Lone Daffodil. Storm Dennis bent this daffodil right over into a pool of water. It was wrecked! I pulled it up, cut it off and put it in a pot to decorate our lounge. Its been here a week now! It brightens the place up!
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Compass Photography has a Batty guest photographer on its website from today for a while. John Dobson has allowed us to show 10 of his wildlife image including several of bats. One of the images is really fascinating. The sleeping bats are covered with condensation droplets. Its quite normal apparently but strange to the rest of us who know nothing about bats and probably would not seek them out in caves to photograph! The image below has a lovely purple sheen. You can also clearly see the fingers hanging on to the wall.
Please look on the site and see John’s images and read his biographical notes which tell you more about him. You could also look up the Essex bat group’s website. John is not really a Batty guest photographer though
Stormy Seas – Competition successes! These three images have just received prizes in the same international competition. The theme of the competition was “Capture the Wind”. With storm Dennis which is here today, these images will resonate. The one with the hooked wave came 11th out of 500 and the other one came 74th out of 500. The wave rolling in came 200th out of 500!
The first image was captured at Ramsgate on the first Sunday of January 2018. The weather had been bad. I was fed up of being cooped up inside, I definitely needed to get out. The south coast was my destination. The sea along the beach at Ramsgate was foaming. In addition, when I got to the harbour around lunchtime there were some giant waves. Very dramatic!
Broardstairs is the location for the second image. It’s not far from Ramsgate. People had parked cars on the quay whilst the tide was out and as it came in, the tide washed the cards. I have often wondered if the cars started after their soaking. Some daft folk were also dodging in and out of the spray.
The third image shows a wave at Dunbar in Scotland last year. It is one of a burst of seven images. It was windy and the wind was blowing against the spray and driving it back over the waves. I spent quite a few minutes capturing shots here.
Hope you like “Stormy Seas – Competition successes!” See images at the Compass Photography Website. WWW.Compassphotography.co.uk
A sunny Wednesday at Hyde Hall. Another sunny day before another storm! I was able to capture lovely images at Hyde Hall. Two image of the ones captured are shown below.
The grass on clover hill was very green, there were nice bends to see on the bank. There were layers of colour in the flower beds. White grasses were waving in the wind and the yellow and deep red cornus (Dogwood) plants were providing striking displays. The image as you see it has different layers of colour as you look up and down it.
A sunny Wednesday at Hyde Hall and the daffodils are out! I managed to get a close up of one in the Hilltop Garden. In the image shown the daffodil flute bows its head down. Other flowers are out and coming out behind it. Since Wednesday we have a daffodil out in our garden. I hope they all survive storm Dennis!
There is lots to see at Hyde Hall at the moment so take a trip there after the storm. The roses are starting to bud! Visit Hyde Hall’s website
See more of our images at WWW.Compassphotography.co.uk
Sunny day before storm Ciara
Today was a sunny day before storm Ciara arrives tomorrow. I was able to capture images at Hanningfield Reservoir and Compass Gardens in South Woodham Ferrers. The reservoir at Hanningfield held more water than I have seen it is for a long time. The sun and the clear sky allowed me to create marvellous images of the large expanse of water. Use this link to take a look at Hanningfield’s website
In Compass Gardens the crocuses and catkins were out. I played with a few images of the crocuses and in the end got down to ground level. Literally the camera on the grass and my mobile phone employed to keep the camera level. It’s a great result. It shows the grass being taller than the crocus. The trees look massive in the background. The storm is coming tomorrow and I suppose it will not be possible to get such nice photographs.
See more of our images at WWW.Compassphotography.co.uk
Koala competition success. Mike achieved two successes in a world-wide photography competition recently. The theme for the competition was “Australia”. There were 441 entries in total. The successful images are below. The one of the Koala bear playing “peep ho” came 17th (meaning it was in the top 4%) and the one of the Cooking Cave at Uluru came 32nd (meaning it was in the top 7%). So in the end, well chuffed!
Compass photography will be returning to publishing image of the week again from this week onwards and updating the website shortly.
See more of our images at WWW.Compassphotography.co.uk
Click here to go to the website of Werribee zoo
I am currently indexing some of my old photographs and I found this 2012 image of the little people in Warnamunde. We went there for half a day when the cruise ship stopped in Rostock.
The sculpture is actually a fountain. This fountain is unique in that it’s not a spouting fountain. The fountain is linear and water runs alongside a procession of 19 bronze figures. The sculpture is based on an actual practice in Warnemunde. The citizens, dressed in their finery, walked together to the tax office to pay their taxes. They wanted to make it a happy event. The website says this event still takes place in Warnemunde. It reminded me of the borrowers, hence “the little people in Warnamunde”. Click here for more details
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Winter warmer!
The dull, grey and cold days of the New Year need a winter warmer! Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’ is just that. This colourful-barked dogwood are typically grown for winter colour, when their colourful, leafless stems shine like beacons in the bare winter garden. Cornus sanguinea has red stems, and looks fantastic when planted with evergreen shrubs, and among spring flowers.
The image below was captured at RHS Hyde Hall recently and as you can see the colours are vibrant. A large space is required to get the best effect though. Most of us don’t have a garden big enough to allow this plant to show itself off to best advantage. We can still look forward to summer warmth!
See more of our images at WWW.Compassphotography.co.uk
No text, let the image speak for itself. Happy Christmas everyone. The manger is empty as its still Christmas eve. The baby Jesus has not yet arrived
Christmas candle images shows a number of attempts to capture images of a multicoloured candle in a darkened room. Playing with the camera settings was good fun. Positioning the camera alongside and then above the candle gave different views. See which ones you like best. The three images “from above” are at different heights and two have a central “pin” focus and one a broader “whole frame” focus.
