Christmas is coming.....

Every year, I go up into the loft, and bring down about 30 boxes of decorations !... My wife just loves to decorate the house, and collects "bits and pieces" as and when she sees them... we have a small bungalow, at present, but have lived on a narrowboat, and also had much larger houses too... No matter how big or small, the rooms get festooned with all manner of christmas decorations... We have a christmas tree, complete with lights, outside the house, we have another near the front door, one in the lounge, one in the bathroom, one in the second lounge, plus many other items, such as mechanical/musical father christmas` that sing a song, .... we have lots of "fairground ornaments" when activated, play christmas carols, and move the carousel horses up and down. Not content with that, she makes all the shelves up into christmas displays, and even the fireplace is not left out !.... This year we have the nativity scene surrounded by snow.

Here are a few photographs to give you an idea of how hard she works to make our christmas, "christmassy" ! !..

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A windy day at the seafront

Was blowing an onshore gale down at Southsea today, so much so, that the hovercraft service to the Isle of Wight was "temporarily suspended!"

Oh YES !.. The runner got a real good soaking, an even bigger wave crashed over the bin lorry as he was running by ! ! ! ...

At Last... I have my FZ28 back again.

At last !... I received my camera back from the supplier.... "repaired and checked under warranty".... nothing else... no reason given for the fault, or what caused it... so I won`t know if I do it wrong again, until it happens !... oh well, I don`t think it was me anyway!..
Only taken a couple of pics of a squirrel eating nuts, and a short movie of another squirrel, who seems to like eating the bulbs he digs up !...

Now the big problem is learning how to use the zoom lever on the front, cos on the fuji, it is two push buttons on the back !...

As a matter of "technical" interest... I saw the culprit, then I went to front of house to get my camera. on the way back, I set it on movie mode, and zoomed up to the full 18X optical, then slowly moved the curtain aside, to shoot the movie through two panes of double glazing in the door !... so that is why it may look a little "flat" in the contrast department...

Actually , I think it is pretty good, considering the conditions, light wasn`t all that good as it was cloudy, and rain in the air, so quite a damp atmosphere too.

A minor problem?

I haven`t been using my FZ28 for the past 3 weeks, because it had to go back to the suppliers. It developed a "weird" fault... I was using it as normal, and suddenly the zoom returned back to nothing!... I tried to use the zoom lever to get back to what I was shooting, but it just kept returning to the "home" position!.. I then found out that none of the buttons on the back of the camera functioned !... Switched off, removed the memory card, re-inserted it, and everything seemed to be back to normal, carried on for a couple of days, and then it did it again!. This time it zoomed out to max zoom (including digital zoom) and would not return. ! Changed the battery and it came back to normal again, for an hour or so, then did it again, changed the battery back to original and it settled down... Having cleaned the card contacts, and changed the battery, the fault was so intermittent that it could not be pinned down to anything that I had, or was, doing. So, I contacted the suppliers, and they sent me a returns number.... They say it will be between 2 to 6 weeks before anything happens. !...

Meanwhile I have missed a couple of really good shots, that needed the 18X optical zoom on the FZ28 compared to my (now) reserve camera the Fuji S5600 which is only 10X optical zoom.

Oh well, I am glad I did not sell it after getting the FZ28 !... I may be suffering from withdrawal symptoms, not having the FZ28, but at least I can shoot with the Fuji until it returns.

Went down to the sea front to watch the world go by, and met some starlings for lunch !... lucky I had my Fuji !... Also saw the sailing barge "Alice", which seemed to be practising raising and lowering the sails. Just for good measure, I also saw HMS Liverpool, entering harbour, whilst the regular Hovercraft service from Southsea Beach to the Isle of Wight came into view. ! All within 1 hour ! ! !...

Holiday in North Wales

I get withdrawal symptoms, if I don`t go back to Wales, at least twice a year !... have just come back from a week in Old Colwyn, North Wales, (that`s on the northern coast not far from Llandudno!)

The A55, or North Wales Expressway, is a super road, on one side you get the mountains, and the villages hugging the lower slopes, and on the other side you get the sea.... Old Colwyn, is one of those villages, that has the A55 running through it, although it is hard to notice..... you can walk from the "old" main road through the village, down to the beach in about 5 minutes. Two places worth a mention there, one is "Fairy Glen" and the other is "Min-Y-Don".... both of these are local woodlands, and yet they are right there in the village for all to enjoy. Extremely pleasant to walk and listen to the birds, or just enjoy the peace and quiet.

Whilst staying at Old Colwyn, I had the pleasure to travel on the much extended Welsh Highland Railway... This is an old railway line that was closed years ago, due to being un-economical, but enthusiasts have been trying to restore it ever since... Recently (at least 10 years ago) it has become a tourist attraction for the area, running from just outside Caernarfon Castle, to Aberglaslyn Pass, near Bedgellert, it is almost fully restored through to Porthmadog, where it will link up with the popular Ffestiniog Railway. For more information please visit their websites

http://welshhighlandrailway.net/

I am now posting some photographs taken on that journey, and can thoroughly recommend it as a "day out".... It is a wonderful experience, and very relaxing way to see some of the most spectacular scenery in North Wales, INCLUDING Mount Snowdon, where the train skirts around the lower slopes at Rhyd Ddu, before setting off for the twisting and winding descent into Bedgellert.

Website Re-Vamped !

I have been very busy, re-vamping my website, with a "new look" smart black finish, and adding many more new photographs.....

http://www.nemosphotography.co.uk

it now contains over eleven hundred photographs, quite a few are from the old website, because they have gained the "google" recognition and will help people to find my site easier. They will also act as a "driver" for the newer photographs in the google way of things!...
I have also been busy uploading more photographs to my selling sites, which include another new one...

http://www.imagekind.com/searchresult.aspx?search=nemosphotography

There are currently 52 photographs for sale, ready framed, on this new site.

You don`t have to buy anything...... but would appreciate it, if you could tell your friends about the sites I have up and running, and ask them to leave comments on here too !....
Thankyou.

Tee Shirts Now Available, and update on Photos

Just to update you, as promised, ....

there are now 62 photographs for sale on my site.....

AND it is possible to have some of them printed on a Tee Shirt, with a choice of background colours.

You can see the Tee Shirt designs/photographs here......


http://www.redbubble.com/people/lumixfz28/t-shirts/

So, have a look, and buy a special person a special T-shirt !

Thanks for looking.....

My New Website ! ! .... Buy My Framed Photographs !

Doesn`t time fly by, when your are (busy) or enjoying yourself.!.... It seems a long time ago that I posted anything on here, so here is a little update message....

I have had a few enquiries, (well one or two!) about buying my photographs as gift items for relatives, so have been searching the net to see who can produce such wonderous artefacts, because I do not have the capability to do so. The result is, that I now have a new website on Redbubble,

http://lumixfz28.redbubble.com/

where you can view more of my photographs, and then decide on the right hand side, what form the gift should be..... The site is secure, and you can pay by credit card, or by PayPal. Once the order has been confirmed, the people at Red Bubble do all the rest. They sort out the photograph, and then make up and despatch the order direct to you.! Normally this takes about 10 days...

At present, there are 49 photographs on the site, with a wide variety of subjects to choose from. You also choose the product size, and style....

I will be adding more within the next few days, and an update will be put on here giving the latest count of available photographs... I am hoping to be able to put up quite a few "landscape panorama" (wide screen) photographs, which would be suitable for hanging in the lounge, or along the hallway, or even in the office!...

Don`t be shy.......... go and have a look, if you like what you see, leave a comment.... you can view my profile, and all of my work at this u.r.l.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/LumixFZ28.

Looking forward to see your comments....

Thank you.

HMS Sultan, Summer Show..... Annual Event

HMS SULTAN, is the Royal Navy School of Mechanical Engineering..... originally conceived to train stokers for the "new" coal fired, steam powered ships. Now, it is bang up to date, and covers many aspects of Mechanical Engineering as applied to todays modern Royal Navy. Each year, they produce a magnificent summer show, as part of the "community spirit".... it takes the form of an enlarged "village fete".... with many commercial stalls, a travelling fairground, static displays of helicopters, and tanks (from the Royal Marines) and other aspects of the Navy too.

There is a large arena event area, where steam powered traction engines, (including one that used to belong to HMS SULTAN) parade, with vintage cars, dog display team, parachute arrivals, and a cut down version of the famous "Field Gun Run"... to entertain the crowds.... It is a 2 day event, but each day is the same... so it is not "over subscribed" with visitors, all trying to see everything on one day.

One of the displays was by the Royal Artillery Motorcycle Display Team, and I have use my FZ28 in "outdoor sports" mode, to see how it copes with the speed of the "Flying Gunners"... some of the results you can see alongside....

If you ever get the chance to go (next year, maybe???) then it is well worth the money, and it is NOT expensive.... however, beware of the ice cream sellers.... £7.00 for 3 ice creams, is a bit over the top, in my opinion... There are several "food" stalls, but I cannot vouch for them, as we took a picnic with us, and made it a "real old fashioned" day out! ! Parking is Free, and well organised, complete with (temporary) traffic light control for pedestrian to cross in safety, from the car park to the main site.

The little traction engine, is actually towing the large fullsize version!...

The red steam lorry is being driven (very fast) by a lady driver, and gives a step back in time picture, with the Hovercraft to the left, and the Modern HGV to the right of it.!

The Helicopter, is on a raised stand, and was giving kids rides up into the belly using the winch ! great fun for them.... There were several other helicopters there for the kids to go and sit in the pilots seat, for proud mums and dads to take pics of them !... Quite a few of the tanks were also "open" to visitors too.

The motorcycle display team started jumping one vehicle, and ended the show by clearing 4 !... but by the look of it.... only just ! ! The four men, in the pic above the helicopter, were doing "wheelies" from four corners of the display area, and crossing each others path.