New 2009 365 Blog

I enjoyed this blog and have decided to continue through 2009.

Here is the link to my 365 Blog. Thanks for stopping by:

LindaJohnstonePhotography

Mid December & Time to Call it a Day

Well it's been great, but now it is nearly the end of the year and time to draw a line under this particular blog.

Thanks to everybody that has supported and encouraged me this far, also to all those that have taken the time to just follow.  I got so much more out of this blog than I thought I would - getting to know about people and their lives & lifestyles in different countries was one of the bigger bonuses.  I look forward to keeping in touch through the blog world next year.

In the meantime, I wish you all a very Happy Christmas & Happy New Year

Theme 245 - Leaf

Thanks for your comments. I am going to hang on in here and see how many I can do. Will be starting up a new blog plus another challenge for 2009.

Oh yes, I have already made one New Year resolution - to stop being such a whinge-bag about my photography and just get on learn and enjoy.

Sounds like a good start for the year.

Decisions, Decisions

So What's the Girl to do?

Just a sort of update. I haven't given up on my blog, on the other hand, I am not exactly running with it either at the moment am I!

I am sitting on this big comfortable fence, waiting for divine intervention as to whether to continue or just say "Enough". I am reluctant to give up, although my chances of actually completing the Challenge are pretty much zero. What I don't want to happen is to get all happy snappy again - sometimes that is right, the opportunity presents itself and a snapshot works but there are some photos I have posted here that are just snaps and not very satisfying to take or post .

I have just completed an 8 week online course and currently absorbing that info. In addition, at present I'm drawn to portraiture - I have a lot to learn, but really enjoy working with people.

So, in the meantime, here are a few shots I have taken recently - maybe this will break my blogging inertia and other more relevant shots will follow...........................or not - ;-)

Theme 278 - Power

Power of the Sea

Blowing a gale here at present, although much calmer than yesterday, so I decided to venture out to the seaside. As the wind was so strong, I couldn't get as close to the sea as I would have liked. However, did get this shot on the quayside.

The combined power of the wind and sea is quite frightening but thrillling as well.

Theme 29 - Challenge

Getting these two shots was not easy - they will "stay" for as long as required. However, that does not mean they don't move - they stretch, lick, yawn, twist, play, wink, twitch and sleep - they were a real "challenge"
Very slight crop on first shot (Moll), no cropping on 2nd (Roo). Desaturated in Lightroom plus usual finishing adjustments (clarity & curves)

Theme 363 - Delicate

This delicate little flower is about to be no more.

Theme 141 - Forgotten

Part of an old abandoned sluice gate.

Theme 224 - Direction

Theme 232 - Sport

See that little man in the water - he's fishing, a very popular sport here.

Theme 205b - Generation

As I was not totally convinced about the effect of the previous post, here is another view of the castle.

Theme 205 - Generations

This castle has been in the "Northumberland" family for generations. Dowager Lady Egremont is still in residence (the family history gets very confusing). To read more about this interesting estate and heritage see here & here.

Took this today, it actually looked OK but need to adjust the exposure in the foreground as I exposed for the sky. Experimented with the preset "Surreal Edgy Effect" and added the preset "Sunset". I think the effects work for this image, it makes it look like a painting.

Theme 68 - Perfume

Theme 149 - Sinking

Saw these three in a stagnant rain puddle - the little one doesn't appear to be doing so well.

Theme 238 - Comfort

Yes, I know, totally spoilt.

I took this on a 20 second exposure, using a tripod of course, no movement - at all!

Theme 348 - Distorted

200th Blogshot!! Yay, another milestone.

This was a glass of water with a spoon - it was the most boring photo you can imagine - so I gave it a funky crop and played with pixels in Lightroom, distorting all of the colours of course!

Theme 307 - Pens

Pretty Pastel 'n Pink Pens

Theme 302 - Socks

Ready for Winter

Theme 52 - Secret

Theme 261 - Gold

Ebaying this for my sister - so a free blogshot :-)

Theme 283 - Passport

Theme 186 - Touching

When I spotted this butterfly on the towel (see "Precious") I didn't have time to get a perfectly focused shot before it flew off to the buddleia, a plant known to attract butterflies. I got a few shots, but none of them were ideal and I discounted them all. A second view today, I noticed this one - the wing tip and it's furry body is actually in focus. I love the colour combination. I think it works.

Touching theme? If you look closely, you can see he is just touching the centre of the flower - lol.

Theme 23 - Water

Crummock Water - Lake District

Theme 329 - Jewellery

Honesty Seed Pods

I have been wanting to post this image for some time, just couldn't find a theme to fit - so I am bending the theme somewhat. I love the colours and they are naturally backlit - I think they look like Jewels.

So.............only one step away from "Jewellery"

Theme 26 - Sundial

I had completely forgotten about this sundial in a nearby town. It was a glorious day on Thursday here - and I mean here, at home (20 miles away) it rained all day! Of course I had my camera and in my haste, completely messed the shot up, therefore I am only posting a very small picture of the whole sundial. I would like to have another go one day, and take a much better photo.
The reflections are wonderful, but should have used a much shallower DOF to blur the background - even the sign in the shop window is perfectly legible :-(

Theme 89 - Rainbow

My Pot of Gold

I feel that I have struck blogshot gold this week. Driving home this afternoon, after shopping, dog walking and getting thoroughly soaked in one particular downpour, the sun began to shine through the clouds and this rainbow appeared - just as I was approaching a lay-by - and I had my camera sitting right next to me!! How lucky is that!

The light was shifting really quick, these 2 were taken within seconds of each other.

By the time I drove off, the rainbow had completely disappeared, it was only out for a couple of minutes.
I got back in the car and looked in my wing mirror and saw this view behind me - just had to get out of the car and get this shot, thought it was worth including.

Theme 343 - Angel

Angel of the North - Antony Gormley

I cannot possibly do justice to this awe inspiring sculpture by Antony Gormley. I had not been to see this before but made the trip to get the "Angel" theme - for this alone, I am glad I am attempting this 366 Challenge. You can see The Angel as you approach on the A1 from Newcastle/Gateshead - but when we arrived I was overwhelmed - it is magnificent! To quote from Antony Gormley's website

"Is it possible to make a work with purpose in a time that demands doubt? I wanted to make an object that would be a focus of hope at a painful time of transition for the people of the north-east, abandoned in the gap between the industrial and the information ages.

The work is made of corten steel, weighs 200 tonnes and has 500 tonnes of concrete foundations. The mound near the A1 motorway which was the designated site of the sculpture was made after the closure of the Lower Tyne Colliery, out of the destroyed remains of the pithead baths. It is a tumulus marking the end of the era of coal mining in Britain.

The Angel resists our post-industrial amnesia and bears witness to the hundreds and thousands of colliery workers who had spent the last three hundred years mining coal beneath the surface".


To give an idea of the size, the wing span is approximately the size of a Boeing 747.

Theme 313 - Silhouette

Theme 355 - Monday

Sunny Monday

Being so fed up with the weather here, and hearing that the east coast was going to be sunny, we decided to leave the west coast and head east to the sunshine. One of the benefits on living on a small island, and being on the narrowest bit of the UK, it is only a 2 hour drive coast to coast. Sure enough, we found the sun. Not what we normally do on a Monday, but it was worth it, we had a great day.

I really like this shot (look at it big), which is a rare thing for me to say about my own images. I think the composition has really worked.

I used Matt's Vividity 1, and toned it down a bit.

Theme 30 - Ribbons

Ribbons of Seaweed

Theme 135 - Surf

The green is due to a wonderful seaweed, it draped like curtains over the rocks. About 5 minutes after taking these shots, they had disappeared as the tide came in. We were so lucky to have arrived just in time.

Theme 153 - Footprint

Rooby's Footprint

Theme 208 - Sugar

Not sure what these actually were - but I am pretty sure they contained a load of sugar

Theme 259 - Doubtful

"Not sure about this Dad"

Look at the slight tilt of Roo's head, she still isn't convinced.

Theme 337 - Fuzzy

This would have been a great "Ice Cream" theme shot but I already have that one. I was going to do a bumble bee for fuzzy, much more cute but not as amusing (well to me anyway - rofl).

Thank goodness for a wonderful, patient supportive hubby who puts up with me posting these candid shots of him!

Theme 267 - Mystery

I noticed this little snail hiding in the hydrangeas - Perfect for the "Hidden" theme I thought; only now I realise there isn't a "Hidden" theme!! Why I thought there was is a "Mystery" to me.

Theme 356 - Arrow

I know it is only a boring parking meter sign, but I liked the blue & yellow and it is an arrow!

Theme 308 -Skill

I was not sure what theme to put these under. .











Then I thought, it probably takes a bit of skill to do this!

Not much skill involved taking the pictures though, quick snaps on burst mode using the "Sport" setting. Background and exposure is not great, however it was fun watching them

Theme 87 - Precious

Peacock Butterfly

We were commenting on how few butterflies there have been this year - that is why this one, which landed on a towel, is very precious.