Week No. 11 - Saturday, 19th March 2011

"Lights and Darks"

This one is a real blast from the past! Last Thursday Carl and I went, with some friends, to see The Levellers (remember them?) who were supported by the Wonderstuff. If you followed my 365 blog last year you will remember that we saw the Wonderstuff at the Bearded Theory festival in Derbyshire. They are definitely one of my favourite bands and Thursday's performance was the best I have ever seen them. It did make me feel abit old though as the band got together 25 years ago!! After the Wonderstuff I thought the Levellers would have an hard act to follow but they were just as great. Thoroughly enjoyed it and thought this picture of Jeremy Cunningham on bass, with the longest dreadlocks I have ever seen,of the Levellers was a good Lights and Darks picture. I had to take it on Carl's phone as I didn't take my camera. All together now "THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY OF LIFE....................."

Week No. 10 - Saturday, 12th March 2011

This week's theme is childhood toys and whilst I have a few of my old toys knocking around, the most loved and used is this Wendy House. Obviously, that is me in the large photo (thanks Mum for scanning and emailing it), then there's one of the girls in it which is probably one of my favourite photos of them of all time. I love Kirsten's face peering through the window aka Jack Nicholson in The Shining! Yesterday morning I quickly put the Wendy House up and Kirsten got in for an up to date snap. How time flies eh?

Week No. 9 - Saturday, 5th February 2011

I've struggled with this week's theme of 'Express Yourself' and then remembered that we had tickets for the Derby -v- Barnsley match today. Excellent I thought there will be loads of expressing (probably expletives!) at the match, especially given how Derby are faring at the moment. Unfortunately, it was a pretty uneventful match and Kirsten's face sums up a frustrating (and really cold) 90 minutes. I can't decide whether the chap next to her is just cold or really didn't want to be photographed? Used my compact with no flash to try and catch a good expression but it's tricky to keep still when your hands are shaking from the cold.

Week No. 8 - 26th February 2011

This week's theme is 'the view from here', where here is is up to the photographer and I have cheated a little bit. My 'here' was the hide at Calke Abbey. I have passed the hide several times and always wanted to go in and try my hand at photographing the birds feeding at the special stations that they have set up.

I could have spent a lot longer in there but was conscious of everybody waiting for me in the car (the weather was appalling). The birds landing and feeding are so FAST! I used continuous shutter and crossed my fingers. This is about the sharpest of a blue tit that I got but I got a few squirrels who moved a lot slower. This is a view I will definitely be taking in again!!

Week No. 7 - 19th February 2011

'Open your Heart' is the theme for this week, hope your valentine was good to you? Mine cooked me a lovely meal and told me that he did think about sending for a card for me from Moonpig.com but then decided cards are a waste of money. He would rather I put the money towards camera equipment or something I need - who said romance isn't dead needs shooting. Only joking Carl!!

Gave this packet of Love Hearts a bit of photoshopping, what a sign of the times, these hearts now have messages including "text me" and "e-mail"!

Week No. 6 - 12th February 2011

Sorry this post is a bit late, guess what I was up to at the weekend? No prizes for guessing it was a wedding, Dan and Emma's to be precise and it was my first time being the 'official' photographer. I loved it and am still wading through the images editing them ready to show the new Mr and Mrs Smith! I'm sure they won't mind me using this photo of their name cards for this week's theme of words. I thought about the most important words we use and 'Mr and Mrs ....' came as close as any I could think of. What those little words mean and how life changing they can be. Also by conjuring up memories of the actual wedding day, which to me is what a photo is all about. I've had fun putting this in Topaz (a plug in for Photoshop) and this effect is called 'Vibrance' which has nicely brought out the silver handwriting which was a challenge to photograph!

Week No. 5 - 5th February 2011

Marilyn - My Muse

This week's theme is muse and I have pondered long and hard on this. The definition in the dictionary is either 'to think about a subject' or 'a goddess that inspires poetry, art or songs'. The latter was what I thought a muse was, so I wondered who inspires me. The girls? I certainly take enough photos of them, I suppose they are really my models once a technique has inspired me. Who started me looking at photographs and appreciating them. Well it was Marilyn, I have loved her since being about 13/14. I remember having her posters on my wall along with Richard Gere and Frankie Goes to Hollywood! I love photos of her, reading about her life, watching her films and I have even drawn her in the past.

Looking at the stack of books (how much dust?) that I have collected over the years I can see why my bookcase is bowing and how I have come to love photos so much, I must of looked at thousands of her. I still love seeing new photos of her that I haven't seen before and am amazed that there are still photos out there that no one has seen yet.

Carl said I couldn't take a photo of a photo so I have taken one of my books instead, the book in the foreground is my first one about her and the reason I am potty about photography I think. Might not be the best photo ever but it shows my personal inspiration, now I have to put them all away without reading them. Don't worry, I'll dust them first!