Chez Spud

Ooooh, I won Tara’s photography competition for my ‘Nature’ entry to her weekly Gallery. I’m chuffed to pieces. Not least because my prize is a luxury organic hamper from chocolate makers extraordinare Green & Blacks.

This was my entry. I will enjoy re-reading it whilst gorging myself to the point of sickness on fine chocolate. YUM!

Ooof I think the themes for Tara’s The Gallery are getting harder not easier. I was so sure this week’s theme ‘nature’ would be a breeze. Drag out a photo or two of some pretty flowers from the archive and be done with it, I thought. But actually none of the flowers were really doing it for me. Instead, it seems I am a tree hugger.

I love the shot above, taken in one shot in the pouring rain after rain stopped play during a trip to Framlingham Castle. The sky blackened, the rain fell in balls not drops…we rounded a corner and I spotted the scene above in the passenger wing mirror. “STOP THE CAR!” I shrieked. Out I dashed and risked camera cardiac arrest in the rain for what is one of my Top 10 favourite shots of mine.

Fast forward 6 months and here I am, yet again, taking moody bleak photos of trees. Actually this was taken at sunset, and it was a glorious red/orange/yellow kind of affair. But by the magic of photo processing I made it look like the End of the World is Nigh. If you listen v…e…r…y carefully you can just hear the clip clop of the Four Horses of the Apocalypse….

Then there was that whole ‘rows of trees in a line’ thing, as above. But here is favourite tree, and this is my favourite shot of it:

I love that shot, it’s up there in my Top 5 photos. Partly I love it because it’s a beautiful scene and I think I managed to capture it, and the processing enhances it. But mostly I love it because the subject, the horse chestnut in the field in front of our house, was the thing that inspired me to take up photography as a hobby. On 15 October 2008 I looked out of our kitchen window and saw the mist hanging in the sunlight of the branches of that tree. I grabbed MrSpud’s ‘big camera’, shoved it on auto, stuck my wellies over my PJs and marched out and snapped the scene. It wasn’t a brilliant shot and I didn’t process it because I didn’t know how. But I loved how it turned out, and how I’d captured a moment.

In that second I was smitten. A hobby and a passion was thrust upon me and I finally got to reclaim a tiny bit of ‘me’ time each day. I wasn’t just ‘being a Mummy’ or working. I was a ‘keen amateur photographer’. There I was…saving myself…one picture at a time.

So this one is my shot for The Gallery. It’s not my best, or my favourite. But it’s the one that started me off and it will always be precious to me for that. Thank you tree mwah mwah xx

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Tara’s theme this week is ‘Playtime’ which is a whole lot easier than previous Gallery themes. A quick trawl through my archive unearthed a million shots of the Megaboys in the park having a ball and yet, curiously, not one of me chewing my own arm off out of boredom. Curious, since that is how I spend pretty much every trip to the swings because….sssshhh….I absolutely HATE the swings and always have done. It’s my least favourite Mummy Chore I think. All that hanging around and ‘look at me!’ and ‘will you push me?’ blah blah. It’s better now that both boys can confidently climb up anything, but in that past there was that boring ‘hovering’ that had to be done in the hope of avoiding a trip to A&E.

A friend of mine with older children described to me, with great glee, the moment when her youngest learnt how to swing without help. She said it was like one of the Great Shackles of Parenthood being lifted from her shoulders. Roll on that day, I say.

I think my lack of love for the park shows in the way I process my swings shot. Kind of moody huh?

But, take me out of the park environment, and Playtime starts to look a whole lot more vibrant!

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Ah, lovely Bea! I shot a Christening on Sunday and here is the younger of the two little misses…Beatrice. Big sister Grace was mostly MUCH too busy for photos.

Poor Bea was awake for most of the night before her special day, full of cold and clearly rather poorly. She was very calm and sweet natured about the whole thing, although there were notably less smiles than usual. Poor baby girl!

Here she is with Mama having a special cuddle post dunking. xx

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I’d love to say this is a photo of my new bike. It isn’t. It’s MrSpud’s bike, mid clean/service/general male tinkering.

We made a 2 hour round trip to be measured and order a bike that the shop told me they could get in in 24 hours. Wrong. They can’t get it any time soon as there aren’t any in the country. So that was nice.

This is the kind of incompetent ‘service’ which turns me in to Victor Meldrew. I knew there was a supply issue which is why I confirmed, and reconfirmed, that they had access to stock. “Yes, we have 17 in stock in our other stores and can get one here for you in 24 hours.” Scream.

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Bertie, Digby and Imo in Colin the Caravan who is looking VERY splendid mid refit. Can’t wait to see him finished!

Kind of 70s, sunshiney processing. Kind of 70s sunshiney kind of day. That is all.

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Ooof I think the themes for Tara’s The Gallery are getting harder not easier. I was so sure this week’s theme ‘nature’ would be a breeze. Drag out a photo or two of some pretty flowers from the archive and be done with it, I thought. But actually none of the flowers were really doing it for me. Instead, it seems I am a tree hugger.

I love the shot above, taken in one shot in the pouring rain after rain stopped play during a trip to Framlingham Castle. The sky blackened, the rain fell in balls not drops…we rounded a corner and I spotted the scene above in the passenger wing mirror. “STOP THE CAR!” I shrieked. Out I dashed and risked camera cardiac arrest in the rain for what is one of my Top 10 favourite shots of mine.

Fast forward 6 months and here I am, yet again, taking moody bleak photos of trees. Actually this was taken at sunset, and it was a glorious red/orange/yellow kind of affair. But by the magic of photo processing I made it look like the End of the World is Nigh. If you listen v…e…r…y carefully you can just hear the clip clop of the Four Horses of the Apocalypse….

Then there was that whole ‘rows of trees in a line’ thing, as above. But here is favourite tree, and this is my favourite shot of it:

I love that shot, it’s up there in my Top 5 photos. Partly I love it because it’s a beautiful scene and I think I managed to capture it, and the processing enhances it. But mostly I love it because the subject, the horse chestnut in the field in front of our house, was the thing that inspired me to take up photography as a hobby. On 15 October 2008 I looked out of our kitchen window and saw the mist hanging in the sunlight of the branches of that tree. I grabbed MrSpud’s ‘big camera’, shoved it on auto, stuck my wellies over my PJs and marched out and snapped the scene. It wasn’t a brilliant shot and I didn’t process it because I didn’t know how. But I loved how it turned out, and how I’d captured a moment.

In that second I was smitten. A hobby and a passion was thrust upon me and I finally got to reclaim a tiny bit of ‘me’ time each day. I wasn’t just ‘being a Mummy’ or working. I was a ‘keen amateur photographer’. There I was…saving myself…one picture at a time.

So this one is my shot for The Gallery. It’s not my best, or my favourite. But it’s the one that started me off and it will always be precious to me for that. Thank you tree mwah mwah xx

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Not a very interesting shot but then it wasn’t a very interesting day….life’s like that of course, and thus so is the Photo365.

I present, a very dull lifebuoy found nestling by our local watermill. Interesting facts about lifebuoys, via Wikipedia:

A lifebuoy, ring buoy, lifering, lifesaver or lifebelt, also known as a “kisby ring” or “perry buoy”, is a life saving buoy designed to be thrown to a person in the water, to provide buoyancy, to prevent drowning. Some modern lifebuoys are fitted with a seawater-activated light, or lights, to aid rescue at night.

The lifebuoy usually is ring-shaped or horseshoe-shaped and has a connecting line allowing the casualty to be pulled to the rescuer. They are carried by ships and are also located beside bodies of water that have the depth or potential to drown someone. They are often subjected to vandalism, which can lead to heavy fines of up to £5000 and/or imprisonment in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as a lack of this essential device has been, in the past, the cause of deaths.

The “kisby ring”, or sometimes “Kisbie ring”, is thought to be named after Thomas Kisbee (b: 1792, d: 1877) who was a British naval officer.

Lifebuoys are not considered suitable by the Royal Life Saving Society for use in swimming pools during emergencies, because they are heavy and hard, whereby throwing them into a crowded pool has the potential to cause more harm than good by injuring either the casualty or nearby pool users. In these locations lifebuoys have been superseded by more modern devices such as the torpedo buoy.

I’d not heard of a ‘kisby ring’ before and certainly didn’t know of its potential to cause more harm than good. I’ve learnt something. So, an uninteresting but educative shot for today. That’ll do.

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It’s pretty monotonous being a stay at home mum. Sometimes I like to shake things up by playing poker with the children in the afternoon. Mostly we play for fun, but sometimes we make it interesting and play for money. We’ve slowly worked through their Child Trust Funds and have made a good start on the Child Benefit too. That’s what it’s for, right?

Here’s Diggy (handle: “Prince of Darkness”) caressing his stash of black chips and pondering his next move.

Later, we used the chips to play shop with. In our shop we sold fags ‘n’ booze. Never let it be said that I lack inventiveness or imagination as a parent. It’s a kind of gift actually…

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Flying (NB birds’ feathers for ‘wings’)

Sliding

Spinning (and very, very nearly vomiting..urgh)

Kicking

But mostly just curly

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We happened upon a fantastic 1953 bus today, randomly parked on a bit of waste land at Portishead marina. Stuff the boats, let’s get snapping the super vintage bus!

At that point A Serious Photographer arrived and offered me a ‘go’ with his Fisheye Lens. I snatched it off him graciously accepted it and, one word, ….LUST!
And not for the Serious Photographer either.

This is really quite bugging as I so must NOT buy photography gear at the moment. Plus, a fisheye has never even been on my radar as a ‘might quite like one’ kind of lens. There are other ‘essential’ (cough) purchases on my list but now the pricey fisheye has zoomed up to the first position. Annoying. Damn that Serious Photographer with his fancy D3 with extra battery grip and super fancy fisheye. Damn him with his friendly nature and willingness to let me have a go. Damn.

On a related note, I get really shy taking photos in front of ‘serious’ photographers. I know you can’t judge a photographer from the fanciness of their camera, but you have to assume £3,000 worth of camera is probably a fairly decent tog. Anyway, I was all fingers and thumbs trying not to look like a total photography flump…all flustered and randomly snapping away like a granny.

Perhaps the fisheye really is just the ‘fun’ or ‘gimicky’ lens I always assumed it was and I was just lucky/unlucky that the first time I tried one I was standing in front of a perfect subject. The bus really lent itself to some cool but not freaky perspectives with the fisheye. It’s a lovely looking vehicle. Here it is in full glory, non fishy style.

Anyway, I’ll add a fisheye lens to my mental list of ‘needs & wants’ which also currently includes a swimming pond. I definitely need AND want one of those. The needing and wanting actually kept me awake last night such is the strength of my lust.

Oh! Imagine a shot of the swimming pond taken WITH the fisheye lens? Beauty. See, I now NEED and not just want both. Job done.

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