Framedlight

I discovered a poppy field not too distant from my house and set out to photograph the flowers any which way. Some of the poppies, at the edge of the field were coming up between linseed which had flowered and gone to seed and was very yellow and bobbly. None of the linseed was in flower but I would like to go back again when it is out, although it may look rather garish. As you can see it was a cloudy day.  Here are some of the results. The end ones were taken using in-camera multiple exposure and some intentional camera movement. Please excuse the number of pictures, I am a lousy editor.

In June we had a long weekend in Ireland with our 'old' next door neighbours from 25 years ago, Howard and Madeleine. In fact it was at their suggestion and for a very precise reason which I will cover later. We started our journey from Arkesden and had only got to the A505 on the way to the M11 and t'north when I had to stop to take a picture of some poppies. Not a full field, just a few at the side of the road, but very pretty. Our rather tortuous journey than took us to Derby to visit Mairi and Lizzy en passant. We took the dogs for a walk and were faced with a stormy sky. We finally got underway and reached Howard and Madeleine's house, near Mold, just into North Wales, in time for tea. We spent the night there and set out early the next morning for our trip across to Holywell and the Dublin ferry. From stormy, the light had retreated to dull so the ferry ride was insignificant photographically speaking. On arrival we drove to Navan, inland ...

I wanted to revisit the Tower of London to see how the installation of poppies had progressed. And they had multiplied considerably since my last view. It is possible to purchase one of them and have it sent to you after Remembrance Day. Here are some images of the Tower and surrounding area including one of the altar in the church of All Hallows by the Tower, the oldest church in the City, founded in 675AD. There are some multiple exposures, inspired by the photos of Valda Bailey http://www.valdabailey.co.uk/p424614016 who has done a much better job than I have managed. Also look at her blog on the same subject on her website.

Last week I spent a day in London with Mairi and Archie. We met Hugh for coffee and then went to the Design Museum, stopping by the Tower of London for lunch. Here there were masses of people looking at the ceramic poppies placed to 'celebrate?' the first world war. After the museum visit we went to Covent Garden to see the street entertainers where there was a curious mime artist who said he was the oldest person to squeeze into a box of a certain size. I have not shown him in the box as that is pretty uninteresting. I think I will stick to photography! The pictures are mainly taken with the Fuji XE-1 with one LG phone image (the second). I am unashamedly putting the only black and white picture first as it is the best picture,  although chronologically out of order as taken at the South bank. I will post the Design Museum pictures in the next blog.

At the end of last month I visited Myddleton House Gardens which lie just off the A10 in Enfield. The house was for nearly 90 years the home of of Edward Augustus Bowles, botanist and gardener. I was with the family so spent a lot of time standing still to take a photograph and then running to catch everyone up. The gardens are free to visit (although you have to pay for parking) and there are glass houses and a cafe. I can really recommend them. I did straight photos and multiple exposures with the Fuji XE-1. The weather was pretty overcast but this added to the atmosphere - there is nothing like a damp English garden in the summer.