Royal Wedding

Spent this morning watching Kate get Willy. Thought I might as well take a look at the wedding, since I've paid for it. It was a spectacular event, and went exceedingly well, although IMHO better to watch on TV, rather than camp out overnight on a pavement to see a car or coach whizz past for a few seconds. Having said that the people that did do this do seem to have thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Spring Forth

Spring Forth, originally uploaded by Dark Dwarf.

From these green shoots Giant Sunflowers should grow...

HMCS Athabaskan - visit to Liverpool. 15 to 20 April 2011

The Canadian warship HMCS Athabaskan visited Liverpool 15-20 April 2011.
I saw it arrive when I looked out of the office window on the morning of Friday 15.

Canadian flags were flying from the Liver Buildings to welcome the ship and it's crew - who I spotted enjoying the city's welcome over the course of the following week, mostly to play golf by the looks of things!
The ship sounded it's horn to mark the end of the Hillsborough memorial 2 minutes silence on Friday - which was a nice touch.
Later that evening people were arriving at Princes Dock in formal evening wear, and heading down the gangplank to a party that was being held on board.

On Saturday a memorial service was conducted to remember those Canadians who died in the Battle of the Atlantic, when the first HMCS Athabaskan was lost in 1944. Wreaths were laid at the memorial stone on Canada Boulevard, on the Pier Head in front of the Cunard Building (next to the Liver Building).

I was working on Sunday evening, so managed to nip out and take some sunset photos.

I took some more on Wednesday, when the ship was leaving, to the usual set of Landing Stage tunes (Leaving of Liverpool, Theme from Carousel, Johnny Todd and Sailing). I chatted with some of the people there who had gone to watch the ship depart, about how good a visit it had been - glorious sunny weather and a crew who seemed to be taking in the sights and enjoying the city (and it's golf courses).

I walked across to Canada Boulevard to take a couple of photos of the wreaths laid there, and discovered that there's a memorial stone for the 1944 HMCS Athabaskan on the Boulevard - The Lord Mayor had laid a wreath there.

More 7th Birthday Photos

7th Birthday

7th Birthday for Samwise today. We had a horse riding party for him and his school friends. Here's a few photos - I'll upload more when I've got time.


Just what I wanted

Windmill

Music Lessons

Did he fire six shots or only five?

Samwise and Frodo at play in the garden earlier this evening.
First results using the "nifty fifty" lens that I got from an ebay auction. I'm quite pleased to find that this lens lives up to it's reputation. Was in danger of testing it's resistance to water in the first photo!

Spring In The City

Did a photography workshop, which was run by a professional photographer at Liverpool University last Saturday. These photos are some of my better results. The morning was spent learning some basic techniques, and in the afternoon we put them into practice, followed by a review of the photos taken.

A group of 15 of us wandered around the University grounds, Abercrombie Square and the grounds of the Catholic Cathedral, shooting at anything and everything of interest. We surprised a few people who were turning into a nearby car park, when they had to drive through a horde of photographers. At one point we came across a bunch of skateboarders who kindly did a few stunts for the action photographers (I wasn't fast enough to catch them - so I took a group photo).

The workshop is run through the Adult Education service - there's another one in Autumn - and is well worth doing if, like me, your taking your first steps with a DSLR camera.

Liverpool Discovers - End of the Trail

I've completed my Liverpool Discovers trail - i.e. visited and photographed all of the works in this public art exhibition. OK so I didn't see Kelda the giant Viking lady puppet, nor did I see "Where Stars are Made", but these are Wirral and St Helens Discovers.

They've extended the exhibition until the 8th May - although a couple of the works will be removed, and some resited.

I've posted my set of photos on flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/darkdwarf/sets/72157626137837038/, as well as in various posts on this blog.

This was a great exercise for getting to grips with my new camera, and I've learnt a lot as I legged out of work at lunchtimes to take the shots.

I thought that this was going to be a bit of a solarity experience, but far from it. I've found that some people seem to feel the need to come up and ask questions about what you're taking pictures of. Some wanted to know what the artwork was all about. Perhaps they're thinking that because you've got a camera and tripod then you must be some sort of authority on the subject? Some were also doing the trail and wanted to chat about it, so I had a few pleasant conversations.
I kept bumping into two ladies on different parts of the trail - so showed them a few of the photos. A traffic warden hovered around me as I took the Mary Bamber photos, then proceeded to tell me what he knew about her. In the Bluecoat a chap passed me a card inviting me to become a founder member of a photography forum. (www.greentailmonkey.com if anyone's interested).

Another reaction to having a camera set up on a tripod is the way that some people will duck as they go past it - there's no need as I'm quite happy to wait for them to pass, and I'm operating the shutter with a remote switch. Of course there are those who just shove right in the way, as if you've somehow infringed on their right to view the artwork. Then there's the one's who seem to want to be in the picture, and will linger around, trying to be in the background, or walking into the picture when they think you're taking the shot.
In all cases it's just best to be polite, saying thanks to those who duck and scurry past, quietly wait for others to finish looking, gritting your teeth and waiting for the lingerers to get out of the way.

The advice in my photography book is simply to beat them to death with my tripod!