Weekend Wonders
You're probably wondering what happened at the photo session from last Friday? No? Well, I'm gonna tell you anyway, so if you don't want to read on, go have fun with the kittens...
For those of you into cats, my mate Foshie has become a foster carer, looking after cats until a home can be found for them. His second cat, Molly, seems to get two distinct reactions: "Aww, she's gorgeous!" and "My God, what is that?!".
My reaction to the first photo I saw was to laugh: she had huge eyes and a face like an Ewok. Then I met her on Friday night, and my heart melted. As well as being the smallest, skinniest, 8-year-old cat I had ever seen, the poor thing also had a cold and was wheezing and snuffling like I do after I've been around cats!*
Surprisingly, she didn't run away from me, and within 10 minutes I was taking pics of her lounging about. Foshie had said that she was camera shy, but I think she secretly enjoyed being the centre of attention :-)
All in all, I took over 225 pictures of her up to around midnight (not all on Flickr, I hasten to add), which I was quite surprised at! Good job its a digital camera: if I was still using my Dad's film camera, that would have been one expensive processing order that would have kept Kodak going for another year!!
But the night didn't finish there, oh no! There was more fun to come as Foshie and I both had the same idea (though he freaked me out by doing most of the things as I thought them!), of experimenting with light. This is something I've always wanted to try, but didn't seem to have the right kit for.
Foshie, on the other hand, is far more creative than I am and has a great air freshener that has an alternating colour LED in the base, so we started playing with this before moving on to combining it with other things, such as the glass block in this image.
By 1am, it was time for me to be heading home as I was supposed to be heading out the next day for another photo-session with another member of the photo group! Not that that put me to bed. When I get a bee in my bonnet about something I have to see it through, so I was up until 5:45am Saturday morning adjusting, re-sizing and saving all of the images to disk in order that Foshie had a copy!
The weather was good for another trip, but as I wasn't up until midday I missed most of it, so the walk around Rickmansworth Lakes was a bit brief - not a bad thing, as there were too many raucous teenagers there for my liking, but I did get the opportunity to get some action shots ... though my heart wasn't in it quite so much as the night before, which is not surprising considering how tired I was!
Yesterday, however, proved to be the highlight of the whole weekend!
I decided to take a jaunt into London, as the weather wasn't too bad and I really felt the need to get out of my boxy little flat. With the wedding holiday coming up, I thought I might head to a few shops and pick up some cheap and cheerful summer clothes - not that I need any as my current clothes are flowing out of my wardrobe, over my sofa and into several black sacks that are rolling their way to the local charity shops as I write.
The realisation that I was being overrun by cotton and polyester (like I said, cheap and cheerful), sent me on a trek to find the greener parts of London.
Not being the particularly adventurous type this is not something I would normally do, but the little beard I'd been cultivating all week (and probably the hat and glasses keeping my face hidden), had a confidence-boosting affect and I took the plunge to have a wander ... mind you, its hard to get lost in central London with so many train stations available to get you back on track!
Oh, what wonders awaited me!
In the vicinity of St James' Park, what should I stumble upon but the starting grid for the Gumball 3000 rally, and several tons of beauties!!!!!!!
I only became aware of the rally a couple of years ago through my cousin who, in my mind, is a total petrol head. Thanks to him, I am now looking forward to the day when I can afford a super-car of my own ... well, something bigger than 2 litres, at any rate ... which will probably never happen, but it doesn't hurt to dream!!
* You're probably wondering why, if I am allergic to cats, did I put myself in a position to have a reaction? Well, Foshie had asked if I could take some pics, which was a great opportunity for me to practice with the flash, but I also figured that it would be a good way to force my body to get used to it. "No pain, no gain", as they say!
For those of you into cats, my mate Foshie has become a foster carer, looking after cats until a home can be found for them. His second cat, Molly, seems to get two distinct reactions: "Aww, she's gorgeous!" and "My God, what is that?!".
My reaction to the first photo I saw was to laugh: she had huge eyes and a face like an Ewok. Then I met her on Friday night, and my heart melted. As well as being the smallest, skinniest, 8-year-old cat I had ever seen, the poor thing also had a cold and was wheezing and snuffling like I do after I've been around cats!*
Surprisingly, she didn't run away from me, and within 10 minutes I was taking pics of her lounging about. Foshie had said that she was camera shy, but I think she secretly enjoyed being the centre of attention :-)All in all, I took over 225 pictures of her up to around midnight (not all on Flickr, I hasten to add), which I was quite surprised at! Good job its a digital camera: if I was still using my Dad's film camera, that would have been one expensive processing order that would have kept Kodak going for another year!!
But the night didn't finish there, oh no! There was more fun to come as Foshie and I both had the same idea (though he freaked me out by doing most of the things as I thought them!), of experimenting with light. This is something I've always wanted to try, but didn't seem to have the right kit for.
Foshie, on the other hand, is far more creative than I am and has a great air freshener that has an alternating colour LED in the base, so we started playing with this before moving on to combining it with other things, such as the glass block in this image.By 1am, it was time for me to be heading home as I was supposed to be heading out the next day for another photo-session with another member of the photo group! Not that that put me to bed. When I get a bee in my bonnet about something I have to see it through, so I was up until 5:45am Saturday morning adjusting, re-sizing and saving all of the images to disk in order that Foshie had a copy!
The weather was good for another trip, but as I wasn't up until midday I missed most of it, so the walk around Rickmansworth Lakes was a bit brief - not a bad thing, as there were too many raucous teenagers there for my liking, but I did get the opportunity to get some action shots ... though my heart wasn't in it quite so much as the night before, which is not surprising considering how tired I was!
Yesterday, however, proved to be the highlight of the whole weekend!
I decided to take a jaunt into London, as the weather wasn't too bad and I really felt the need to get out of my boxy little flat. With the wedding holiday coming up, I thought I might head to a few shops and pick up some cheap and cheerful summer clothes - not that I need any as my current clothes are flowing out of my wardrobe, over my sofa and into several black sacks that are rolling their way to the local charity shops as I write.
The realisation that I was being overrun by cotton and polyester (like I said, cheap and cheerful), sent me on a trek to find the greener parts of London.
Not being the particularly adventurous type this is not something I would normally do, but the little beard I'd been cultivating all week (and probably the hat and glasses keeping my face hidden), had a confidence-boosting affect and I took the plunge to have a wander ... mind you, its hard to get lost in central London with so many train stations available to get you back on track!
Oh, what wonders awaited me!
In the vicinity of St James' Park, what should I stumble upon but the starting grid for the Gumball 3000 rally, and several tons of beauties!!!!!!!I only became aware of the rally a couple of years ago through my cousin who, in my mind, is a total petrol head. Thanks to him, I am now looking forward to the day when I can afford a super-car of my own ... well, something bigger than 2 litres, at any rate ... which will probably never happen, but it doesn't hurt to dream!!
* You're probably wondering why, if I am allergic to cats, did I put myself in a position to have a reaction? Well, Foshie had asked if I could take some pics, which was a great opportunity for me to practice with the flash, but I also figured that it would be a good way to force my body to get used to it. "No pain, no gain", as they say!
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