Gower 'Glamping'

I am getting ahead of my backlog, but here's last weekend's trip to the Gower for Louise's and Bobby's birthday celebration.
The best bits: Saturday morning, kite flying in the wind, and the stillness of sunday, at the turn of low tide, with no wind, no gulls and even the students in hushed tones guessing the Sunday paper's literary riddles.

Our Animals

This is from a little while back, I was staying with relatives and playing a lot with the many dogs all about. I realised quite how much I missed my springer since she died at the proud old age of SEVENTEEN. Anyway this made me think about what I really love about the pets we keep, and dogs in particular. It's the trust they give - often dogs seem to be very knowing, but when they appear completely clueless they follow you with open adoration that surpasses thinking when you might next feed them. So here are a couple of shots to describe this simple relationship.






Lots and lots to come! I've been very busy with lots of visits these last two weekends, and I think some good shots came out of it.
Also I am getting together a bath of photos of my hereford climbing friends ready for some sort of poster or suchlike.

In the meantime
Toodles!

Summer Flowers

I have been doing plenty of shooting of late, and had precious little time to organise and consolidate.
I have also been considering a little the attitude I am to take to my photographs. I feel for the most part that I am experimenting - all the time. I spend precious little time researching how to take photographs - or taking the advice of others. I prefer stumbling blind into it all I think.


Maybe part of this is just ego? I hope most of it is a willingness to play and learn through it.


Besides this however, I don't know sometimes how to feel about the end result of the photos I take, and really how harsh one is to be to oneself when upon the curve of learning. I have said before that it is the doing of photography that holds me in a happy and free place, but I do want there to be a result to my experimentation I am very pleased with.


I suppose that the easiest path for me would to be content with gradual improvement, maintain my aspirations for the future and take delight in the moment of each photo. But it is very hard I feel to decide if you are actually improving technically and compositionally. Especially if the real tests - James' wedding definitely was one - are quite few and far between. Should I be doing something different? Am I broadening my experience in a way that will be useful, or am I just messing around with progressively bigger lenses?


Time shall tell I guess.


Enough talk - one of the ongoing experiments coming up - my fascination with flowers.


Two types of summer flowers often overlooked but favourites to me, inhabiting places hidden and unexpected. Out of place, untended and beautiful in a simple, bold manner.

India Model

Also done recently - not really photography, but Bobby and myself did some work for my Uncle Mark Merer on an hotel project going up in India. Among other things we made a 1:100 model.
Here it is.

Swallows, Swifts and Martins

Well well! Now we actually have some sun and warm evenings as befit the time of year, I wanted to get a photo of swallows and their contemporaries in flight. 
This is horrendously difficult, and good results feel more accidental than anything. So this is a learning post - hopefully with updates to come if I improve. DEFINITE need for even bigger lenses, you can really see why you need to spend the money to get the speed and sharpness for this type of nature photography, even in perfect evening light conditions. 


For all of these taken in different places the atmosphere was the same - warm, heady, flower scented summer evening air, and scores of swift, flitting, agile dancers pirouetting in the sky, just out of reach, too involved in their lightening lives to be bothered by the earth-bound keeping them company.


Every shot is manually focused (I doubt any AF can keep up), which means one has to shoot by feel, but it does make it terribly fun, and the skill of aiming and guesswork akin to hunting. No, not hunting, like playing tag. With a swallow.


Yeah I lost.


Well these are the best offerings I have I am afraid. Hopefully there will be more and better. However, sometimes it's nice just to feel involved and happy with photography, and sod the results - their like tips, it's the doing that counts sometimes.
At least, that thought encourages me when I don't feel as good as I want just yet, and that every minute behind the lens is a good minute that will yield results in time.
So it might as well be enjoyable.

Coming Storm

A few weeks back I was visiting Bath and we got this wonderful sunshine, so Louise and I climbed up Victoria Park and got these glorious views of the storm front that was coming to inundate us for the next week.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomglendinning/sets/72157626926965641/





Which I thought was cool, because I love clouds.

Dance Mash in Hereford High town

Phew!
Finally I've got to the BLOG stage of proceedings.
The photos are edited and sorted, all on flikr and ready to be showed off.
Bloody nuisance.. I wish I had a robot to do it so i could take more photos.


Anyway, this morning I went to yoga rid-onculously early for a two hour session, and feeling thoroughly spaced out then was summoned to photograph my younger sister taking part in a dance performance in hightown. I've felt pretty grim ever since, maybe it was the dazzling display of yellow t-shirts and breakdancing, maybe I'm just nackered from this week.


But without further ado here they are, my first shoot of a dance performance and hopefully will do more in the future, great fun.


As usual these are straight from flikr http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomglendinning/sets/72157626920539777/

Meadows and Deer

I'm a little fed up with the wet and dingy weather of late, so this post is all about light! Well, all photography is about light but anyway, I have a headache and wish it was sunny. At least Bobby is cooking something yummy.
So, light. I've decided I need to get a flash, either as birthday prezzie. HINT. or just with money, heaven forbid. Thinking primarily for the usefulness of any gigs I do in the future (I realised just how important having a good flash was after the wedding photos I did for James Peer), but also I think it would be useful to have for creative means alone, also better portraits and party shots should result.
I am faced with the dilemma of choice though, currently sitting between the Canon 430ex ii and the Nissin di622 (mark II), with a slight lean to the canon. If anyone can suggest anything on this matter I would be very grateful.


In other news..The studio post was well received by my aunt and uncle, they liked the style I think. I found it really fun because there was so much inspirational material to choose from. Although as Louise noted when she saw them it looks like my aunt is running a mausoleum. Quite right too, we should fear our sculptors for the power they have.
Enough gibberish.
Time for some photos reminding of the recent sunnyness.
These are all shots of the meadow which the house I am currently living in overlooks. I love watching the wind make a wave across the long grass, and when a young doe meanders over and poses for you, well...
can't complain.





These are straight from my flikr page
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomglendinning


Much lovely sun to you all.
Must eat dinner now.


Bye!


PS: To everyone who is in a sunny country (This is you Kate) YA BOO SUCKS

Bobby Shoot

Photos taken of Bobby at the pre-summer ball party.




Deer photos next...

Sculpture Studio

At present I am living and working with my uncle and aunt, in an awesome house they built (google 'landhouse' all you architects) and I thought it would be fun to photograph how they work.

These photos were taken in an artist's studio, with the aim of capturing the atmosphere of an artist's work in progress, their tools, methods and finished pieces. The artists are Lucy Glendinning and Mark Merer. Their work can be found here: http://www.lucyglendinning.com/

and here: http://www.markmerer.com/

Aren't they good?

I'm also trying out a new way of posting photos, a direct link to flikr to display a slideshow. If there are any problems viewing it please let me know.




NEXT, should be some nature photographs of deer in meadows.

Taraa
Tom

Summer Ball Pre-Party

Last weekend was the University of Bath summer ball. Me and Bobby were in Bath to see the architecture year show, I did some climbing in cheddar with Archie and had a jolly good time.

On getting back I dropped in on the pre-party at Sara's house where all and sundry were gathered to get dressed and have a drink, or two, or ten.

I just so happened to have my camera on me! Never happens I swear. Anyway these are my favourite shots from the evening. They're all on facebook along with more. If you despair at how you look in one of them, tough!

 Well ok you can ask ever so nicely for it's removal. I respond well to nice.

Sara our lovely host with Justin - her date for the night..

The highlight of the evening (for me anyhow, I didn't have tickets for the ball) was watching Beer Pong! 

A marvellous game, I shall be playing it much in the future.

"but, but, but, that's not fair"

This was Robyn and Jack celebrating, best shots of the evening:

The girls in their dresses..

and the boys in their suits.

I was there,

and of course Alex was on good form as always.

Thats all, hope you liked these if you were in them.

If you want to download decent quality images then I shall be putting the set up on flikr soon: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomglendinning/

More  very soon, I've been taking some more artistic shots of my Aunt's sculpture studio.

Cheerio.

To continue

So, continuation of the last post - with the photos taken at my grandparents house on mine and Bobby's little break there, following the visit to London.


We went on a walk and found a lovely meadow in the sun, and had fun playing about in the grass and watching the buzzards.

Later on, back at the house, I amused myself trying to capture bumblebees dive-bombing in and out of foxglove flowers. Here's the results:

And this last one, possibly my favourite insect/flower shot to date, was pure accident. Experimenting with the soft blur of colour behind the yellow jobby, this bee hurtled across my lens at full speed the instant I pressed the shutter. 

Good bee.

Thats all folks!
Photos found on my flikr http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomglendinning/sets/72157626834424220/


The photos from James & Hanne's wedding are also there for anyone who was asking to see them.


Will be putting a post up soon on the pre-summer ball photos with the lovely people at Sara's house.


Ciao

Welcome All

 So,

This blogging lark.

I thought it might be fun to be honest.

And occasionally someone other than me might look at something or other i make and go  

"oooooooo"

which is nice

So, my motives two:

I'm getting fed up of organising photos and never really deciding which I like the best, because things like flikr can just fill up and have no context to them. Its just photos. And I never really look at my picks again. Besides, what I love is TAKING photos, and I want something that remembers that rather than post editing.

I might keep a diary if I ever thought I would read it again. It would be entertaining to look back in time and have some sort of idea what I was up to. But then I don't think that if I had anything exciting to say I would have time left to write about it. 

What I would like though is a visual record of snapshots and comments, to remember people I meet, things I do and places I go. Since I take the photos anyway, there's my medium. Plus an intro, and kasam! Blogtastic.

I apologise in advance for any bouts of soliloquy. (look it up - i did)  I will try to keep rants and philosophy to a minimum unless it relates to the photographs or how I felt when taking them. 

So, without further ado I shall begin the narrative with a recent trip I took. I hope you like it. 

Tally Ho!

This was a little trip to kew gardens in London, my second in fact, while my girlfriend was in an interview. My mood was one of being very sleepy (last night having slept on a floor after a rock concert after driving 4 hours etc etc) but very determined to have a jolly good relaxing morning before driving another 4 hours.

So of course it was a hugely blustery day with heavy showers that came and sat on you periodically and then ran off sniggering when you reached cover. As such much time was spent smelling lovely warm tropical smells in the glass houses.

Next

4 hour drive to grandparents in somerset,

i said "hey, we might be passing stone henge" 30 second silence, oh look, there it is.

With a cloud torn sky that couldn't better suit the wiltshire downs.

Any comments, tips etc regarding the photography or anything would be much appreciated as always. 


Flikr:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomglendinning/