Spring Flowers

                 This gallery of images were taken before the previously most recent group I had taken, but that was during the time I was experiencing problems getting my photo galleries up to the Web, which I am  hoping is now behind me. At least I had taken the pictures when the crocuses were open, and so I am relieved that I am now getting the gallery to see the light of day. It is really pleasing to know that I had captured this stage in the brief life of these fragile flowers.

                 There are two pages of images, yet the descriptive text is a mere two paragraphs, but hopefully the images tell their own story, so I hope this assumption is acceptable and understood, especially as the wind has left few of these fragile flowers standing. The Daffodils with their stronger stems have survived somewhat better. The pictures tell their own story, needing no further description from me.

Marston Moretaine Crocuses and Daffodils

Tuesday heralded the arrival of sunshine and walking to post a letter I caught sight of crocuses and a couple of daffodils on the triangle of grass by the flower box, and so on my return I grabbed a camera and two lenses to take shots to add to my collection of images for use as greetings cards, where often I create space within the composition to carry the relevant message – seasonally relevant images are always handy, and those composed with space for text is always useful, and this group was no exception, some also lend themselves to squares where any message is carried above or below. The challenge was to keep low and close-up, so lying down was essential since it had rained the night before, and I used two lenses: the 300mm prime and the 24-70mm both with and without using its macro facility.

They were taken before the visit to Peter Carr, but those took precedence purely because in bringing them into Lightroom meant they could be dealt with straightway, and I could return to these later, which is what I have now done. If it helps others with ideas then the gallery will have served a purpose.

Stockwood Discovery – the Gardens and Wildlife Exhibition

One of the first semi-professional Digital camera bodies I bought was the Canon EOS 10D, and at around the same time I bought the 70-300mm Macro for it and now it has been lying dormant in a rawer for some time, only coming out when my daughters' children and I go out with a specific intention to spend the time taking photos.

As a result of finding one of the gardeners at the Stockwood Discovery Centre has been inspired by seeing some of the shots of flowers she has tended, she recently expressed her desire to buy a digital camera for herself and take up the hobby. Since she has generously allowed me unprecedented access to the greenhouse over the last few years, when I learned of her intention I let her know that I would let her have the camera body, memory cards, battery and charger, but that she would need to buy a suitable lens herself.

Today I fulfilled that promise, then took a further wander around the Discovery Centre and learning from her that the British Wildlife Photography Winners' Exhibition was on, I also took a quick look at the images taken by numerous very talented photographers that were on show. Two stood out for me, one incredible shot of a dragonfly emerging from its pupa, the other a simply wonderful underwater shot of a Mallard Duck taking a look beneath the surface at a fish swimming by. I reckoned the standard and variety was even better than last year's submissions.

All the shots I took this morning were using the 24-70mm with Macro facility, and it only let me down very slightly when using it at full aperture at 24mm in the exhibition area; the minimal barrel distortion was corrected in Lightroom when in Develop mode and was a mere +5% which means it would be a few seconds work creating a correction preset for when working on architectural images, which was not really what made me purchase this lens, it was for flowers and leaves where such distortion would never present a problem.

Botanical Gardens, Cambridge

Catherine, who is now offering reflexology sessions, was free by the afternoon, so had invited me over to join her for a walk, and had settled on a visit to the Botanical Gardens in Cambridge. The journey over to Babraham was uneventful with generally light traffic, and as I had run slightly late because there were last minute tidyings necessary for a midday house viewing whilst I was away, I gratefully accepted a cup of tea before setting off.

Parking close by the Gardens was easy and we entered by the new gatehouse and it was interesting to note the snowdrops were already out here, and later I even spotted crocuses. As I had three cameras Catherine was able to use one or other and so lessen my burden of carrying all three! And she alternated these with her iPhone. After paying for our tickets, there was a strong scent which apparently was from some form of box, but try as we might we never found the actual bush, but it was certainly a wonderful way to start the visit.

 We took in the glasshouses, where for a while the sun shone milkily and earlier Catherine had found her iPhone battery was low and switched it off, which meant we had lost the alarm to remind us when to return to the car, and we panicked as we had completely lost track of time! Fortunately we found we still had a few minutes to spare, so we headed off to take a look at the new Sainsbury's building before wending our way back to the entry gates to return to Babraham.

Catherine then made toast and we had a late snack lunch before she had to head for home, and I stayed a short while longer with Jonah, before making my way back, but the weather which had till then at least been dry now began tipping it down with lightning and rumbles of thunder, and I set off with hailstones rattling on the windscreen. The roads were now awash with standing water, many times spanning the entire road width, and it continued like this till I cleared Duxford, when although it was still raining it was of a lesser strength, and by the time I entered Luton, it was just a light drizzle.

Catching Up with Developments at Foresters

The start of the day was forecast as being misty, with a slight chance of brightening in the afternoon, but it was a week since I had visited the Jarvis and Toureen Mangan development just off High Street Harpenden, so after a check with a colleague living at the far side of the town, I gathered my kit and set forth.

After only a short while, the sun shyly appeared with a milky appearance, so maybe all those working here were righteous! So that was indeed a pleasant surprise, and it soon mean that many of the tradesmen out in the sun began shedding outer garments and the guard rails became coat hangers!

The structures were taking shape, and areas previously used for storage were now being excavated, and the spoil being removed by the lorry load. Also with the basement floor nearing completion, this meant that this could now become a secure area from the worst of the weather.

I have tried to convey several of the different activities taking place, so the chronology is not strictly correct, but to gain a complete idea of what was taking place it meant choosing different viewpoints. One person cannot be in more than one place at a time, so if a task was being repeated, I would return later to capture the missing angles, so a more complete story emerges. The other aspect was this meant the lighting was vastly different, and in photographic terms this meant shooting at 200 ISO outside to 4000 ISO in the basement area, and shutter speeds outside might vary for trying to show movement using slower speeds at one moment and stopping motion at others. This was challenging, and I have to own up, I did make mistakes as a result!

As I left the site, I then found that not only had the sun come out, but so had the crocuses. Spring may soon arrive!