Christmas is over.

Well Christmas is over, I haven't had much time to post recently. What with Christmas shopping and all the 1001 other things you have to do over the holiday period.

I haven't had any time for shooting either.. so here are a couple of oldies re-worked.

Enjoy. Wayne

Gritting the roads.

The last few days the weathers been very cold and a bit snowy/icy here, that's made the roads pretty bad, now to be fair the local council (Neath/Port talbot) haven't done too bad a job, they grit my street and I'm not on a main road, most of the local roads have been passable with care. Sadly I can't say the same for Swansea.
My brother phoned me Saturday night to warn me the roads were very dodgy in Morriston, I already knew, I'd been to Amanford where I don't think they know what a gritting lorry is. The roads were lethal there, even the main roads were covered in ice, in one side road I could hardy stand up never mind drive.
Why are we so ill prepared for ice and snow? We get it every year around this time, it really shouldn't surprise the local authorities, yet every year 2 inches of snow bring the country to a standstill. A mate of mine worked in Alaska, several feet of snow over night was not uncommon, yet next day the roads would be open as usual, and the place kept on running.
Even in the Chanel tunnel there were problems, why was it snowing in there too? No it was warm and the trains couldn't cope with the change from cold to warm for heavens sake.
What worries me me is all the fuss about climate change. Why are we worrying about global warming, we can't handle the climate we have now, we should get that sorted out first

Last of the summer wine.

I watched an episode of Last of the Summer Wine today, and it got me thinking back.
I remember watching the series for many years, seeing the coming and sadly going of many of the regular characters, Bill Owen (as Compo) Michael Bates (as Blamire) and Brian Wilde (as Foggy) Kathy Staff (as Nora Batty) Joe Gladwin (Wally Batty) John Corner (Sid from the cafe) and Michael Aldridge (as Seymour) Very sad looses, and many many hours of good family entertainment.

Merry Christmas.

Ill take this opportunity to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas holiday and a Happy New Year.
I hope all your dreams and aspirations will come true.

Good luck and may your God bless you for the future. Wayne

Presentation.

I was asked to take some photos of St John ambulance presentation (I'm a member) so heres one. Taken with a single flash it's done a fair job of even lighting.

I'm on my way out now to our Christmas party!

Giant Pandas.

It seems the giant panda is in serious decline. While they have been an endangered species for some time, it seems that numbers have dropped too a record low.
Now while it would be a shame to see them vanish I'm afraid they have been their own worst enemy. Limited to central and western China they haven't exactly spread out around the world. Couple that to the fact their diet consists almost 99% bamboo (although they can eat other things) makes them at best "fussy eaters" and a very limited diet means they have to spend huge amounts of time eating to get enough calories.
The final nail in the pandas coffin is it's total lack of interest in sex, they just can't be bothered to breed, and without breeding they are going to become endangered. Oh people have tried to help, zoo's have organised the panda equivalent of speed dating, I believe there's even a dating website, and they actually tried viagra, but the pandas just said something along the lines of "oh sorry darling I have a headache and I'm popping out for some bamboo" and that was that. Possible they just don't have the strength on bamboo, so come on pandas, have a nice jucy steak and chips, a bottle of wine and "get it on" before it's too late.

Trash the dress the pics

Here are the real trash the dress shots, Pearl was a really good sport, my favorite is the black and white shot.

Wayne

Pearl.

Pearl is a delightful young lady, married earlier this year she decided to trash the dress. Now if you haven't come across this before it involves taking the dress somewhere and getting it dirty or wrecked, the idea has come over from America.

Here are 2 shots taken before the dress got dirty, the rest you'll have to wait till tomorrow for.

Wayne

A few recent shots for the weekend.

I went for a little walk up the canal by Neath Abbey recently, here's a few shots from there, I would liked to have got further up but the towpath is flooded.

Enjoy Wayne

Winters coming.

Yes winters coming, so now is the time to take some sensible winter precautions with your car, check your tyre pressures (remember the spare) and the oil and water levels, also check your break fluid level. Give your wiper blades the once over and top up the washer bottle.
Now for the inside, a torch and battery is handy, as is a warm blanket or sleeping bag, if you get stuck in the cold somewhere you'll be glad of it. A shovel for digging yourself out is another useful tool.
If your going off the beaten track a flask of coffee and some chocolate will keep your spirits up if your caught in the snow, and talking of spirits, don't be tempted to take something stronger "to keep out the cold" First of all your leaving yourself open to a drink driving charge, secondly alcohol doesn't actually warm you up, that's a myth, it opens up the blood vessels and lets the warm blood from your core (the important bit) out to your extremities. That drop in core temperature could make the difference between life and death in a severe cold.
Why am I mentioning this? because the weather forcasters have given a heavy snow warning.

One from the marshes.

Heres a shot of marsh reeds, not very exciting I'll grant you but I liked it at the time.

Triptych

Triptych's are basically 3 pics in one (like this) you can easily make your own template in Photoshop or Paintshop pro. You can then put 3 pics together, usually pics that work together or compliment each other.

One that didn't work.

Heres a shot that didn't work, it's a HDR shot from 3 raw images combined, it doesn't work for several reasons, the main one being the 3 images haven't aligned properly, this is mainly due to them being shot hand held in windy conditions rather than on a tripod.

Theres also bit's of the barrier showing bottom left, although I'll take those out when I process it again.

Matrix revisited!

No not the film but those motorway information matrix signs, yet again I wonder about the logic and waste of energy having signs tell us to watch out for spray in the pouring rain. Lets be honest spray in heavy rain shouldn't really surprise drivers, if it does maybe they aren't fit to be driving in the first place.
I'd love to hack those signs, on a fine sunny day have it saying "sunny!" or over the Christmas holiday have it say "don't forget the turkey" stupid stuff like that, or maybe "stop reading the bloody signs and look where your going" that would be a good one!
On the subject of motoring the roundabout near me is like a Krypton factor test at peak times, it's totally barking mad, you have to swerve across 3 lanes pretty much wherever your going, how stupid is that!, who's it sponsored by, the panel beaters association?

Oxwich last few.

Here are a few more from my day out at Oxwich, I still have a few left, but I'll save them for another day when I'm stuck for ideas.

More from Oxwich

When I was a child we more or less lived on Oxwich beach, my dear Dad was a sun worshipper, we'd be up and out first thing in the morning, on the beach and we'd stay there untill it was time for him to work, as he played drums in a club this was about 7 pm before we would leave the beach. My entire summer holidays would be the beach (bad weather excepted)

Trouble is it's a bit boring for a young child, and 7 weeks of the same beach is too much. I think I probably overdosed on sand! even today I'm not really keen on sand in my toes, the idea of a day sitting with thousands of other "trippers" wedged into a few square feet of sand fill me with dread.

That said I don't mind a wander on a nice quiet beach. I thought I'd re-visit my old stomping ground yesterday, I had a really good walk, it was cold but dry and sunny, which was nice.

Heres some more of the photos.

A black and white from today.

A very quick post, I'm feeling a bit rough tonight, went for a wander today to a place I spent a lot of time as a child, Oxwich beach. Heres the church there, more pics tomorrow. Wayne