The Review: Easter
Easter means different things to different people these days. To many the religious significance is still important, but to others religion is in disrepute. The Prime Minister claiming divine guidance hasn’t helped. (more…)
The Sunday Ramble: Creativity
My photo today is a good one of flying geese. I like the background colours too. The sun came out a little and although it was a cloudy sky, it gave quite good light. I like the Spring colours. Many photographers would wait for hours for a shot like this. I just pointed my camera and got lucky. There might have been a little skill… (more…)
The Review: heritage
Britain has a diverse heritage. We have culture, a industrial history, a history of commerce and of incredible architecture. This wealth is passed down from one generation to the next. Except that not everyone shared in that inherited wealth. (more…)
The Review: Setting up a blog
The Black Country isn’t the prettiest place to live or take photographs, but I manage and get a lot of interest in my photography. So if you’re blogging adding pictures to your words, can get the message to your readers across a lot more effectively and you don’t really need fancy equipment for online photographs. (more…)
Clocks forward this weekend and a full moon…
You are probably wondering why today’s photo is of a electronic fly catcher. I decided to photograph the things I see, with my phone; just one a day. The patterns in this photo are interesting and you also get a glimpse of my garden. (more…)
Touching the world via Skype and social media
I use Skype and social media a lot. I get to know people in exotic places and chat via Skype and we share snippets of our lives through the social media of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. I think it gives me a broader outlook on life; a valuable diversity… (more…)
The Review: Spring – day 3
Spring is finally here and we have got the budget out of the way. What a damp squid that was. It seems our national debt as a percentage of GDP is higher than ever and still climbing. (more…)
The Review: The end of winter
It’s the Spring Equinox on Thursday; winter is finally ending. Some weather forecasters are saying we will have a heat wave again like last summer. The ones on the BBC have said Spring starts on the 1st of March; so we’ll ignore them… (more…)
The Review: Appreciating the countryside
The photo today is one I took in Sandwell Valley last Sunday. The car park at Forge Mill Farm was quite full. Many of the visitors who visit the farm and lake aren’t British. Perhaps they appreciate the English Countryside more? (more…)
The Review: Subjects for bloggers
Today’s picture is the Birmingham canal at Tipton. I’m hoping this photo will win the waterways calendar competition. Tipton isn’t the prettiest place in the country. In fact the whole of the Black Country can’t be described as pretty. I do take some good photos though, I just wish the planners could see views like this. (more…)
The Review: Another week of writing and photography
Today’s photo was taken on the Walsall canal at Ocker Hill. I do try to show the Black Country in a good light; that’s when I get a good light to take the photo. This is one of the pictures I’ve entered for the waterways calendar competition.
Will this sunshine last all day?
It’s Sunday and so my thoughts today are with photography. I can see a blue sky and sunshine! I have to do some shopping though, I’m running out of food and essentials. I have a busy week planned too, so it would help if I could get the shopping out of the way. I tried yesterday but there was a queue of cars not only trying to get into the supermarket car park, but trying to get out too. (more…)
The weekend review
I took today’s photo in bright sunshine, unfortunately I don’t have that picture any more. The original was wiped from my computer. I only have this smaller one now, which isn’t suitable for a calendar. I’m hoping the sun will come out this weekend so I can try to get the same shot again. We do have some nice places in the Black Country, it’s a shame they’re not always appreciated. (more…)
Britain needs a little luck
Another week ends as a New Year begins. We are still at the beginning of winter in Britain and some parts of the country are on severe weather warnings; there has already been flooding. We need a little luck with the weather now, less rain and we need the rest of the winter to be mild. No snow like last winter please! (more…)
The Christmas review
Are you thinking about making New Year resolutions? Setting goals in life, whether it’s to lose weight and keep fit or something even more challenging can be useful. Try writing some things down and thinking about what is achievable and how you might achieve it. I have a few goals that include more photography. (more…)
Merry Christmas Everybody
If you’re a regular reader then you might remember my short story for Christmas last year. I’ve been writing a sequel and it’s been a struggle. I think I have the ending now and so I hope I can finish it in time. I’ll be publishing last year’s story again too over the next week. You’ll be pleased to know that Ollie and Ivy are still together… (more…)
The weekend review
Today’s picture is of the canal bridge over to Moorcroft Wood. I am still looking for a suitable photo for the Waterways calendar competition. I might go back there tomorrow and take another shot of that bridge at a higher resolution. (more…)
The weekend review
I read a really good article yesterday about how to take night pictures. They say you should consider the exposure triangle to set your camera for this type of picture. That is set the ISO, aperture and speed. While I was doing all that and setting up a tripod, I would probably get mugged for the camera. (more…)
From writing to voodoo
It’s Sunday morning and so this is the day when I write about whatever is on my mind. Today is writing and photography. Writing is about expressing yourself and I try to do that with photography and with the editing in particular. I read a lot and some of the articles I read are boring, which is a crime for a writer.
Weekend conclusion
We have lots of Autumn colours to appreciate now, but do we have time to appreciate them? I saw one of my neighbours children going to school really early one morning and found that some are leaving for school at 7 in the morning. Why? They have to go to the best school. No, not a private school like David Cameron. They’re not aspiring to be rich toffs are they?
Midweek thoughts on English society and culture
The Autumn colours are nice and make photographs more interesting, but it gets dark early in the afternoon. In summer I go out at two o’clock on a Sunday to take photos. This week I was ready to come home by two thirty having rushed to take some photos before the light changed. The weather is changeable, it’s either dark and cloudy or bright and sunny, but very cold.
Invasions of privacy
This was the view from my bedroom window last night. I tried taking a photo with my new smart phone too. It didn’t turn out quite so spectacular. It’s a Samsung Galaxy phone running an operating system developed by Google. (more…)
Another midweek moan…
What do you think of today’s photo? I used this picture for yesterday’s post on a Zillion Ideas – fun with photos. If you would like to edit your photos like that and maybe create art, why not click that link? My art and photography posts are always popular with other bloggers and writers.
Art | Can we define it?
Walsall Art Gallery
Renoir
This drawing might not seem very special, but if I told you it was by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. You might have a different opinion. Art is about perceptions and a well known name or even the name of a art movement affects our perception of a work of art. This little drawing is in Walsall Art Gallery .
