At last! A bit of snow in Plymouth! While the rest of the country is blanketed with the stuff, and everything has ground to a half -  we soldiered on as usual, coping with some pretty cold weather - but no snow!! Our wishes were granted two days ago with about 2" of the white stuff! It's still hanging around - but I think it may be gone by tomorrow! I hope so as I have to go into the deepest Dartmoor tomorrow evening.  Anyway - here's the proof!

Our back garden!

Too pretty to ignore!

Painting with light - or tripping around in the dark!

I belong to a photographic group called the Tamar Photographic Group. Our activities are practical based, and we try out new techniques as often as we can.

On Wednesday 13th October, we gained the permission of the vicar, then invaded the churchyard, where we practiced "painting with light". This involved sweeping a one-million candle power torch light across various landmark areas of the churchyard to illuminate selective areas over a longish exposure. As our confidence rose, we also tried combining bursts of flash with the torchlight. Some of the group got some brilliant images before the torch batteries failed!

Trying to avoid falling over/into the graves was challenging in the dark! It was also quite spooky seeing bursts of flash, which lit up the graves in a very spooky manner!

The hand-bell ringers in the church got a bit alarmed by all the flashing that was going on, and came out to investigate! When they found we weren't vandals, they were very interested in seeing what we'd shot!

Great fun was had by all - and it's a technique we will definitely be trying out another time, putting into practice what we learned on the 13th!

A couple of my efforts are shown below!

Spare time - what's that?

Have had the honour to be invited to assist a very talented wedding photographer.

I have known Maggie McCall (www.maggiemacall.com) for over ten years, and have long admired her portraiture and landscape work. Since her return from New Zealand a couple of years ago, she has been building up her Wedding business - and now needs another assistant. I am "training" with her for the rest of this year - so we can match styles and while it is really exciting - it is also quite nerve-wracking! Fortunately, my camera kit is pretty good - especially the lenses! So - it's technique that needs fine tuning! That's what I will be doing most Saturdays for the next few weeks!

All above shots were taken at the recent Wedding Fayre at Dartington Hall, Devon

Hair cut day!

The tree man eventually got his truck fixed, and arrived to give the trees a haircut. They are looking a bit shorn - but I'm sure they will look great next year! They needed doing, as Mike had difficulty getting around some of them to mow the lawns! Should also be able to see what was planted under some of them - especially the Rhus Cotinus and the Magnolia Soulangeana. Uploaded a snap at last! Hope my lovely sister stops nagging me now?!

Tree Pruning

The tree surgeon was supposed to call today to do the once-every-three years "haircut" on the trees - particularly the Magnolia, which is looking very shaggy! However, he had truck problem - so now it will have to be Wednesday. Hope the weather holds? Will post some snaps then.

Sunrise/sunset

Been out on Dartmoor twice this week (6.00am until 7.30pm) trying to get stunning photos! So far - nil! Heavy, thick cloud along the skyline on both occasions - and on all four outings - meant great disappointments! Lots of mileage - so not very green, I'm afraid! But I shan't give up easily!! Watch this space!

The photo used today is one that I took a while ago. Not Dartmoor, I know - but pretty, isn't it?

Sidmouth Folk Festival

Great day out yesterday, Thursday 4th August. Went to the Sidmouth Folk Festival, with a group of Plymouth Camera Club members. The first time I have attended the Festival - and will certainly go again! Sadly, I didn't have my 'proper' camera with me, as it suffered a bucketful of water thrown at it when I covered a raft race in Bourne, Surrey, recently. Thankfully, the insurance company has agreed to pay up - but not quite up to what the DS LR can do. Here are some of the pix I took on Thursday. More on my Flickr site if you care to visit - http://www.flickr.com/photos/snaphappyann/.

Bells on their toes and hankies at the ready - traditional Morris Men in action.

The black and white 'Pig Dance Molly Dancers' were very, very different - and very, very entertaining!

The lovely weather made the Festival a great success for all.

What's Happened to Hotmail?

For some time now, my 'other' email address - Hotmail - has been playing up. Quite often, people I send an email to don't receive them. I sent an enquiry to their 'Contact Us' facility asking what the problem was - it was ignored! How rude?

Then - out of the blue, and without asking my permission - images I'd posted to my Flickr site suddenly started to appear in a strap across the top of email messages I send. Not very professional especially when sending out a business email.

Come on Hotmail! Don't presume to know best and just do things without first checking whether we - the end user - wants them.

I have now found out how to turn off this "service" - but surely the correct action would have been to ASK first whether this was wanted - and then for the service to be activated - by me - if it was?

Enough of this Big Brother stuff - PLEASE?

If I want to send images to all and sundry - then it has to be MY CHOICE - and not the mighty Microsoft thinking they know best what I want.

There! That's got it off my chest. Well - for the moment!!

Ivybridge Camera Club Outing to Laycock Abbey

As any serious photographer knows, Laycock is the home of photography as this is where the very first negative/positive image was made, by Henry Fox Talbot. And that famous window, subject of the historic photograph, is still there to be seen! Laycock is now owned by the National Trust - but for many years - under pressure from photographers - we have been allowed in with our tripods and flash to record our own version of this window! I first photographed it when I did my GCE 'O' Level, about 20 years ago. This time - I recorded it digitally.

David Rayner organised the whole event for Ivybridge Camera Club, and then volunteered to drive the small coach, with 16 happy club members on board!

Ivybridge Camera Club outing! Dave Rayner third from left. Myself, kneeling at the front.

Dave even managed to arrange the weather! Lovely blue skies, with fluffy white clouds, which obligingly moved across the sun, allowing photography in all lighting conditions! Bravo, Dave!!

Here's a few snaps from the day!

That famous Fox Talbot Window - inside and out!

The Medieval Tythe Barn (left) and Sacristy.

Stone Coffin (left) and interesting light on a doorway.

Underground vaulted ceilings (left) and mysterious Green Door!

Two infrared images. On the left, an Ivy covered window and a peek around the corner

at the Laycock parklands.

The entire village of Laycock and the Abbey is owned by the National Trust, who "rent" it out to production companies for costume dramas. You may have seen the main street featured in Larkrise to Candleford?

To finish - a couple of fun doorstep pictures!

All the images taken for this page were either on a Canon G10 (colour ones) or my first digital SLR, a Canon 10D, which I had converted to Infrared (a passion for me when I used film.)

Blackpool - Part Two

Have resorted to a Part Two as this site didn't like so many images in one Blog!

Blackpool enjoys a marvellous transport system. Buses run into the town centre from all locations about every ten minutes. Trams trundle along the seafront, and out as far as Cleveleys every twenty minutes - and the train service is also very impressive.

The newly refurbished sea frontage makes wonderful photographs - but it was a bit unfortunate that work, especially around the North Pier, is still in progress.

We were too early for the official illuminations - but the new street lighting provided an amazing and colourful light show every evening, co-ordinated to music. The Diving Lady statue and fountains in front of the church also provided some great photographic opportunities when they too were illuminated in the evenings - although the drunken "stags" out in force on a weekend evening were a bit of a pain - especially as they thought doing "moonies" the height of entertainment for the photographers!

A trip to the top of the Tower on an inclement day was fantastic. So much to see and do - from the actual climb up the 185 ft. tower, to the Ballroom where tea-dancing to the famous Wurlitzer organ music never seemed to stop - to the Chinese Circus which were so professional and very, very entertaining.

Well - that's a very quick trip around Blackpool! I will be posting more images to my Flickr site if you're interested. Go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/snaphappyann

Blackpool - An Experience!!

Went to Blackpool on 2nd July (as you do in the summer!!) on a photographic workshop organised by Iain McGowan. Sadly, Iain doesn't have a website, so I can't steer any business his way! 16 enthusiasts foregathered at a small holiday hotel, located at St Ann's and which had certainly seen better days!

On the first night we were treated to a magnificent sunset - and for the few that rushed out to snap it, we were very glad we did, as it never quite happened again over the rest of the week!

The enduring impression of Blackpool was, in fact, the gent who sold el-cheapo watches. Located in a road that runs up from the Central Pier, we were all so impressed by the incredible value (all ex-Argos stock which came complete with a new battery!) that we ended up buying 40 (yes FORTY) for souvenirs, Christmas stocking fillers - or just bling for ourselves!!

There is a Part Two to complete the Blackpool Blog. This software didn't like so many images!

The Tale of the Wandering Mobile Morgans and Well Dressings

On the first day of our Dales holiday, we enjoyed the Morgan Rally in Buxton,

watching the Gymkhana, Pit Stop Challenge and the Concords d'Elegance.

Mid-afternoon, we took off to see a Well Dressing ceremony - which only happens in the Dales during the summer months.

Loads of photos taken - and by 5.00pm, even the mad-snappers had had enough - so we headed back to the cottage for tea and cakes!

That's when I discovered my mobile had gone walk-abouts! I had taken to keeping it in a nifty little padded pouch, which clipped to the belt tags on my jeans.

With a philosophical shrug of the shoulders, I resigned myself to its loss. After all, the phone was a £20 secondhand purchase in Australia three years ago; there was hardly any talk-time left on it - and the neat little pouch had only cost me a quid at Focus on Imaging this year!

A phone call to the service provider blocked the phone and SIM card - so my credit was safe, and a new SIM, with old number, was to be sent to my home address - together with a £20 voucher for a replacement phone! How's that for service? I was MOST impressed!

Would you Adam and Eve it? 24 hours later a phone call from about the only friend back in Devon, who knew we were holidaying in the Dales, rang to ask which of us had lost a mobile!!!

Astonishment isn't a good enough adjective to explain my feelings!

An honest resident of Tideswell, the village where the Well Dressing ceremony had taken place, had found it left on her window ledge. She was able to access the Contacts, stored on the phone, and one of the two or three people she tried to ring happened to be our Devon friend!

So - the foot-loose, fancy-free mobile was returned safely to me - but of course, couldn't be used as it was blocked.

However, on return to Devon on Friday 25th, I was able to get the phone unblocked - inserted the new SIM - and bingo! We were back in business!

Anyone want a £20 voucher towards a Tesco mobile phone? I can highly recommend them as a server!