Experimenting with light

I had a little idea that grew, what would it look like using a timed exposure, in the dark, dancing with light sabers and torches? We asked the kids if they would allow us to lend their toys 😉 then we asked them if they would like to wave them around in the dark madly, of course they said yes 🙂 then i took photos of them and they did turn out ok.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Then i wondered what it would look like if we filmed it. So i got in touch with a guy i know who is experienced in film, i told him what i wanted to do and he was very interested. We got together and if you click on the video below, this is what we came up with. Yes its rough and we need to work on technique etc but i think we have a starting point and we do intend to take it as far as it will go.

Thanks to Kevan R Craft for all of his help. https://www.facebook.com/kevan.craft

Scout and Proud!

For those of you who don’t know, i have been a scout leader for the past 9 years. It was something i kind of fell into when our middle child joined Beaver Scouts at 6 years old. I was asked to help one evening and i went from helper to assistant in a blink of an eye and leader within the year. They told me it was only an hour a week, yeah right! I work hard at giving the Beavers a balanced program, outings, visitors and loads of fun. After 8 years of fun i was asked to join my friend and fellow scouter kelsey in becoming assistant group scout leader, in all effects, ‘the boss!’ THEN we needed a new Scout leader and i was ‘nominated’ to be his mentor, so for the time being i am also the scout leader so i have three hats to wear. To my great delight i have been nominated for an award from our chief scout for good service and was delighted to receive it on thursday evening from our county commissioner in Liverpool. Below is a picture of me receiving my award. Its taken on a mobile so the quality is a bit grainy but you get the picture, pun intended! 🙂

Escaping the mad house

I had an urge to escape the mad house i call home, i craved the peace and quiet of my own company, a letting go of the responsibility of  being a wife, mother, carer. So i grabbed my camera and my new tripod, the other one fell to pieces after only a few months. Side line, i bought a Manfrotto tripod which is pretty neat. And i headed down to Gilroy Rd nature reserve.

Over the last 12 months or so i have been photographing specific scenes there, a gate which i find fascinating, a stand of trees, the pond, all at different times of the year and using varying techniques.  The sun was shining and it was a lovely day, not overly hot or cold either, the sky was a deep blue and the clouds interesting shapes, how i was looking forward to solitude and my own company. First up was the gate, i had decided to try a multiple exposure HDR  technique as i was pretty sure it would look really great and just as i am setting up for the shot, well lets just say all of the dogs on my side of the Wirral decided to take their owners for a walk. I HATE taking photos when people are watching me, i feel like my privacy is being violated, so i waited and taking my time took the shot, sounds like a cereal killer 😉

I dont know about anyone else but when i am in photographer mode i look at things in a different way, all of a sudden even the smallest of things took on a different view and i was quickly taking  photos of anything that took my eye. I wandered down paths and around bends stopping at interesting views and looking at the wildlife flashing past too fast for me to photograph. I was so enjoying the peace and tranquility that i was very startled when a young lad walked around the bend in the path carrying his fishing gear, nearly tripping over me as i am kneeling down, butt up, trying to focus my camera. I dont know who was more embarrassed, me or him! It turns out a dozen lads had decided that the day was too good to waste on computer games and thought it a good idea to fish the pond, even though they know, im sure, that the pond is a no fishing pond. Still, they were not disturbing anyone other than the fish and i dont think they were all that successful anyway.

Several wonderful hours later i wandered back home to my responsibilities again, i felt so much better after my ME time and i knew i had several good shots, i only had to pries my laptop from a childs hot sweaty hands and i could transfer them off my memory card and ooh and ahh over the images.   I decided to use photomatix to merge the images and photoshop to tweak them, its an ongoing thing but i am very happy with what i got out of the afternoon. Below is a sample of my work, there are other images on my flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/klawrenceuk/ if you want to see them through the year, I hope you enjoy them, if you do, or not, please leave a comment.