Monday 27 October 2008

Morning glory

Here are some photos of views from our new home.

A view looking south.



A view looking East towards a local landmark - Mount Caburn in portrait and a couple in landscape - it's amazing how different the same shot can be.







I ALMOST took my Nikon off Auto for the landscape shot - I'm going to be brave and take the plunge into manual mode soon!

:D

Sunday 26 October 2008

Lasting memories

I thought I'd show a few photos that I've taken recently which make me smile, or wonder.

The first is a photo of Kane I took in our Paddock. I love taking photos of the boys as they are both so cheeky!



The second photo is of a view from one of the top rooms first thing in the morning. It shows the mist rolling over the valley, and the local hill to us called Mount Caburn.



Here is another view from our garden first thing in the morning...



...it just makes us all feel so good in the morning.

Compared to our old view of fences 15' from our windows, this truely feels like our own slice of heaven!

Our new place!

Well...

...we have been SO busy the last few weeks it's been like working 24 hours a day (or feels like it anyway!).

Over the last week though, we've been moving a lot of our 'stuff' over to the new place - which now is our home!

Last week I rented a Luton van with a tail lift, so I was able to move all the big appliances, like the washing machine, dryer and American fridge freezer easier than in our normal van. All went smoothly until it came to the big fridge/freezer - which went up the ramp i made ok, but didn't like going through any of the doors in the house. This resulted in taking off the door to the house, getting it through into a small lobby - then having to take the doors of the appliance - which was an absolute nightmare! But safe to say - I managed it!!

We spent our first night in our new home without Sky tv, only DVD's and it took a further 4 visits from Sky - all failures - until we decided to go with a NON-Sky tv person to fit our Sky dish. They even got to our place in around an hour which was amazing considering Sky did their usual " can't make it this week" line.

I spent the first morning trimming the doors to the boys bedrooms so they would close over the new carpet, and putting up 3 curtain rails for their bedrooms.

Both boys came home the next day after sleeping over at school and Grandmas, and at last it was definately HOME!

The only problem we've been experiencing has been our Broadband connection, but that seems to have been sorted now I've changed the router back to our old one.

What we are very pleased about is the fact that EVERYTHING is set up for us - it means Zak has access to the entire house (apart from upstairs, in which case I would lift him should he want to go up there). The paved area out back is just great, and Zak has already said he looks forward to driving his chair around their like a bat out of hell! Kane can also ride his bike on it.



This photo shows the back of our home, with the patio, and Kanes room he'll move into in a couple of weeks being the nearest upstairs window to the camera.

The other thing of course which makes things better - for the ladies at least - is that we can let them out every day - although at the moment the weather is so horrible they are staying under their mini extension or staying in their own coops.

Saturday 11 October 2008

Family visits the ladies.

Recently we went to show the kids how the build was going, and we decided to take them along and see how our ladies were doing.

They were all in good spirits, and looking well. This may be because for the last month or two I have been giving them a supplement in their water. It turns the water a lovely pink colour, and I thought that the girls would love this addition to their run!

:D

Zak and Kane were also in good spirits as this picture shows!




I was really pleased with the detail on this photo!

Friday 3 October 2008

Kane, cards and insects



Here is a photo of Kane taken at my mums. He was leaning against a wall so I couldn't take his photo, but I managed to swing it under him and take a snap.

The card was made for my friend Dr Michael Bull, funnily enough, the worlds leading expert in IPods and mobile media! It was his Birthday, and Jo and I created this funny card - can you work out what it is? I treated him to a pint and a fairy cake with a little candle in it too.



The photo of the Bee was great - I was taking some other test photos when I saw him (or her) flying onto these yellow flowers/weeds, and I thought what a cool shot it would make if I could get the camera on macro and take a shot. Luckily, it came out very well, and I must admit it's one of my nature photos I'm most proud of so far - I just love the detail!

To trim or not to trim

That is the question.

I haven't trimmed any of the photos on here, and to be honest I'm not sure if I should. I would like to try to see the whole picture, and to frame images in a way that pleases me.

I'm sure at some point I'll want to perfect each photo, but for now I'm happy with the whole scene.

:D

Thursday 2 October 2008

A new blog for a new subject

I've started a new blog for my photography, called 'Stiggy's world'.

It's not going to be a threat to David Bailey, but it's my own account of how me experience with a new camera I bought is going.

I hope to find a better platform to show off my photos at some point, something like a gallery - but I'll sort that out at a later date, since our house move is imminent!

:D

More beginner photos




Here are some more beginner photos I took when I first got my camera.

The Walnut is from our very own tree in our paddock, the Tayberry from our veggy plot, and the flower was one at my mums.

I took the walnut photo by first focusing on the walnut, then locking the focus, and setting the nut in the corner of my shot. It's a tecnique I really like, and I have done it on some landscape photos as well - it gives that wonderful blurred background effect.

I took them all with the macro setting - when I get more used to the camera I'll start to experiment, but until then I'm afraid it's only the standard settings I'll be using!

:D

Wednesday 1 October 2008

My first photo



I was so excited to get my new camera I ran outside to have a go at some macro photography...

This was my first ever attempt at it, and I was really pleased.

I couldn't believe the detail I was able to pick up!

My photo blog

I decided that I would like somewhere to show my photos from my new camera, so here we have it....


...Stiggy's world!


I recently bought a Nikon D40 Digital SLR camera. At the moment I use an 18-55mm lens.

I am a TOTAL beginner at photography, so hopefully you will see me improve over the coming decade or so!!

;)