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A complete change for me today. One of my daughters friends invited us to take some pictures of her at a cross country practise event. Not something I have ever tried before but it was interesting. I have loads of images that need processing when I get a minute - but for now this one looked ok.

115/365

My daughter and her friend actually wanted their pictures taken....

114/365

I've seen some pretty amazing 'smoke art' pictures on Flickr and thought I would have a go. I used incense sticks to make the smoke and an off camera flash (camera left) to light the smoke without spilling onto the background. This is something I will definitely try again when I have more time

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I managed to get my wife to stand in front of day 111's frosted glass window long enough to take a portrait...

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A bit of a thorowaway... this is a frosted glass window that will make a great background for a portrait - but not today!!

110/365

I had a little play with the new lights tonight - well one of them anyway. I set up a nice cross lighting scenario, I just needed a subject but as soon as the camera comes out everyone disappears. Tonight even the dogs wouldn't play ball - actually nothing that unusual there! Anyway just as I was packing away Bob appeared and sat momentarily in front of me. He clearly didn't get the set up as he was in the wrong place but I like the soft light on his face and eye. Also the DOF is too shallow but I still like it.

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Another busy day spent largely in London. Although I took the G9 I didn't get or manage to make an opportunity to take a picture which is a real shame. On arrival home I was met with a new set of Studio Flashes which I wanted to play with but didn't have the energy or enthusiasm. My son has secured the job of formal photog for his school's prom so we needed some reliable lights. Anyway this was a quick self portrait taken with the G9 and one of the new lights with a small softbox. Interesting how side lighting exaggerates wrinkles!!

104/365 Slate

A serious lack of time and inspiration today, a snatched shot of some pieces of slate lit with an LED torch. To try and make things more interesting this week I will be using my wife's Canon G9 - I am looking forward to travelling light!

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Nothing to do with the picture.....
Easter Sunday started off much like any other morning with the ritual dog walk. On arrival at the recreation ground I did my normal visual checks to ensure there were no little dogs around for Marley to terrorise or children with footballs. In the distance I could see some 'friendly' dog owners so I let the dogs off lead. Marley headed across the field to meet his chums but quickly changed course and headed for the pavilion, I noticed with dismay someone sat on the steps repairing a remote control helicopter. Marley saw someone new to play with!! It was only a matter of seconds before he had got hold of the helicopter's battery pack and was bounding around encouraging the owner to take chase. I ran across the field and was advised to recover said object from dogs mouth. I politely explained that although this seemed a good idea in reality it was not that easy. I did manage to recover the battery pack but not in time to save it. This little incident cost me £50.....

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Things didn't pan out as expected today so once again my subject is from the fruit bowl.

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099/365 Dog Tired

Some times this dog training lark is all a bit much!!

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Processed in Piknik. Cross processed, vignette and a touch of 1960's.

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Still trying to use the 70-200 for my shots this week I headed down to the seafront after dark. My intention was to capture lights and reflections of the channel ferries. As I set up my tripod I was approached by a man who tried to speak to me - he clearly did not speak English and possibly had other problems or maybe was drunk . As I moved around he followed me not saying anything or making eye contact when I looked at him. I didn't hang around for too long as I felt uncomfortable in the dark with him behind me. The pictures I did take demonstrate a complete lack of attention and none were blog worthy. Stuck with the handicap of the long lens I did a quick self portrait which actually sums up my day quite well.

095/365

A pretty quiet Sunday, dog walk, gym, dog walk, quick beer in the garden, cut grass, Sunday roast, dog walk - and finally blog.
During the day I did try to capture something different, even to the extent of lying face down on the front lawn photographing the lawn mower. I even used off camera flash to add some drama - fortunately my wife didn't catch me but I did get some strange looks from passers by. Note to self ... don't do this again in the front garden.

During the madness I noticed this blackbird collecting worms - amazingly it seemed fascinated with my flash and kept coming closer and closer to investigate. this project is driving me Bonkers - sorry I have got the Dizzee Rascal track stuck in my mind...

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I seem to have struggled more than ever this week - it is too easy to make excuses. My plan for this week is to use my 70-200 lens for all shots, I hope this will make me look at things differently. It will certainly be challenging as my antique lens was constructed from the hull of an old battleship and weighs a ton.

Fortunately today I managed to talk my long suffering daughter in to having her picture taken - unfortunately, I don't know what I was doing with my focus point as the bulk of the pictures were rubbish. Once again I was tricked by the small LCD on the back of the camera - everything looked fine until I uploaded to the PC. I love my camera but the combination of small screen and my dodgy eyesight is not good. I think this may be the start of a business case for a new camera, either that or I need to use my magnifying glass.

093/365 Room with a view

The hills around Dover are littered with the ruins of military buildings and tunnels, many dating back to Napoleonic times or even earlier. This is a brief glimpse of one of of the fortifications that overlook the Western Docks. This was part of a gun emplacement that looked out over the English Channel - it is now in a pretty sorry state and not somewhere I would venture after dark.

092/365 Daffs

091/365 Post Processing

A quick picture taken one handed whilst holding the leads of the two dogs in the other hand. Not that I am making excuses but my feeble attempt was saved with a little bit of post processing. As an aside, I've noticed that I am now taking the majority of my shots in portrait aspect because they fit better on the blog.