Zoom In Zoom Out

Today I'm joining in with Helena's Creative Maven with my 

Zoom In Zoom Out photographs.

As I am getting older the feeling that time is passing quicker than I would like seems to be getting stronger and with the new year now well under way I thought I would share the picture of my kitchen clock 

with it's swinging pendulum

New Year - New Start

A new year and a new start, that is what 2014 heralds for my photography.

I don't want to dwell on the lack of posts and photos on this blog but to look forward to what this year will bring.

What can I learn?

What can I achieve?

On the learning front I have signed up for

Cheryl Mccain's Frugal Still Life Photographer 

8 week on line course

to find out more pop over and take a look as there is still time to join in.

I'm still taking part in Picture This over on Facebook 

the idea this year is to post photographs every two weeks with the theme being letters of the alphabet to be interpreted in any form starting from today with the letter 

A

And this year I'm joining in with Zoom In Zoom Out which is a weekly meme organised by

Helena's Creative Maven

But my first photograph of the year is an old one as I am joining in with Carolyn Jane over at Mess, Muddle and Fun for Messy Little Details. Looking back through my archives I spotted this photo I'd taken of my eldest son when I first got my DSLR I love the depth of field and the detail in his feet as well as the way he seems so relaxed and unaware of the camera.

August Scavenger Hunt

I have been absolutely rubbish at taking part in the scavenger hunt over the past few months so am giving myself a kick up the bum!

Here is the list for August from Made with Love pop over to her blog to see some of the amazing photos that have been taken in July.

August's Scavenger Hunt List

Brown,
10,
Windows,
Petrol Station,
Boats,
Framed,
Chopsticks,
Transport,
Playing,
Fantasy,
Sharp,
Post Card


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

confused about google reader.......

....are you as confused as I am about google reader disappearing tomorrow???

I've read lots of different blog posts, articles and more about what I should or shouldn't do before tomorrow and I'm still none the wiser.

I use the blogger dashboard on my mac to read your posts and I use the feeddler app on my iPhone and iPad to read them when I'm away from the computer.

From what I had read the loss of google reader wouldn't affect me but when I opened feedler this morning I received a warning notice.

I've read some more articles and seen some more blogposts and have decided to use feedly to read your blog posts on my mac, iPhone and iPad.

I'm still not sure how it is all going to affect us tomorrow but at least I will be able to see what you are all up to.

Joining Feedly and transferring all my blogs over was super easy - just a click of a button and there you all were.

As for following me well that is something I'm not sure about, I have heard rumours that Google Friends Connect either doesn't work or will being heading the same way as google reader very shortly but it appears that you if you too transfer your blog list over to feedly or bloglovin you should still be able to see my posts, alternatively you can subscribe by email.

Thanks for reading this slightly confusing post by a very confused blogger........

I Like to Eat.....

....school mash


I bought an ice cream scoop because Paul said he wanted old fashioned school mash, I couldn't resist a photo opportunity.


And the delicious onion gravy to go with them.

I Like to Eat.......

For breakfast the other day Paul asked me if I would like a bagel, "yes please" I said "with jam".
This is what I got!


Even after scraping off some jam I still couldn't decide if it was a bagel with jam or jam with bagel.


What do you think?

I Like to Eat......Indian

This evening we headed out to one of our local Indian restaurants in celebration of Father's Day. Being the Mum of two teenagers just breathing in their company can cause embarrassment so imagine their horror when I started photographing my food in the restaurant! Unfortunately, this did mean that I had to put away my iPhone and just enjoy my meal. So here is a picture of my chicken chat starter.


I used one of the effects on camera plus, (I haven't really used them) this one is called Miniaturize.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

I Like to Eat....

Paul normally makes the sandwiches in our house especially since he retired! So as today is Father's Day I thought I would give him the day off and this also meant i could take some pictures of what I was making.

A very tasty chicken salad sandwich.


Refreshing cucumber slices


Juicy tomatoes


Inside the mayonnaise jar.


And crinkly crisps


A very scrummy lunch if the empty plates are anything to go by and later we are off out for a Father's Day Indian Nom! Nom!

All these photographs were taken with my iphone 5 using the 'camera plus' app

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A new challenge

In a bid to get my mojo back I have joined in a new weekly facebook challenge, each week Joy from Picture This sets a theme, this weeks theme is "I Like To Eat....
My photographs will be a combination of dslr and iPhone but I am going to try a bit more with my dslr as it is so easy to just grab the iPhone and snap away!
I'm going for a close up theme of food where I can so here we have


Spaghetti bolognese


Technically I don't eat this but Paul's canaries seem to like it - soak seed!


And finally some Penne Pasta

So it's a start and I'm hoping to get back in the habit of blogging regularly too!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Green Day

Well I seem to have gone into hibernation mode during this cold spell which is doing nothing for my aim of getting out and taking more photos!!! Especially when I have managed to put on enough clothes so that I can't feel the cold, the photos that I have taken have not come out as sharp as I would have liked...

It's desperately trying to snow here today in Essex, Paul and I consoled ourselves this morning with a nice hearty full cooked breakfast at the local American diner, unfortunately it has left me feeling like doing absolutely nothing for the rest of the day, so before I forget that it is actually Friday I thought I would share a photo with you for Green Day.

I took my camera with me on the school run the other morning and took a quick detour into the park after dropping off Tomas. I liked the way the light is captured on one side of the trees and the snow on the other.

So I am linking in with GREEN DAY over at Raindrops and Daisies. Pop over and taken a look at all the other Green Day photos.

2013 - a new start!

I have been neglecting my blog again as well as my photography, but it's a new year and that means a new start. Here are just some of the challenges that I am going to be taking part in and blogging about this year.

Firstly, A Kitten Called Betty, this is a facebook challenge group with monthly themes, I'm one of the admins on the page so if you would like to take part then just give me a shout, we would love some new members!

Our themes for January are

I will be posting these photos as and when I take them.

Secondly, another facebook challenge, but this time a weekly one, hosted by Ingrid Owens of Camera Shy is called Take 52.

The theme for this week is Celebration.

And thirdly, like most of you I have been missing Kath from Postcards from the PP's scavenger hunt but another one has popped up in it's place hosted by Made With Love (greenthumb). This is a monthly challenge with photos being posted at the end of the month and linked to the Made With Love blog. The themes for this month are

January's List

Cold

Warm

Sign

Food

12

Produce

Blue

Mailbox

A View

Reflection

A Statue

Door

The final one is Green Day over at Raindrops and Daisies, This is one I struggle with most as I keep forgetting it's Friday!!! but I will try harder this year. The idea with this one is you take a photo of something green, doesn't have to be literal, and then you blog about it and link up to the Raindrops and Daisies blogpost each Friday.

Phew! that lot should keep me busy, if you're wondering how on earth I remember all those different things will I take a picture of each list on my camera and keep them on there for the month that way when I'm out about with my camera I always have my list to hand.

If you would like to join in any of these photo challenge then just use to links to take you to each page and get snapping.

A Kitten Called Betty - October Challenge - Shades of Autumn

We're almost at the end of October and I haven't posted any photos from the October challenge over at A Kitten Called Betty

The theme for October was Shades of Autumn and here are my photos

I made this squishy squashy fabric pumpkins 

(you can see more of my makes over at my other blog Mad About Bags

I have seen some great ideas about photographing leaves on the internet so here are some that I found in the garden.

I stuck this leaf onto the window of my car to get these shots.

The pyracantha bushes are full  of bright orange berries at the moment.

My youngest has just started school and I take my camera with me some afternoons on the walk up to school I couldn't resist these bright red rose hip berries.

And I love the contrast of the purple and red berries in this shot.

The one good thing about the damp weather is the fungi, I spied these "fun guys" on a log in my garden.

I rotated this photo to give it a different perspective, this fungi was growing out of the side of another log in my garden, so this is looking down the side of the log but rotated.

We have this tree in the garden that has the most wonderful colours in autumn everything from yellow through green to the brightest red. Each year I try to get a different shot of the leaves.

you can see last years photo here

I have some macro rings which I decided to play with one rainy and foggy morning, I still have lots to learn about them and getting the focus right in macro but it did produce some great shots or the raindrops on the spiders webs.

And finally, whilst on a trip to our local country park to feed the ducks I spied these fabulous orange toadstools, I'm convinced there must be fairies living under them.

the ducks didn't seem very interested in our haul of bread, too well fed I'm afraid) but the seagulls were happy to fight over the pickings.

There will be a new challenge posted very soon for November if you would like to join in this facebook group please leave a comment below.

GREEN DAY (link up)

I've seen this link up on several other sites but haven't had time got my bum in gear to post any photos myself until today....

so here is my photo linking up with GREEN DAY 19 

over at 

Raindrops and Daises

If you fancy playing along here are the rules taken from Raindrops and Daises' blog

The object of the link up

is to post a photograph of something green.

The photos can be of anything you like

once they have a green theme,

green fields, pretty green things, green clothes, 
green leaves, green foods,

anything at all that takes your fancy!
I hope that you will join in the fun.

the boring bit...

1.   Please do not post anything that may be deemed offensive to others.

2.   Only post material that belongs to you.

3.   Please link back to Raindrops and Daisies

4.   Link directly to your Green Day post and not to the url of your blog

5.   Please visit some of the other participants and leave a comment

A Kitten Called Betty - Monthly Photo Challenge

The monthly photo challenge over on the facebook page 

A KITTEN CALLED BETTY 

has a new them for the month of September

Here are my fist two photos :

I took this shot as we were travelling home from Wales on the 1st day of September and love the way the long exposure has created a pattern with the lights.

I couldn't resist  the bold yellow and black stripes on this old diesel train.

If you would like to join in with this month's challenge then leave a comment below and I will send you an invite to the group.

A Kitten Called Betty - Nature

A few days ago we spent the day in the garden and I was able to take a couple of photos of some of the flowers before we started the hard graft.. It's mostly greenery in our garden, which always means lots of pruning. I have been know to get a bit carried away with the secateurs and yesterday was no exception, we even roped all the kids in as there was so much debris from the hedge/tree!

 Anyhow, this next photo did make me chuckle and my husband Paul came up with the caption!

Fifty Shades Of Purple!!!

There has been rumours that I pruned this with my nail scissors but this is all mother nature's work!!!

I love the delicate stamens on these yellow flowers and managed to capture this hover fly waiting to be seated at the dinner table!!

We spent a lovely day at a local country park with friends recently, the sun shone (until the rain came!) and the kids were able to get the kites out and make the most of the breezy day. So this is my interpretation of one of Mother Nature's invisible wonders - The wind.

A Kitten Called Betty - Nature

I didn't think I'd get an opportunity to take many photos yesterday as we had several hours of rain but by late afternoon it had dried up and I decided to take my camera up onto the lane outside our house to see if I could photograph the thistles. My youngest was with me and he pointed out several bees buzzing around collecting pollen from the thistle flower heads and I managed to capture these shots. It was definitely a case just snapping away as once the bees decided to move it was very hard to keep up with them.

We're off the the park today so I'm hoping to capture some more nature shots as well as the kids playing.

Have a lovely day where ever you are.