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Shipping by...

Scenes from here.

Belgian Minehunter "Bellis", Launched 14th Feb, commissioned 13th Aug 1986. Was one of the ships involved in aid during the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster.

Had the lens stretched out a goodly length...that's Wemyss Bay in the background with the Bute Ferry docked. You could mistake that for a hop skip and jump.  It's about two miles away!!!

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Monday's Critters

Recently, over at MENO blog, I have been sharing an island adventure down under.  It started HERE... (in case you got interested!)  I had with me, at the time, the Minolta SLR. Have no idea which lens I used for this one; not sure if it was the scanning process or the water in the pool ... or camera shake... but this seems to be slightly out of focus.  The clam was nearly a foot across.

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MOONdays

This was the June Moon. Taken with the 'Nik' on nightscape made and the lens stretched into the digital marks.

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Saturday Symmetry

A drive-behind shooting!!!  Farmed pine from the Argyll braesides.

Taken with the 'Nik' on auto everything.

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"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."
(H D Thoreau)

Taken with the 'Nik' on macro mode.

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Each Thursday Challenge seems to arrive before the ether has cooled on the last one! This week' prompt is CLOTHES.

This was one I just had to take a crisp, fresh and to-the-minute TAKE, with the 'Nik' on auto everything, but without flash and under candescent light in the hall cupboard...yes it acts as my walk in wardrobe as well as storage.  You would be forgiven for thinking I had tinkered with this...this being "Last Thursday", but it was simply the prevailing light.  It just happens to have the hue of the dominant colour in my collection.  What can I say? Stay bright!!!

Now for the Last Thursday offering... a peacock at Taronga Zoo (Sydney) displayed his 'clothing' and FOTOR made sure it spun you out! (If you have an enhanced photo to share for the the last Thursday of the month, feel free to hyperlink in the comments box.)

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Wings on Wednesday -

YAM's take on the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright hilarious in respect to photographing birds.

Here is the second shot of the jay, for series of three.  Taken with the 'Nik', whose lens is waring out...

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Shipping by...

Views from here.

It is inevitable, given the presence of the Faslane Naval Base, that there are a lot of these types of craft floating by. This one is flying the white ensign and on searching the number** I discovered this is the HMS Chiddingford, Hunt Class Mine Counter-measures Vessel (mine-sweeper to you 'n' me); launched 1983, commissioned 1984, underwent "mid-life upgrading" (!) in 2012.  Well she is looking spruce here.

Taken with the 'Nik' on all the usual.


**I had this post scheduled and had thought to do the search before Bill dropped by last week with more info on a Dutch boat.  It had not occurred to me at that stage.  Next week's is even more interesting, 'cos I simply didn't recognise the flag at all!!! Being able to look these up certainly adds to the interest...

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Monday's Critters

Obviously one of the scanned prints.  Taken with the little Minolta analog handicam.  I had been camping in the back of my station wagon (estate car) on one of the many little by-roads in the Highlands.  It was a September morning, 6am-ish, that I awoke to company!

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SUNdays

Another taken on the East Anglian visit.  It proved fruitful for sunshots!





















Taken with the 'Nik' on sunset mode and stopped back three notches.

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Saturday Symmetry

June at Lock Eck.  Taken with the 'Nik' on auto everything.

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"For every minute you are angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Taken with the 'Nik' on macro.

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For the Thursday Challenge this week the theme is to be set around the colour BLUE.

This was taken through a car windscreen; it was clear but may have added to the blue-ish tint.  The sun was doing the rest of the work!

Taken with the 'Nik' on auto.

Then again, this was taken last week as the moon grew gibbous and the sun lingered below the horizon, giving the late evening (10pm-ish) lustre to the sky.  

The hanging glasswork is also of blue.

Taken with the 'Nik' on nightscape mode.









One more for luck - the hydrangeas in my Sydney garden were absolute monsters - with lots of blue shades. Taken with the Uniden digicam on macro mode.

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Wings on Wednesday -

YAM's take on the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright hilarious in respect to photographing birds.

Managed three reasonable shots of this jay - given that the lens extender is playing leap frog these days - and as my stock of 'wings' shots is depleting without adequate replenishment, am going to give you them one at a time!

Share your offerings with links through the comments please!

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Shipping by...

Views from my window.

The French Dutch **flag is clearly visible on this navy vessel - visiting their pals up at Faslane, no doubt.

Taken with the 'Nik' on auto and extended lens (quoting the numbers gets a bit boring, at least for this shipping post...)

**POST-PUB EDIT; my thanks to Bill for spotting the rookie mistake - and not knowing the angle of the stripes!!!  

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Monday's Critters

Forest Forager.

Taken with the 'Nik' on auto and lens stretched 5x optical.

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SUNdays

The Wash, 8pm-ish, mid-summer.  Taken with the 'Nik' on sunset mode and stopped down a couple of notches on the exposure.

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Saturday Symmetry

From central Inverary looking back towards the 1914-18 war memorial and main road bridge.





















Taken with the 'Nik' on standard everything.

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"The tears of the world are a constant quality.  For each one who begins to weep, somewhere else, another stops.  The same is true of laughter."
(Samuel Beckett)

Rain and roses.  Taken with the 'Nik' on macro and post-process vignette.

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Over at Thursday Challenge, the prompt for this week's sharing is GARDENS.

Have gone to the archives for this week's offerings.  Above you see how art is merged with nature in Sydney's Botanic Gardens.  Couldn't resist a bit of nostalgia from my own (now-ex) Sydney garden...

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Wings on Wednesday -

YAM's take on the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright hilarious in respect to photographing birds.

This Marsh Harrier had his eye firmly fixed.  A long way off, it was a challenge to get anything remotely decent, photographically. 

Taken on the Norfolk Coast, with the 'Nik' on sports mode and lens extended the full 26x optical.

Have you got any bird posts to share?  I have decided to cease from the linky, given minimal participation in that - however I would still love for you to connect so feel free to hyperlink your relevant posts in the comments box.  

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Shipping by...

Views are not always from my window...sometimes from the shore.

Taken with the 'Nik' on auto exposure, lens stretched 20x optical zoom.

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Monday's Critters

One of the earliest taken with the Minolta SLR some thirty years back.  This was at the Edinburgh Butterfly World not long after it opened, in 1985. (Scanned print.)

In 2011, when I made a visit to Scotland prior to leaving for India, I revisited the place.  It is still a fabulous attraction and I saw descendants of the butterfly I met so many generations previously.  This shot was taken with the Uniden digicam on macro mode.

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SUNdays

The Apostles at sunset; Victoria, Australia, 2000 a.d.
Taken with the Minolta digicam. 

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Saturday Symmetry

...that wheel you saw yesterday?  Belonged to this. A horse-drawn seed drill I think; the box with the seeds of choice would have been fastened on top... (any other suggestions?)













Taken with the 'Nik' on standard everything.

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"To me the meanest flower that blows can give thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears."
(W. Wordsworth)

Foxglove protected by ancient wheel; old farm equipment at Auchindrain.

Taken with the 'Nik' on standard focus and 'snow' mode (as the light was very intense, washing all colour).

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Here we are at Thursday Challenge time again and the prompt this week is SPORT...

Spotted this lone para-surfer at Hunstanton, Norfolk; The Wash tide well out and the North Sea looking on the chill side but he was determined.  He did get going pretty well, but was rather far off and this was the best of the five or six shots I attempted...even with the lens out somewhat. 

Taken with the 'Nik' on sports mode.

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Wings on Wednesday -

YAM's take on the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright hilarious in respect to photographing birds.

Resorting to the scanned prints again.

These Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were part of a gang who visited the Turramurra (Sydney) garden regularly. They could be terribly destructive, but is hard to resist the characters that they are!

Taken with the Minolta SLR.

Do you have some shots of our feathered friends - or an insect or two?

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Shipping by...

Views from my window. Cannot tell you much about this one except that the name appears to be 'Cemile' and I believe that is of Turkish origin... Taken with the 'Nik' on all the usual.

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Monday's Critters

A little bit fuzzy, but this was taken some 35 years ago with the Minolta analog handy-cam and is another of the scanned print series.

This is the Penguin Parade at Edinburgh Zoo. They are not forced to do this; it is entirely up to the individuals whether they stretch their legs round the pen or not and often only a few will do it.  

On this occasion, as you see, nearly the whole community decided to meet and greet!!!