Canal walk

It’s been a long time since I had my camera out with the hope of pulling a blog post together, but today was a great opportunity to get a few shots when we headed over to the Water of Leith Visitor Centre in Slateford and walked from there along the Union Canal. I loved the …

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Looking beyond the autumn leaves

We’re all just recovering from coughs and colds, but decided it would do us some good to get out for a walk. I was looking forward to photographing the autumn leaves now that the colours are starting to turn. However, in the end, it was the moss and mushrooms that really caught me eye.

A crisp morning

I’m glad my camera was at hand when we went out for a walk this morning. There must have been a good frost last night and it had barely warmed when we went traipsing through this small, local woodland. The light was gorgeous. I was particularly pleased to spot the seed heads glistening with their …

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A Fir Cone?? (Nope, it’s Brunia)

EDIT: I am grateful for a friend who found out that I was photographing dried ‘brunia’. Brunia is a shrub native to the cape region of South Africa. It has white pompom-like flowers. I received a beautiful bouquet of winter flowers at Christmas from my other half. The flowers themselves are now residing in our …

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A Flurry of Snow

Our surroundings were once again transformed by a layer of snow this week. Isn’t it fascinating how a layer of the white stuff makes you spot beauty in the ordinary; an unnoticed roof and a hedge that needs a trim.

A Winter’s Morning

I took my camera out to photograph my little one playing in the snow this morning. It didn’t take long for other things to catch my eye. This hellebore started flowering last week. Out the front of the house, the sun was warming up the air and I loved the light catching our wreath and …

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Natures Colours

I was sitting and the dining room table this morning, working through some emails. I glanced up and took a moment to really look at the array of colours our autumnal garden was presenting me with. One shrub alone is currently displaying every colour from a vibrant green to a deep red. I went out …

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Allium: An Update

Last week I posted the first set of photos of the Allium growing in my garden. I’ve been monitoring them daily and went out again today with my camera and macro lens to capture how they’re developing. To be honest, though, it wasn’t until I sat down and viewed these images on the large computer …

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An Autumn Afternoon

Keen to make the most of the last of the autumn colours, we donned our walking boots and headed to Roslin. The rain was heavy when we arrived but our patience paid off and the clouds soon blew over so we could set out on our short walk – up to Roslin Castle, through the …

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Puppy Love

This little tyke wouldn’t stay still for long enough to get many photos of her that aren’t blurred! She’s my ‘puppy niece’ (my brother’s puppy) and we had a great few days looking after her earlier this year. Couldn’t resist popping one photo of her on here.

Stirling Castle

Last weekend we had the opportunity to tick one more item off our ‘To Do Before we go to Canada’ list. This time it was a visit to Stirling Castle. As a top tourist destination, the Castle was naturally full of other photographers, which prompted me to try to take some time to get a few ‘unique’ images that …

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Photo Fun

A while back I published a blog post about bokeh which was inspired by the Photocrafty book.  Last weekend we decided to have a play with another of the projects in the same book.  This one required us to make a box which could fit onto our off-camera flash.  The box has a window cut out …

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New York Landscapes

There are so many views from New York that I would like to share, but here are my favourites.  The first is from the High Line pathway – a fantastic reuse of a disused rail line on the western edge of Manhattan.  Then on the right, we spotted this wall art when we ventured off …

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Statue of Liberty

She must be one of the most famous icons of the USA, so it was great to hear that the Statue of Liberty had reopened to visitors whilst we were in NY.  She had been closed due to the Government shutdown, but thankfully the City paid to reopen her just in time before we left …

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A Castle visit in the sun

Two sunny weekends in a row – fantastic.  Long may it continue! This weekend we went on a little outing along the coastline of the Firth of Forth to Blackness Castle.  It is a Historic Scotland property and well worth an explore.  From the seaward angle, the castle is shaped like a ship that has …

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A Visit to Wenlock Priory

Another visit to see mom and dad in Staffordshire means another opportunity to go exploring!  Today mom took me over to Much Wenlock – a lovely litte market town.  Tucked away down one of the side streets was the ruins of Wenlock Priory, now under English Heritage ownership.  The weather had been very mixed but luckily the …

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Botanics in Colour

Last week I did a blog post about my trip to the Botanic Gardens.  In that post I decided to make the images black and white.  I quite liked the black and white versions but perhaps they are better in colour?

Using my Photos

Over the last few months, I have been turning some of my photos into cards.  My mom recently commissioned me to make these little thank you note cards.  They’re made using 3″ x 3″ card blanks. And here are a few of the larger (6″ x 4″) cards that I’ve now sold. Please shout if …

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Moss (or a miniature forest)

Today I’ve been on a lovely, chilly walk along the Water of Leith from Stockbridge to the Modern Art Gallery.  There was much to see along the way including two herons and a couple of Antony Gormley statues.  It was, however, the contrast between the greens and reds in this moss that caught my eye …

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Mountain Views

I’ve finally started the process of sorting out the 400+ images that I took over this Christmas Holidays.  I’ve already shared a few images along the way – some close-ups from around the chalet & village, plus some garden birds in Oxford.  However, I just could not resist sharing a few black and white landscape …

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ICELAND

Earlier this week we returned from a fantastic short trip to Iceland.  It really was an amazing experience – so different to anything I’ve done or seen before.  Within 3 days we saw waterfalls, volcanos, glaciers, lava fields, black-sand beaches and some superb rock formations.  On top of that we swam in the Blue Lagoon; …

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Vitamin C

I’m feeling a little under the weather so trying to boost my vitamin C intake. I’ve already had a vitamin tablet and some orange juice, but do you think orange flavoured jelly counts too?

Split second expressions

Whilst on the Royal Mile this weekend, one show’s preview really caught my eye – except I have now forgotten the show’s name.  The performers all looked very striking in their super make-up and costumer.  Here are two of the best:

Coda

I love my little hamster, Coda, especially now that she is getting more and more tame. I especially love her funny little habits: when we clean her cage out we will often hide a couple of little hamster treats in the sawdust somewhere. Now, normally when we put any food in her food bowl she …

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Cupcakes

After watching the Grand Prix this afternoon, James and I got our chef hats on and baked some rather tasty cupcakes. It was fun but it didn’t quite go to plan – first they look absolutely nothing like the picture in the recipe book, and secondly we thought we were making 12 cakes but we …

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