Go West Young Man

OK so not quite as far West as my brother and his family are moving this summer (Seattle) never-the-less we all went down to the Retallack Resort and Spa near Padstow in deepest darkest Cornwall.

As Easters go 2013 must go on record as being one of the coldest ever, but despite that we all had a fabulous time, the boys loved the Loop Flowrider surf machine,  James Nathan from Masterchef has opened The Green Room, his restaurant there and just basically chilling in the chill...

Yateley Camera Club Update

The 2012/2013 season has been one of epic mediocrity when it comes to my competition entries. I'm starting to think that maybe my images are too sophisticated for judges to understand and they have been marking them a lot lower than what you could reasonably expect!

Then there's also the phenomena of email degradation. An image on my home computer appears generally to be of a quality that should easily win the Sony World Photography Awards. However once it is sent, attached to an email, it immediately starts to degrade. Obviously not my fault, it's just one of those things, and mysteriously it appears to happen to me more than anyone else I know!

Well in Feb 2013 we had a couple of 'theme' competitions, so I said a few Hayle Marys and submitted my entries. Well, waddaya know, I got a 10/10, a 9/10 and an 8/10!

We like that...

 Express Breakfast 10/10

50 Shades of Glass 9/10

Breakfast 8/10

Back to the Vendee 2012

Can't stay away from the place, absolutely love it there, the way of life, scenery, food.

Link to Picasa Album

A Cretan in Crete

Ann and I went to Crete in June 2012. What did we think? Hmm, well Crete itself was rather tattier that we had hoped but that didn't detract from the holiday experience one bit. The sun was blisteringly fierce being around the solstice and it was uncomfortably hot. Our hotel had views to dream for and the suite was superb.

Link to Picasa Album

Poole in Feb...

Lovely day so Ann and I decided to head on down to Poole..

Hawley Lake in the Autumn

Pretty dull day Sunday Nov 13 so went for a wander around nearby Hawley Lake. Photo opps few and far between but this one I liked even if it meant a burned out sky, but hey ho!

Processed image to black & white using red filter simulation...

Open PDI Competition at Yateley Camera Club

Last night was the second Open PDI Competition at Yateley Camera Club. PDI is a Projected Digital Image or to you and me a JPEG projected on to a screen.


Submitted 2 images and received 8 and 8.5 respectively...

Open Print Competition at Yateley Camera Club

Determined to contribute to the life blood of Yateley Camera Club I decided to enter the season's first Open (ie what ever you like) Print Competition. Now most people enter a couple of prints, but not having a clue about actually how good my images are I decided to only bother entering one and see how it went.

I entered this print, taken down a corridor of the swanky boutique hotel we stayed at in Seville, the Hospes Las Casas del Rey de Baeza,  a couple of years ago...

I was as nervous as nervous could be when my picture came up for review but a bit of shock horror when she complimented it, even commenting that the green sign could have been photoshopped out, but never the less it still got a 10! (I tried and tried to clone out the sign but the background was textured and try as I may I just couldn't get that texture to look natural!)

Woo hoo, equal first! The only way now is down!

Yateley Camera Club

Bizarrely I hadn't realised that the great metropolis of Yateley actually had a camera club until I stumbled upon their tent at the Yateley May Fayre.

After their summer recess I've become a fully paid up member and have now been to 2 meetings. Seem like a nice bunch of people with some seriously talented photographers.

Last night was a 'show what you did over the summer' exhibition. I had 3 images enlarged and printed and with typical luck I was asked to go up and be the second person to present my pictures to 30 or 40 people I didn't know. Seemed to go quite well, at least no rotten vegetables were thrown...

To round off the evening I won the raffle... hmmm chockie biscuits, luverly!

Yateley Camera Club

Chillout in the Vendee 2011

We needed a break so back down to the Vendee for another couple of weeks French R & R