Tree Love

Its no secret, I love to walk in the woods or forest, anywhere that has lots of trees. Its the combination of the light, the colours, the smell and just how damn cool they are.  They give off a wonderful vibe, maybe its all that oxygen they’re pumping out that goes to my head – who knows. They also mute the rest of the…

Kent

As regular readers would probably recall, I grew up in Kent (south east England) and it’s still a very special place for me, especially in the summer. You see, I had great summers in Kent. As a kid, we had endless hot summers, playing in the garden to the smell of freshly cut grass. As a teenager, I had more freedom and I remember…

Holidays, part 7 – kids

And so it was time to take the kids back home so they had time to unwind before school started.  This is the bit that’s hard – that still having fun but knowing that its almost time to go bit.  Still – have fun we did and Ruth cooked us all a lovely late lunch/early tea as we played in the last of the…

Holidays, part 6 – mini golf, mini trains, castles and trees

We had almost come to the end of the holidays and there were so many fun things still to be done.  I decided to go see what one of the locals parks had to offer as I’d heard it had been done up since I was last there.  And done up it had been – lots of new play equipment, remodelling and the two…

Holidays, part 5 – flying lessons

My daughter Ella is very special.  Well, I would say that, wouldn’t I? She also has a somewhat ‘relaxed’ relationship with gravity.  As a ballet dancer, that’s a pretty helpful talent to have.  She can jump and spring like a mountain gazelle. There’s something else she can do. Fly.

Holidays, part 4 – Bluebell Railway

100 years ago, England was criss crossed with railway lines.  Small towns and villages were all connected with quaint single track upon which steam trains chuffed their merry way about, ferrying passengers in their wooden well appointed carriages.  Sadly, the second world war meant that the upkeep of a lot of the track and rolling stock fell far behind, and budget cuts meant that…

nifty fifty

Its been way too long since I used the 50 mil and I’ve kinda forgotten how to get the most out of it.  Its sharp, somewhat slow to focus and has a wonderful depth of field – perfect for making stuff look out of focus.  Its the best lens for portraits – set it to f4 and it’s tack sharp – provided you have…

flowers

The one good thing about my little LX5 (yes, I’m still harping on about it) is that it has a macro capability, plus you can set it to different aspects on the camera (square, landscape etc) – which is pretty handy for composing flower type pictures. I’m not really that into taking shots of flowers – they’re pretty enough and close up, they can…

Holidays, part 3 – Groombridge Place

Groombridge Place (http://www.groombridge.co.uk) is only 30 mins drive from my parents house.  I’ve been there before about 4 years ago with Ella, not that she remembers really, just snippets here and there.  It’s a pretty cool place – an old moated English country house and beautiful gardens that also has an adventure playground and an ‘enchanted forest’ walk for children.   Good enough to keep…

Holidays, part 1 – Perth to England

So, after a full days work, I hastily packed up and went to the airport to catch the midnight flight, the first leg of my journey, to Hong Kong. Sadly, Cathay Pacific’s maintenance crews in Hong Kong had forgotten to file some paperwork, so we sat for 2 hours whilst the captain sent several rockets to obtain this before we could depart.  2 hours…