Family, Photography and other misc news
Family related posts; generally only of interest to fellow members of the Brown Clan and relations by Marriage into this mad house.
Today is National Stockings Day. If I am shooting for my own pleasure in the Studio I always try to get a nice stocking top shot.
Its also a good day to for you ladies to buy some Charnos Stockings or get your partners to. Charnos will donate 10% of the retail price to Breast Cancer Care.
It kind of crept up on us but Monday was the deadline for the World PhotoWalk. With moving house I had not managed to process any more photographs, so I had to make a quick choice from the ones I had already uploaded to the local Flicker Group.
It was a tough choice but in the end I went with this one ‘View of the lines’, I like the diagonal composition with the bridge and the man in the foreground makes you wonder what he is thinking about as he looks out.
Not a great photograph but it is an interesting photograph.
Well the move is complete, we still have lots of work to do, including the basics like plumbing in the washing machine, but things are slowly coming together. We have had very little internet access for the last few days, even now its still slow and flakey but its slowly getting better.
Its really surprised me how much we have missed the internet access. Just about everything now a days is easier to do online. Even little plumbing and joinery jobs we have been doing, I would usually just check on line and watch a few YouTube videos just to make sure I knew what I was doing.
We really do live on line lives today.
Its sometimes tough, sometimes very enjoyable, but when I started this blog I set the rules that I would blog at least once a month, and where possible four times a week; Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
Well so far I have been pretty good and I have managed to keep to my rule. For the rest of this week though I’ll not be blogging. The reason is that we are moving.
No not virtually but physically. Currently we live in a lovely village just outside Lincoln but it does lack room and when ever I need to use a studio I have to hire a space, either in Lincoln or my favourite studio in Worksop.
Well this week we are now moving to another lovely village near Lincoln but this time, we have room not only for my office, but also for my Photographic Studio; and also for Caroline’s Craft Studio. It will be a while before we have everything fully setup, and will be welcoming clients and models to our new place but this week is the start.
So lots of hard work ahead but great times are ahead.
Well its going to be a busy week for Apple. We have the release of the new hardware this week, basically tweaks and improvements to my current iPhone 5.
I am more interested in iOS 7, there are some significant user interface improvements that I am looking forward to, and I will be one of the first to upgrade all of the family Brown Apple devices to it on Wednesday when its released a couple of days before the new phone.
If your after more details about the new Phones and iOS 7 check out Apple’s website and also MacRumours, as well as some interest thoughts from Chris on his Blog; (i)Phone Update Part 1 & (i)Phone Update Part 2.
I have to admit to being a bit of a coffee geek. In the office I make good coffee with an aeropress, I hand grind all my coffee fresh each morning. At home I tend to use a Chemex but also sometimes a Kalita pourover, and when the mood takes me even a Turkish Hob Coffee pot.
I like to support the local coffee roaster but also buy coffee mail order from great online shops like Hasbean.
Recently Hasbean have being doing monthly specials, coffee blends that are a bit risky, a bit different, some you will love some you will hate but always different and educational to the palette.
This month they are being different again and offering you the chance to make your own blend, four very different beans, which you can mix to produce your own, looks like I am going to have a fun month!
This was tweeted by my good friend Andrew, if you liked the modern Battlestar Galactica you will love this.
After a few days in Scotland it was time to head home, but we did not want the holiday to finish just yet. So we made a quick phone call to one of our favourite Bed & Breakfast establishments, Heather Cottage. They had room so that was going to be our next destination.
We made our way through Kilder Forest, then headed to Hawes in North Yorkshire for a cream tea before finally arriving at Heather Cottage in Aysgarth. A lovely village, well worth a visit and lots of photographic options around. I do recommend a tripod if you are visiting.
Tomorrow we are heading to Whitby for lunch and then home. Its been a great holiday and a great biking holiday.
Great video showing Lincoln at its best.
After our day in Jedburgh, we decided to hit the road, but ever so briefly and visit Melrose. We made a quick stop first, just on the outskirts of Jedburgh to visit a quilt shop. Caroline was restrained and only bought one kit, well we had limited luggage space on the bike ;).
A quick ride out and we were soon at Melrose.
It was a hot day and we left the helmets and gloves with the bike when we parked up. We then quickly found a air conditioned tearoom to cool down and relax.
Sandwiches, Bannock Cake, and petit cakes, with Caroline having a pot of tea was lunch dealt with; it was now time to visit Melrose Abbey.
The lady at the till kindly offered to look after our jackets while we went round the Abbey.
After the Abbey we visited the local gardens.
The gardens were used to produce dried flowers. They still had a drying room and a lady there demonstrated some of the techniques they used.
Wondering round the gardens, taking in the views and taking photographs. As we were on the bike I just had the Nikon V1 with me. Walking round the gardens it proved to be an excellent choice.
With my biker jacket hung over one shoulder I only had one hand to operate the camera, but the V1 can easily be operated with one hand as long as you do not need to change modes.
One handed operation and being able to quickly change settings is something to consider in small cameras.
Melrose was a great day out, if a little warm. Heading back to Jedburgh we went via Kelso as that is another place we want to spend some time in the future. As we rode through the town, the bunting was out and crowds lined the streets. There was even groups of men and women on horse back. Like the recent event in Jedburgh the riders were going to ride the boundaries of the town. With its cobbled streets the town is definitely on our list for another longer visit.