May was a light month for photography, I was torn between the top shot and the one I actually published for photograph of the month.
This month I have a busy photography month, with a few corporate photographs and some studio sessions.
Snowdonia Holiday
Last month we had our first holiday of the year.
We booked a small cottage in the Snowdonia National Park, a lovely village in the mountains called Beddgelert was our home for the week.
We traveled by car as the intention was to do plenty of walking with Timmy the Greyhound, who was just about recovered from his operation.
We are intending for our next car to be fully electric to minimise our impact on the environment so we planned an interesting cross country route, but one that passed a couple of rapid chargers. It seems incredible that just seven years a go there was only one rapid charger in the country and the BBC doing a test took over three days to get from London to Edinburgh. Though an owner of a Tesla Roadster did it in under twenty four hours a few weeks later after reading about the BBC report.
With it still being early in the season, we had snow many mornings and even a blizzard one day.
Each morning I got up early and took Timmy for a gentle walk along the river.
There was a nice church by the river which I took a few photographs of. The holiday was not photography focused holiday I just took with me a pair of Leica M cameras. An M4 film camera and a M10.
We were very lucky with the light and weather and I took some nice photographs during are walks. The top photography was actually a series of photographs taken with the M10 and merged together in Photoshop.
Timmy enjoyed himself and many of the pubs in the village were dog friendly. In fact the hotel where we had a meal on a number of occasions even had a menu for dogs, so one day we not only had a meal for ourselves but for Timmy as well.
Taking a break
Theres a lot going on in the Brown Family Household at the moment, and with all the extra demands on my time i’ll be taking a break from social media somewhat and this blog. I’ll still be posting the picture of the month and the odd update but they will be far fewer then they used to be.
Timmy’s Been to the Dentist
We dropped Timmy the Greyhound of at the Vets on Wednesday to have a few teeth out.
I collected him today and spent the day with him, working from home. Its going to be tough for both of us not giving in and giving him treats, but its soft food only for about a week now.
Falcon Heavy
I have been looking forward to Space X’s Falcon Heavy test launch. Its been hit my delay after delay, but in the end it was a wonderful test, an amazing launch, and landing two out of the three boosters was an amazing and fantastic sight to see.
Using the original Tesla Roadster as a test payload was also an inspired bit of advertising which will certain do Space X’s sister company Tesla, no harm at all.
SuperBowl
Today we have the day off as we spent the night watching the American Super Bowl. It was a classic match, while I wanted the Eagles to win, I did not expect them to be able to overcome the might of New England, especially with the Eagles having a back up quarter back. They surprised me and it was a great game with the Eagles pulling through.
Cold Brew Coffee
Cold brew coffee has become really fashionable recently so I decided to brew some up myself.
There are various recipes on the internet so I have tired several of the last couple of weeks before coming to one I prefer. As for brewing I have just been using a Kilner jar. Poor in the coffee grounds and iced water, then leave for sixteen hours, decant into a Chemex then in to jar to keep in the fridge for up to two weeks. Easy. Server over ice with milk or even better with cream, and if your feeling really decadent with Tennessee whiskey.
Monday Morning Feeling
Its going to be a very quiet week, Timmy the Greyhound has sprained his right wrist and cannot walk, I am full of cold and working from home, and so far this year have not managed to get out and do a single personal photographic shoot. Heres hopping things get better from now on.
New Years resolutions and projects
I did not make any real new year resolutions but there are a few things I am intending to do.
I want to get more studio photography done and I want to try and make sure that I get out to Hartsholme Park and Whisby Nature reserve a bit more often for some wildlife photograph.
This year will be spent trying to figure out what are the main types of photography I want to do and which focal length lens I prefer to do those types of photographs. Then next year i’ll be undertaking a bit of a photographic prune of equipment and setting my self up with just what I really want.
When and and about with the Leica I have proven to myself how few focal lengths you actually need.
On a more personal note I want to continue with my diet and weight loss, I am just about there now despite Christmas but want to ensure I do not slip back into old ways.
Lastly I want to get my music a lot better this year. I found last year with everything that happened it was far too easy to let a couple of months slip past and I had not picked up a banjo or sat and played at our piano. So January will be a month where I start gently but ensure I get down at least a couple of practice sessions each week.
Snows Coming
The weather forecast is not looking good the next few days and as someone who commutes by motorcycle, i’ll be digging out my electrically heated waist coat. Generally here in Lincolnshire, unless you live out over the wolds we do not see much snow and as most motorists in the UK do not like switching from their summer or general purpose tires its a good job. You do not need much of a coating of snow to bring the UK to a halt.