Life Observed

Here's an Allium seed head of approximately epic proportions pictured against out garden one morning.  These purple headed monsters sway to and fro attracting bees for a week then start to turn to seed. At that point we took some indoors as ornaments for the lounge.

It is time to dust off the extension tubes and take some close up pictures.  That is what I do when I have not had the opportunity to get outside with the camera. Ah! That inner need to create a new image. Something different . Something arresting. This is what drives the humble Photographer daily. Perhaps this is what drives the humble Wood Turner as well.

Oh I say: My new laptop has a carbon fibre lid: No, that is wrong on both counts. It is a second hand refurbished laptop off ebay. It arrived with a nice brushed metal lid that was marred with scratches and light dents. I also discovered that the lid was slightly slippery and there was a risk of dropping the thing as I lifted it out of my back pack. So I bought some Carbon Wrap, much loved by the car customising community. The result is fairly convincing... the dents are disguised, the scratches are covered and it is easier to carry... I come from the generation that covered its kitchen doors in fake teak Fablon sticky backed plastic, so I remember just how awful that can look if done badly. It is all in the details, where the wrap meets the edges. If there is any hint of the vinyl fakery then the effect is lost.

Why are nettles so vindictive ? Why do they pack such a stinging punch, and what are they trying to protect? I mean, it's not as if they are an endangered species or anything. Meanwhile, watch out, there's a nettle in the woodpile....    Carpe Urtica, eh? Add caption

In the barn, on the farm: The circular saw. We had one just like this when I was a kid, except ours had no guards at all. You were just expected to be careful.

Aah. Rain. That's more like it. We can't be doing with all this blue sky and sunshine nonsense. Let's have lots of lovely rain. 

The end of the world is nigh. Please form an orderly Queue

Oh dear. The late William Beere can't have been very pleased with his headstone. What was going on here? Was it carved by someone who couldn't read and was just copying shapes on a sheet of paper?

Ryan Air have denied press rumours that they intend to introduce a low cost cross channel ferry operation. However, industry experts maintain that plans are well advanced. Secret photographs reveal trial runs are in progress to determine the minimum level of service that a customer will accept .  

Weird white stuff. Something from earlier in the year: The snow, the sunshine and the clear sky produce white highlights and slightly blue shadows. It's a trick used by artists to reinforce the impression of snow in watercolours.

Grab yourself a can of beer and settle down for a good read. You will have a lot to read as well. There's the list of ingredients, the volume and strength. There are some warnings from the Chief Medical Officer.  There's that strange "e" symbol that no-one understands.  Apparently the can is recyclable, the bar code ends in 247 and you can find the best before date on the bottom of the can (thereby emptying some beer on your shoes). Still it is comforting to know that this beer will not make you pregnant.

Another close up, and this time it features another favourite subject of mine. (Use the search box above and go looking for "poppy"). This uses my trademark dark background to provide a visual context. BTW. I wonder why they need to be so hairy.

These purple pompoms on the top of thin green stalks in our garden are Allium. I think they are a photographers's gift, and look really good in the right light. If you get up close, there's lots of detail to be seen By the way. These are not bokeh pictures, the term is being mis-used. They are narrow depth of field pictures. Bokeh is the Japanese work to describe the quality of the out of focus areas. In this case the first image displays smooth bokeh.