I expect I could have cloned the person out and turned him into rock but I don't feel he's intrusive. I feel this treatment can improve a decent landscape shot. By removing the photographic claity, an element of creativity and a hint of mystery is added to the picture. This is soooo much easier than working in a darkroom!!

Bash-Bish Falls

I promised I'd post some of my manipulated images and as I haven't got any new work today I've included these before and after (manipulation) pictures.

Bash-Bish Falls is on the Connecticut/Massachusetts border close to the border with New York State. It is apparently the tallest waterfall in Mass. and legend has it that it is named after a Native American indian woman who threw herself off the rocks for a reason that I've forgotten. If you visit the falls treat yourself and follow the road from the main car-park away from the highway and up the hill. After a mile or so you'll come to another car-park from which you can climb a rocky outcrop to find a view down the valley, across the Hudson valley and over to the Catskills 30 miles away. Spectacular!!! Watch out for a picture.

Lunch

This character discovered that we have bird feeders during the winter. He got so confident that he now eats from our hands and even outfaces the cat! Several weeks ago he went home and started bragging about these tame humans he knows. "You only have to peck on their door and they come out and feed you!" Thereafter he turned up with his Mrs 2 or 3 times a day. We're expecting the family any day now. It might seem a bit cruel to have named him 'Lunch' but it is only a joke - I think.

This cropped image was taken on my Olympus C770. I'm still blown away by the quality of the picture.

Boston Flag

One for the Doodle-Dandys. Taken October 2004 during the day of the Superbowl. A simple picture but there's a lot I like about it. The way the flag glows in the sunlight, the reflections in the windows showing a very different view across the street, the iron balconies and the hard - soft contrasts between the ropes and flags and the bricks and iron. Boston won that night and the celebrations were noisy and exciting. It was the place to be and and the wife and I, as tourists from the UK, felt lucky to be able to share it. Good on you, Patriots!

Spanish Roofs

One of the "White Villages" of the Spanish Sierra Nevada somewhere between Marbella and Rhonda. This was taken in early January and involved lots of waiting around for the sun to come out. I can't help but be reminded of some of those complex and confusing engravings by Escher.

Sky, Sea and Stone

This is one of those beaches in the Seychelles where all the touists get taken on their day trips. I was one of them! It was a bit unnerving wading out into waist deep water where the footing was uncertain, the water cloudy with sand and the current gently pulling at my feet. Falling over would not have been good for the camera but it was worth it for this picture

Winter Aspens

Winter Aspens. It was so hard to get a view that was not obstructed by trees or saplings. Here I've digitally removed some of the tree in the foreground and a couple of branches coming in from the right that spoilt the composition. If you look closely you'll be able to see where I've worked on the picture - but then - it's not really meant to be examined that closely!

Sky Blue

Sky Blue. I love the monotone effect of the sky matching the paint colour. This was a purely chance find, nosing around the backs of shops and restaurants in Santa Fe. Its an image of shapes and patterns more than subjects. Santa Fe in early April was wonderful, The climate was perfect, warn and clear but not too hot. If it was like that all year round I might consider moving there!

Leaning Trees

Leaning trees. What made just one row of these trees lean drunkenly to the right?

Opening comments

It's taken me all evening to work out how to publish my photos to this blog. It's my first attempt at putting anything on the web so I will really appreciate any feedback you'd care to give.

I've been using digital cameras for about three years now. I started with a 3 megapixel Casio and have recently bought a 4 megapixel Olympus C770. The Olympus is still taking my breath away. The macro mode focuses down to about 1 cm and the camera has a 10x zoom. The quality of the images is close to breath-taking.

I've also started experimenting with software packages, especially Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop. Again, I'm astonished at what can be done with them and I hope to include some 'modified' pictures as time goes on.

I hope for some encouraging feedback as I'm sure this will push me on to placing more work in the blog.

I haven't published my e-mail yet. If anyone wants to use one of these pictures, leave a comment and I'll try and contact you.

Stay smiling

Ron S

Ramsons

Ramsons or wild garlic. This grows in local woods and flowers at the same time as Bluebells. The sight and scent of both together are sublime.

I cannot get over the quality of my new digital camera - an Olympus C770 superzoom with supermacro. I'm exploring whole new areas of photography that this camera has opened up for me.

Evening Poppies

Poppy field in evening light. At a time like this England is as beautiful as anywhere. This field has never had such a wonderful display. I dashed out one evening and shot off about 20 shots. I even asked permission to climb on the garden wall of a neighbouring cottage only to discover that the people I was asking didn't even live there! I chose my evening well. Two days later the farmer was out cutting the field for hay and the poppies were gone, for this year at least! I might put some more shots of this field in this blog in the future. Watch this space.