Abstract Jersey

I went to Jersey for a couple of days the other month with work. The distance between hotel and office was walk-able, and the weather good, so I decided to leave slightly early and amble.

Along the way I noticed this pair of houses, looking almost symmetric, with a massive gas container thing pretty much in their back gardens.

Must be a nice view - from one window the busy A7, from the other a hulking metal shell full of something flammable. Here it is from the air.

Sony DSC-T200                  

Creepy

I was out doing a bit of tidying in the garden the other weekend - just cutting back all this year's growth rather than doing anything amazing with an herbaceous border or installing a shrubbery (OK so that's two links for shrubberies. Sorry. I did look for something amusing on herbaceous borders but am easily distracted).

There is a bramble on the lane behind my garden, which keeps trying to loop its way over the fence and find an extra foothold. As I was battling with it I noticed another plant that seemed to be thriving by winding and tangling itself around the bramble and pretty much everything nearby. The shapes and patterns made by this plant are quite interesting to look at as it really does wriggle around to cling on to whatever its near.

This observation resulted in some more macro shots (I'll try to photograph something full-scale soon, promise).

The plant could be some kind of creeper, hence the title of this post, but I really have no idea.

 

Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR
1/160sec, f/9                                                  1/125sec, f/16

Rope Light

I have a rope light strung up along the handrail of the stairs in my house. It looks pretty cool when it is switched on, but that tends to be only for parties - most of the time it just sits there not doing much but collecting dust.

The other night I had the lights on while taking photos of moths - seen in the background of the first picture in last week's Creatures Of The Night post - and wondered what the rope might look like on its own. Here are a couple of shots from my experiment.

 

Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR
1/200sec, f/7.1                                               1/80 sec, f/8

Splash (staged attempt)

My last post about trying to capture a rain drop as it hit the ground reminded me of a similar shot I got a couple of years ago. I had just got my first digital SLR and was playing around - so this shot was staged in a pan in the kitchen sink with the tap dripping constantly. I think I only took ten or so attempts to get this one and it turned out lovely. That time I did pop the flash so froze the action completely.

Nikon 18-70mm at 70mm, 1/500sec, f/16, flash

Boat Jumble

While walking along the beach/harbour front in St. Ives, Cornwall I spotted this pile of upturned boats and the mixture of colours and weathered textures caught my eye.

Nikon 12-24mm at 16mm, 1/400sec, f/8

Eden Project - Flora

You may have wondered from the last two posts why I went all the way to the Eden Project - basically a glorified garden - and, up until now, only posted pictures of the architecture. Truth is I actually found that more interesting.

While I enjoy flowers and plants for their aesthetic qualities, I don't hold much interest for learning their names or for spending too much time growing and nurturing them. I do like a nice tidy looking garden, and have spent some time mucking around in my own, but I would much prefer for it to handle itself.

I didn't completely ignore the flora at Eden though. Here are my favourite shots from the day out - an orange flower (see, no idea what its called and no qualms about that), an Arum Lily (my absolute favourite photo from the day) and a fern leaf.

As usual, click the thumbnails for a larger version of each.

Eden Project - Inside

A couple of shots from inside the Eden Project buildings. First, inside one of the biomes, and secondly, inside the Core Centre.

 

Eden Project - Outside

The Eden Project in Cornwall is on the site of an old quarry. Back in 1998 it really was just the remnants of the quarry - an open pit devoid of anything but mud and stagnant water. By 2001 the pit had been transformed into a lush valley full of plants and two odd looking structures called the biomes.

The biomes are huge, bubble-looking things that are fully climate controlled in order to create an environment suitable for the plants inside. One biome is full of Mediterranean flora, and the other is much hotter and more humid, containing what could literally be called a jungle.

Below are some photos of the biomes, showing their construction and just how large they are.

Can you tell what it is yet?

Another item seen during my trip to Sweden this week. It's probably not too hard to tell what it is, but I'm going to keep schtum anyway. A small bit of intrigue for a sunny May weekend. I probably would never have taken a picture of this, but I was a little tipsy and I noticed the shadow, which interested me enough to get this close.

Pixel Peeping

Some people like to analyse pictures a bit too far, expanding the image beyond 100% so that they can look at individual pixels and complain about some small problem. I prefer to see the whole picture, rather than zoom in on a small part of it though.

For those who do like looking at pixels, here are some - a shot of some text on a white background on my monitor using a macro lens. Each pixel on the screen is made up of a red, a green and a blue element, and this shot shows that pretty well.

Nikon 105mm Micro at f9, 1/160sec, ISO1000

Under Lambeth Bridge

The underside of Lambeth Bridge. Another photo taken with the Nokia - the only changes being brightness and contrast, a vertical flip and cropping - the weird effect was created by the camera itself trying to compensate for the low light, but it kinda works.

Clouds and Glass

A reflection of clouds on a glass office block. Taken with my Nokia phone on the way to work one morning last week.

Light graffiti

Graffiti on a light in a footpath tunnel on one of Milton Keynes' Redways

Nikon 60mm, f6.3, 1/350sec, ISO-800

The Light

A photo of the light above my desk. Edited a little to darken the shade, bring out the elements of the bulb and convert to black and white.

Sigma 30mm, f8, 1/320sec