I like the ethereal feel of these images. They’re not perfect and I need to have another attempt at some point and refine the idea but I still like them.

Call me morbid but I quite like graveyards, I find them peaceful. This was taken in the ruins of a derelict church, something Norfolk has a surprising number of.

Unexpectedly I spent a few days in Valletta. I have to say I had great hopes of quaint villages full of character. I was a bit disappointed that it generally didn’t live up to those expectations. Although to be fair if you keep to the south west you have a good chance of finding places like that. The north and east is quite breath taking built up and mostly not in a good way.

This is one of the corridors in the grand master’s palace. Lots of suits of armour, to the point where I’m not sure they know quite what to do with them all!

Many of the churches on Malta, being catholic, are complete bling fests. This one in Naxxar was really tasteful, I wouldn’t quite call it understated but it was very beautiful in parts.

The same church and a view of the inside of the dome, quite stunning.

One of many cherubs in St. John’s cathedral in Valletta

Rather more my style, even if it is just a weed growing out of a wall.

I rather liked this, partly because of the seclusion and sense of peace in the courtyard.

I’ve finally posted the images I took in the snow. It was -13 degrees C when I walked to work in the morning, so all the trees were covered in the most amazing hoar frost. That coupled with the bright blue sky made for an absolutely beautiful, if rather cold, walk.

A variety of images. I think, as is so often the case, that I prefer the B&W images, although the blue sky and clouds are appealing. I also think I prefer the more abstract images.

I liked the reflections of the clouds in the wet sand and as much as I like B&W I do still love the contrast of white clouds against a blue sky.

I do like this, the foreground interest of the rocks and pools does add to it.

I love the abstract imagery of this photo, it could almost be a sheet of textured metal.

And finally my favourite. This captures all that I love most about B&W photography and may well inspire a project.

This is OK but I feel it will benefit from revisiting, possibly several times. Fortunately these orchids last a long time so…

I’m a little late in posting this but better late than never. These really are B&W photographs, there’s very little in the way of subtle tonality. But then I quite like that, I’ve used the same technique for portraits on occasion to quite good effect.

Is it just me or does this resemble someone with a short Mohican?

I’ve finally picked my camera up again today and what varied subject matter I’ve had to photograph! But as they say variety is the spice of life. I’ve never been a great fan of vegetables but I’ve now found something much more fruitful to do with them.

Cabbage, at last something worthwhile can be done with it.

I love these classical style B&W images, I think I really need to photograph hands more, either with or without bottoms.

Well, there’s not been too much photography going on for the last couple of weeks because I’ve been rewriting my website. I decided the WYSIWYG package that I’d originally used was too limiting so decided to learn, html, css, php and javascript and rewrite the web site and restyle it at the same time. Somewhat surprisingly it was actually easier to hand write the web site rather than fight with the vagaries and limitations of the WYSIWYG package. But then it’s often the case that one can say something is far easier with the benefit of hindsight and knowledge gained from following a more difficult path.

I think that that is a general truism about life. It’s often easy to look back and think I wished I’d taken a different route to get to where I am, a route that was more direct and wasted less time. But it’s often the torturous route you’ve taken that has brought you to the enlightened position you’re now in. I suppose what I’m saying in a rather Zen sort of way is that the purpose of life is not the destination but the journey taken to get there.

Well it’s certainly a relief to get some sun and it does make things look so much brighter and more photogenic.

Norwich Castle, somewhere I’ve not been for a while.

One of the benefits of sunshine, the shadow of a tree on the castle wall.

And another variant on the theme of a single leaf on a tree trunk.

Harking back to my Forest Floor project from last year. Probably would have been better if I’d had a polariser fitted but I still like the colours and shapes.