Through the shop window

With time being an incredibly rare commodity these days I've had to pull my entry from the Lightroom archive for this week's header challenge: Through the shop window.

This shot was taken in Turkey through the window of a generic souvenir establishment in Bodrum.

Chaos!

This week's theme is Chaos. My take on this is a long exposure shot I took of the M6 motorway at 6pm on a Friday night. Parked on the bridge near junction 32 (Preston North) I set up my camera and waited the requisite 30 seconds whilst the symphony of trucks and cars passed noisily under me. The third picture is slightly more organised chaos in the form of a huge crowd of people attending the British comedian Michael McIntyre's gig in the MCR Arena in Manchester. It was a great show!

Lost

This week's Headbangers' Challenge, set by Kathy, was 'lost'. At first I imagined someone who couldn't find their way out of a maze, taking the word 'lost' far too narrow mindedly. As I looked through my library of images I began to take a metaphorical wander through left field and I came up with 'The house that was lost to time', and here are the images that go with that.

A bit of food photography

Tonight I decided to have a go at food photography. It's not quite as easy as it would first seem. Getting food to look appetising and to accentuate all the things that one would associate with that particular food item is quite difficult. I've started tonight with tomatoes. Basically, making them look fresh and ripe is key, in this case. Hopefully I've hit the nail on the head..

Symbols

Quite an ambiguous challenge title this week from me, 'Symbols'.

My header picture is of a guy from New Zealand who was part of a team of people who were sort of travelling hardcore evangelists.  The group consisted of people from all over the world including the USA and Tonga. They were named Team Extreme, and they certainly were that! The show ran for around an hour and saw the guys punching through 4 layers of concrete slabs, blowing hot water bottles up using only lung power until the bottles exploded, picking up  and doing reps with 2 kids hanging off either end of a steel bar, breaking Coke cans open using just their hands, folding frying pans on their legs and one of the final acts of the team was this guy who snapped a baseball bat with his bare hands and made the symbol of their religion, the cross. Even for an 'outsider' such as myself, it was incredibly powerful to watch. I'm quite friendly with the minister of the church and he gave me the best seats in the house to watch and take photos of the show from one of the balconies.

My other symbol is another cross, but this time it's the Thousla Cross which is situated on the Calf of Man on the Isle of Man which is the very furthest southern point of the island. The cross commemorates the "act of heroism by men of this parish in their rescue of the crew of the French schooner 'Jeane st. Charles' in 1858" and overlooks some very dangerous looking rocks which have probably claimed the lives of many a stray ship over the years.

Yellow

I have 3 very different yellow entries for this week's Headbangers' Challenge. The first one is one of my very early attempts at light painting. You 'simply' set fire to some very fine wirewool and insert it into some form of apparatus so that you can spin it around very quickly whilst your camera is on long exposure. The second one is actually one from the cutting room floor from my motion freezing exercise a couple of weeks back. I tried a few different colours but eventually decided I liked the blue most, but taking another look at the yellow one and I quite like it. The third picture is of some flowers, plain and simple. Don't know what they are, but I know that I like them and they are rather photogenic. 

A Dozen or Twelve

I was extremely late posting my effort for this week's challenge, but here it is, the beautiful series III V12 E-Type Jaguar. These pictures were taken at last year's Kirkcudbright Classic Car Rally held in the harbour square. No wonder these cars were (and still are) so revered, a 12 cylinder engine in such an attractive body is the stuff of dreams, and these lucky blighters get to show them off all around the country!

Confectionary

Last weekend my family and I visited the Cocoabean Factory where I purchased the delicious props for this week's Headbangers' challenge photo. I spent ages arranging the chocolates and then rearranging them again until I was happy with the result. A bit of editing in Lightroom to make sure the background colour was consistent throughout and they were done - good enough to eat!

Also below are the beautifully made 'cake' from my daughter's 1st birthday in November of last year and a photo of a guy in a Turkish sweet shop from our holiday, also last year.

Weekly Headbangers' Challenge: Change

I wracked my brains for a full week on this one...I didn't want to be literal and go for pictures of Autumn, I wanted to interpret the challenge in my own way. In the end I went both ways. My header this week is a picture representing the changes my daughter has undergone in her 2 years so far. Starting at her first pair of trainers on the left, with her first fluffy toy through to her current trainers and current fluffy toy.
The other pictures are from Autumn last year and are from no more than 100 yards from my house. We are surrounded by such beauty and it is our job as photographers to capture it as closely as possible in and effort to keep that beauty saved for everyone to see.

Headbangers' Weekly Challenge: Feathers

This is my interpretation of this week's theme. A drop of water on a feather with colour added post-production in Lightroom. The feather has retained some of the oil from the bird it came off and that's how I could get a perfectly formed drop of water to sit so perfectly upon it. I haven't done too much of this low key type photography before but it's something I'm going to be learning and practising for the near future as I really like the effect.

This was Gail's choice of theme and she is leaving us this week. I hope we see you again soon.

Sunday Bowling

Today we went to watch my father-in-law play in a Crown Green Bowling competition in Kirkcudbright. We weren't there long because my daughter was playing up, but I managed to get a few shots.

Through the Window

This week's Headbangers' Challenge was set by me and was "Through the Window". I wanted people, time permitting, to take a picture through a window using the window frame as a frame for the picture. I also said that if people were too busy to do it this week they could choose something from the archives, AND that the remit was entirely up for interpretation. 

I actually hadn't come up with anything new myself this week until today when I happened upon Sweetheart Abbey in New Abbey, Dumfries and Galloway, whilst driving home from a job. I thought my luck was in until I found the place was covered in scaffolding and blokes wearing hard hats....I persevered and got quite a few good shots. I've also included a photo I took last year in Turkey (I got a LOT of good pics from that holiday!) which was my inspiration for this week's theme.

After much ponderance and much pen top-chewing, I decided on the picture with the blue sky as a backdrop. Blue sky like that is very rare around here, especially this year, so it really 'sang' to me. I also imagined what the place would have been like back in 1275 (yes, TWELVE SEVENTY FIVE!!!) and wondered if any of the occupants over time have ever looked through that same window and seen such a lovely blue sky.

Laurieston Kite Feeding Station

Yesterday we visited the Kite feeding station at Laurieston. The Kites weren't really interested in the food being put out for them as food is quite plentiful for them naturally at the moment. Just as we were about to give up hope and go home a few swooped down and grabbed a claw or two of meat. I managed to get one just about to grab!

I also took a few pictures of the feeding station's surroundings