A Nose For Everything

My Valentine's card and gift this year from Gail.

At first I was a bit shocked at the size of the little guy's nose, and wondered if my wife was being a little too cheeky about the size of my snout.

She laughed and explained that it wasn't really meant to be me, but it's something that you keep your glasses on.

He certainly has the right kind of nose for a wine critic. Alas I'm more into real ales.

Review Of The Year - May & June

At the end of May, the Milk Race came to town. A full day of cycling around the city centre for both professionals and amateurs. So of course I had to be there to cover the action.

As Gail and I are keen photographers, we went to see the professional photographer Damian McGillicuddy who also uses the Olympus OMD camera. He gave quite an inspiring talk, while he took some photos of a model he had bought with him  We had some new wallpaper put up in one of our rooms, so when we returned home, I was keen to take a photo or two of my own model wife.

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!

Does My Bum Look Big In This?

It's a Happy Birthday to my darling Gail who is ?? today, but looks a lot younger.

Here is one of the presents that I got her. If you can't tell, it's a hand crafted wooden zebra that has come all the way from Africa, from where of course they originate.

She saw a trio of them in a local gift shop that specialises in original art from different parts of the world, and fell in love with them. So I just had to get one for her. I would have liked to have bought her a herd, but we haven't really got the space and they are quite expensive. I think it is quite humorous in the way that it's rear end is sticking out!

Besides the zebra and a few other little presents like chocolates, some mittens, I got her this rather bright and colourful  Doc Marten boots. Pink is Gail's favourite colour. Earlier this year she met a model who was wearing a pair, although in a cherry red colour, and thought she might like a pair herself. And now she has.