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Dave's Photo Blog

Dave's Photo Blog
My favourite photos from my world travels and life in general covering everything from landscapes to creatures to macro to arty, plus various musings.

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Creepy
2007-09-21 23:31:00
I was out doing a bit of tidying in the garden the other weekend - just cutting back all this year's growth rather than doing anything amazing with an herbaceous border or installing a shrubbery (OK so that's two links for shrubberies. Sorry. I did look for something amusing on herbaceous borders but am easily distracted). There is a bramble on the lane behind my garden, which keeps trying to loop its way over the fence and find an extra foothold. As I was battling with it I noticed another plant that seemed to be thriving by winding and tangling itself around the bramble and pretty much everything nearby. The shapes and patterns made by this plant are quite interesting to look at as it really does wriggle around to cling on to whatever its near. This observation resulted in some more macro shots (I'll try to photograph something full-scale soon, promise). The plant could be some kind of creeper, hence the title of this post, but I really have no idea. Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm...
More About: Creepy , Cree

Rope Light
2007-09-10 22:43:00
I have a rope light strung up along the handrail of the stairs in my house. It looks pretty cool when it is switched on, but that tends to be only for parties - most of the time it just sits there not doing much but collecting dust.The other night I had the lights on while taking photos of moths - seen in the background of the first picture in last week's Creatures Of The Night post - and wondered what the rope might look like on its own. Here are a couple of shots from my experiment. Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR1/200sec, f/7.1 ; &nbs p; &nb sp; 1/80 sec, f/8
More About: Light , Rope

Oak Bush-Cricket
2007-09-06 22:34:00
Here is another night-time interloper into my household. An oak bush-cricket - a male (noted due to the lack of a pointed ovipositor).This guy is less common and certainly more unexpected than the moths of my previous post, given that I don't live too close to woodland. I did spot a speckled bush-cricket in my back garden last year though while pruning the greenery so maybe the speckled bunch invited some of the oak gang over for an intra-species parley and this one got lost - photographed here hanging upside-down off my ceiling a few nights ago.Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR, SB-6001/80sec, f/20, ISO-200
More About: Cricket , Bush

Creatures Of The Night
2007-09-04 18:55:00
Having a new baby in the house has meant that I have recently become familiar with some hours of the night that I haven't been acquainted with for a while. This also means that I have seen many of the creatures that roam the halls when the lights are normally dimmed - the most common of which are moths. They seem to find a way in no matter how tightly you draw the curtains or shutter the blinds, just to be near an energised light bulb.Here are some photos of a couple of recent visitors. Unfortunately, there are nearly two and a half thousand species of moth in the UK alone, so I haven't been able to identify them. Any lepidopterists in the audience?Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR1/100sec, f/5.6, ISO-220 Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR, SB-6001/250sec, f/22, ISO-200 &nbs p; &nb sp; &n bsp; 1/200sec, f/25, ISO-200
More About: Night , Creatures , Creature

Roses
2007-08-30 19:17:00
My wife received some roses last week for (nearly) being a bridesmaid at her friend's wedding. I appropriated them for a short time for some photos.The spiral pattern you get with the opening petals is quite cool to look at, but - even better - they seem to have their own inner light making the centre brighter, which I can't explain. This can be seen especially well in the image below but the photo on the right is my favourite. Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR1/200sec, f/14, ISO-200Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR1/80sec, f/16, ISO-200Lastly, thanks to LivingSword for nominating this blog for the following award.
More About: Roses

Roses
2007-08-30 19:17:00
My wife received some roses last week for (nearly) being a bridesmaid at her friend's wedding. I appropriated them for a short time for some photos.The spiral pattern you get with the opening petals is quite cool to look at, but - even better - they seem to have their own inner light making the centre brighter, which I can't explain. This can be seen especially well in the image below but the photo on the right is my favourite. Nikon 105mm VR1/200sec, f/14, ISO-200Nikon 105mm VR, 1/80sec, f/16, ISO-200Lastly, thanks to LivingSword for nominating this blog for the following award.
More About: Roses

Monday Mystery Matter - Revealed
2007-08-28 22:35:00
Here's the answer to yesterday's little quiz. Congratulations must go to Neil who got the answer spot on (although I'm wondering whether it was actually his wife's suggestion) - the mystery object was indeed the inside of a petal of a lily - an auratum or similar. Below is a photo of the whole flower.Nikon 105mm VR, 1/60sec, f/18, ISO-360
More About: Matter , Mystery , Monday , Onda , Myst

Monday Mystery Matter - Revealed
2007-08-28 22:35:00
Here's the answer to yesterday's little quiz. Congratulations must go to Neil who got the answer spot on (although I'm wondering whether it was actually his wife's suggestion) - the mystery object was indeed the inside of a petal of a lily - an auratum or similar. Below is a photo of the whole flower.Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR1/60sec, f/18, ISO-360
More About: Matter , Mystery , Monday , Myst

Monday Mystery Matter
2007-08-27 10:38:00
Here's a small quiz for this Monday morning. To the right is a close-up photo of something in my house at the moment - any guesses as to what it is? I'll post the answer in a day or two.Click on the image to get a larger version, which might help. Nikon 105mm VR1/50sec, f/25, ISO-450
More About: Matter , Mystery , Onda , Myst

Monday Mystery Matter
2007-08-27 10:38:00
Here's a small quiz for this Monday morning. To the right is a close-up photo of something in my house at the moment - any guesses as to what it is? I'll post the answer in a day or two.Click on the image to get a larger version, which might help. Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR1/50sec, f/25, ISO-450
More About: Matter , Mystery , Myst

Visitors - the aftermath
2007-08-22 17:03:00
After all the visitors we've been entertaining over the last few days, both Matthew and his Dad are tired and take a nap.Sigma 30mm, 1/30sec, f/4, ISO-450
More About: Visitors , Term

Visitors - the aftermath
2007-08-22 17:03:00
After all the visitors we've been entertaining over the last few days, both Matthew and his Dad are tired and take a nap.Nikon D200, Sigma 30mm f/1.41/30sec, f/4, ISO-450
More About: Visitors , Term

Visitors (2)
2007-08-21 18:20:00
Of course the Granddads are just as excited as the Grandmothers when there is a new baby around (although maybe they try not to show it as much). Here are a couple of shots of them so they don't feel left out after seeing the last post. Nikon D200, Sigma 30mm f/1.41/30sec, f/5, ISO-500 &nbs p; &nb sp; &n bsp; & nbsp; 1/20sec, f/2.8, ISO-360
More About: Visitors

Visitors (2)
2007-08-21 18:20:00
Of course the Granddads are just as excited as the Grandmothers when there is a new baby around (although maybe they try not to show it as much). Here are a couple of shots of them so they don't feel left out after seeing the last post. Sigma 30mm1/30sec, f/5, ISO-500 &nbs p; &nb sp; &n bsp; & nbsp; 1/20sec,f/2.8, ISO-360
More About: Visitors , Sito

Visitors (1)
2007-08-20 10:47:00
When you have a baby you get a lot of visitors and in our case the first were the new grandparents. For both my parents and my wife's, this is the first grandchild, so there is a lot of excitement all round. Lots of presents for the new arrival too - Matthew probably now has more stuff than me, we'll soon need to move to a bigger house.Here are a couple of shots of Granny and Nanny (names they have chosen themselves). Sigma 30mm1/80 at f/2.2, ISO-640 &nbs p; &nb sp; &n bsp; & nbsp; 1/40sec, f/5.6, ISO-100
More About: Visitors , Sito

Visitors (1)
2007-08-20 10:47:00
When you have a baby you get a lot of visitors and in our case the first were the new grandparents. For both my parents and my wife's, this is the first grandchild, so there is a lot of excitement all round. Lots of presents for the new arrival too - Matthew probably now has more stuff than me, we'll soon need to move to a bigger house.Here are a couple of shots of Granny and Nanny (names they have chosen themselves). Nikon D200, Sigma 30mm f/1.41/80sec, f/2.2, ISO-640 &nbs p; &nb sp; &n bsp; & nbsp; 1/40sec, f/5.6, ISO-100
More About: Visitors

Matthew Has Arrived
2007-08-17 16:36:00
A while back I mentioned that I was soon to become a father. Well that day arrived on Monday with the arrival of Matthew Christopher (which might help to explain the lack of posts in the last week - been a little busy).After a bit of um-ing and ah-ing about whether he really wanted to be born on the 13th, or try to leave it for a few more hours, he decided he would enter the world on his exact due date after all - looks like he has his dad's sense of punctuality at least. Lets just hope he doesn't suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia. I've also been told by a number of people that he has my nose, but I don't see it myself.I guess there will be many more posts in the coming months with photos of my little boy, but for now here are the first couple - one taken just after we got him back from hospital on Tuesday and the other on Wednesday. Nikon D200, Sigma 30mm f/1.41/60sec, f/3.2, ISO-800 &nbs p; &nb sp; ...

Matthew Has Arrived
2007-08-17 16:36:00
A while back I mentioned that I was soon to become a father. Well that day arrived on Monday with the arrival of Matthew Christopher (which might help to explain the lack of posts in the last week - been a little busy).After a bit of um-ing and ah-ing about whether he really wanted to be born on the 13th, or try to leave it for a few more hours, he decided he would enter the world on his exact due date after all - looks like he has his dad's sense of punctuality at least. Lets just hope he doesn't suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia. I've also been told by a number of people that he has my nose, but I don't see it myself.I guess there will be many more posts in the coming months with photos of my little boy, but for now here are the first couple - one taken just after we got him back from hospital on Tuesday and the other on Wednesday. Sigma 30mm1/60sec, f/3.2, ISO-800 &nbs p; &nb sp; ...

The Fly II
2007-08-10 21:55:00
Here is another image of the same housefly as shown in my previous post - this time much closer. Be afraid, be very afraid.Click on the image to get a larger version, and you'll be able to see the pattern in the eyes. This image almost makes it look like the fly is some kind of robot - the front of the head at least looks like it is made of metal.Nikon 105mm VR1/60sec, f/22, SB-600
More About: The Fly

Bug Month
2007-08-08 22:13:00
It must be bug month or something - here's another insect image. The other day I spotted a fly sitting on a curtain. After thirty minutes or so it was still there, so I got the camera. I think it was getting old - it didn't seem to want to move very far, much preferring to walk than fly anywhere. This is a common housefly - a female. The way to tell its a female (according to Wikipedia anyway) is by the eyes - females have a much larger space between their two eyes than males. Its amazing what you can learn on the internet.Nikon 105mm VR, 1/60sec, f/11, SB-600
More About: Month , Mont

Monday News Story
2007-08-06 12:13:00
This is a bit of a departure from the norm, and I promise the next post will be back to photography, but I just spotted this news story on the BBC and it has made my Monday morning a little more bearable - hopefully it will do the same for you. Just think, only a few days left until the weekend.
More About: News , Story , Onda , Tory

File it Under Crazy?
2007-08-02 22:39:00
Quite often when people find out you're about to have your first child they offer some advice - a common piece of which seems to be 'cram in as much sleep as you can now, you'll need it!'Now, while you can't actually store sleep as this advice might suggest, it has made me think about sleep in general. Sleeping lots more than necessary wastes time and usually makes me just feel really drowsy for the rest of that day. I often sleep too much at weekends and am never good at getting up in the mornings. However, whenever I do wake up later than 10am I always feel a little guilty and I don't really 'get into' the day as I would like.So I've been wondering whether its possible to train yourself to need less sleep. It's known that some people need more sleep than others, and the recommendation is eight hours. But ... if your body knew it was going to get less sleep, maybe the sleep you gave it would be better taken. Hmmm. I found this story after a quick search and it seems that ...
More About: File , Crazy

Arachnophobia
2007-07-29 01:09:00
I was busy the other day with some DIY - putting together some new furniture - when I noticed a spot on the wall ... only small but it hadn't been there before. I guess it depends on the size of your monitor, but the spot was probably not much bigger than this O. As I got closer I realised it was a spider. I'm not a big fan of spiders, but I don't mind them too much - just don't want them crawling over me. This one looked friendly enough though, so I thought I'd get in closer for a better look.I could be wrong, so excuse me if I'm mistaken, but I think this is a jumping spider - they are the most common type of spider in the world though so maybe that's a safe assumption to make. It never moved while I was watching it though - let alone leap in the air - so I can't confirm that.Nikon 105mm VR, 1/60sec, f/20, SB-600
More About: Phobia

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