Greetings from Moscow

Well made it to Moscow - in fact the flight went very smoothly arrangement-wise (though actually quite a lot of turbulence) as we had a tail wind and arrived about 40 mins ahead of schedule. However, the coach drive to the hotel took almost as long - two and a half hours - as the guide said, the M25 is not the only motorway car park. There is still snow on the ground but it is now unseasonably warm and raining - just my luck when I've come for snowy images.


The next two images are from my 8th floor hotel bedroom - will enjoy photography from up here at dawn and dusk.

Essence of Christmas

Couldn't resist posting one image of my grandaughter Sadie full of the excitment of Christmas Day.

Greetings to all

Taken from our sitting room window - up to a dozen goldfinches have been visiting us this week - so glad I didn't remove any of the teasel seedlings this year. The equivalent time last year and the goldfinches were struggling to find the seed heads.

Cambridge at Dusk

Testing out the G12 for evening photography before heading for northern parts after Christmas - seems to do a very good job at ISO 400 the noise is reasonable (1/60 2.8) and it gives good balance of daylight and artificial light (no colour correction applied)

Night Images from Yarmouth

We took a walk into Yarmouth from our B & B on Saturday and I took the opportunity to do a bit of night photography.
The first two images were taken with long exposures (30 secs and 60 secs f10 ISO 500) when it was completely dark - always a surprise as to what can be captured by the camera and not seen by the eye. The other two were taken on the brightly lit promenade (2 secs f22 ISO 500). Best converted to monochrome to make the most of the high contrast conditions.

Rough Seas and Surfer

More images from the weekend in Norfolk. First four from Happisburgh and last one of surfer having fun at Sea Palling.

Rough Seas and Sunshine

It was a bright clear morning and a rough very high tide at Happisburgh. Hail stones on the beach added to the texture to the sand.

Seals at Horsey

There are around 400 Grey Seal pups on the beach at Horsey - all ages but all unbearably cute.

Cambridge Winter Light

Beautiful winter light in Cambridge today - the low angle of the sun is just right to illuminate Trinity College and the interior and exterior of Kings.

Fenland Skies

Amazing skies yesterday afternoon from blue with characterful clouds to golden storm clouds, finishing with a full moon large on the horizon. Reflection colours and shapes caught my eye. A couple of owls hunting but not a lot of activity but couldn't resist the montage.

As the Light Fades

I stopped off on the way to Abington Club last night and took a few shots as the light faded. All shots are hand held as I didn't want to use a tripod in the town. The Mosque roof made an interesting foil to the moon and street light. It is right next door to a pub which had obviously seen a bit of trouble. The first two street shots below were taken while there was sufficient light to be able to balance natural and artifical light.
For the last shot where the natural light had gone, I closed up the aperture to F22 to prevent burn out on the lights and worked at maximum ISO (6400). I am impressed what a good job the noise reduction in the raw converter has done.

Remarkable December

Three images from Grantchester and a couple from Cambridge taken in December but looking more like October with the leaves still on the willows and the grass very green.