First Cricket Shots

By shendyNo Comments
Back in the 1980s I spent entire summers at the County Ground in Northampton watching cricket, and in 1986 I started taking a few photos - eventually leading to the hobby I have now. These are my first cricket photos, taken with my dad's compact camera - I didn't move on to action photos until I got my first SLR in 1987 and borrowed his 300mm lens. There are some big names, so not a bad start - legendary West Indies stars Clive Lloyd, Joel Garner and Viv Richards, as well as a certain Ian Botham. The Garner/Richards/Botham shots were taken at Northants' annual trip to play at Wellingborough School. In the Sunday League match, Botham (just back from a ban after he admitted smoking marijuana) hit 175no including 12 4's and 13 6's - remember that these were 40 over matches, and he only batted for 27 of them! OK, the ground was very small, but it was probably the most amazing innings I saw.  ...
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2014 pics – one a month

By shendyNo Comments
Same as I did last year - one photo from each month of 2014. It was actually quite difficult for January and November as I didn't take anything of note. I could have cheated, but instead you have ended up with a photo taken from the hard shoulder of the M4 on a cold January morning when I had a puncture, and a photo of the cushions on a hotel bed in October (a recurring theme on Facebook) - these really were the only photos I took in those months. I also had to use two from the summer holiday, but that's OK as we started right at the end of August and went into September....
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More Tattoos (NSFW)

By shendyNo Comments
Last week I had the opportunity to take photos of another friends' tattoo - a really exquisite cherry blossom. From a technical point of view, I still have some work to do on lighting - although there is only so much you can do with a couple of flashguns. The black backdrop works well with pale skin, while the washed out backdrop gives a good high-key effect. I was particularly pleased with a couple of the photos - the lighting was just about right and the poses were excellent (considering this was her first time doing anything like this, the poses were elegant and natural-looking). Contains some mild nudity....
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Chateau and D-Day

By shendyNo Comments
Rather than ruin all that relaxation by dashing back through France in one go, we tend to take our time and have a couple of overnight stops on the way home, which also enables us to do a bit of sightseeing. On the Sunday morning, we went to the château at Chenonceau, just east of Tours - actually on the Cher river rather than the Loire, which is where you tend to think the famous châteaux are. As well as being the one with the arches over the river, it has two excellent formal gardens. And on top of that, it also has a magnificent vegetable, herb and flower garden, which it would be easy to miss - and which you really shouldn't! On the Monday, we were further north and visited Arromanches, Gold Beach on D-Day and where the Mulberry Harbour was - and where bits of it still are. We were lucky that the tide was out, so we were able to walk around some...
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