Third Day - St Ives and St Michael's Mount at Sunrise and Cott Valley

Dashed off at dawn to "get" a sunrise!  But the sun was sulking!  We did our best though!

Sun rising to the left - and the tide was in.  Not ideal.

Turn your back to St Michael's Mount - and you got a lovely reflected sunrise over Penzance.

Next stop - St Ives.  Tide receded as the day wore on and we enjoyed exploring the town.

St Ives Harbour at low tide.

Looking towards the town from the harbout.

Enjoying the sunshine on the harbour wall.

The view towards Hayle Towans.

Next stop - Cott Valley.  Renowned for its large, smooth, round boulders.  We wanted to get there before the tide rose and covered the small beach.

View to the Brissons from the small beach at low tide.

Inward rushing tide - waves still huge.

We stayed until sunset - at about 7.45pm.

The sun setting behind the Brissons.  Shooting into the light resulted in a bit of flare.

After the sun had set - a subtle afterglow.
The sea looks calm - but this was because of the long exposure which smoothed it out!

Cornwall Holiday - Second Day - Godrevy Beach

As the waves receded, we were able to get onto a bit of beach where we found some lovely patterns in the sand.

Abandoned pebble #1

Abandoned pebble #2

Abandoned pebble #3

Abandoned pebble #4

All washed up!

Abandoned seaweed #1

Abandoned seaweed #2

Abandoned seaweed #3

Moral?  Don't just look up - look down as well for some nice surprises!

Cornwall Holiday - Second Day - Godrevy Lighthouse- still in a gale!

Rose early to try for a sunrise - but the weather gods weren't being kind!  Instead, we headed over to Godrevy Lighthouse, a well-photographed landmark and were rewarded by stormy seas crashing against the foreground rocks and around the lighthouse itself.

Godrevy lighthouse from Hayle Towans

Approaching the rocky outcrop

Godrevy lighthouse from the beach

Another view to Godrevy Lighthouse from the beach

Tide receding . . .

. . . but still very rough seas.

Cornwall Holiday - Second Day - Botallack Mines - still in a gale!

Later in the day, we headed over to the Crowns at Botallack Mines near St Just.  Raging seas and very windy.  A real fight to keep the tripods steady.

The view that greeted us.

Same view - different orientation.

Looking back from the cliff-side mines - to the view of the mines in general.  Note the figure to give scale to the chimney!

Taken in the dark (hence the blue colour cast) and the mines painted with torchlight. Should have done it again  for longer, but we were getting cold by now - and had to stumble up the hill in the dark!

Same image as above - but "improved" on the computer!

More to follow - but must do some gardening now!!

Cornwall Holiday - First Day - Sennen in a gale!

Not long back from a week on the Penwith Peninsula based at Sennen.  Arrived on Sunday 11th September.  Very strong gales - the tale end of the New York hurricane, we think!  After a quick bite to eat, we dashed down to the village of Sennen to see what was happening!  You will see from the photos what we found!!

Very big seas crashing over the jetty at Sennen Cove

Viewed from the harbour.

Another harbour view

The jetty

Looking straight down the jetty.

A lovely afterglow as the day came to an end.

Demob happy!!

No pix to show you at the moment - but hopefully, next week should see a plethora!

I'm off to Cornwall with two friends for a week's pure indulgence!  Nothing but photography!

The NY hurricane is threatening to blow us off the cliff tops - but the rain doesn't seem to be too much of a problem!  From Tuesday, things are definitely looking good!

Watch this space for updates from the 19th September!!

Byeee!!!

Plymouth Fireworks competition August 2011

Each year, Plymouth hosts the National Fireworks Championships - a real feast for photographers.  This year, I went on both nights.  On the first night - I used my new acquisition - the Canon EOS 5D11 - which I bought to do weddings.  Not very easy to use - and it took me all of the first competition to try to suss the technique.

Not the most exciting image!

Not much better!

The second night, I opted to use my little Canon G10 compact camera.  Used it last year when my 'proper' camera was being repaired, and was amazed at what it did!  It didn't disappoint me this year!  Have to admit, thought, it did look a bit daft perched on top of my bloomin' big tripod!!

So easy!!

  

Much sharper!

Loads more images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/snaphappyann/

Sidmouth Folk Festival - 2011

Last Sunday saw three of us visit the Sidmouth Folk Festival - the second year running for me.
As ever - a really good day out with lots of photography.  The best thing is that people are not at all camera shy - and in fact, revel in having a camera poked in their face!

One of the Morris dancers.

So typical of the happy-to-be-photographed faces!

Some wacky headgear to be seen!

Here's another one!

Scary dancers in action!  Bet some kids had nightmares that night!

Charming little girl taking it all in!

A scary dancer taking a break!

Lots more images have been posted on my Flickr site if you want to see them.  

Go to   -  http://www.flickr.com/photos/snaphappyann/

Foxy Lady

I was recently asked to photograph a friends mare, which is up for sale.  She wanted some "special" pictures as a memento - and I was privileged to be asked to take the photos.

Meet Foxy.  Five years old, and with perfect manners and disposition.  She will make someone a really wonderful ride.

The glorious Foxy!

Without her bridle - and perfectly behaved!

Showing off her conformation . . . 

. . . .  and her gait.

With her young rider on board.

It's not as easy as you might think, taking pictures of a horse - which is for sale!  You need to show off all its best features - and when they move - it is really important to have the legs in the right order!!  The left foreleg has to lead, with the left hind in just the right place - and the opposing legs have to demonstrate that the hind hoof is slotting into the place left by the off side front!  And then there's the rider's legs!!  But we won't go there!

Suffice to say, we'll be having another go to get all the legs 'just right'!!