Bright Yellow Gorse

It was difficult this week to choose a topic for discussion and the Picture of the Week - not because of a lack of subjects, but from having several to choose from. Eventually I settled on the photographs of gorse bushes and flowers I have been photographing.

The gorse flowers appears to me to be exceptionally fine this year - possibly due to the unseasonally warm and sunny April we have had this year. I normally see the yellow of the gorse flowers to be a bit of a dirty, dull yellow, but this year, as you can see from the photo above, the yellow is very vibrant and bright.

The first picture (above) was taken indoors, in my home-made 'studio'. It is an extreme close up taken using a macro lens and the diffused light from a flashgun.

The second picture (below) show the gorse flowers against the blue sky. This was taken of one of the gorse bushes on our smallholding. Interestingly, the hamlet where I live is Tynreithin (sometimes spelt Tyn-yr-eithin) - it is Welsh for Cottage of the Gorse or Gorse Cottage.



The third picture shows some for the gorse in a hedgerow - we have a lot of gorse growing! You can see from the trees that it it is still early spring as the tree on the right is just beginning to show its leaves.



These are just a selection of photographs that I have included in the Hedgerow section of the Environment gallery - visit it to see more images.

Blackthorn blossom is out this week

Last week I featured pictures of bullace blossom in the hedgerow. This week, most of the bullace blossom has gone, replaced by that from the blackthorn tree. Both are members of the plum family. Another name for blackthorn is sloe - the berries are used to make sloe gin.

The blossom has not lasted well, but I was fortunate in that trees in different parts of the smallholding have flowered a few days apart, enabling me to get a variety of photos. The first photograph that I show above was a close up of a cluster of blackthorn blossom taken in the hedgerow.

The second photograph shows a group of blackthorn trees in blossom. These and the other trees cover a small stream that drains the land of our smallholding and some of the surrounding farms. You can see that they are well covered in blossom.



This third picture is a close-up of two blossom flowers taken indoors against a black background.



I have loaded up many more photos to the hedgerow section of the environment gallery.

Bullace blossom in the Hedgerow

The past two weeks have been unseasonably warm and sunny; this has made it a pleasure to be outside watching spring progress - seemingly faster than usual. One day there was no blossom, the next the bullace was out. (A bullace is similar to a damson, a member of the plum family).

In these images I tried to capture the beauty of the blossom in the sunshine. To get close-up I use my macro lens. Although it was a very still day, there was just the slightest of movement caused by the gentlest of breezes. This made it very difficult to get a sharp image as the branches were moving ever so slightly. I did manage to get some decent shots - I shall try again today earlier in the morning and later in the day as there seems to be less of a breeze then.

Besides the bullace, I also took photographs of yellow primulas in the hedgerow and willow catkins emerging from buds - I hope the publish these at a later date.

The first picture (above) shows some of the bullace blossom with the sun shining slightly from behind and to the right.

The photo below is from a larger tree looking up into the tree - you can see that the leaves are still emerging and there is other blossom in the background.




This third photograph was taken indoors as there was just too much movement to get a decent close-up view.



More of these pictures can be seen in the hedgerow section of the environment gallery.

St David's Cathedral

This week I paid a visit to St. David's Cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales. St David is the patron saint of Wales and he created a monastery on the site in 589. The current building was started in 1181. More details can be seen on the Cathedral website http://www.stdavidscathedral.org.uk/history.htm

I was not sure what to expect, nor what the lighting conditions would be. I purchased a photography pass that allowed me to take photographs - without the use of a tripod. Permission to use a tripod had to be sought in advance.

As the day was slightly overcast the lighting inside was quite soft so this was an advantage. Bright sunshine would have caused bright highlights and dark shadows. But the downside was that the light levels were quite low. Even on the fastest ISO rating (1600), exposures were typically between 1/4 and 1/60 sec. This meant I had to be very careful keeping the camera steady whilst taking the photo. In addition, as the aperture of the lens was wide open, depth of field (the range of distances that are in focus) was very limited.

Despite these drawbacks, I was very surprised at the quality of the photographs that I obtained. I show 3 of them here with more to be seen at http://www.pmstudios.co.uk/Wales/StDavids-Cathedral/Wales.html

Adjacent to the cathedral are the ruins of the Bishops Palace which is undergoing some conservation work. See http://www.pmstudios.co.uk/Wales/StDavids-Bishops-Palace/Wales.html for some images of this.

The 3 photographs I have selected to show here are:
Above is a view upwards past the organ to the roof of the tower.

Below is the high altar



Below is a carving suspended from the ceiling of the nave roof. What is amazing is the detailed carving and woodwork forming the ceiling.

Spring garden view at the base of beech trees

I few days ago, I had a few hours off work at the start of the day and was fortunate that it was a bright, clear, still day. At about 10am I went into a border at the northern corner of the garden to take these photos.

I developed the idea the day before when I was helping my wife do some tidying up - I was clearing the twigs and beech seed remains that were left after the worst of the winter. I saw that there was scope for a closer view of the base of these beech trees incorporating some of the other planting in the garden.

The picture above was one of the final images and incorporates the base of the beech tree covered in moss, the remains of last years copper-colour beech leaves, and the spring daffodils.

The second picture (below) is in the opposite direction looking roughly north. This would have been better if it was not for the fence in the distance.



This third picture was taken from further back from the first and incorporates a second beech tree that also is covered in ivy.



Even though I say so myself, I think these pictures show some of the age, majesty and strength of the trees contrasting with the fresh brightness of a spring day.