The continuing mild weather just keeps plant life sprouting and growing. Viewing this in detail never loses its fascination, somehow! Sights that are ‘nothing special’ turn special when you notice them properly. Oh, how easy it is to walk around blind!
Just two days ago (22 January) I found snowdrops had already put in an appearance in my father’s garden. I never seem to get tired of looking at flowers, somehow…!
When visiting relatives in Northumberland in the summer of 2014, I would sometimes make my way into this nearby field, so that I could pick up a mobile signal! But here, the real benefit to the psyche was the true quietness and solitude. It was truly a perfect background for a few moments’ reflection, before checking for messages. The only occasional exception that comes to mind was the sound of gently falling rain – which I didn’t mind at all.
No, that isn’t sugar. At last, a ground frost made this little artistic creation in my back garden. The cooling through freezing point must have been quite slow, to give quite large ice crystals like this. They were just melting as I took this shot.
If you take a picture using a wide-angle lens (or a zoom lens set at a short focal length) objects close to the camera will appear much larger than those further away. This gives a great sense of perspective – the perceived arrangement of objects in three dimensions, even though the viewed image is simply on a flat surface. This effect has, I think, worked quite well in this shot of the interior of a beautifully preserved diesel railcar, kept at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway at Wirksworth, Derbyshire.
You can often see this technique used on published pictures of landscapes, where objects in the foreground give powerful interest and punch to what might otherwise be a much less interesting shot.
Lately, I’ve had little opportunity for photography during the day. This shot of a pelargonium flower was taken one evening, after work. Some of you know my obsession with flowers and macro photography! This is about as ‘up close’ as it gets, for me!
OK, so these are clementines, not oranges, but I’m thinking of the colour orange. The real point I’m making in this photo is that monochrome doesn’t have to necessarily mean black and white; any colour can be chosen to dominate a picture, with interesting effects. Here, the absense of variety of colour leads the eye to study the patterns caused by texture, instead.
The incredibly mild weather during December has led to a lot of unseasonally early sprouting of new growth on various trees and shrubs. Whereas what I posted last week was a picture of a very tiny leaf indeed, this array of leaves on a buddleia bush were easily noticeable! Will all these new growths survive frosts, later, I wonder?
