100 and what to say?

Well this is my 100th blog post and I’ve been trying to figure out what to say.  I thought about a give away, but haven’t got round to photographing the prizes.  Then I thought about sharing with you the new hat I’ve made (I also designed it but don’t get excited it’s not that flash), trouble is I haven’t worked out how to photograph the back of my head.

Then I remembered that I’ve had a little bit of a revamp and bingo.  I can talk about that.

Here is the new background it all it’s glory, that is without a post stuck over the top.

Yup, it’s one of my images and is actually dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide) floating on water.  I just love the patterns it makes as it skitters about!  I’ve also changed the blog name from Fantasia Yarns to just Fantasia.  Since I’m not just talking about yarn and yarn related things, I though the title should reflect this.  Hope you like the changes…

I put my foot in it today…

Yesterday I visited Layer Marney Tower here in Essex.  My friend Miss C is Head Gardener there and I eagerly joined one of her guided tours.  She showed us many beautiful plants and trees including a fab Sequoia tree.  I checked with her and it’s actually Sequoiadendron Giganteum aka the Wellingtonia Tree.

By volume these big beasties grow to be the largest trees in the world.  This means that one day a choice will need to be made between this wonderful tree and the Church building it has been planted beside.  This strapping specimen is probably only 100 years old and as such a mere baby.  You’ve got to wonder why it was planted so close to a building!

At this point – awed by this amazing creation of nature, I happened to mumble to a group of ladies next to me that I thought I’d choose the tree.  Harrumphing, stern looks and tutting followed and a very offended voice informed, ‘You have to save the Church, always the Church.’  Oh my I think I put my foot in it……

A walk with the dogs….

It’s hot and muggy here in North Essex.  Not the lovely sunshine which inspires you to go and play in the garden, but the oppressive strength sapping heat that simply makes me want to sleep.

In this sort of weather I often head to the woods with the dogs.  It’s cooler and the dogs love it.  Yesterday I took my iPod with me as I wanted to try out a new app which helps you make panoramas.

So here is the stream at Dedham which the dogs love to visit.  The water is beautifully clear and it’s always cool.  What more could you want?

What’s in a name?

Recently a few people have asked what they should call me.  Is it Mara or *******.  They were hearing people call me both and weren’t sure what was going on.  So at the risk of blowing my cover I thought I’d put a short little explanation up.

Mara is not my legal name.  It’s the other one.  However, I use it online a lot.  This is because of an incident a few years ago.  I work with teenagers, including boys, and obviously there is a need for boundaries.  Unfortunately I had the misfortune to be an object of fixation for a particularly trouble young man.

As part of that fixation he started cyber stalking me.  It was a very upsetting episode and eventually led to the involvement of social services to help sort this young man out.  I suppose I should add that he was autistic and this was all part of his condition rather than him being evil or anything like that.  Anyway I was advised to consider steps to protect myself from it happening again.  One of the steps I decided was appropriate was to use a different name.

I chose Mara as it has meaning to me and I think it’s a lovely name.  Believe it or not it’s actually more common than my legal name.  So in conclusion you can call me either name, I’ll answer to both.

Now since all that was rather serious how about a pretty picture?  These are some beautiful orchids I found in the glass houses at Cambridge Botanic Gardens.  I wish I had the skill and know how to grow orchids…… They tend to die if I so much as look at them.

It was a busy week…

Last week was a busy for me.  My mother was visiting so there were day trips and things to do.

Supplies were bought for future projects (I’ll blog about them later) and after I dropped my mother off in Cambridge to catch the coach home, I decided to visit the Cambridge University Botanic Garden.

My favourite part was the glasshouses where I photographed these pretty little flowers.  I just can’t resist a beautiful bloom.

More images…

Some more images from the Natural History Museum…

I’m on a bit of an ammonite kick at the moment so was delighted when I found this.  You can’t see the scale from the photo but it was about two and a half foot across.

T. Rex is everyone's favourite which is probably why it was chosen to be made into a full sized animated model.  Can you call something the size of this a model?

Feeling Clever…

Isn’t it amazing how something as easy as copying and pasting html code can make you feel clever.  If I’ve done it correctly then you should now be able to see some snazzy animated photo buttons on the right of my blog which I believe will automatically update themselves over time as I update my smugmug galleries.

So just to really tempt the html code fates I’m going to try and paste them below as well.

Now off to make a cup of tea and tell the dogs all about it.  They will naturally confirm how clever I’ve been in the hopes that it will get them a doggie treat…

The Wild Hare and a Happy Dog

Today I ended up discussing hares with my friend Maytheweed.  We were looking at some art work depicting them and wondering if we should put our hands into our pockets and cough up.

As part of the conversation I commented that while I really liked one of the pieces, I’d rather spend the money on getting one of my hare shots printed up on canvas.  She wasn’t sure which image I was talking about, so here it is.  I just love the tilt of his head.

It’s a wild hare which I photographed last summer in a field in Perthshire, Scotland.  You can find it along with some of my other animal images in my Animal gallery on smugmug.

I love photographing animals and I often take my camera out with me while walking the dogs.  Much to my delight my furry friends don’t get fed up of my lens being pointed at them, which is a good things as I do it a lot.

These two shots were taken in Ipswich during the lovely sunshine last weekend.

Given Jakes broken leg last year I feared he’d never be up to a trip down the woods again.  Seeing him running about certainly brought a tear to my eye.  It’ll be a while longer before I’ll be throwing a ball for him, but he’s running round and enjoying himself.  Seeing him so happy is all the reward I need to erase the memories of all those sleepless nights.

Location 3 – Mistley Towers

Remember I mentioned a third location when I went out Luna Watching?  Well this is it.  Mistley Towers.

I’ve been thinking about photographing it for years.  So while I had all my stuff in the car (including two doggies) for photographing the moon, I decided to make this location number 3.

They originally formed part of a church (St Mary the Virgin) and stood at either side of the front.  Not a standard church design in my experience, especially in this part of the world.  It was designed in 1776 by Robert Adam for Richard Rigby who apparently wanted to turn Mistley into a spa town.  Not entirely sure why as the Essex coast doesn’t say spa town to me, but then I’m living here over 300 years later.

Anyway the towers are now Grade 1 listed and form a well known local landmark about 100m or so from the Mistley Thorn of Mathew Hopkins Witchfinder General fame.  I drive past them on the way to some of the dogs favourite walks but I think they look best at night.

Luna Watching

So did you have a look at the moon last night?  Wasn’t it beautiful!  Just after 6pm I packed the dogs and camera into the car then headed out.  I’d decided upon 3 locations for the evening and started at the one closest to home.  I had to smile when we arrived and I saw someone else with a tripod, obviously with the same plan.

The hope was to get some shots with the moon close to the horizon with the river Stour in the foreground.  WWWWeeeeelllllll it didn’t work.  British Rail (or whoever operates the trains in the local lines) simply didn’t play ball, between rogue trains and power lines I couldn’t get the shot I had in my mind.

Still such is life, so onto glamourous location number 2.  I say glamourous as it was actually a muddy field a few miles from the village where I live.  It’s advantage however was that there were no power lines and I could set up right next to where I parked.  The dogs selflessly agreed to guard the inside of the car (which was nice and warm) while I set up and tried again.  This location was to be a straight moon shot.

A definite improvement on the shot at Scone don’t you think!  For those of you who might like to know, this was at f/11, for 1/90’s, ISO100 and with a 200mm Lens.

So I’m feeling very happy to finally have a Luna shot I’ve taken myself.  Of course I could have continued fiddling about with the camera and taking more shots, but to be honest all I wanted to do was gaze up at this amazing wonder.  Eventually however, the cold seeped in through all my layers of clothing and it was time to get back in the car and turn the heater up full blast.  The car’s thermometer was displaying –3 degrees C, and I believe it.  I did make it to location number 3 but that’s a whole other story and a very different image.

Glorious Luna

Are you fascinated by our moon?  I am.  I think it’s amazing.  I’m not old enough to remember the moon landings but it didn’t stop me being mesmerised by them as a child.

Tonight will be the ‘largest’ Full Moon since the early 90’s.  If you are so inclined you can read about it on the Guardian Science site (and loads of others if you google it).  Basically the moon gets closer and further away from the Earth as a natural part of it’s orbit.  This means that to us it really does appear larger at some times than others.

For someone who loves Luna as much as I do, I have remarkably few photographs of it (or should that be her).  This is about the best and was taken in August 2009 at the Scone Palace Runrig concert.  Hand held as the camera was held up over peoples heads, it’s not really a surprise it isn’t very good.

So tonight I shall be joining photographers all over the world by heading out with my tripod and a flask of tea.

Many people try to photograph the moon, but few get results they are happy with.  So here’s a few tips in case you’re also feeling inspired.

• Get your camera off automatic mode.  Modern cameras will do all sorts of things for you, including working out all the settings to take a photo.  Unfortunately the software bases all this on averages.  So when presented with a dark sky and a small bright disc, the camera will try to average it all out.  This will overexpose the moon and you’ll lots of detail.
• If your camera allows you to shoot in RAW mode then do that.  You will record much more detail allowing you more options when you get your image onto your computer.
• Use a tripod and cable release if you have them.  If not then prop your camera on something (beanbag, coat, wall) and use the timer feature.  This will help to prevent ‘camera shake’ by your hands/arms moving ever so slightly while you take the shot.
• Take lots of photos.  The chances of getting THE shot on the first click are not good.  So take plenty.  Change the settings and cover all the bases.  It’s better to take more shots than you need than not enough.  It’s going to be about 20 years before you get another chance.

Above all if you do go out have fun.  I know that’s my plan….

 

Past and Future…

Well I know I posted a few days ago, but I’m feeling a little negligent towards my blog.  I normally have ideas for two or three blog posts at any time but at the moment, zip, nadda, nothing…..

I’m blaming tiredness.  I have to blame something, so it might as well be that as my brain just isn’t working.  So instead I thought I’d share a photo I took this week.  It’s part of an old engine and it has a steampunk feel to me.  Then I’m going to allow my eyes to drift shut and embrace sleep.

Taking advantage of modern technology

Given my recent problems with my phone line it’s brought back to life all my anxieties of loosing data in the digital world.  All those precious photos lost in computer crashes and failures.  Photos of loved ones I’ll never see again…

So fuelled by all these fears I’ve been doing some digging online for possible solutions.  My main concern is photos as these are what I get most upset about when lost.  I’ve tried various solutions in the past but none have really been able to quieten down that nagging little voice that sits on your shoulder whispering horrible things in your ear.

Part of that solution (which I’m currently trialling, but fairly sure I’m going to stump up the cash for it) is called Smugmug.  This is an online site aimed primarily at photographers to store and display their work.  Thing is they allow unlimited storage and unlike some sites, will also store the full size image and allow you to download it again later.  As such you can use it as backup storage as well.

Of course you need a user name and given I have Fantasia Yarns I decided to go for Fantasia Photos.  So I shall be spending quite a bit of my near future sorting through images and uploading them.  This will include quite a lot of photos of yarn!  (See I can make this craft related if I try).

If you’d like to check out the site you can find it here.  Or if you’d like to check out my photos you can find them here they’re not all yarn related but an increasing number of them will be over the coming days...

Winter on the Stour

Well after once again being the last part of the country to be hit by snow it finally arrived last night.  This afternoon I braved the white stuff to pop into Manningtree to get a few supplies for the beasties just in case it decides to get worse.  I’ve given up on checking the weather forecast as it never seams to bear much relation to what goes on outside my window.

As I drove along the River Stour I couldn’t believe it when I saw the the ‘mud flats’ which flood at high tide were completely frozen over.

Those grey bits aren’t water but huge sheets of ice.  I pulled up at the side of the road and snapped these quick shots with the camera on my phone.  It would have been nice to take some proper shots with my ‘real’ camera but given how bad the roads are I’m not going back just to take some photographs!  I’m going to stay inside in the warm, drink tea and knit….

Winter Wonderland

Right now I have two dogs.  One is a very happy dog…. the other isn’t.

This is Pebbles.  Pebbles is a happy dog.  Why?  Well she’s just been for a run down the woods in the snow.  This as far as Pebbles is concerned is wonderful.  She gets to run and snow plough and bound about like a puppy.  Mummy is there and she even remembered her camera.

Jake on the other hand had to stay at home because of his leg.  This means Jake is not a happy dog.  There is snow out there and he should be outside playing in it.  Life just isn’t fair when you’re a doggie with a poorly leg…..

It was a beautiful day down the woods, even if the walk had to be cut short because I was freezing.  I had lots of layers on but still I could feel myself getting colder and colder.  I love the cold but it just doesn’t seem to love me.  It never ceases to amaze me how such a familiar landscape can be transformed by a dusting of frozen water.

While we were out I spotted these pine cones with snow on them.  How very seasonal.  I also saw some holly with snow on it but couldn’t really stop that since it would have meant holding up the traffic going into Tesco’s car park.  I didn’t really think that would go down well.

But the main object of desire for my camera was my beautiful Pebbles.

I took loads of shots of her bounding about and simply looking happy in the snow.  There are few things I love more than to be out and about with my dogs and my camera.  This last one of her has got to be one of the funniest shots of her I’ve ever taken. 

I have lots of shots of her with her ears bouncing up and down like pigtails on a little girl but having the tongue out as well really cracks me up.

Anyway now we are back in the warm, safe and sound with several large sacks of doggie food stacked behind the sofa to make sure we don’t run short.  Time to snuggle up and get out the knitting…. and maybe a cuppa tea

 

 

A plea to the blog-o-sphere……

Ok what’s going on?  It appears that some of my photos are not showing up in the blog.  If you click on them then a larger version pops up….  but why aren’t they working in the smaller sizes in the posts?

Anyone know?

Help needed on this……

Anyway since I have little else to write about (still recovering from that illness I had this week) here are some more photos.  I’m experimenting with the format I put them in before uploading.  These are all shots from my meanderings with my camera this summer.  Fingers crossed they all work.

This is a model frog I found in a garden I visited with my mother.  I like visiting gardens and spending time in other peoples little personal plant based paradise.

I’m not 100% certain which garden this was found in but I do know it was in the village of Langham in Essex.

As a village about 15 gardens all opened up on the same two days to raise money for charity.  The weather wasn’t very nice but we enjoyed ourselves anyway.

 

 

This is Loch Faskally by Pitlochry in Perthshire.  Jake and I walked around it during our holiday this summer.

Now what would a trip to Scotland be without a stag.  Actually I have visited this wonderful country many times but this is the first time I’ve actually managed to get a shot of a stag.  Something always seems to go wrong.

In fact it nearly went wrong this time as well.  My camera locked up and refused to work.  I couldn’t believe it!  I mean What The ****!  It’s a good camera although it is getting a little old now.  But I mean really, of all the times to lock up!!!!!  Swearing was involved….  But I did get this shot

 

This was taken on another garden visit.  There was a sculptural seat above these stones.  I suspect that the owners hadn’t spotted the little seedling poking it’s head up through the stones….  But I thought it was a lovely image.  Nature showing us that she’s still there no matter what we do….