The look of Hanoverian England - # 141/2011

Marble Hill House - classic 18th C England.  Night shot. 
 http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/marble-hill-house/

Camolflage lesson - # 138/2011

Nothing posted for a week: busy etc.

Yesterday I snatched a chance to walk deeper into one of the more densely wooded areas of Richmond Park to see who was hiding there.

The rut is over, and the stags are once again gathered in peaceful groups of "All Boys together".  Fighting? What? Us? Never! We're mates!

I almost walked past this quiet group hunkered down in the bracken, their antlers looking exactly like the fallen tree branches, and their coats the same colour as the Autumn vegetation.   

Twickenham riverside with nice sky -# 134/2011

Just a nice standard "City Daily Photo".

Sunlight through trees - # 132/2011

I know it's hackneyed - everybody does one at this time. But it's nice to see. The sun cutting through the trees on a brilliant Autumn afternoon in Richmond Park: no shafts of light created by mist or smoke, or points of light created by using a very small aperture, but pleasant shadows.

Richmond Bridge - # 125/2011

.......a nice B&W of Richmond Bridge.

Junk - # 124/2011

We're still at Richmond Palace. I hope you enjoyed discovering the comment about the 16th C flushing toilets in the wiki notes.


I chose this rather harsh looking treatment for the B&W photo because I wanted to enhance the texture of the ancient brickwork - which is also why I took the photo.  You can clearly see remnants of the very old structure (filled in arches).  I guess that what we are seeing here are windows put in during a late 17th or early 18th C development.  I also notice that a car roof has sneaked in.......arrrrgghh!!!  The grey overcast weather (cloudy but surprisingly warm) was ideal for B&W photography.

Richmond Palace 1501 - # 123/2011

At long last I'm feeling like getting out a about again, fit enough to walk about more and carry the dreaded "heavy camera". I can take very nice photos with the "little camera", but the "big one" gives me more exercise.


So it's time to get back to trying to show some more of Richmond and try it in B&W. Here's Richmond Palace - it's very old...............but not much of it is left: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Palace .


I chose this shot because it's got a figure in it.  Nobody came along when I was taking some slightly better angles, and although I don't "do" people I felt that the archway needed a figure. These days the acursed car cannot be avoided and is too hard to clone out.


Be warned - more B&Ws (as opposed to BMWs) are on the way.

Your table awaits - # 121/2011

Those who live in the London area will know that we have had exceptionally warm, sunny weather for the last several days (also some abnormally cloudy and nasty weather, too). Sun in September is normal, cloud is not normal, but temperatures of 28 degrees C are highly unusual and absolutely delightful!  Delightful, too, is this little scene on a cafe-barge moored beside the bank at Richmond. Hot, sunny, and overall, very, very nice indeed.


  

Park hues - # 118/2011

Still at Pen Ponds, but looking at the colours that appear in the water and the surroundings. This spot didplays a million changes of mood.

Oh dear - # 106/2011

Oh dear! The tide is out and the muddy bank presents this weird image. Who or what is under the umbrella?  Did they sink down into the mud? 

Lamp light at Richmond Lock - # 105/2011

Night falls and the lamps at Richmond Lock light up.

Slack water - # 104/2011

Slack water - that period when the tide is neither flowing in nor out. The water becomes calm and the lighting effect becomes special.  The setting sun begins to flood the sky with remarkable colours that change by the minute. For about 20 minutes every photo will be different. The air is still. The scene holds its breath waiting for the night.

Night fall at Richmond Lock - ~ 103/2011

It's the time of year when night photography is getting interesting again thanks to the earlier hour and the rewarding bursts of colour in the sky.  I missed the sky. Was using a fixed focus lens, but my companion, using a lens with a wider angle got a similar but far better shot which included a magnificent red sky.

Anyway, as the lights come on, the lock head watch house takes on a magical appearance.

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? 

Three coloured umbrellas - # 71/2011

Lunch time colour - # 70/2011

Enlarge it.  You can actually count the little half moon bites in the sandwich.

Saturated colour - # 69/2011

We're back in Richmond.  Who says the UK doesn't "do" colour?

Another one - 54/2011

I'm not going to bore you with endless naff shots of Spring flowers.  Unless something really super materialises, this narcissus will be the last one.  But, it is indeed wonderful to be enjoying a very pleasant Spring.  It's mild, the sun is shining: dare we hope that this will be an end to three years in a row of very bad doses of "eternal grey cloud". (At least that's how it has seemed to me).

The Go-Faster Tulip - 53/2011

Spring!  I started a few weeks ago by announcing a little series aimed at showing the transition from Winter to Spring.  Suddenly Spring is here! It is magnificently manifest in the "go-faster" red stripes of this tulip which survived the attacks launched by slugs in February. 

Winter colour pallette - # 47/2011

Some mud, some leaf compost, water to reflect clouds and sky, damp grass, waiting for warm sun to liven it up. Some grey, some blue, some green, brown, yellow and tones in between.