December: How clever is this?

I discovered Pummelvision yesterday and have had loads of fun watching parts of my life flash before my eyes.  This morning, I uploaded my December photographs and the video above is the result.

Though I tried to insert the separate folder containing my London trip photographs in the correct place, somehow it tagged on the end.  But it’s early days with this nifty little program and I’ll get it worked out eventually.

Photo fun

Mary’s a great photographer.  Unlike me, the point-and-shoot queen, she composes, controls and most importantly, understands what she’s doing.  A few days of enforced residence meant that there was rather more opportunity to spend time exploring the possibilities than normal and Shimelle’s bonus “In Focus” pdfs arriving daily offered rather a lot of inspiration.

First, we played around with candy canes, in and out of focus.  With a manual camera, controlling the focus would be fine, but here we were with two automatics and getting a bit of blur wasn’t easy!

Next, we played around with bokeh.  Once again, this wasn’t easy to achieve on our super-clever cameras which kept on producing the pin sharp shots when we wanted otherwise.  Finally, I discovered a setting I’d not used before and bingo, I got some bokeh shots.

Whilst we were fiddling with our cameras, other members of the family kept their focus elsewhere.

As the days passed, nothing was left unrecorded.  The Christmas Eve breakfast croissants were used to explore the “sharp foreground-soft background” challenge

and I discovered the “food” setting on my camera!

I also discovered the limitations of a point and shoot when it comes to keeping lines straight and minimising the distortion.

When darkness fell, we went a little crazy.

Once the celebrations were over, a new challenge dawned: the choir’s Christmas concert CD cover.  The light outside was super and we were all in need of some fresh air.

We’d noticed how the colour red “pings” off the page in such light conditions, so set up a shot on the theme of “A Taste of Christmas” and three cameras began clicking.

Except that one of us was distracted by the wonderful frost patterns on the summerhouse windows.

This weather has been truly remarkable and now the thaw has begun, it’s hard to recall how very, very cold it was!

As we returned to the warmth indoors to review our work, there was one last chance to capture that strange and rather unusual snow texture.  Surely the Eskimos will have a particular word for it?

Of course, there’s no stopping us now.  Whilst we enjoyed tea with friends, we spotted coloured lights and couldn’t resist getting the cameras out and playing around a little more.

And just to prove I can bokeh, there it is again.

Except there remains one unresolved challenge. 

Introducing Anton

I don’t think it will come as any surprise to anyone who knows us that we are inclined to a little silliness from time to time.

Especially where bears are concerned.

These two small polar bear cubs found their way home with me from Liberty, when we were there just before Christmas and seem to be quite happy in their new home under our tree.

But on Christmas morning, a new face was found nearby!

Whilst in Boston, we’d encountered this small bear at the top of the stairs in an outdoor shop and stopped to take a photo and admire.  Clearly Father Christmas was watching and ably assisted by my hero, a similar bear was tracked down on this side of the Atlantic and made his appearance on Christmas morning.

Anton has made himself quite at home here, has established a habit of moving around a little and tends to pop up in the most surprising places. 

Looks like “Where is Anton?”  is to be the game of 2011!

Good things

With the turkey safely here and more than enough of everything, we’re going into 100% Christmas mode and settling in to enjoy a few days of family, friends and (probably) food.

Time to rekindle the magic and believe in miracles.

Wishing you a Very Happy Christmas. wherever you are.

(nearly) all safely gathered in

We made our way to Cirencester to meet Mary from the coach which arrived on time and without ado.  Having got down our hill successfully, the main roads were OK if a little slow moving.

The “blue sky” isn’t really as you’d think, but the tint in the windscreen that fools us into thinking we drive in perpetual summer!

Whilst Mark went to wait at the bus stop, I took the opportunity to get those last minute things which I’d normally look for on Christmas Eve, together with one or two surprises.  The pavements in Cirencester were not good – this is the main shopping street – and I couldn’t believe that not one single shopkeeper, publican or banker had cleared their bit of the street.  Poor show, Cirencester.

After a spot of lunch, it was time to venture out one last time for a while, to meet our boy from his train.  Delighted to escape from the pressures of Westminster for a few days, he brought his usual gentle humour and kitchen skills with him and I have plans to delegate a few of the kitchen tasks in the coming days.  It’s great to have him home!

So, just my m-i-l and the turkey are still to arrive.  Nearly there.