Royal colours - # 72/2011

Here's a bit of fun that's been around for a few years, but I've only just noticed it!!  Look up, People!! Look up!!!!


On the lamp posts at Ham Gate, entering Richmond Park, they have placed these delightful little royal crowns, sitting on their sweet little tassled cushions.  I've loaded the picture in a large(ish) size, so do click on it and enjoy the details in the crown and cushion.  By the way, I think the gas lamp is never switched off. Who remembers gas lamps? 

Crossing over (Transition from Winter to Spring) - 3 - # 38/2011

January 31st, late afternoon, view from the Kitchen Garden, Ham House, looking West.  For once the sun had shone and the sky had been a beautiful soft blue all day, with a whisp of cloud. The low sun cast a pinkish orange glow and the whispy clouds and the remnants of blue did the rest.  The temperature was mild - unusually mild for the time of year.

Converging lines - # 114/10

Blizards and closed airports and out-of-position airliners permitting, I'm off to stay for a while in the Sultanate of Oman.

So, I'll leave you with this puzzling abstract taken in the old "meat cellar" in Ham House.  It seems that they did need a lot of meat.

Depending how things go I may treat you to a few "Muscat Moments" while I'm away.

Teddington Lock - Autumn sunshine - # 94/10

Who can resist capturing the intense golden light as the sun sets on Teddington Lock?

Towards Richmond Park - # 91/10

Looking from Melancholy Walk, beside Ham House, across the Ham Polo ground towards the west facing escarpment of Richmond Park - Autumn.

Bullrushes - # 87/10

Ham Common Pond - Autumn.

The Mandarins are back - # 86/10

We are still lurking around Ham Common Pond, because it's close and very attractive at this time.  This pair of Mandarins recently appeared.  A pair (most likely the same pair) have appeared for about three years running, but never stayed to make a nest. They obviously like the area but something isn't "just right".

See how the male is so magnificent and the female is relatively hard to see and so dull and well camoflaged.

I did not have a telephoto lens mounted, so the quality is a bit scratchy. I've cropped this and heavilly enlarged the fragment using Genuine Fractals.  The original was taken at 70mm (35mm equivalent) at f6.3 ISO800 1/30th sec on an Olympus 14-35mm f2.0.

Four trees with two figures - # 85/10

These days I'm forced to find "a good photo" in the near vicinity and work with what's available when I'm available. That makes you look harder and try to see things in a certain way, or style.

So, everything here is as carefully crafted as I could make it: the perspective, the grouping, the tones, the scene, the shadows, the exposure etc.  But to begin with I saw it and thought "That looks nice. I wonder what I can do with it".  For you it might not work, but for me it's approaching the quality of what I call a "gut wrenching" B&W.  It's not quite there, but near enough and it's all I've got time for at the moment.

After school - # 84/10

Relaxing on the way home from school, enjoying the last superb days of October before November comes.

Emerging green - # 82/10

Softly defocused, the impression is enhanced.  Holly will become green for Christmas, but now its going through delicate ivory, gorgeous pink and deep green stages.

The other side of the wall - # 81/10

Step through the gate and you move from yesterday's east facing B&W image of shadows to the west side of the wall, moving from the formal garden of Ham House to the delightful and fully used Kitchen Garden, where vegetables for the restaurant are grown.

Shadow play - # 80/10

Late Autumn sunshine, fallen chestnuts, old walls, gravel avenues and ancient trees.

Two more Sultans - # 79/10

Let's enjoy another close crop of some more musicians in the Great River Race 2010 band - this time as a high(ish) key B&W. I've just cropped it out of the large photo of the whole band and converted it to B&W.  In this crop I'm also looking with some amazement at the sound system and the number of microphones and where they are.

Sultans of Swing - # 78/10

Do you remember the Dire Straits song about the pro-am band The Sultans of Swing and the line ".....he's alright, he's got a daytime job."?

Here's an extreme close-up crop, homed-in on two of the excellent jazz/swing musicians playing at the landing of the Great River Race.  They were good, and swinging along well. But look at the concentration.

First sight of Autumn 4 - # 77/10

A couple of years ago the The Arcadia Project within the Thames Landscape Strategy restored the 17th C Great South Avenue leading from Ham Common up to Ham House. The House lies at the very, very extreme end of the photo, about a mile (maybe less; but almost) away.

The young replacement saplings have suddenly turned brown, from one day to the next.

As you can see, RuT is, for a while at least, returning to basics, and simple things.  This is still the best I can do under the cirumstances. The more exotic images I was once striving to achieve will have to wait until the consequences of the fall on the ice last December, have totally cleared up.

First sight of Autumn 3 - # 75/10

The heavy rains of a wet Summer have eroded the bank leaving interesting root patterns. Man must now work hard to repair the damage Nature has done.

Nicer than yesterday's - # 74/10

On reflection, this is the one I should have chosen yesterday.  Same impressions, but a better expression?

First sight of Autumn 2 - # 73/10

Walking across Ham Common I was attracted to the appearance of the water under the willows, the reflections, the shadows and the knarly exposed roots on the eroded bank. The willow leaves have not yet turned brown.  The green reflection in the water was startling. The camera has captured it quite well.

First sight of Autumn - # 72/10

It's late September and late afternoon but there is still light streaming from the overcast sky. The curving path across the meadow of Petersham Copse catches my eye and I'm struck by the  fact that the grass alongside the path is so green.  The curve of the path and the gentle coluring seemed worth a photo: nothing monumental, but it catches the flavour of the season and the area we live in. 

A dog's life - # 71/10

The Great River Race last Saturday offered many amusing scenes. The kayak was not a numbered competitor, but accompanied the race with the Yorkshire Terrier nicely tucked into the basket.  In the background is a modern racing version of the Pacific Island outrigger canoe.

The interaction between man and animals has always fascinated me.  It seems that we all love to keep domestic pets and they love to be with us. My only complaint today is that I wish the badgers did not love to be in my garden, playing their annual seasonal game of "who can dig the biggest pit to undermine the fence posts."  They dig under my fence to get into the neighbour's garden where they dig up his lawn. I'm lucky that my lawn is so poor that it lacks juicy grubs which the badgers are hunting for.