I need your help!

Another forum I frequent has a regular photo competition and the current theme is "low-light". I have read up on taking low-light photographs and over the last few evenings have been out and taken about 150 photographs! I'm not 100% pleased with any of them but I've managed to get a shortlist but I can't decide which one to put forward. So I need your help.....tell me which one you think is the best of a bad bunch!


Here are the options:

New template

Now that I've transferred to Beta-Blogger I've been having a fiddle with the template and ringing in the changes! I'm not sure if I like this look but I'm going to live with it for a while and see if it grows on me. I may yet transfer back to my favourite plain black!

The Weekend

Saturday was a terribly lazy day seeing as how I spent most of it in bed. We were supposed to be going out for dinner with family but I'd been feeling crappy all day, with a headache lurking. By the time I started to get ready to go out, the headache was turning into a migraine and my stomach was lurching everytime I moved. So OH went out for dinner and I went back to bed.

I felt like a bit of chewed string on Sunday morning but at least the headache had all but gone. As we had planned to go to the Country Affair Show at Hampton Court and I really felt the need to get some air, off we toddled. We had a really good time and I got to experiment lots with the camera (pictures below). I was asked once or twice if I was with the press and I did wonder what would have happened if I'd said yes! I've discovered that the art of getting the picture you want is to just get on in there, look like you should be doing what you are doing and move swiftly on! It seemed to work anyway! And the big bonus, a stall with therapists doing acupressure massage - I was definitely having me some of that! It was fantastic and I seem to have some flexibility in my shoulders for the first time in ages - and no bloody headache!

Anyway, some pictures from today:
















EDITED TO ADD: The rest of the photographs are here

Being positive!

Following Dakota's advice to get out there and do something., I've gone out there and done something! I've just signed myself up for a photography course starting on 20th September and I'm really looking forward to it! It willbe so nice to finally know what the heck I'm doing with my camera rather than trusting to pot luck!

The classiest headline!

BT Yahoo News today reported on the decision to de-classify Pluto as a planet. Some bright spark managed to come up with the classiest headline.....

"Goofy Decision? Pluto Is Not A Planet"

They really put some thought into that didn't they!?

Full story here

Move right along....

...nothing happening here. Nothing to see. Move right along.

I really do need to get a life.

Just call me stupid

Because that's what I am. I ran out of my thyroid medication on Sunday and kept forgetting to pick up my repeat presecription. So I've been without since then and I wonder why I'm feeling so bloody tired.

So second reason I'm stupid is that the MOT on my car ran out on 11th July. I bought the car a year ago today and, for some reason, assumed it had been done just before I bought it. Except it hadn't. So I've been driving round illegally for the last month and will continue to do so (although as little as possible now) until my mechanic can get it sorted for me a week tomorrow.

Now I'm going to bed before I do anything else stupid.

In other news, Millie the Whippet has learnt an important lesson today. Do not stick your nose into a sleeping cat's face, even if you do just want to say hello. The cat won't like it, will take a swipe at you and you'll scare the bejeezez out of my mother by screaming the house down.

Tuesday Challenge #6 - The Golden Hour

Stu's 6th challenge was to try to demonstrate the difference in the quality of light at different times of the day.

These are not meant to be artistic and good photos so please don't judge the quality of their composition, they serve only to show the light difference

Pic 1 - taken at 2.30pm



















Pic 2 - taken at 7.30am



















The difference is quite amazing with much warmer hues in the early morning.

I've also just resurrected my "One a Day" photo blog if anyone should be inthe leastbit interested!

Millie goes home

Met up with the parents at Reading Services today to hand over Millie the Whippet to them. Or rather, they had to drag her out of my arms as I really did not want to let her go! But, as is the way with dogs that steal your heart, off she went without a backward glance. Life will be easier without a 6 month puppy around but I will miss her, even if The Lurchers don't.

Whether it's because of that or something else but I have been feeling a bit on an emotional edge today and because of that, the things I need to be doing are falling by the wayside because I cannot find the motivation to get on with them. Everything seems to be falling into the "way to difficult" category at the moment. Still, I'm going home for a few days next month - on my own with just The Lurchers and a little Whippet for company - and hopefully that will help restore some balance within me.

Something strange in the night

There's been something strange happening at the house next door to us over the last week or so. Most evenings, as soon as it starts to get dark, they start digging! It's a bit creepy and although we've tried to peek over the fence to see what they are doing, all I can see is a man with a shovel but not what he is doing!

The house is a halfway house where young people who have carried out minor offences or have just lost their way for some reason are rehabilitated and taught "life lessons", how to cook and generally look after themselves. We don't have much trouble from them, occasionally some noise and when spirits are running high, they can jump from their fire escape onto our roof. But this digging has got us bemused!

If the police come knocking on our door about a mising person I'll at least know where to send them!

Newsflash!

Millie is off to Wales to live with my parents! Woot!

A guest

We've had Millie, a young Whippet staying with us for the last few days. She has come in to Greyhound Gap's care and as she was fairly close to me, I have arranged for her to be spayed and chipped and all that stuff. She was going to be going back to her owner on Sunday night and she would continue to look after Millie until a suitable home was found. Unfortunately, her owner has a lot on her plate at the moment is feeling very emotionally fragile so it was agreed that it would be better all round if Millie stayed with me for the time-being.

It's made things a little awkward because Lurcher No.1 usually goes to work with OH and Lurcher No.2 comes with me. I can't take two dogs to work and leaving them all at home could be a bit fraught - being a young dog, Millie hasn't yet learned when to leave alone and the Lurchers have both told her off several times this weekend. Whilst that is how Millie will learn the boundaries, I don't want it getting out of hand with me not there to keep thingsunder control. Fortunately, OH is working for one of his old clients this week and he can take both lurchers with him, which solves the immediate problem.

My parents also came to stay this weekend and the good news is that they have fallen for Millie hook, line and sinker. They weren't planning to have a dog just yet and wanted to continue to enjoy the opportunity to holiday abroad since losing their last dog four years ago. But Millie has wormed her way into their hearts and they have gone home to give some serious thought to whether or not to offer her a home. I hope they do, she is just so perfect for them and I think she'd thrive there. So keeping everything crossed at the moment!

Stu Challenge ~5

The fifth of Stu's photographic challenges was, on first read, quite simple, just get out there and take some pictures. Well that's easy enough. The challenge comes in deciding which of the several hundred pictures I've taken over the last few days to put forward! So I took the easy route and went out this morning and took some more and here they are:

One of my favourite trees on Wimbledon Common



A wood pile, of which there are several on the Commons, that are built to encourage Stag Beetles:



Baden-Powell has many connections with the Commons, the most famous of which is that he wrote "Scouting for Boys" in the cottage that was attached to the Windmill. I'm sure that title wouldn't be allowed these days!



Lurcher No.1. I like this shot because of the way it catches the water dripping of her muzzle and the rings the drops make in the water.

My camera is a spaceship

Well, my new camera certainly feels like a spaceship - one I have no idea how to drive properly yet! My attempt at meeting Stu's Challenge No. IV turned into a bit of a disaster this morning as for the first part of the challenge - moving the background up and down - I managed to get the shots out of focus. not a brilliant start. The second part - your camera is a spaceship - was hopefully a little more successful......

This is the one I managed to get in focus - so you can see what it is:














....and these are the spaceship ones: