Saturday 28 April 2012

Daily Photos - Sat 28 Apr

Just adding a few photos to keep things fresh! Went in to Plymouth today to see a steam train. I go nearly every time there's one down here! But these were extra good shots today!
For anyone interested this was the 5043 Earl of Mount Edgecumbe and I also have another railway photo >already on the blog< featuring the 60163 Tornado. :)




My second favourite railway photo I've taken; and I've taken quite a few! I thought the sepia added an aged effect. I didn't like the greyness of the concrete bridge either. I love the composition and how the train emerges from the steam gathered under the bridge making the busy station background invisible in this particular shot.

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Malta | 20-24/02/11

Managed to get 700 odd photos down to this lot. Took me long enough!
May upload some more at a later date!

Some of my favourite photos I took in Malta back in early 2011. The architecture there is amazing. So much work went in to buildings and I thought it was too good to not take photos of! Enjoy!
I absolutely loved it there; Such a beautiful place. There is such a clash of cultures too; where we were staying, the Intercontinental Hotel had a mall, cinema, and clubs in the same road, and looking over those buildings to the distinctive limestone buildings on the skyline. Places we visited include: Mdina, Valetta and Victoria on Gozo (The northern island next to Malta) and I highly recommend those places if anyone goes to Malta!
Malta is also famous for its prehistoric remains - the Hypogeum being one example. We didn't have time to visit a lot. Perfect, good excuse for another trip there!

Building in Valetta.
Gardens in Valetta.
Straight hill road, Valetta.

Something us British aren't too used to - grid system city plans! I love the straight roads in Valetta!
The picture on the left shows Valetta on the right hand side of the harbour. This was taken coming in to land - the airport can be seen in the top of the photo.
And below, a panorama I made looking out onto the harbour from an archway in the gardens shown in the photo 2 pictures up.  


The photo below was taken in Mdina, the old capital of Malta. This was one of the best places for my architecture photos. I took over 700 photos over the 4 days. Managed to get it down to about 200!

Main alleyway, Mdina.

Valetta Skyline.
Church in ?Valetta?
Valetta Building.

Cat on Balcony, Mdina.
I loved looking down alleyways. You'd never know what you'd find! Old lamps, plants, trees, secluded gardens. A bit like a lucky dip! I feel they have so much character and they are all unique. 

Alley in Mdina.
 Doors. Like the alleyways, they have so many different styles.

Green Double Door, Mdina.

Blue Single Door, Mdina.

Red Double Door, Mdina.

Light Green Double Door, Mdina.

Leaf Green Double Door, ?Mdina?.

My favourite door photo from Malta. Old and rusty. This was taken after a long walk through all the alleyways in Victoria on Gozo.

Old Rusty Door, Victoira, Gozo.

This was St Paul's in Mdina. (below)

Looking Up!

Apologies - I forget which church/cathedral this was in. 

Grave Floor. Malta.


Alley in Mdina.

Alley in Victoria, Gozo.
In Malta, one of the main building blocks in older buildings is limestone, which is composed of dead animals. Walking through the alleyways and back streets I found numerous fossils in the stone.

Limestone Fossil Shell.
Something I think that defines Malta are their very unique buses. The bus below is similar to a Maltese bus but Gozo buses are different colours; the Maltese ones being yellow and black. They are so full of character as most of them are made from bits of other buses, have been built from scratch or passed down through generations. I managed to get a brilliant photo of the Maltese buses - 4 of them lined up and interestingly, in order of age too! (right) Adding to the unique-ness is the bus terminal in Valetta.

Traditional Gozo Bus.
Not really a photographic last part but I wanted to share this because I thought it was awesome. The trompe l'œil dome in the Citadel in Victoria, Gozo. Not enough money was owned to complete the dome, so a fake one was painted on. I thought it was interesting.



I could write for hours on the trip but this is a photo blog, not a travel one! So I better stop now before I start boring you!
Having been to Malta I can cross it off the list of 'I want to go to...' places! Up next is Iceland, Canada and New Zealand!

Tuesday 24 April 2012

I've finally given in to DeviantArt!

Having created a profile on Flickr and deleting it I was a little reluctant to create another profile on a similar site. Flickr just didn't sit right with me. Sorry Flickr, nothing personal!

I have just created a profile on DeviantArt. Thought it'd be a good way to get my photos out there for people to see! Check out my profile on DeviantArt by clicking >here<! It's a bit bare at the moment but in the next few months, will fill up with the photos from here and maybe a few more! Maybe it will be a good way to view lots of photos at once in a virtual gallery rather than browsing through all my blog posts on here. At least all my photos will be a few clicks away. We'll see how it goes. So, if anyone reading this is on DeviantArt, why not pay me a visit soon!

Also, if anyone is also interested in the other types of arts and arts&crafts I do, I'll be posting photos/scans of my drawings, paintings and other bit 'n' bobs on my DeviantArt profile too. :)

In other news...
Sorry for no daily photos recently. All will be made up when I get time to go out and about! Didn't take long to run out of photos to post! And thank you for nearly 800 views. It makes me feel really happy that my work is being viewed and not just clogging up my computer doing nothing.

Links for:
Facebook Page - keep up to date and be the first to know about new posts on the blog.
Email - samlynephotography@gmail.com

Sunday 22 April 2012

Lerryn, Cornwall - 13/04/12

Had a fantastic walk at Lerryn. A bit rainy but was a great day. Walking through the woodland by the river with light showers, the day cleared then became rainy again! Walking back through the country lanes.

Swan reflection.

Variegated leaf. 

Muddy Lane.

Oak Skeleton Leaf.

Egret by the River.

B&W Trees.

Early Spring Forest.

Early Spring Forest Path.
 Had me captivated for ages! A mother and her ducklings. Spring has come!
Line of Ducklings.

Ivy Leaf Against Tree Trunk.

Robin on Branch.

Robin in Trees.

Great Tit on Branch.

Old Rusty Sign Post - Lerryn.

Woodland Walk.

Overhanging Tree, River Bank.

Monday 16 April 2012

Quick update.

So sorry to everyone who has been checking back here recently in hope of new photos. A number of things are preventing me from updating recently.
School work being one of them! I seem so be very slow at completing work!

Back Garden Pots.
Another thing would be that the only good photos I have left belong to sets and I would prefer to keep them together in one of those major posts I do rather than splitting them up into 'Daily Photos'.
So, this is just a message to say, I haven't given up; I am still here! I won't make promises I can't keep so - there should be a new major post on here by the end of the week!
After 19th June, I can put my educational life behind me until I decide what I want to do with my life - I will have plenty of time to go out into the world - especially nature! - and take some better shots and practise my techniques!

Just to keep the photos coming (sorry it's not 'naturey'!) but it's one of the very few left that I am happy to upload as a single photo. This was just testing out background defocus and playing around with focusing! Hope to see you soon back here!

Friday 13 April 2012

iPhone Post #4

The picture in this post is the view I have got when writing this. Thought I'd make most of my 3G and update the blog when in the outdoors! So here goes!
I am currently walking towards Lostwithiel after walking along the River Fowey on a circular walk. I have taken a good many photos that are worthy of being shared on here. Check back later this week when I find time to upload them all!

Monday 9 April 2012

Branscombe

16th February 2012. We visited Branscombe Beach in South Devon. Apparently the best place in Devon to find fossils as just up the coast to the east is Lyme Regis and Charmouth. This post reveals another of my hobbies - Fossils! I love natural history and learning about the world I live in.

Pebbles at Branscombe.

Crashing Wave.

Fossil on Beach Rock.

Triple Pebbles on Pebble Background.

Triple Pebbles on Crack Surface (Landscape).

Triple Pebbles on Crack Surface (Portrait).

Wave @ Branscombe.