And on to Brighton for a wedding

I arrived in plenty of time to Brighton, so there'd be time for a bit of an explore before the wedding. I don't think I've ever been to Brighton before, so it was exciting to se places like the old and new piers, the pavilion, and to attempt to paddle on the very pebbly beach!

Then to the wedding, there were so many beautiful decorations that I couldn't resist snapping away all day! Hers are a few of my favourites.

A visit to Oxford and it's surrounding wonders

I visited a few more places 'down South' during my summer holidays. The first pictures are from a visit to Avesbury, another of the places I heard much about whilst studying archaeology, but had never had the chance to visit before. It's a tiny village with lovely thatched cottages, that is surrounded by ancient bankings and stone monuments. Unlike Stonehenge, which is fenced off, you can walk up to the stones and see how big they are from close up which is nice.

This was a nice little museum, but you had to pay to get on a timelslot to visit so we didn't bother. It was nice to look at though!

The next location we visited was 'The Living Rainforest'. It seems to be something of a charity set up to teach people about sustainable living, and they use their greenhouses with tropical plants and animals to help with this. There were lots of things to take pictures of!

And finally back to Abingdon where I was staying with my friend at her house. We went for a nice walk in the evening and the town looked lovely in the setting sunlight.

Fireworks

At the weekend I also happened upon a surprise firework display! I had my camera but no tripod, but i think the pictures have come out pretty well. It was a very good display for the little town of Castle Douglas!

Sunsets from the car

Towards the end of the journey to Scotland at the weekend we were greeted by a most excellent sunset, (and a most excellent rainbow which I unfortunately didn'tget any good photographs of). It so happened that I wasn't driving is particular leg of the journey, which I was pleased about as I could take some piccies

Blurry lights

When the background appears out of focus on a picture because the camera is focused on something closer, then any lights in the background appear as little glowing blobs. I saw a picture on Pinterest when somebody had covered the front of their camera lens with cardboard with a hole cut out. Whatever's shape the hole is that let's light into the camera's sensor is the shape that the blurry blobs in the background will appear. As I happen to have a heart shaped cutter, that is the shape I went for. The first picture shows the cardboard piece I put on the front of the camera, and below that you can see pictures with it taking effect! It is a bizarre but clever effect!

Derwent Water

Here are some more snaps that I have been editing to make them more eye catching. I think I might have made the sky a touch too dark though it looks a little unrealistic!

Experiments in Black and White

This week I have been experimenting with black and white pictures, if it isn't politically incorrect to say so. I currently have a free trial version of 'Adobe Lightroom' which seems to be the most popular programme for making adjustments to pictures, and I've been using that to play around with contrast levels etc. I've been hunting down a range of subjects for said monochromatic experiments, and I think they all seem to work rather well.