Postcard from Lincolnshire–Header Challenge

This week imac chose our little header challenge and he decided that we should all show a postcard from where we live. Well as those of you who are regular readers know I live in Lincolnshire in England. Lincolnshire is renowned for its wide open flat farm land, hence the image in the header.

Another thing you will see lots of around Lincolnshire (well in Spring anyway) are Daffodils and Tulips as they are one of the biggest producers of the flowers and bulbs in Europe.

The free range poultry business is growing rapidly too both commercially and with individual families hence the chicken.

So there you have my postcard from rural Lincolnshire. I could have gone in to on of the towns and told you all about that but I live 10 miles from the closest one so rural Lincolnshire seemed more appropriate.

Have a look to see what postcards the other headbangers have posted. Follow their links on my right hand menu bar.

P&O's Azura

Well we are back from our cruise on-board P&O's ship the Azura; to the Canary Islands. I think it may take a little while to unpack and sift through the 3k or so of photos I may have taken whilst down there, so I hope you will bear with me. I will post all about the trip and a full review of the ship as soon as I can. 

Time to ponder by the lake side.

Look out something is Falling!

It has been Sandy’s turn to choose this weeks theme for our header challenge competition. So what has she chosen you ask? Well this week you need your hard hat on because she has chosen “falling” as our theme.

I suppose unless the object is lighter than air it will fall  so what should I bring you photographs of?

Well here’s some brave brave men of the RAF doing a parachute display or, controlled descent, which is in essence, falling through the air attached to a bit of fabric. These men and women however do their falling with a great deal of panache and expertise.

Many people every year can be found in the town square of Pisa in Italy stretching out their arms to stop the bell tower from falling down. The Leaning tower of Pisa as you can see from the photo does lean a considerable amount. They do assure us that it isn’t going to fall down any time soon though, so maybe we don’t need to hold it up.

I said earlier unless the object is lighter than air then it will fall. Well I’ve found something that falls even though it has no weight at all. See, the shadow is falling across the grass!

For my header this week I took my inspiration from the weather. We have had a lot of rain falling in recent weeks and I know some of the other headbangers certainly have, so I decided to re-visit macro water droplet shots. This time I used an all black water tray and only the on camera flash for light source.

So there you have it falling rain drops (artificially created). The best kind because its nice and sunny outside as I write this.

You can see what the others have decided to create for their headers by following their links at the top of my right hand menu bar.

Walk by the Water.

Boat 13

Boat 13 look out Rocks!!!

Empty Chairs

There's plenty of empty chairs, so pull up a seat and have a look around my posts and let me know what you think. If you like what you see you can subscribe via email so you always get the latest post as soon as it is ready. Just use the subscription link in the sidebar. Or you can follow my blog via google or facebook again just click on the join this site button  in the left hand sidebar. 

Thanks for dropping by come back again soon

Beach huts under a blue sky.

Japanese Maple

Silver Tree Sculpture

Header Challenge 18th May 2011 - Green

The choice for the theme for this weeks header challenge has been chosen by me this week and I have gone with “Green”.

As challengers we have done other colours as themes in the past most recently “Red” so I thought it would give a good diverse range of photographs for peoples headers and in their posts. Please prove me right people! I’m sure you will.

Green seems to be the colour of the moment for nature all around us here at the moment. The early spring daffodils and tulips are all finished and many of the other Spring flowers in the hedgerows are coming to an end too. There seems to be a hushed anticipation in green ready for the summer flowers all to burst on to the scene.

The woods  are just beautiful shades of greens, silvers and browns waiting for the summer blooms…

The fields and river banks are rich shades of new green growth with their tall grasses and reeds…

Even the watering hole at Woburn is surround with green even if they are weeds, I don’t think this monkey cares…

If you you look carefully you might even find a bear hiding in the green of the countryside…

Oh look he’s come up to say hello!

Say hello…

Don’t worry I didn’t come across a black bear roaming around the English countryside, he was in Woburn Safari Park.

I hope you are enjoying both the greens in the photos on my blog today but also the greens all around you at this time of year. If you can get out and about and enjoy the lovely rich vibrant greens that are growing all around you. Don’t just wait for the summer blooms or think oh it’s just green when is the flowers coming step back and you will see that the plant next door may be a slightly different green, together with others, creating one big tapestry of colour to enjoy.

Go take your camera out and have fun!

Header Challenge 20th April 2011– Fountain

This weeks theme is a watery one chosen by imac and is entitled “Fountain”.

Now not living in a city we don’t have much in the way of fountains so I thought I’d take a couple of trips out and get a shot or two to post. Well the other week I went to Belton House in Lincolnshire with imac and they have a nice fountain there. Unfortunately it was still switched off.

Yesterday for our Wedding anniversary we went for a family day trip to Woburn Safari park (photos to follow soon) and I thought there must be at least one fountain somewhere in the parkland there, but, no, not one. So I’m afraid I’ve had to resolve to look through my back catalogues of pictures.

I came across this one taken of Buckingham Palace and the fountains in front of it… or is it?

Leave a comment if you can you tell me what is wrong with the above photo?

I also found this one of a very high jet fountain taken in a park in the south of England…

I even found a photo of a fountain of water given off on a water flume ride…

very soggy people under that fountain of water.

But for my header I have decided to go back to one of my original ideas albeit a photo taken there last summer, I knew there was a reason for taking so many photos.

Header Challenge 16th February 2011 – `Tracks`

The theme for this weeks challenge has been kindly set by Tom -  fishing guy and is `Tracks`.

Now many of you would think, knowing that I worked on the railway for a number of years, that railway tracks would be my chosen photo subject in relation to this theme, but, no! you’d be wrong.

I’ve decided to stay well clear of the railway tracks on this occasion, and so, camera in hand I went out to see what other tracks I could find.

Well one of the first tracks I came across was from my car tyres. Here they are leaving tracks in the mud…

As you can see, Its been a bit on the wet side recently and as we live on a country lane tyre tracks in the mud are a common occurrence.

The roads near where we live are themselves just tracks really…

Welcome to the Lincolnshire countryside!

Coming back into the house, and the warmth, after the cold damp trip around the country lanes, I decided to put on some music and realised that here was even more tracks; the tracks on a music CD…

Here you go I've taken some close-up macro shots of the cd tracks for you.

The CD I chose even has `Tracks` in it’s title…

For my header though this week I have gone for one of the many farm tracks around my house, one our girls frequently use to walk our dog.

I wonder what track my fellow headbangers have travelled down for their headers this week?

Its great to see the number visiting my blog growing each week. Why don’t you say hello and introduce yourselves. Tell me what you like and why you dropped by. Maybe there is something  new you would like to see on my blog?  Or something I’ve done in the past revisited.  Whatever the reason for the visit remember to say hi and come back soon.

Thanks for dropping by.

Lincolnshire Project 1st October 2010

Well today is Lincolnshire day so I thought it was a very apt day to update my Lincolnshire project. My Lincolnshire project is to take a photograph in the same spot of Southern Lincolnshire every two weeks for a year. The hope is to catch the changing seasons and weather in a digital and visual record of the scenery of Lincolnshire.

October 1st marks the fifth official 'Lincolnshire Day' and historically, the date commemorates the Pilgrimage of Grace, which began in 1536 - the widespread revolt against the rule of Henry VIII. For more information visit the official Lincolnshire Day website.

Today's photo across Lincolnshire is unfortunately shrouded in rain as it has been very wet all day here.

The hedgerow in the left of the frame has been recently trimmed opening up a bit more of the horizon to be viewed. The field of sugar beet is yet to be harvested and the tree in the dyke on the right of the frame has completely died.

Happy Lincolnshire Day everybody.

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Lincolnshire Project 10th September 2010.

 

The Lincolnshire project continues with this weeks photo taken across the landscape of South Lincolnshire.

As I am trying to take the photo using, as close as possible, the camera settings I used in the original shot, the grey sky this afternoon has given very little definition to the photo.

As I stated in my original post on June 11th, I decided I would take a photograph of the same scene every 2 weeks throughout the year. The hope was that we would be able to see the seasons unfold in south Lincolnshire via the medium of photography.

Looking back at the six photos taken before this one, there doesn’t immediately seem a big difference to the images.

The light and sky is certainly different across the images. The hedgerow has also filled out on the left of the frame, but, unfortunately due to the tree on the right of the frame dying, it remains the same throughout all the images, well that's nature for you I suppose.

Why don’t you follow the rest of the project throughout the year with me, either subscribe via the form at the top of the left column, or simply click the follow button further down on the left column. That way you can make sure you won’t miss a weeks posting of the project.

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Peaceful Glade.

Be back soon!

Lincolnshire Project 20th August 2010

I started this project a couple of months ago, you can see my original post here –’Lincolnshire Project’. The concept is to take a photograph in the same spot in South Lincolnshire, England, every two weeks throughout the year. My hope is by doing this we will be able to see the subtle differences that the landscape takes on as the seasons change.

I have been a little bit thwarted by the tree that frames the right hand side of the image, as it has died, thus it is not producing the lovely change of leaves that I had hoped for.

To give you a wider idea of the area surrounding this frame I have stitched together a panoramic photograph of the fields just out of the range of the photo.

I hope you will continue following this project with me and if you have any suggestions for projects or topics to cover in further issues please feel free to let me know via the comment section.

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Little house on the lake. Belton House & Gardens Lincolnshire.

Belton House in Lincolnshire has extensive grounds which include two lakes. I’ve only found one so will have to ask imac of Photos from the minds eye blog to show me where the other one is. He has a good blog too well worth checking out, follow the link here: http://imac-photosfromthemindseye.blogspot.com/

The lake I did find has a charming little house sitting over the edge of it. I’ve framed this photo with some foreground interest to give extra depth and character to this very picturesque scene.

Looking out from the veranda of this little house are lovely views across and around the lake.

The reflections are unfortunately a little muted due to the time of day I took the photo and the overcast sky, hopefully you can still see how lovely a location it is though.

Walking around the lake from the little house you cross a footbridge that cried out to have its picture taken.

Belton House is full of surprises, every time I go there I find something new. Each season brings fresh colours and plants too so there is always something to see all year around.

Don’t forget to check out imacs blog and come back tomorrow for some more views, through the eye of a camera.

Belton House Lincolnshire, the continuing story.

When you get around to the rear of the main house you are greeted by another stunning vista.

The elegance of the walkway through the gardens, to the regal staircase leading into the house is quite stunning.

As you wander around the gardens you can see various plant pitchers on plinths.

The planting in some of these, both, picturesquely and figuratively tops them off.

Other planters although barren of plants for some reason, are still decorative pieces of art in their own right.

Such as this one displaying a rose motif,

and this one with a cheeky mask ready for an elegant masquerade ball.

Belton House has lots to offer for a day out with the family or by yourself or even in a small group. The house itself is full of historical information and artefacts and the grounds are quite simply stunning. There is even a large adventure assault course/play ground for the kids, or young at heart they don’t post an age limit. You can go back again and again and find something new each time.

I’ll explore more of our time at Belton in future posts, come back and visit and if you live close enough why not take a trip to see it for yourself

Return to my Lincolnshire Project.

As promised two weeks ago I have returned to my Lincolnshire project.

I said I would take a photo from the same location using similar camera settings every two weeks throughout the year.

Again as last time, I set the camera aperture at f8.0 giving me a shutter speed of 1/60sec.

The photograph was taken a little later in the afternoon this time and the low light has caused the sky to lose definition. Examining the scene it is surprising, even though it is late June, that the tree on the left of the frame is still not in full leaf but rather still only budding. The crops in the foreground are growing well though and are showing greener in the photo than last time.

As you can see not a huge difference since my last photograph, but, hopefully we will see subtle changes in each shot as the seasons unfold.

Follow me as we explore the changes in the seasons in Lincolnshire, England.