061/365 St Nicholas Cole Abbey

My meeting finished early today and on the way back to the tube I saw this reflection of St Nicholas Cole Abbey in the building opposite.

060/365 Samphire Ho

Four million tonnes of spoil from the building of the Channel Tunnel has been turned into a grassland which is  hoped will become an important conservation area. At the far westerly point is a small stretch of shingle beach and up in the cliffes is this semi derelict construction yard. We didn't see any dogs!!

059/365

We managed to get out this afternoon, took the dogs for a walk along the cliffs between St Margarets Bay and Kingsdown. The temperature got to around 15C and the sea was like a mill pond.

058/365 Nice Pear

Once again time is not on my side..... Set-up. Pear stood on a sheet of black craft foam which is curved up behind. Main light is a gridded SB600 camera left. Background is a gridded cobra with two yellow gels. Aperture f11 to try and keep the background in focus.

057/365 Guilty

Sadly no time for anything creative or artistic today. I did however get the opportunity for some crime scene photography - there is little doubt who is guilty although the evidence is circumstantial. Ironically, tonight was the dogs first visit to obedience classes - we did sit, stay etc. but didn't learn the, 'don't dig the plants up!' command. Oh well there's always next week....

056/365 Skittles

I really can't take any credit for this, I saw the technique in Digital SLR magazine. I changed the set-up slightly, the sweets are in a glass bowl with cling-film tightly stretched over the opening. If you had a nice piece of glass and more time you could achieve a much cleaner effect. I carefully dripped water onto the cling-film and used a flash bounced of some white craft foam to light the scene. I used manual focus to get the droplets as sharp as possible.

055/365 The Mask

This mask stares at me on a daily basis, made a number of years ago by my son it has pride of place in the office bathroom. I am not sure who it was modelled on ....
The lighting was a gridded flash above the mask to create the vignette.

054/365

Out of time and inspiration and it's raining! A quick snap of one of the valentine roses - still going strong...amazing the quality you get from petrol stations these days ;-)

053/365 Dog Brush

Well once again time was an issue today. Tonight's shoot didn't start until 22:00 but I had seen the new dog brush... Set-up, low powered magenta gelled flash held as high as I could in left hand, white balance set to incandescent to give blue effect, shutter 320 (I think) to kill ambient, aperture 2.8 for bokeh.

052/365 On the latch

I really must paint this door...

051/365

No rain today and it actually felt quite Spring like. I wanted to take pictures of the primroses and snowdrops in the garden but the grass was a bit damp to kneel on! So, on a lovely dry day I improvised rain with the squirty bottle. I've posted two pictures today because I like the colours of both but can't really make my mind up which I prefer.

050/365 St Pauls

A snapshot of St Pauls Cathedral taken quicly on the way to the station.

049/365 Damages

Years ago this was a Cinema - I remember going there as a child on Saturday mornings. It was then converted to a nightclub - Images, affectionately known as 'Damages' by the locals. It is now empty and has been for some time and will soon be demolished as part of a major re-development of the town centre.

048/365 Bamboo

Bamboo is taking over our garden, in years to come it will have taken over the village - in decades it will be visible from the moon. Anyway, my wife planted it and she likes it. I like taking shots of it against the blue summer sky but as we don't have one of those at the moment so I had to improvise with the infamous cardboard box background.
Set-up. Camera right, small 'ebay' soft box on SB600, set to low power as main light. Back, Cobra flash - low power and green gelled, in a cardboard box with holes punched in it to make to make the out of focus 'bokeh' . Gridded Sigma (optical slave) with blue gel on the background. Aperture wide open, and shutter 1/500 to kill the ambient light.

047/365 Tiltshift Western Docks

I managed a quick picture of Dover Western Docks just in case I didn't get time for anything else. The picture, or snapshot was pretty uninspiring so I processed it using Tiltshiftmaker. tiltshiftmaker.com/

046/365 Red, red wine

A nice bottle of red to accompany some nice roast lamb - New Zealand of course, couldn't bring myself to buy Welsh today :-)

045/365

Valentines day, so a shot of the obligatory roses. This does seem a bit girlie but I did quickly take it during 'half time' of the Rugby. Sadly, England lost..... Set-up. Camera right, small 'ebay' soft box on SB600, set to low power just to light rose. Back, Cobra flash - very low power, in a cardboard box with holes punched in it to make to make the out of focus 'bokeh'. Aperture wide open, to give the nice circles and shutter 1/500 to kill any ambient light giving the black background.

044/365

Another night arrives with no picture or even the glimmer of an idea. We went for a little drive around and ended up doing a time lapse over the dual carriageway. The red sky was a real bonus.

The alarm went off just before 07:00 and the hotel room curtains were slightly open. I couldn't believe my luck a fantastic sunrise with the silhouette of a couple of building site cranes.

042/365

Travelling and in meetigs today so little time to do a 'proper' picture. This is a snatched image through the train window.

041/365 Out of time

Completely out of time tonight ....

040/365

Rain pretty much all day today. I didn't even go outside to take this it was snapped through the window.

039/365

No single decent picture today but a collage of shots taken one handed whilst being dragged around by Marley.

038/365

Park bench - not much more to say really. The light was fading so I have resorted to a sneaky black and white conversion. I actually managed a few pictures today and have posted them to my Flickr stream

037/365 Bob

Bob came to live with us just over two months ago and he's settled in really well. He's put on a bit of weight and has really become part of the family.

036/365

Another photographically dull day... A quick picture of a dead Clematis stem using the office window, a cardboard box with some holes in it and flash behind it as background. This could have been so much nicer but it was raining and I didn't have any time.

035/365

Lack of time and inspiration today. This is a carving in the eaves of the village church gateway.

034/365 Robin!!

Over the last couple of days I have seen a Robin in our garden. I thought it would be nice for him to feature in today's photo. I moved an old wheel barrow close to the house, stood it upright and added some bread to make an impromptu bird table. Within minutes a pair of Doves were feeding - they quickly finished the bread so I added more. Next the dog went into the garden knocked over the wheel barrow and finished the second sitting. Fortunately I got a picture of the Doves - unfortunately I haven't seen the Robin again.

I was pleased today that a couple of my photos had been posted on the 365 Community Blog.

More snow this morning and all trains from the south into London were canceled. It is a sad fact that we cannot cope with extremes of weather in this country - a couple of inches of snow and everything grinds to a halt, two days of sun and the papers will publish the 'Phew what a scorcher' headline. The children were sent home from school just before lunch so Thomas and I took the dogs for a quick walk. Most of the pictures I took were rubbish but I really like this one - I love the movement and the cartoon look of the dogs.

032/365 Snow

A flurry of snow here today. The temperature has dropped further and it is still snowing this evening. This means the country will be at a complete standstill by morning!! I have a meeting in London tomorrow but can't see me going unless things improve overnight.

031/365 Stuff

There is a fantastic little shop in Dover that always catches my attention, Stuff - a cross between a hardware and junk shop.I really wish there were more places like this. I particularly like the sign over the door, my excuse for today's second picture

030/365 No Vacancies

The credit crunch is seriously hitting the UK. The pound is extremely weak against the Dollar and the Euro at the moment. Many Brits apparently are choosing not to holiday abroad but to stay at home. The TV news report today showed a group of young people who were holidaying in Dover. This came as a huge surprise to me - mainly because I had taken this picture today. This is prime location, directly opposite the 'marina' - a sorry closed down, boarded up hotel. Not my ideal holiday location.

029/365

I like the way the sun shines through the blinds, you really can't beat natural light. I did try a quick portrait but my model didn't have her 'lippy' on so the photo did not get the necessary model release.

My picture features an old Bakelite GPO 300 type telephone which I bought on eBay. Sadly it has some of it's internals missing so it doesn't work properly but looks good.

028/365 In the Shadows

Self portrait minus me!!

027/365 Hard Boiled Eggs

I can't believe I have resorted to taking pictures of eggs - it is beyond a yoke.

Cracking picture though .....

026/365 On the wire

Another Monday slips by and I managed a quick shot just before the sun went down. I know I shouldn't wish my life away but I can't wait for the lighter evenings.

025/365

Pathetic attempt tonight I am afraid.

024/365

My beautiful daughter Hannah, (fortunately she gets her looks from her mum) in a rare co-operative moment. Possibly because she needed the services of Dad's taxi. If I'd had more time I would have put the flash outside of the window which would have given a much nicer light. The only problem is I have mislaid my flash gels and Marley (the dog) attacks my light stand if it is outside.

This wasn't my intended picture for the day but once it was 'in the bag' it seemed a shame to take anything else.

023/356 Sunset

Looking out of the window I could see the sun setting so I decided to dash out with the camera and try and get a picture. I am fairly disappointed with the result but it will have to do. Don't get me wrong I like sunsets but it's nice to have some sort of point of interest.

022/365 Heads or tails

When it gets to 21:30 and you haven't taken your daily photo it is not good. I don't really like still life so thought I would try moving-still life, or that was the idea. The simple plan was to set the camera to bulb, spin the coin and manually fire the off camera flash multiple times to capture the different angles of the spinning coin. Oh... and this had to happen in a darkened room. It quickly became apparent that two hands were not enough - one brain was struggling with the co-ordination too. First I enlisted the help of Hazel, then when it became obvious that neither of us could spin a coin so we had to request Hannah's assistance. The result is a work in progress - we will have another go when time is on our side.

021/365

I got the old trumpet out today, under the misconception that I might still be able to play it. I got a note out of it but it wasn't promising. The dogs, well Marley in particular was not impressed. I think he hates it - he howls, not sure if he is trying to sing along or is in pain. The saying in band circles was always - if you can't play it, clean it - or invest in a set of expensive mouthpieces. Well I am not going to do either of those because even more of the lacquer would come off and my problem goes way beyond mouthpiece choice. So, the only useful thing I could do was take a picture and to keep with the musical theme I laid it flat and kept the focus sharp...aaahhh - I need to get out more.

020/365 Dad's Taxi

 

Like most other parents I seem to spend a large amount of time chauffeuring the kids. Tonight's picture, another self portrait was taken in between pick-ups.

I need to take more pictures of people but my reclusive lifestyle doesn't given me too much of an opportunity however I have a plan...

019/365 Litter

Walking the dogs has made me realise just how much littter there is around the village. If you walk up the road after the school run, there is a paper trail leading you wrapper by coke bottle by crisp packet to the school gate. My theory is they need this trail so they can find their way 'Hansel and Gretel' style, home. And dogs - or irresponsible dog owners really make me sick - your dog did it, pick it up! I may joke but sadly something as simple as dropping a sweet wrapper just shows a lack of any sort of pride and is sadly indicative of the state our country.

018/365 'Inconclusive'

The dog alarm clock went off again at 05:15. bad enough any day but particularly unpleasant on a windy, wet Sunday morning. Fortunately the weather improved through the morning and we were able to get out of the house. We drove over to Sandwich, parked on the quayside and walked along the river bank towards Sandwich bay. The winter sun was spectacular lighting everything in a warm orange - today's picture is un-photoshopped and I think the colours look like a Turner painting.

Over our meal this evening we chatted about holidays and what we would like to do this year. Thomas is off to America so it just leaves the three of us. Hannah explained that she would like to go on one of those 'inconclusive' holidays - I can only guess that this is the credit crunch version of an all inclusive!!

017/365

There is a fantastic vantage point on the White Cliffs of Dover giving superb views of the docks and across the English Channel to France. Having failed miserably to get a picture during daylight hours plan B was to get a long exposure shot of the docks. The Langdon Cliffs area has now been taken over by the National Trust which I am sure is excellent for preserving the environment but is rubbish when you just want to take a few pictures. Where you used to be able to park freely, the car park is now gated at night. There is room to squeeze your car in front of the gates but there is a polite message telling you not to park there as it blocks access for the emergency services. We decided to risk it and abandoned the car in the shadow of the no parking sign. Camera bag in one hand, tripod and torch in the other we clambered down the grassy bank to get a good view. My assistant tonight would prefer not to be named for legal reasons. She expressed her concern that we would fall over the cliff edge and the ambulance and search party would not be able to rescue us as some idiot had parked in front of the gates.

We made it to our vantage point with no drama. The Gateway to England, the busiest passenger port in Europe was not very busy tonight. I had anticipated hundreds of cars crawling around the dock roads painting their light streams on my picture - it wasn't to be. Also the huge 'street lights' give the whole area a virtual daylight effect meaning no long exposures. Whilst this was a bummer to my creativity my assistant reminded me (constantly) of the wind chill factor and how we could be at home in the warm.

Anyway the long and the short of it, a very average picture but I was thanked for taking out my 'assistant' on a Saturday night...

016/365 Friday night

 

Candle, wine bottle and tastefully lit glass stem - the weekend has arrived.

015/365 Soled out

A busy day at work, the car had to go to the body repair shop, we had a meeting at the school and the dogs went to their first obedience class (they didn't take part - just went to spectate). Sadly little time for a picture...

Fortunately, or not, children leave props all over the house so here we have a pair of shoes. Not mine!!

Not that anyone is likely to be interested but as part of this project I wanted to try and use off camera flash in attempt to make things more interesting. In this picture I used a gridded flash held above the subject - this is what gives the 'spotlight' effect.

014/365

Self portraits - I hate self portraits. Sadly though, if you are doing a picture a day inevitably you will will end up having to do one. I cheated slightly and enlisted the help of a carbon based tripod who was invaluable at getting the angle right. I promise something better tomorrow...