Where it all began ...... by SallyB

Moved to the Where it all began page

So ... as promised (three months ago!) I am sharing the photo's which I took in January 2010 - which inspired me to start thinking about taking the photo at the same location once a month through out the year.

You know the rest ~ I won't dwell ... but suffice to say, that these photo's were taken on my ixus camera, from the roof of my vauxhall astra (now gone!!)whilst I was doing my normal drive to my (then) place of work. A jogger was running up the road towards me, and I could see from the look on his face he thought I was quite mad. (Not far from the truth!) However, I suggested for him to look and see what I was seeing - and the two of us (I'd got down from the car roof by now!) just stood, stared and were in awe. I truly hope you like them. I do ..... VERY MUCH. :)

Better late than never ~ maybe?! Wkend 1st/2nd Jan 2011 - Sally

Whoops! Where does time go?! Remind me please! All of a sudden, here we are at 17th January 2011 and I receive emails pointing out my tardiness ..... and f.i.n.a.l.l.y. I get round to uploading my pics for the first month of 2011!!

My chosen spot has not changed much this month either ~ am thinking (if I can drag my sorry a*se out of bed!!!) that I may go for a sunrise shot for next month ~ just for something fractionally different.

Although, I was surprised at just how low the water is at the moment in the pond. (Suspicion is though, that since I took the photo's it will have raised significantly because ALL IT's DONE so far this year is RAIN!!!)

Anyway ~ here you go ... this month's photo's! Enjoy (the remainder of) January x.

3rd Month - Weekend 01-02 January 2011 - Steve

Firstly I will admit I didn't get a photo "in the bag" until Tuesday lunchtime. Only because the result from the weekend would be something like the white background to this text!
Anyway below is the selected image, battling against the sun coming straight at me, the pictures to the immediate left and right of the view have lovely blue skies! I am going  to have to put a lot more thought into the time of my visits from now on... Well I will try!
Hopefully by February there will be some changes afoot so that there will be more to see, and if I get the timing right a better picture to show...

3rd Month. Weekend 01-02 January 2011 - Mike

Well that came around quickly. This months shot was a bit of a rush job as I was staying with friends in Runcorn and this was pencilled in for one night but ended up being three nights. I took several shots and none looked overly exciting at 1st glance and I also thought there was little, if anything to differentiate this shot from what I expect the next month and maybe two would be like.

Then I saw the shot I have chosen and it struck me that people in the shot made it different to the shots so far and the red/ Orange bag being carried gave an almost symmetrical balance with the red bin. Thus choosing this image was made quite easy in the end.

Technical info for anyone interested is: Canon 50D with 28mm f2.8 Prime (Fixed) lens. Shot in Full manual at 1/40 sec at f10.0

2nd Month - Weekend 04th & 05th December 2010 - Mike

Like Steve I too visited my site on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday had a little more snow but Sunday added some fog into the mix and I have decided to go with a shot from Sunday.

I had been looking forward to our second shoot and it has come round really quickly.

I look forward to the next instalment.

Technical info: Canon 50D 28mm f2.8 prime lens. shot Settings: ISO 200 1/320 second at f8.0

Weekend of 4th & 5th December 2010 - Steve

So second photo of the year - seems odd saying that as it is one of hundreds. I took photos on Saturday and Sunday, as it was a little grey again, however Sunday was rewarded with the sun being out over the Pyrenees (the choice of spot may come to fruition yet), So I have tried to get the mountains on the horizon (without zooming in past my original framing) although there are a couple of closer views of the mountains in the album.

Picasa Web Album

Was hoping for a "dusting" of snow - we had a half day last weekend, and a few flakes during the week, however nothing to what parts of the UK have had!
A quick additional edit here, just for information, by road the Pyrenees are about 110 miles away, around a 2 hour road trip. I was thinking about going in the new year and taking a reverse shot from the Pyrenees back to La Castera... Google Earth planning required there I think.

As Mike added his shot info I though I would as well for those that wonder, EOS 400D 28-135 at 28mm will need to check back at home for the shutter and aperture as it didn't get saved in the .jpg - I use RAW format for my shots and then convert to .jpg for uploading, although I think that Picasa might do RAW, got to investigate that...

Weekend of 4th & 5th December 2010 ~ Sally

2 degrees c here today! Positively BALMY in comparison to the last few days where the temperature has not been rising above minus 1 during the day time! It really is a stunning day ~ and I'm glad that I was busy yesterday (Saturday) and couldn't get out to take the shots! Yesterday was rainy and grey ~ today ..... well, see for yourselves!!

Today I met the owner of the area in Pednor which my photographs are of. When I say "met" ~ what I actually mean is that I got told off by her today because I'd parked on the teeny tiniest bit of her grass!!! Whooops! How to endear yourself! I didn't think it would be a great idea to tell her about the blog ~ but what I may do, shots dependant of course, is print her out copies at the end of the year and give them to her .... we'll see!

After shooting in Pednor, I went into the town centre and took a brisk walk around the pond. It's still 3/4 frozen ~ and it was funny watching the ducks and swans skidding around trying to follow me to see if I had bread!! (Note to self: take bread next time you go to the park!!) These shots are in the montage thing (if I can remember how to do it!)

2 months gone - 10 to go!