Photo Project One: Momiji

Well, not quite finished, but mostly there. I'll update the album the slideshow is hosted from when I can, so this post will contain all 10 final images when I've finished them!

A Sneak Preview...

...of my current project! I'll be featuring the best pictures from the photo projects I'm being set in the new book I'm reading and working through- the first project, my husband gave me the theme "Momiji" and this is the first shot from the set of 10 I'm creating.

Photo Editing Fun

I've been wanting to learn how to make colour splash photos, without spending a fortune on expensive software. Everything I looked at pointed me towards GIMP (which I had used and failed with before!)

Fortunately, a bit more determination paid off, and I finally managed to make something I was happy with. I need a lot of practise to get it perfect, but on the whole I'm pleased...

It's always good to have Momiji friends who don't mind posing for photos! ;)

Fishie Fishie Fishie...

Patience is not something I normally have, but these beauties are worth the hours of patient stalking to get pictures like this...

We have a beautiful pond, full of lovely fish which were left by the previous owners of our house. To be honest, I was a little dubious at first, but they are now dearly loved pets :)

After a horrible heron attack, we appealed on freecycle for a few more fish to restock our pond, and were given two beautiful Oranda. Stunning little fish, but not suitable for the pond.

We bought them a tank, and they were very happy in it. We bought them a bigger tank, and some friends, and they are now a lovely feature in our lounge (Buzz is staring at me from across the room as I write this- he always wants feeding!) Buzz is on the final picture, and is the cheekiest, loveliest fish ever :)

West Wittering

What can I say?

What a beautiful beach! We'd not been before (the parking costs having put us off), but we decided to visit since the weather was so beautiful. At last, a PROPER beach! Sand and shells and plenty of room to walk. Definitely a place to return to, and the weather was perfect today for pictures!

We had lunch at the Beach Cafe (and ran into one of the RE teachers whilst we were there!), picked up a geocache and I annoyed my husband by taking lots of photos! Whoops!

I pointed out a tripod that someone else was using and told my husband that was what I wanted to get once my new camera has arrived. He sighed and asked would that mean it would take us twice as long to get anywhere, as I would be stopping every 30 seconds to set up the tripod? (Probably was my response!)
(In other news, despite having rotated this image, I can't figure out why it hasn't stayed rotated here... sorry!)

By the time we were heading back to the car, the tide had come in and the waves were crashing surprisingly forcefully... with the sunset in the background, it was really beautiful.

Lovely Lundy

I took these photos in August, whilst staying on the beautiful Lundy Island, off the coast of North Devon.

This is the Old Light at sunset, taken from the south west end of the Island. This seems to be quite a standard shot for people visiting Lundy, but I still think it's beautiful... The Old Light was the first lighthouse, and was built in the wrong place (too high when the fog comes in!)... there are now two more lighthouses- one at the North and one at the South, which still run today.

The following evening, we watched the sunset from the top of Old Light... stunning (and a little warm!!)

South Light, from the Castle Parade Ground... one of my favourite views on the island. We've stayed in the Castle both times we've visited Lundy, so this was the best spot for sitting in the sun and watching the world go by!

This is Jenny's Cove, home of the Lundy Puffins (not that we've visited early enough in the year to see them) and a notoriously difficult letterbox... oddly, we found this letterbox in about 5 minutes... we've read accounts of people hunting for hours!

If you ever have the opportunity, Lundy is beautiful, peaceful and well worth the visit. Even for me, who dreads the 2 hour crossing on the Oldenburg! There's nowhere quite like it!

Just some sunflowers...

...to make you smile.

Sunflowers always make me smile. They're just so bright and lovely, and have such a joyful feeling to them. Beautiful, beautiful flowers!