Happy Valley Sunday

As it was a lovely sunny afternoon on Sunday, so Gail and I went on a walk around Highfields park.

Instead of going along the usual route that I take when I'm cycling home, we went round the other way; the one closest to the university. It's quite a wooded area with a path to walk along. The path has lots of  twists and tuns, and you can see the lake for most of the time.

I like the way that the sun is just kissing the top of the plants and trees and inviting you to follow the path to see what's there.

Banned

Well if you own a car, a caravan or a tent, you'll not be welcome at Hoveringham Pastures. Mind you, with it being a lovely open space with trees and a river running close by, then you wouldn't want the area spoilt either.

Tank Mania

I took a day off work today to drive to deepest Leicestershire to do a model shoot with a difference, as it would involve tanks, armoured cars and other military vehicles.

The place I went to was called Tank Mania, and you can pay to have rides in the tanks around a very muddy track. They also restore old army machines and do team building days.

There were about seven of us photographers and five models to make the most of the hardware on offer. Unfortunately Gail couldn't join me as she couldn't get the day off. I had met a couple of the models before at Donington recently, so that was pleasing to know.

As I said, there was quite a bit of mud about and some very big puddles. More like lakes in some cases. All the models were wearing army fatigues that the company had provided. So three of them decided to get down and dirty, by walking into a rather deep and muddy puddle.

Then then started larking about and posing for the togs who had all lined up at the water's edge. I thought that if I did that, then I would just end up with the same photographs as everyone else. So I scrambled up the side of the bank, and shot a few photos, just to get a different angle. Here's Jade posing for the cameras whilst up to her waist in muddy water. Who said that modelling was a glamorous profession!

One of the models called Katerina didn't want to get her or her clothes wet, and so had gone off back to the portacabin for a cup of tea. I decided to find her as I had got a bit bored with the 'water babes' and wanted to ask her if she wanted to do something with just me. She said yes, and so as she was dressed in her own khaki outfit , I saw her as an action girl; Emma Peel or Purdy for example. We had got hold of a replica gun, so we spent an enjoyable 20 minutes or so, walking about looking for little scenes that we could act out, such as this sandbagged area.

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

Cold As The Grave

No more snow today, but the snow from yesterday still remains. So as usual, I went into Beeston to do some food shopping and to have a look around. I also went on the hunt for some snowy pics.

And what better than Beeston's parish church. I often have a wander there when there is a wedding going on. Remember the buses from last year?

So here are a couple of shots; one of the church itself, and one of some of the old gravestones that date from the 1800s.