Tag: photography

Road Trip – The Full Story – Pt 1 Thursday 28th August


First and foremost, the trip was for us to visit family. My grandson Ryan, his wife Rachel, and their three daughters, live in Sunset Beach, just outside of Geraldton. And this was the first opportunity for Gerry and I to meet the girls. The eldest, Talullah, was born in 2022, the middle girl, Loxley, was born in 2023, and the youngest, Sunday, was born just over a month ago.

Mid morning, car packed and my daughter, Denise, took the first stint of driving, primarily to get us clear of Perth city and suburbs, but also because she knows the route like the back of her hand. Driving through the city, the traffic was quite heavy but thinned out noticeably as we headed north on the Tonkin Highway. Near Muchea, we jumped onto the Brand Highway and then with a few kilometers behind us, we made a pit stop at Cataby.

From Cataby, I took over the driving for the run-up to Eneabba. At times the road ahead, and behind us was, pretty much, empty of any traffic. Although, occasionally, we would encounter road trains thundering down the road towards us. And, of course, the ubiquitous “grey nomads” with their off-road vehicles and caravans.

One feature of our journey was the vast fields of Rape, or Canola as my daughter calls it. For clarification the term “canola” denotes a group of rapeseed cultivars that were bred to have very low levels of erucic acid which is mildly toxic.

Rapeseed Crops – Canola

The glorious yellow of the flowers spread across the land on either side of the road. Prior to this trip, I had only ever seen sights such as these in the UK.

Rapeseed Crops – Canola

At Eneabba, we stopped for a loo break and also to grab a bite for lunch. Lunch consisted of chili sausages for me, some sort of pie for Gerry, and a burger for Denise. All of us thought the fare was of mediocre standard, but it filled the void, and we had the promise of a roast dinner to look forward to.

From Eneabba its about another hour and forty five minutes drive to Geraldton and Sunset Beach. Denise resumed the driving and it seemed that in no time we had arrived in Sunset Beach.

We had booked a chalet, at the Sunset Beach Holiday Park, for the weekend. And, arriving at reception, we checked in, and were soon esconsed in our accomodation. From the outside it looks a bit like a shipping container but inside was very fresh and modern looking, with all amenities. More than we needed as we were only going to sleep, shower and brew coffee here.

2 Bed Chalet - Sunset Beach
2 Bed Chalet – Sunset Beach

And so, with car unpacked, we headed up to Ryans house where we were made to feel really welcome, greeted as we were by two very excited young girls and a small dog. The adult welcome was a little more restrained.

The next few hours were spent with the adults chinwagging, getting to know the two girls and the glamourous grandmothers taking it in turns to hold the baby. As promised, we were fed to the point of plumptiousness with a fabulous roast cooked by Ryan after which we bade our hosts a temporary farewell and headed back to our accomodation for a good nights sleep.

Curtailment


Your life without a computer: what does it look like?

Life without my computer !

  • No more blogging
    • Shock horror, I’d have to revert back to keeping a diary/journal
    • Or perhaps writing to people I know.
  • No more photo preparation
    • I take 1000’s of photos every year. That would come to a grinding halt. Perhaps I would revert to film and take up processing my own prints. I’m not sure my pension could support such a transition.
  • No more emails
    • I remember work life before email was invented. Communicating via telex and fax as well as good old hand written notes/letters
    • Emails were the bain of my life during my latter work years. Just too many to deal with each day.
  • No more social media
    • I think this might be a good thing. No more photos of people’s food or tiresome cat videos.
    • Also a positive thing, more letter writing. We recently received a letter from family in Australia. Amazing the joy it brought.
  • No more online retail therapy
    • I would be forced to go out to the shops ! I was ever the reluctant shopper before computers and the Internet. Especially while still working, when shopping was compressed into the weekend or even just a Saturday. I hated it.
  • Would we ever see a doctor again ?
    • Ever since the pandemic, access to doctors has become severely restricted. At least things like repeat prescriptions can currently be managed online. And there are econsults to bridge the gap when you can’t get an appointment. I dread to think what would happen without computers.

I Was Framed


So I was experimenting. It’s amazing how simple mirror effect can totally change the subjects appearance.

View From The Conservatory


This glorious plant is waving to me from my next door neighbours garden. I have no idea what it is.

Anyone Know What This Is ?

Does anyone know what it is ?

Isn’t Nature Wonderful


This was how my car windscreen appeared during our recent frosts ……frost

And here is part of the roof …..

frost2

I never fail to be amazed by nature.

Slow Sunday In Serandon


Today, Sunday, was designated a no drive day. Not quite a duvet day as we were both up and dressed. Not even a pottering day since we are not in our own home.

A bit of toast with a cup, or two, of coffee.  Meandering around the gite and grounds, a bit of blogging and a sunday roast.

Blogging and /or checking in via Facebook has proven to be problematical. We haven’t had any WiFi and mobile signals have been very much touch and go. Back home I am on Vodafone but here in France my mobi switches  providers, seemingly by the hour. Randomly connecting to Orange F, F Bouygues and F SFR. All with very little signal strength.

Still, we chose to come to a remote gite, so no complaining from me.

Gerry was happy for us to be home based as she wanted to watch the tennis. Andy Murray vs Novak Djokovic in the French Open Final. That left me to cook the dinner and potter around with my camera.

So,first of all, here is the gite ……

Gite
Gite, Serandon, France

It is perfect for our needs.Bedroom, bathroom and kitchen on the ground floor. Two steps up from the kitchen to the living / dining space. There is also a second bedroom and lounge area, up on the mezzanine, which we are using to store our suitcases.

On the other side of the gite there is a nice terrace with table and chairs and a stone built BBQ. The terrace has a triangular canvas wing to provide shade along with the grape vines and the Wisteria.

Gite_view_east
View East from the Gite, Serandon, France

The gite is surrounded by fields and forest. The photo above shows the view to the east, where the sun rises and also where a storm was rolling in  from on Saturday afternoon. Although the thunder rumbled we only received a few spots of rain.

Gite_flowers
Flowers – Gite, Serandon, France

There are some lovely flowers around the grounds. These lilies greet us by the door to the lounge. There are some beautiful roses under the kitchen window with a lovely scent.

Of course, lovely scents attract flies and bees and other beasties. This fellow decided to take up residence. Unfortunately, for him, I was prepared.

wasp
Wasp ?

He was like a British Wasp on steroids and I have since discovered that there are many more like him around here.

After our roast dinner I left Gerry watching the tennis and went for a walk down the lanes in front of the gite.

weather_vane
Weather Vane

The following were all encountered on my gentle stroll down from the gite into the forest.

Of course I forgot that what walks down has to eventually walk back up. The route into the forest got steadily steeper. When I eventually turned about, I had a twenty-minute steady climb back up to level ground. It was very nice, what with the birds singing away, their calls echoing though the trees.

Even better was the glass of Pelforth Blonde waiting for me in the fridge. A fitting end to a good day.

Unfortunately not so good for Gerry. Andy Murray lost !!

View From The Conservatory


So, I hear this commotion going on over my head. Thinking it’s a couple of fat pigeons I look up and what do I see.

Daisy In A Tree
You lookin’ at me ?

Yep, my neighbour’s cat, Daisy, about eight feet up. Presumably, stalking the birds, hence all the noise.

AppleBlossom
Apple Blossom

I’ve also included this archive shot of some Apple Blossom. Since I have culled the branches of our tree the only blossom is way out of reach for me, photographically speaking. So, as the saying goes, here’s one I prepared earlier.

The Leaf Cutter
Thirsty

And to close, a couple of squirrel shots. We had been wondering what was trimming the tops from our plant leaves. Thinking it was probably beetles, but really surprised to find it is the squirrels. All that leaf cutting obviously makes them thirsty but that’s a long stretch.

UK citizens may soon need licenses to photograph some stuff they already own


http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/12/you-may-soon-need-a-licence-to-take-photos-of-that-classic-designer-chair-you-bought/

This is just another example of the insidious bureaucracy that is blighting the UK.

If this is allowed to go ahead, every casual photographer will be at risk of being criminalised without their knowledge.

And, surely, the onus should be placed on the holder of any work of art to warn of their copyright entitlement. Will they be obliged to post warning notices. That will look nice on the lounge wall alongside your treasured Conran furniture.

“Family and Friends are reminded that under Copyright Law… Blah blah… the taking of photographs, family snaps etc. etc. are only allowed with the appropriate license”

Just how far will liability reach?

Consider the ubiquitous selfies, created on millions of smart phones, then promulgated via Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Do the owners of those apps then become liable?

This legislation should be dumped in the trash can. Or at least kept in a dark place until it has been seriously rethought.