Dubrovnik Part 1

So I've finally got round to starting on the pictures from Dubrovnik. Having fun playing with Silver Efex as well. There's plenty more to come so stay posted...

Silver Efex

I know it's been absolutely ages since I've posted here and for that I apologise. I  my defence, August and September have been crazy spent moving house, writing my dissertation, moving house again, going on holiday and getting engaged.

However, we are now into October, I am free as a bird and have loads of photos to edit (pictures soon to come of recent holiday to Dubrovnik). I also have some shiny new software to play with! I downloaded a trail of Nik Silver Efex and have spent the day playing with it. Here are some examples of my first attempts. For comparison, I've also put up one of the same pictures edited in Elements 8 from earlier this year. Please let me know what you think....

Silver Efex version

Elements 8 version

Bristol Zoo Part 4 - Lorikeets

Dissertation writing is getting in the way of more enjoyable things like editing photos, so please forgive the long delays between posts. Another four weeks and it'll all be over and I'll have four months to do nothing by photography.

More from Bristol Zoo here. They have a 'Feed the Lorikeets' enclosure, where you can go in with little cups of liquid feed and the minute you enter the birds swarm all over you.

We went to the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta yesterday so lots of pictures of that to come soon.

Bristol Zoo Part 3 - Meerkats

Apologies that it's been so long since I posted here, it's been very busy recently and I just haven't really had time to edit photos. Here are some more from Bristol Zoo from the meerkat house. More to come soon, including lemurs and pictures from Bletchley Park, so stay tuned!

Bristol Zoo Part 2 - Jock

A couple of portraits of Jock, the Bristol Zoo silverback gorilla looking distinctly disgruntled.

Bristol Zoo - Butterfly House

I took a great trip to Bristol Zoo on Saturday. Had to spend some time sheltering from the rain in the butterfly house which gave me plenty of time to concentrate on photographing the butterflies. Loads of different species, farmed fair trade in Costa Rica. It was quite dark so had to use a very high ISO but I've been really impressed with the noise reduction in CS5.

I managed to take around 10GB of photos on the day so it's going to take me a while to get them all up, but stay posted for lions, gorillas, meerkats and more...

Garden Gates

Walking back from the centre of town this afternoon I walked down some really varied and pretty streets. It strikes me how different Bristol is from Manchester. For starters there are these horrible things called hills (living in Cambridge and then Manchester, hills are something of an oddity). But the city is also much greener, the houses and buildings are much more varied and individual and the whole places just seems to have more individuality and soul (apologies to any Mancunians reading this...) and I'm really looking forward to settling here permanently...

A Year through the Viewfinder

So today is my 22nd birthday and I've decided to set myself a new challenge: to take and post one photograph per day for a year. This will all be posted in my new blog:

http://yearthroughtheviewfinder.blogspot.com/

So take a look, enjoy and let me know what you think...

Cabot Circus - Phone Pictures

I got a new phone this weekend and took the opportunity to test the camera in it in Cabot Circus. I'm pleasantly surprised by the results - not razor sharp but still passable and much better than my old phone.

Bumble Bees etc.

Some more pictures taken when I was down in Cambridge and borrowing Dad's macro lens. If anyone knows what the insect which looks like a bee but has fly eyes is, please let me know because it's really bugging me!

Exhibition Book

A book to accompany my part of the Grantchester exhibition is now available from Blurb.com, see the preview below for a taste. It includes some pictures from the exhibition, but also a lot that won't be on display.

Exhibition Book 2011 by Frances Wilson | Make Your Own Book

Grantchester Exhibition 2011

As some of you may know, I'm taking part in an exhibition in July 2011 with Ian Wilson, Ann Miles, Sue Brock-Hollinshead, Bryan Parker and Jeannette Josse. The exhibition will be open the 2nd and 3rd of July from 10am to 5pm in the Village Hall (off the High St). Free entry, plenty of tea, coffee and cake throughout the weekend.

Cambridge Botanic Gardens

Apologies for the lack of postings recently, it's exam time again (for the last time ever!) so time to take and edit photos has been in short supply. However, here are a few taken at the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens while I was back home briefly last weekend. My last exam (ever) is tomorrow so soon there will be more time for photography in my life.