Week 10 - Strawberries

I always find January and February a difficult time of the year and even more so this year. But now we are through them and out the other side into March, Spring is coming into focus.

The Spring flowers are blooming everywhere despite the chilly nights (and days) still around.

And some of the trees have already blossomed.

There is no doubt that summer is my favourite season. That may be because I was a summer baby born in July so I love being warm and hate the cold!

So this week I was daydreaming about Summer and what I am looking forward to.

Days on the beach in Cornwall with my nearest and dearest

Summer dresses, shorts, flip-flops, sunglasses

Gardens full of colour, scent, and bees

BBQ’s and outdoors dining

Sunday afternoons drinking in the pub beer garden with friends…..

And loads more. But I’m sure you have your own list.

One of my favourite summer foods is strawberries, hence my theme for this week’s panel.

And when these strawberries finished being supermodels, they made a lovely strawberry and banana smoothie!

Week 11 - Guildford Reflections

Finally this week we had a brief upturn in the weather – blue sky, slightly warmer and dry. It wasn’t due to last long so I thought I would get outdoors quick and take my camera for a walk.

I have spent much of the last few weeks playing with indoor photography and I enjoyed the change of scene as well as the change of topic.

I love bright sunny days and it felt like Spring might be close by.

Unfortunately, as forecast, it was only a small hint at Spring, not the real deal. And we are back to cold, wet and dull for the time being.

But it won’t be long now. And I’ve got my fingers crossed for a long warm summer like last year

Week 12 - Still Life

This is a genre I have tried a few times over the years and despite having spent loads of time trying to perfect a scene I have never been truly happy with the results.

So rather than start in the studio I began by immersing myself in the Still Life images of other photographers in a huge variety of styles.

Check out Tatyana Skorokhod (2) Tatyana Skorohod | Facebook

And Cindy Lui www.instagram.com/cindyliuphotography/

I found the work of these two photographers particularly inspiring. And I like the “old” feel to their images. Not only old things but old lifestyles, photographed in an old style and evoking old memories.

So I looked around indoors and realised there was probably a good reason for my affiliation to the subject – we have a lot of old stuff!! A great deal of this old stuff having photographic potential,  I set to work creating my idea of Still Life.

It is very time consuming to set the scene for each image. I have spent a lot of hours this week tweaking and fiddling with the little bits and pieces and I was never quite sure if I had nailed it or not.

But these few images are what I ended up with and I will leave it up to you to decide if they work.

Week 13 - Wisley Colour

It feels like it has been a long haul from the beginning of the year but we are just about to put the clocks forward for Spring and ease some of the restrictions we have been living under. So there is an optimistic feel in the air!

At last the weather pepped up a bit this week…..briefly! And luckily I had booked to go to RHS Wisley on one of the better days.

It started as a rather chilly and dull day but the around lunchtime the sun came out and the temperature rose to pleasant.

I was using the outing mainly as a change of location for my daily exercise and although I love the gardens at Wisley I hadn’t expected that there would be a great deal to photograph so early in the year.

I should have known better. So it was just as well I took my camera.

There is already a great deal of colour and emerging beauty in the buds, blossoms and blooms.

And as the year progresses, the weather improves and life becomes a little more normal, you can be sure the gardens at Wisley will be as impressive as ever and a great place to visit.