The joys of spring

Dare I say spring might finally be on its way? After a long and bitterly cold winter here in the United Kingdom, and not to mention a few false starts along the way, it looks like spring might finally be here to stay.

A delicate Narcissus flower

Glorious sunshine, blue skies and the signs of growth and rejuvenation. Daffodils colour the landscape in hues of yellows, oranges and white. This narcissus typifies the beauty of spring and belies activity that is obvious in nature. I shot this picture at a high shutter speed with the aperture stopped at f8.0 to keep the background dark. As it was the flower was conveniently highlighted by a lone ray of sunlight through the hedge.

Ladybird beetles show signs of renewed activity. The browns, greys give way to reds, greens and other colours resplendent of spring. And I’ve been out in the spring sunshine, in trying to capture the feeling of joy (and relief) that the days of shivering are a memory of times past and yet to come in the distant future.

A ladybird beetle basking on a oregano leaf.

This picture was shot with the use of a 10mm extension tube with a Sigma 105mm f2.8 macro lens. The image has been cropped very slightly to remove extraneous distractions.

Surely, with so much happening around, spring is surely here to stay? This yellow-orange daffodil was shot in my garden. In order to get this angle, I had to sprawl on the ground (my muddy jeans bear witness!). 1/200 f6.3, 105mm f2.8 Sigma Macro lens.

A yellow-orange daffodil

Heart of Water…


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Originally uploaded by Jaws1.

One of those strange things you see sometimes. This picture was taken in Ely sometime in end September. It was raining, and while walking, I spotted this heart-shaped puddle on the road. Funnily enough, this was visible from only one particular angle, and if we had walked in another direction, we would have missed this altogether. The puddle is about 8 inches across.

Now to speculation.. how would such a shape form on the road ? Was it intentional or merely a matter of chance ?

Manhattan at Night


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Originally uploaded by Jaws1.

One of my better pictures. Downtown Manhattan as seen from the Rockefeller Center (Top of the Rock). The empire state building is in the foreground. On the right, along the Hudson bay, Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty can be made out.