Grey Day, Camera at Play :)

So today was one of those grey days where you don't go out without a raincoat or an umbrella but even so, it was quite bright so out came my new little pocket camera and off to the weir I went.

Although the weir was running pretty fast, the river itself was almost mirror-like - reflecting the dark grey clouds looming over us.

I flipped this one over but I think it's quite difficult to tell that it is 100% reflection!

So how many people do you think are standing at the rail? Actually, it was just me. Used the colourise function in photoshop to give it a hint of blue tone - I was getting fed up with all the grey.

My Latest Addiction!

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a news snippet talking about a new website being launched. I noted it down to have a look-see as it is the sort of thing I am curious about and I thought my nephew might like it too. Last Sunday, I finally got around to having a look and was instantly hooked! What is this amazing website, I hear you thinking. It's called GalaxyZoo2 and it's basically an online database of thousands of images of the galaxies out there in our night skies. They are asking for people to help them classify the galaxies as it seems the human eye is a better judge of the subtleties than a computer program.

Here are a couple of beauties I've been asked about this week.

Yes, there are a lot of images of blobs but believe it or not, even they need to be classified because as technology improves, it may be possible to get a closer look at them. The site is huge but interesting. The sign up form has a tick box to say you are over 5 years old (!!) so pretty much anyone can have a go. There was one young man on the newbies forum this week who 'found' this one - how exciting would that be?

Apparently it's a planetary nebula called PN G164.8+31.1 - rather boring name for such a wonderful thing. Anyhoo - go have a look and take your kids with you - it's interesting, educational and pretty much child-safe from what I've seen. Click on the pictures to take you to their info pages - you can zoom in and out and have a look around if you'd like :) Have fun!

Spring is coming!

I can tell! The trees are beginning to bud, the daffodils are getting going and my mood is lifting. Over the last couple of winters, I have really noticed myself 'switching off' during November-February. Last year I spent the best part of 3 months playing an online game called Toontown rather than do anything with my photography, my online shops or even my stock portfolios. This year, it's been The Dog Whisperer on TV and stupid games on Facebook but we've had 3 days of sun this week and already I'm beginning to feel more awake. Hopefully the longer days and warming temperatures will wake me up a bit more so I can get on with doing stuff.

In the meantime, here's a couple of little cheeky guys who cheer up my lunchbreaks - captured on my new little point & shoot camera which is small enough to keep in my handbag or pocket at all times.

Being a 10mp camera means that not only are the file sizes huge in comparison to my older cameras but I can also crop very hard and still have a good size shot. It only has a 3x zoom so although I was only a few feet away from the squirrels, they were still quite small in the image so 1 hard crop later and it looks like I was much closer :)

Having said that, these little critters are so tame (or brave perhaps) that I'm pretty sure with a bit of patience and some tempting food, I could probably get them to eat out of my hand. That's a project for some warmer, drier days though when I don't have to dash back to the office.

Craft Fairs - I must be mad!

As you can see from my previous post, I was prepping for my 1st craft fair. Well, the day before the fair, I went for a job interview - really good timing with all my stuff everywhere, all the last minute bits running through my head and then having to be 'professional' for an hour. It seems I can multitask because I did get the job and started the next Tuesday after the fair.

Anyway, so, how did the fair go? Pretty well I think, for a 1st attempt. I managed to find Debsmuddles' house to pick her up en route which was just as well because she knew the area and got us to the Community Centre on time. We went in and found the lovely Trish from Re:form, one of the organisers of the event and a fellow Etsy seller. Set up didn't take too long because I'd done the sensible thing and had a practise at home the day before.

Then the doors opened and I pasted a smile on my face and prepared to meet my first ever face to face customers. There was a fairly constant flow and after a while, I relaxed and just chatted to anyone who stopped long enough to look. I sold about 30 cards over the course of the day which covered my table fee, fuel and snacks but it was fun so that was OK.

One thing I did discover - people didn't seem to want to rummage or flick through the prints in the basket or the cards in the card stand. But that was OK - I also worked out that neither the basket or the card stand was going to fit in my suitcase for the next craft fair in London anyway!

Photo of me at Handmade, Leigh-on-Sea, courtesy of Reform ©

So I started a new job and had to print a few more cards to replace the sold ones, ready for my next outing to We Make. This time, Debsmuddle came to me and we caught the train together. My case was fine for wheeling around but I hadn't taken into account all the stairs on the Underground and we hadn't checked on maintenance problems. It worked out OK though because the train terminated at Stratford which also has the Central Line tube station - just the one we needed - straight through to Tottenham Court Road. Ten minutes walking later, we found a Starbucks next to the American Church where the fair was being held. Grabbed a coffee and went to set-up.

We Make was organised by a lovely group of ladies who happen to be fellow Etsy sellers so it was with lots of squealing and many air kisses later that we got going. Debs was at the far end of the room from me so I just quietly got on with it. No basket or card stand meant that I had to rethink my display - luckily I had asked for a wall behind me so I blu-tacked a few of my larger prints up there and leant one very large print against the wall from the table. My magnet displays fitted in between and I laid all my cards out on the table.

The carol singing started and the doors opened and we were ready to face the public. I stayed by my stall for a fairly long while before wandering round to see/meet the other sellers. I was really strict with myself and didn't splurge on anything even though I could probably have maxed out my credit card quite easily with all the lovely stuff on sale. I'd also borrowed hubbys' little camera so dashed round to get a few shots - I can't believe I didn't take a shot of my own stall though - I'm hoping someone else may have. so here they are - just a few of the lovely ladies selling at We Make - I haven't put them all here but there are more on my flickr stream if you would like to have a look :)

All in all, a fun day out, meeting lots of lovely Etsy sellers but very tiring and boy, do I know how heavy that suitcase was - here I am two days later and I can still barely lift the kettle, my muscles are aching so bad!

Day2Day - this weeks unmissable photos! LOL

Monday - severely lacking inspiration again so delved in my weird things box and found this! Liked the colours. Answers on a postcard please :)

Tuesday - nature provided the inspiration today - the sun caught the few remaining leaves on this tree and made them glow. Not sure I've caught the glow but I like it.

Wednesday - Paper bags for my first foray into the world of craft fairs. Minimum order was 1000 for the 2 smaller sizes and 500 for the big pink bags so 2500 bags for 2 craft fairs - gosh, I hope I sell something!

Thursday - I thought I'd been seeing a little wren at the bottom of the garden but it turns out to be this little brown bird instead - a dunnock or hedge sparrow. Not very sharp - long lens through glass at 7.30am but you get the idea :)

Friday - borrowed a small-ish table top display easel from an artist friend of mine. It will form part of my craft fair table display. I really like how my framed print looks on an easel - may have to splash out and get a couple more if I continue this craft fair lark.

Twitter-ing On ...

So it seems to be the latest fashion over on Etsy to join Twitter - the forums are full of twitter-this and twitter-that threads. They say that apart from being a bit of fun, it's also possible to do a bit of promotion over there so I caved in and joined. I added the widget to my blog too so if you have a peek over there on the right --->, you should see it. If you're on Twitter, drop in say Hi :)

I don't know how long I will last but I'll give it a go and see whether I like it or not. Can't ask for much more than that really can I?

Day2Day - Bit late again!

I've been fairly poorly this week so although I did manage to scrape together enough energy to take a shot or two, I just haven't had the will to actually blog them! So here goes, although it is Sunday and the next lot start tomorrow :)

Monday - put my back out late yesterday so curled up with painkillers and the tv today.

Tuesday - made it to the back door today! Looked up and saw this lovely leaf stuck to the roof of my verandah and snapped it. End of energy!

Wednesday - woke up with a sore throat, aches and a bit of a cough which was closely followed by a runny nose and complete lack of any energy or brainpower! I even forgot to reset the white balance for this one and just couldn't be bothered to re take it!


Thursday - still feeling fairly crap but spotted this chappie stuffing his face so grabbed the camera, swapped lenses and dashed back to catch him (that all sounds fairly energetic but it was more of a slow motion dash, you know?). I needn't have worried, he was still there, intent on clearing the seeds completely so none of the other birds in the neighbourhood could get some too.

Friday - still feeling listless and no inspiration either but I was sooooo bored of daytime TV. Grabbed this shot of some incense cones just to fill the spot really. Bought them a few weeks ago to try some smoke photos but haven't got around to it yet!