The Edge - # 09/123

On the edge of London there is Kingston and on the edge of Kingston is Esher. On the edge of Esher there are great hills of sand, washed out millions of years ago from the edge of the Great Ice Cap when it stopped at the northern edge of London.

At the edge of the sand hills there is a steep vertical cliff; a true "edge" where unwary travellers could fall perhaps 20 meters or more down in the night time darkness.

At the foot of the edge is the River Mole. This photo was taken on the edge of the river bank.

The water reflected the light from the totally grey cloud-covered sky, but the picture was difficult as I worked at the edge of the light.

Camera: Olympus E3. ISO 200. Lens 100mm. Aperture f8.0. Shutter 1/10th second

English Grapes - # 09/122

The grapes are doing nicely in the garden at Ham House. So the excessively cloudy weather cannot have been totally bad.

Shadow - # 09/121

Those commenting on yesterday's photo rightly reminded me that certain parts of Europe have suffered from extreme heat. So, here's something that might help to calm and cool us all down. The utilitarian, squared-off little box is a climate control sensor. What irony! What pleasant tones.

Summer cloudscape - # 09/120

It's dramatic and quite attractive when it appears like this, but on the whole I am totally fed up with this so-called Summer. Today, the flat grey featureless cloud and the rain make it even worse. I have a painting on my wall showing the coastline of Northern France. The clouds look very similar in that picture. I wish Mr. Sarkozy would keep his weather to his side of the Channel.

The Bar Fly discovers Kepler's Dream - # 09/119

The Bar Fly's companion in conspiracy resurfaced after a little time away on mysterious missions "out East".

Where are we off to tonight? Canbury! Where? Canbury: it's the old industrial slum area of Kingston. The leather tanneries and early metal works and even the pre 1914 Hawker's aircraft factory are now long gone, and it's all "gentrified". I've discovered this old pub "the Canbury Arms" - they have an excellent food menu and a good atmosphere.

Great. I'll bring along my copy of Johannes Kepler's 1634 book about travel to the moon. It's an early "space travel" novel. We can discuss it. Unfortunately I don't have the original German edition.

Kepler! Wonderful! I can't wait. Don't you just love those 17th century mathematicians?

1/15sec #2 - # 09/118

It's not so speedy here! The rule is: Just snap randomly at 1/15th second. Having stowed the bike I dive into Ham House and snap randomly (honest; it's random) as I enter the "dungeon" where those of us who are too horrible to be seen in full daylight toil and strive to repair the unrepairable.

This is a random shot of a striving colleague.

1/15sec #1 - # 09/117

I decided to see what would happen if I just attached a wide angle lens, locked the shutter at 1/15th second and simply clicked away randomly.

So, be prepared a for a load of weird shots. At least it's a way for me to climb out of the dearth of photos and themes that has built up after a rather abnormal Summer of bad weather and dealing with all kinds of "wot-not" that has taken my time and attention away from creating nice photos.

Here I am, speeding towards Ham House. Ahead is one of my "favourite trees", looking rather brown. I must investigate to find out why. Don't you just love it when you come across diverging foot paths?