Headbanger Challenge 3rd November 2010 � Fall has Arrived.

 

This weeks headbangers challenge has been set by Tom- fishing Guy and is `Fall has Arrived`. Now over here we don�t call it the fall but stick to Autumn. So I hope you don�t mind Tom but I�ll sub head this weeks header with �Autumnal�.

Now autumn colours I love, all the golden yellows vibrant gold's and bronzes of the leaves. The bright red of the berries in the hedgerows, they all make for an outstanding photo opportunity.

So to try and get that great shot I headed over to a little lake in my neighbouring village to take some photos for the header challenge.

 

Now the lake isn�t very big but there is still an abundance of trees surrounding it.

Unfortunately as you can see from this photo I arrived a little late for some of them as they had already lost a lot of their leaves.

So it called for a bit more creativity.

Holding the camera just above the ground gave me this more exciting photo.

I used the berries and tree trunk in this shot to frame the fishing jetty and Lily pads.

It must be nice to live in this bungalow and have the beauty of the lake at the bottom of your garden.

I hope you like the little Autumn jaunt down to the lake. Do you think the different camera angles have worked? Let me know what you think in the comments section.

If this is your first visit why not stay a while have a look around then pop over to see the other entrants in this weeks header challenge. Just follow the links at the top of my right hand column.

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Header Challenge 20th October 2010 � Sepia.

This weeks header challenge has been chosen by imac. His choice this week is �Sepia�.

Sepia is the name given to the photographic development process used to enhance its archival properties and to give the photograph a warmer hue. The process got its name from the adding of a pigment to the chemical development of the photograph, derived from the Sepia officinalis cuttlefish found in the English channel.

With modern digital developments and printing processes the sepia pigment is no longer required to assist the photographs protection against the elements. Now sepia toning is mainly seen in either very old photographs or new photos digitally enhanced to look old.

Most photo editing software can now change a colour image into a sepia toned image giving the illusion that the photograph is old or just to add a warming effect to enhance the image.

The effect can be subtle as in the above photograph. just to add warmth to an image.

It can also be used to give an illusion of age to a photograph�

 

helped in this picture by the addition of period costume.

Pictures of historical societies can also be enhanced by the technique�

as in this group riding their period bicycles through Spalding in Lincolnshire.

 

Changing the tone to sepia has helped to give the illusion of age to the scene, even though it was actually taken this year.

The technique can be used to Add warmth to an image instilling not necessarily age to the picture but atmosphere.

Sepia has a wide range of applications now other than its original meaning.

Let me apologise for the scarcity of my posts over the last 2 weeks but this has been due to a telephone line fault resulting in the loss of internet access other than via my mobile phone. Hopefully the fault will soon be fixed, we have internet now, but, it is very slow as the fault has only partly been resolved.

Tell me your thoughts on sepia, do you think it is still a viable option to enhance photographs?Let me know your thoughts via the comments section regarding anything about my blog, good or bad.

Why don�t you drop in on the other headbangers and see what they have devised as a header and post for Sepia. Just follow the links at the top of the right hand column.

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Header Challenge 6th October 2010 - Harvest

 

This weeks header challenge has been chosen by Lanny. Her choice for this week is Harvest.

Now locally in Lincolnshire a lot of the harvest has already been gathered in, but, luckily I had the foresight to take some photographs of the farmer gathering his in, in the field next to our house a few weeks ago. You never know when photos like that will come in handy, thanks Lanny.

 

This is what the field next to our house looked like before he started harvesting.

During the Harvest the harvester headed straight towards our house allowing for a great opportunity for a photo.

According to the local farmers if the bales are round then they are set to be used for animal feed. If they, like the ones next to us, are square (well square-ish) they are destined for use in a local power plant to be burned for eco-fuel.

Its great to see the fields harvested in, although the dust created does mean all the windows in the house need to be shut tight.

Why not drop in on the other headbangers and see what they have come up with as their banners this week. Just follow the links to them at the top of the right hand column.

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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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Day 7 of our family holiday to Pas de Calais, France.

Day 7 of our holiday  in Pas de Calais, France and we were still having breakfasts bought from the local boulangerie, lots of croissants and pain au chocolate yummy!

The morning broke bright and sunny, lots of beautiful blue skies, perfect weather for exploring and taking pictures.

So whilst some of the family went swimming my eldest daughter and I went down into Arques for another look around and a quick photo session. Our main area that we wanted to visit, was the beautiful white church we had been passing each time we drove into Arques.

Its bright white limestone facade shone in the morning sunshine.

Unusually inside had been painted in quite a modern style with bright colours and crisp paintwork, it looked really good and inviting. 

Miniature relief carvings of scenes from the bible were interspersed around the walls of the church.

The church organ, although not as large a scale as the on in Saint-Omer�s cathedral, was still impressive, filling the rear wall of the nave.

Coming back outside we walked out of the church yard and across the road to take pictures of the neighbouring Arques castle.

The castles origins are said to date back to the roman times, though much demolition and reconstruction has been done since then leaving little if not nothing of the original. It is still quite a striking building standing at the end of the high street with its large octagonal tower.

Arques is quite a pretty place to visit. They have flower displays everywhere and the streets always seemed clean and tidy.

Even the white paint on the little bridges seemed bright and fresh.

Come back tomorrow and we will go on our afternoons adventure a beautiful river cruise.

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Day 6 of our family holiday to Pas de Calais, France.

Day 6 of our holiday broke bright and sunny. We hadn�t planned anywhere particularly to visit today, we thought we would just go out in the car and see where we got to. Looking on the map there seemed to be a ruin of an abbey near the village of Watten situated a little north of Saint-Omer, so we thought that sounded a good starting point.

When we arrived at Watten we called in at a little tourist information office in the village and found there was a windmill nearby too. So, back in the car and up the hill to the abbey first. Typically the ruins are now closed to the public and mostly hidden from view behind a high stone wall and mature trees.

This was the best photo from our viewpoint that I could get. The original abbey was built in the 11th century. Evidently today only the tower remains of the original abbey, the rest having been demolished and sold during the French revolution. The tower was left as a navigational aid for sailors. I hope they had a better view of it than we did.

The windmill was much nicer and just down the hill from the Abbey.

We decided to stop and relax by the windmill. The girls went off to explore, Mel and her mum found a bench in the sunshine and I went for a look around with my Canon camera.

It gave me chance for a few artistic shots of the windmill.

 

The  windmill was built from the reclaimed stone of the abbey and is still in working order, although it is only open on Sunday�s, so we weren�t able to view the inside.

Above is the working mechanism that allows the top of the windmill and sails to be turned to face the wind.

The views from the hill on which the windmill stands are fantastic, although it was a little hazy on the day we were there.

It was whilst we were here, that I found the frog in the grass that I showed you last week, as part of the macro header post.

Here's another view of him.

The afternoon was spent looking around Saint-Omer. I will show you more of that in tomorrows blog post.

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Day 5 of our family holiday to Pas de Calais, France.

Day 5 of our holiday, and the swimming pool at our little cottage is still in high demand. Our daughters are still going swimming before breakfast and they are loving it, which is why we chose this particular cottage. Personally rather them than me, too much energy needed at that time of the morning, especially when on holiday.

We decided that today we would venture across to Boulogne, on the northern coast of France. Boulogne is only 25 miles across the English channel to Dover.  When we got there I was surprised to find that the white cliffs of Dover were clearly visible from the seafront.

We had found, whilst looking in some tourist brochures left in our cottage for us, that there is a Sea world museum called Nausicaa in Boulogne, so we thought we would give it a visit.

Unfortunately it�s not cheap, but, it is big. You will need at least 3hrs to go around it all and that doesn�t count stopping in the restaurant or the gift shop.

Nausicaa sets out to explore all aspects of the sea. Its aim is to educate about the creatures that live in it�

and those who rely on it, to survive.

The exhibits are wide ranging and of course that meant I took a lot of pictures, oh well good job its a digital camera.

Some fish seemed curious�

others pretty.

I even found Nemo�

and friend.

There were lots of these�

I wouldn�t want to mess with them.

There were tanks were you could stroke the inhabitants though, in the form of various types of rays, they felt very velvety.

There was lots to see and do including hands on exhibits showing what man is doing to the ocean, both to care for it and shamefully, to destroy it. There was instruction on how we can save the oceans and the creatures that live in it and depend on it for their survival.

Coming back out there was just enough time for the girls to play on the beach whilst others of us rested in the sunshine.

Boulogne had been a great day out, all the family enjoyed it, even the mother in law.

Come on you knew camera shy or not, I was going to get a photo of you up here one of these days.

Come back tomorrow for more fun from France.

You can also click on the Camera Critters banner to link to more pictures of Critters caught on camera from around the world.

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Day 4 of our family holiday to Pas de Calais, France.

Well after all the rushing about on the third day of our holiday, when we explored Ypres, we thought we would have a quieter day next. So our fourth day in the Pas de Calais region of France was a more leisurely day, spent around the cottage and exploring the town of Arques, in which we were staying.

So after our now regular breakfast of pain au chocolat�s and croissants bought fresh from the local boulangerie, Mel and her mum went for a walk into town, whilst the girls went for a dip in the pool and I relaxed in the sunshine, in our little secluded garden area, with a good book.

We all decided to go back out after lunch, as we were running low on food and needed to drop in at the supermarket in the town. So we took the car, parked up in the supermarket car park, and walked over the bridge into the town centre.

Now Arques isn�t very big and when I say town centre that may be somewhat of an exaggeration. It does however have a market square and town hall but not a lot else.

There are a few shops lining the main street but not many. To do more shopping you need to go to the neighbouring town of Saint-Omer.

Through the middle of Arques runs a lovely picturesque river called the Aa (yes that is the correct spelling).

From this waterway leads a canal lift that used to lift boats from the lower level of the river Aa up to the Neuffoss�e canal.

This lift built in 1888 moved the barges the 13.13 meters between the two waterways removing the need for the 5 earlier locks built in the 18th century. It remained in use for 80 years before being replaced by a large gauge lock further upstream. It now only operates as a working museum.

It had been a restful day but still enjoyable, getting to know a little bit more about the place we were staying in.

_____________________________________________

Moving from the holiday to the present we have just been out to an evening of Celebration and Achievement for Sport, Drama and Music laid on by our daughters school.

Keziah our eldest daughter was being awarded a Silver Achievement Award for her contributions to school choir and Billy Elliot where she played Billy's brother Tony.

I�m sure you would join me in saying well done Kez we are proud of you.

Results are in for this weeks header challenge and this weeks winner is Tom-fishing Guy with me getting the Silver, thanks everyone. If you haven�t already looked at the other entrants then why not follow the links at the top of the right column.

Don�t forget to pop back tomorrow for the continuing journey around Pas de Calais, France.

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Day 2 of our family holiday to Pas de Calais, France.

 

The first thing my daughters did on waking, on the second day of our holiday, was to go for a swim. The private pool attached to our cottage was certainly well used over the weeks holiday.

The pool itself may not have been very big but because of the amount of natural light streaming in through the windows and the high arched and beamed ceiling it was bright, airy, and inviting.

Breakfast was fresh croissants and pain au chocolat, purchased from the local boulangerie which was a few 100 meters from our cottage. Freshly brewed strong French coffee complimented the meal, yum.

We decided to head up to Dunkerque (Dunkirk) to go to the beach and do a bit of site seeing for our first full day of the holiday.

Looking across the beach in the above photograph, If you look carefully you can see there is a lighthouse at the harbour mouth. This gave me an opportunity to play with my new toy an Opton 500mm telephoto lens for my Canon DSLR camera.

I was quite impressed with the quality of the image it gave of the lighthouse, as I only used a monopod to steady the camera not a tripod. Fitting a 2x convertor to the lens allowed me to get a shot of another lighthouse further down the coast that was out of frame on the original photograph.

The beaches at Dunkerque were almost completely empty due to the weather so as we went along the seafront these brightly coloured beach huts stood out against the quite beaches.

As you can see from this picture the bright beach huts are doing there best to cheer up the overcast sky but only two are in use.

Even though the weather was overcast and cool our daughters still had fun on the sea front or even on the beech at times.

After a lovely lunch of baguettes and crepes on the sea front, we headed across town to visit the British war memorial to those who lost their lives in Dunkerque during the campaigns of the 2 World wars.

Dunkerques� British War Memorial commemorates more than 4,500 casualties of the British Expeditionary Force who died in the campaign of 1939-40 and who have no known grave.

The memorial was designed by Philip Hepworth.

I was interested, but saddened to find servicemen of my own regiment �The Royal Welch Fusiliers�, both listed on the memorial and buried within the cemetery.

 

As part of the memorial building there is a beautiful large memorial window designed by John Hutton, depicting scenes from the heroic evacuation of Dunkerque in May 1940.

It was quite a moving experience viewing the rolls of servicemen listed on the memorial. An experience that I shall not forget.

The day was rounded off with a return to our cottage in Arques after stopping off at a local supermarket for supplies. More swimming, games and general relaxation rounded off a lovely day.

Join us tomorrow for a trip into Belgium, (chocolate yum yum!)

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