New Use For Old Rubbish

So you've gone and updated your bathroom. New loo, sink and wetroom shower. So what are you going to do with that old cast iron bath, that you have been using for the last twenty years? Take it down to the tip, leave it out for the scrap man, or give it to a farmer so he can fill it with water for his animals?

There is of course an unusual one. One that I came across on my travels in London today. How about cutting the side off and using it as a settee or a chaise long for the garden?

All very well, but there's still that age old problem of who has to have the tap end?

Pigeon Post

I popped through Highfields again on the way home, in the hope of finding something to take a photograph of .

Sadly the sun had disappeared, and the grey clouds had arrived. Would it rain?

I noticed a big patch of daisies, so I thought I would see if I could do a close up from the ground level. Looking around for a good clump, I saw a feather in amongst the little white flowers.

Great I thought, I'll see if I can shoot that instead.

Bringing Home The Bacon

Do you like cooking?  I do, and Gail thinks that I'm reasonable at it. No Gordon Ramsey, but ~I've never given her food poisoning yet!

My cookbook might be a bit thin, but I always try to do the best I can, with what I know how to make.

I wonder if this shopper has got their ingredients ready to for the evenings' meal? I wonder what they have in the bag. Some fish perhaps, with a small bag of new potatoes, beans, fresh sprig of parsley and a Key lime pie for pudding.

Whatever it is, I hope they cooked it well and everyone enjoyed it.

Close-Up MagicAs

As well as learning some top photography tips yesterday, we also got the opportunity of playing with some Olympus cameras and lenses.

I took this photo with their 60mm f2.8 macro lens, which I have been thinking about buying and wanting to try. It's quite a dinky little lens, and in micro 4/3d's terms, it is equal to a 120mm lens. So besides taking close up's of flowers and insects, it also makes for a very good portrait or general walkabout lens.

I realise that this is not the best advert for the lens, as I don't really do macro work, so I don't think that I got the focussing right, and also I had left a couple of the settings as I had used them in the darkened bar, so they might not have been suitable for the outside world.

Blue Movie

I spent a very enjoyable day with a top professional photographer, two gorgeous ladies and five other students, in an underground bar in the centre of Nottingham.

We were there for the first ever Olympus Experience Days, with host and tutor Damian McGillicuddy. Unfortunately Gail couldn't join me, as she was working and didn't want to use up another day of her holiday allowance; especially as she gets less than me.

We spent the day learning how Damian sets things up for his amazing photographs. From working out the sets, the lighting and how the model, in this case Nic, should pose. For the last two years he has been using an Olympus OMD, rather than his usual Nikon kit, as he likes it's technical ability, quality of lenses and the fact that he can carry it around in a small bag, rather than a suitcase.

We all met at the Red Bar and Lounge, which is situated in the Crowne Plaza hotel. The colour scheme, which the name implies is mainly red and black. Damian set up shots in several different bits of the club, the bar itself for one, but he also liked this big leather seating area, which he wanted to introduce a touch of blue into, so it looked more New York, than Nottingham.

It was a fab day and I learnt lots, which I hope to put in practice, the next time that I go on a model shoot, or practice at home.

If anyone is interested in going on one of these course, Damian will be doing them all over the country over the coming months. The next one is in Birmingham on 21 July.

Gail

We have just got back from having spent a very enjoyable evening over at Rushcliffe Photography Club in Tollerton, where they had a guest speaker in the form of master photographer Damian McGillicuddy.

He was there to talk about his life, his work and how he sets up a shot. He then went on to demonstrate it using Nic the model, a couple of speed lights, a modifier, some voile and a stack of wooden chairs for a background.

It was very interesting to watch how he developed the slightly religious theme, with Nic dressed as a sort of nun, with the stack of chairs, to symbolise a church. Damian went through his thought process, and then tweaked his idea, as new thoughts came into his head. He then chatted some more and answered some photography questions posed by the quite large audience.

When we arrived home, we were quite inspired, and so I shot this pose of Gail, while she stood against some new wallpaper that we've got. And yes, they are photos of Marilyn Monroe. How cool is that!

Going For A Take

The city centre has become Hollywood again, as a film crew have moved in to make a new TV series called Truckers.

It's written by local writer William Ivory, whose last big work was the screenplay for the film 'Made in Dagenham'.

As the title suggests, the story is about the staff that work at a local haulage company, and what they are like as people.

I've read that they are using a number of locations across the city, and so was quite pleased to see them doing a few scenes in the Old Market Square.

On The Garden Trail

I popped over to the Park Estate this afternoon, as they were holding an event to raise money for various local charities. 21 Gardens had been opened up to the public, so they could have a look around and see what is usually behind closed doors and high walls.

Some gardens also had art displays, like these resin heads; that were in various colours. I didn't take that many photos of the flowers, but couldn't resist this Kiwi fruit bush that was growing quite happily around an archway. And had even produced small fruit, which you can see if you look carefully.

Another garden had a display of wedding gowns on show. Possibly because the owner of that particular house organised weddings.

There was a fair bit of walking involved, as the gardens were quite spread out around the many different streets that make up this exclusive neighbourhood. I was quite excited to see this old MG parked at the side of the road, and fortunately I managed to get a shot of it, without capturing any modern vehicles.

The first garden trail was in 1986 and raised a modest £520. Last year's event raised an impressive £11,500. I'll let you know how well they do when I hear what the figure is. But I think it should be pretty good by the number of people I saw walking around with the programmes in their hands.

Whispering Grass

A simple shot of a blade of grass today, which I came across during my cycle ride through Highfields.

Piggy In The Middle

I went up to Patchings Arts Centre at Calverton to collect my two prints that I had on show as part of a photographic exhibition of local Flickr members.

Its the first time that I have been there. It's a collection of different buildings where artists of all kinds can show and sell their work.

In a wild bit of a garden/field some sculptured metal animals were lurking, including this rather splendid pig. One that Lord Emsworth* himself would be proud of.

*A character created by PG Wodehouse