2008 - My Year In Pictures

Title: Wild Night On The Pier
Location: Brighton
Camera: Canon EOS 30D / 24-105mm EF f/4 L IS USM
Notes: The dConstruct08 conference was a great success again. The weather wasn’t particularly kind to us, and this quick shot was one I grabbed on the way to the after-conference party. The wind was howling around, but thankfully the rain stopped briefly!

Title: Elemental: Water
Location: At home
Camera: Canon EOS 30D / 24-105mm EF f/4 L IS USM
Notes: I intended to go out this morning for a photo or two but didn’t get around to it. By 3pm the rain was hammering down oustide, so I nipped out the back door and took this (from underneath an umbrella!) - heavy raindrops splashing on the top of the neighbour’s fence. Another for this week’s theme, The Four Elements.

Title: Zen Ripples
Location: At home
Camera: Canon EOS 30D / 24-105mm EF f/4 L IS USM
Notes: Typical Bank Holiday weather - it’s been hissing down all day. I ventured out into the garden briefly before lunch - under the cover of a brolly - to photograph the rain landing in the Tsukubai bowl in the Japanese (Winter) corner of my garden. This had been empty on Saturday but was almost overflowing after two days’ rain. It’s quite diffucult trying to hang on to an umbrella in the wind with one hand while trying to zoom, compose and hit the shutter with the other! Japan gets quite a lot of rain, so their traditional garden philosophy is that things should look beautiful in all weather. I liked the ripples on the surface of the water as the raindrops fell - plus that wonderful rich caramel colour of wet bamboo.

Title: Singin’ In The Rain
Location: At home
Camera: Canon EOS 30D / 17-85mm EF-S f/4-5.6 IS USM
Notes: This week’s 366 theme is Song Titles, so I thought I would take advantage of the beautiful Bank Holiday weather to present you with a one-off, exclusive performance of “Singin’ In The Rain”. It was hammering down at the time - I hope you all appreciate how I suffer for my art! I haven’t attempted any self-portraits before, so please be kind to me…

Title: (Castor) Oil And Water
Location: At home
Camera: Canon EOS 300D / 24-105mm EF f/4 L IS USM
Notes : Confession time - this is real lazy photography, I’m afraid. I’ve been busy all day and it’s been raining steadily, so I literally poked my head out the back door for five minutes to see what I could find. My poor, drenched Castor Oil plant (Fatsia Japonica) was looking soggy in the Autumn corner of my garden - quite appropriate, since it’s felt like it for most of the day. I hope the sun shines tomorrow.

Title: Rainy Days
Location: At home
Camera: Canon EOS 30D / 24-105mm EF f/4 L IS USM
Notes: What happened to Spring? Today we woke to high winds and lashing rain. Not much incentive to go out!