Martin's Day

Snow Feb 2012

2012-02-05T18:47:00.001Z

Snow Feb 2012, a set on Flickr.

Here are some pictures of the snow today on my blog

Christmas Video 2011

2011-12-21T21:01:00.001Z

Here are some of my pictures from the garden in the last year. There is a version of this video without sound at: http://youtu.be/Y5KPfCmQeeA

Sunset at work

2011-11-28T17:49:00.001Z

Here are a couple of pictures from my window at work

Berlin

2011-11-26T21:33:00.001Z

Berlin, a set on Flickr.

I have uploaded some re-vamped pics I took in Berlin a few years ago

Moon

2011-11-09T17:46:00.001Z

A picture of tonight's full moon

Bow Creek Ecology Park

2011-09-18T17:39:00.001+01:00

Bow Creek Ecology Park, a set on Flickr.

I went to Bow Creek the lasat weekday of my holiday. It is only a short distance from home but it took me 4 years to get here. Please go to Flickr and let me know what you think

Rainham Marshes

2011-09-15T08:29:00.002+01:00

Rainham Marshes, a set on Flickr.

Here are some pictures from a day I spent at Rainham Marshes.

More Garden

2011-07-09T09:55:00.004+01:00

Here are some pics from our garden this morning. The orange flowers are poppies and the white one is from the strawberry plant.

Garden Pics

2011-06-02T16:16:00.005+01:00

Southend Part 1

2011-04-25T10:02:00.005+01:00

Here are some pics from our visit to Southend on Saturday.

Owls

2011-04-24T14:39:00.010+01:00

These owls were on a stall in the High Street in Southend-on-Sea , where Drew and I went yesterday. They are beautiful animals.

Macro at Hampstead Heath

2011-03-13T12:42:00.007Z

Here are some macro pics from my trip out last week.

Stone the crows

2011-03-12T20:18:00.005Z

I went to Hampstead Heath earlier in the week while Drew was teaching. So here are the start of some of the pics. First off, here are some crows. They always look arrogant and malevolent.

Losing It and the Shard

2011-03-06T09:28:00.006Z

Last night, Drew and I went to see Losing It at The Chocolate Factory, a two woman show with Ruby Wax and Judith Owen. Ruby talked about her life with depression whilst Judith, who also has depression, sang and played the piano. Afterwards they did a question and answer session. They were asked if their depression had made them better people. I was so pleased they both gave a definite NO. It is always thought that something like this makes someone better, and most of the time it doesn't. The top two pics are of the theatre and the poster outside.

The other two are of the Shard at London Bridge , which is going to be spectacular when finished. The last is a light display under a railway bridge near the theatre.

HDR

2011-02-22T17:52:00.005Z

Here are some HDR pics from last week.

O2

2011-02-21T17:48:00.006Z

Here are some pics from the O2.

Oxleas Meadows

2011-02-20T09:54:00.010Z

Here are some pics from Oxleas Meadows. Another place where I was witing for Drew!

Greenwich Park again Part 3

2011-02-19T09:21:00.011Z

Greenwich Park again Part 2

2011-02-18T09:32:00.011Z

There seem to be isues uploading multiple pics, so I will spread the Greenwich Park pics over a few days. Here is part 2.

Greenwich Park again

2011-02-17T13:38:00.008Z

I went to Greenwich Park on Monday while Drew was doing some teaching. Here are the first few, more tomorrow.

Hungerford Bridge Panorama

2011-02-15T10:19:00.004Z

On the way home on Saturday, I took some pics from Hungerford Bridge. Here is the panorama.

Leslie Jordan

2011-02-15T09:05:00.005Z

Drew and I went to the theatre on Saturday and saw Leslie Jordan in his one man show My Trip Down the Pink Carpet, about his experiences as a gay man in Hollywood. It was hilarious and I thought at times Drew was going to have an asthma attack! What was nce was that after the show he sat in the lobby and signed his book. So here he is signing our book.

Panorama 2

2011-01-20T07:20:00.006Z

Another panorama, but this time outside the building I work in. The sun and clouds were a wonderful colour on the way into work. Unfortunately the colour had slightly gone by the time I got there.

One of the things the panorama programme I have can do is to create quick time movies where you can do a 360 degree panorama which you can control the movement around. I have tried uploading to both here and Facebook. But they convert to flash and it doesn't work. Anyone know of a video hosting site where it might?

Panorama

2011-01-09T15:35:00.005Z

One of the tricks the new camera can do is panorama assist, where you can take a picture and the camera 'ghosts' part of the picture so you can line up to take the next. This pic is just a try out from our front door. Open the picture to get a better effect.

Sunrise

2011-01-05T18:40:00.006Z

Driving to work, I saw the sunrising and luckily gpot there before the colours in the clouds had gone

Soho

2010-12-31T17:57:00.008Z

Drew and I went round Soho yesterday to do some shopping and here are some pics.

Hornchurch Park

2010-12-29T16:24:00.010Z

A few pics I took during my lunch break yesterday.

Southwark Park

2010-12-27T18:27:00.007Z

New Camera

2010-12-26T11:37:00.002Z

I got a new camera for Chrsitmasa as my other snappy one had died (RIP). The new one ia a Nikon Coolpix S3000. Here are a couple of pics from our garden when I was testing it.

Snow in the garden

2010-12-24T20:31:00.002Z

Here are some pics from our back garden earlier in the week whilst the snow was still about.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-19T16:13:00.002Z

Here is a video of some of my Christmassy pics

Snow...

2010-12-18T17:51:00.001Z

A couple of pics from our back garden after today's snow. some more pics to come tomorrow.

Moon

2010-11-19T17:47:00.002Z

Here are a couple of pics of the moon. I have done a bit of manipulation as the ones where the moon was OK showed no clouds and vice versa.

I know I haven't posted for yonks, but I have been busy at work and also have now started to do an MSc (mad fool!). I will try to keep up with posting, but apologise in advance for the gaps.

Greenwich Park - Part 2

2010-09-02T21:50:00.006+01:00

Greenwich Park - Part 1

2010-08-30T16:37:00.006+01:00

We went to Greenwich Park today. As it was a Bank Holiday, there were loads of people, but it didn't stop the squirrels begging for food! More tomorrow!

Here Lives A Very Fine Cat Indeed

2010-08-21T13:20:00.003+01:00

We went to our friends for brunch today and enclosed are some pictures of their cat, Luka.

More Macro

2010-08-18T18:20:00.004+01:00

Here are some more pics from our garden using the macro lens.

Three Mills Island

2010-08-15T17:21:00.006+01:00

Went to our local Tesco today and, nearby, is Three Mills Island which is on the River Lee. This was where I took some of the firtst pics I took with the Nikon, so today was going back with some different lenses.

Macro Lens

2010-08-09T22:25:00.004+01:00

I got a new macro lens recently, so here are some of my first pics including some flowers, insects and pegs... OK, I was photographing everything in the garden, just to try out the lens.

Pride 2010 - Part 2

2010-07-07T19:50:00.005+01:00

More pics from last Saturday.

Pride 2010 - Part 1

2010-07-04T18:26:00.006+01:00

Drew and I went to Pride yesterday and, as always, I took lots of pictures (nearly 1900) and I will post some of the better ones over the next few days.

Unfortunately we didn't go to the march last year as I was suffering from swine flu at the time.

Hello Kitty

2010-06-28T17:49:00.004+01:00

Drew & I went to see some friends, and my god-daughter, this weekend. Here are some pics of their cats, whose names I cannot remember...

EDIT: Just been told Dotty is the tabby the other is Mac. Never said my memory for names was any good!

English Summer

2010-06-04T17:53:00.004+01:00

The flowers are really blooming in the garden, now. So here are some more pics. I have to admit I hadn't realised how many purple flowers we had.

In The Garden

2010-05-23T14:43:00.002+01:00

Today as the weather is so good, some pictures from our garden. Drew is the one with the green fingers!

Plaistow

2010-05-09T17:20:00.004+01:00

Went to feed our friends' cat Luka today and took my camera to get some pics of my local area.

Not sure what is happening with the hole-in-the-wall, but love the thought of something fantastic happening just the other side of the wall and we can only see it through this tiny window.

I like the pic of the gates and am having a think as to how I can manipulate the picture more. I will post once I am happy with the result.

Elephants

2010-05-05T20:06:00.004+01:00

I saw on the local news recently that there are going to be some elephants around London to highlight the plight of wild elephants around the world.. They are painted and put in various areas around the city.

The pictures here are from our trip to Amsterdam last year where they had the elephants. it was great going around the city and coming across another herd of three or four.

Garden

2010-04-18T16:44:00.003+01:00

The sun is shining and it's going to be barbecue time soon. The flowers are staring to grow and here are some pics from our garden.

Click

2010-04-17T17:57:00.003+01:00

Drew and I watch Click on BBC News channel. It is a programme about technology and computing, put in an interesting way. It is available to watch on the BBC website or iPlayer. Part of it is Webscape where differnt web sites are highlighted. Often I go to these and see what they are about. This week there was a link to a photo manipulation site called Be Funky (www.befunky.com). Here are a couple of my pics as taken through the site. It is free, but if you pay you get more things to play with and you can get the pics without the logo.

Leeds Castle 2

2010-04-09T11:06:00.004+01:00

Some more pics from Leeds Casatle.

Leeds Castle

2010-04-05T12:43:00.003+01:00

We went to Leeds Castle in Kent last month and here is the first batch of photos.

Meerkats!

2010-03-04T08:52:00.003Z

More zoo pics today. This time the meerkats. They are wonderfuly cute and anthropomorphic as they stand on their back legs.

Went to the zoo

2010-03-03T12:58:00.003Z

We are on leave this week and yesterday we went to London Zoo. We went to Colchester Zoo last year and I got some great pics so thought we would go to a Zoo again. Not been there since I was VERY young. A bit of a disappointment as there were no red pandas, but they are at Whipsnade Zoo so later in the year...

I will post more pics during the rest of the week so here are the first few.

London Eye

2010-02-27T14:13:00.003Z

Today some pics of the London Eye.

Yes, I know...

2010-02-23T20:41:00.003Z

Sorry for not updating for a couple of weeks, but work has been busy and more than a bit stressful.

Anyway, here are some pics I took at the weekend on our way to the theatre to see 'The Habit of Art', the latest by Alan Bennett. It was brilliant (not a surprise!) These pics were taken at Canning Town DLR station. The two Canary Wharf pics are high dynamic range as the clouds were too bright to give a good pic.

Here there be dragons

2010-02-09T22:17:00.002Z

I was born in 1964 and am, therefore, a dragon, as is my sister. Well, according to the Chinese calendar anyway. I have a dragon calendar in my office and I wanted to show some of the pics I have had. Also this was to try using the gorillapod to hold the camera steady whilst taking the pics.

Thames Barrier Part 2

2010-02-07T22:57:00.003Z

More pics from Friday

Thames Barrier Part 1

2010-02-05T20:51:00.004Z

Day off today, so went to the Thames Barrier to take some pics. Here is the first part and I will put some more up tomorrow.

Thistles

2010-02-04T17:31:00.001Z

Today's pics are of some thistles growing in the grounds at work.

Paintings of boring things

2010-02-03T21:28:00.003Z

Took some pics around the office today and, since none looked that great, decided to use Corel Painter to make them more interesting.

Pics of pics

2010-02-02T19:57:00.004Z

Ah, my life is busy still. This is a pic of some of the pics on my wall.

Sunset

2010-02-01T17:41:00.002Z

Another busy day today,l so took some pics on the way home. These are of the trees behind where I work.

Three posts in one day

2010-01-30T17:00:00.004Z

Went to Surrey Quays to get Drew some new glasses. There is a small lake and I took some pics.

One for sorrow...

2010-01-30T16:55:00.002Z

A little snow last night, so took some pics. As I was doing it, I noticed a magpie on the aeriel next door.

Mooooon

2010-01-30T10:10:00.004Z

An extra pic. There was a full moon last night and a clear sky, so took the above pic. I know it is slightly out of focus, but the camers would not focus automatically and I had to do it manually instead.

Wanstead

2010-01-29T18:27:00.004Z

As part of my job, I need to go out and about to visit and talk to various staff. The pics today were taken in Wanstead. This morning had been rotton weather, rain and cold. By the afternoon it had brightened up a lot.

The reflection in the last pic was the top of my car.

Lights...

2010-01-28T18:41:00.003Z

Busy day again, so decided to take a picture of what we see from our front door. Looks much better than at Christmas with the flashing lights!

Textures

2010-01-27T18:15:00.004Z

A busy day today, so some simple pics of textures. A brick wall, a fan and blinds.

Through the hedge and sunset

2010-01-26T17:47:00.002Z

Two different pics today.

The first was taken at work and is the view looking through a hedge with the bright grass and trees behind.

The second was taken when I got home of the colours in the sunset. I missed most of the sunset, so hopefully next week, the sun won't be as low and I can get a better pic.

Tree

2010-01-25T17:49:00.004Z

This is a tree in the grounds at work. It is full of leaves, but they are all dead. Don't know why!

EDIT: Just got told it is a beech tree and it doesn't lose its leaves. I never said I knew botany...

Home Sweet Home

2010-01-24T12:54:00.003Z

Some pics from around home today. Had to go and charge the electricity meter and took the camera.

The top pic is home! And if you look carefully, you can see the top of my car.

The second pic is the other side from our house, where there is a path which most people use to go down the road.

The final pic is from Barking Road looking at... Canary Wharf. Have a look at my first post to see why Canary Wharf is so important to me.

Ohmmmmm

2010-01-23T14:36:00.003Z

This is the little Buddah we have in our back garden. It is starting to get a bit green, but i like that as I don't feel it should be pristine.

We are looking for an Easter Island style head which we want to half bury...

JHI

2010-01-22T19:14:00.002Z

The Journal of Hospital Infection is a monthly magazine that has all the stuff I find interesting (OK, mabye not all). This is one of the shelves full in my office.

This should hopefully be the last of the office pics this week, and I will be going out over the weekend to take some more interesting pics!

Freebies

2010-01-21T17:22:00.004Z

OK, not really free, but samples. Part of my role is to review new things and decide whether we want to use them. What you see here are some hand rubs, soap and moisturisers.

What I do is have a try of them and see if I have any problems. Some of the issues I have with some (not neccesarily the ones shown!) can be too much perfume, too sticky after use, etc.

Behind the bottles are some of the reference books I use. Again, they are more useful than they look, they can help insomnia!

Now clean your hands...

2010-01-20T21:45:00.006Z

Why don't people clean their hands when they should?

As an Infection Control Nurse, one of the biggest, erm, issues is people not cleaning their hands and giving themselves, or others, infections. In the pic is a gimmic from one of the companies. You have the hand rub buddy on your desk and give yourself a splat whenever you need.

Again today I have done some different things with the paint programme.

This week seems to pics from around the office, so I think I will continue for another couple of days and do something different at the weekend.

CAFFEINE!!

2010-01-19T17:42:00.010Z

I need caffeine to get through the day and I get it from Coke and Coffee.

I use Paint Shop Pro X2 to sort out my pics and one of the effects, used here, is Time Machine, which can make a picture look like it was taken in different time periods. The one used here is called cross process.

Back to work...

2010-01-18T17:33:00.004Z

The blogging, I hope, will continue daily, but I have gone back to work today, so don't be surprised if there is a gap. The pics today are in my office.

I don't like wearing my watch or ring when typing, so I take them off and put them on the base unit, next to the calenders.

The second is of my coat on the door. The pics on the left are some of the ones I have around my office which I have taken previously. The ones you can see are of Colchester Zoo, Amsterdam, Brussels and Canary Wharf.

Last night

2010-01-17T10:08:00.004Z

Last night we went to the National Theatre to see 'Nation' a play based on the Terry Pratchett book of the same name. It was brilliant, funny and emotional, and I would recommend anyone to go and see it.

Before we went in, I took some night pics of the area. The best ones are above. Not perfect, but I must remember to take my small tripod with me on night shoots...

Before the theatre

2010-01-16T12:56:00.004Z

An extra today. These are a couple of pics I took last night before Drew and I went to the theatre. We are going again tonight to the National Theatre, so I will upload pics tonight, if we get back early enough, otherwise it will be tomorrow.

Mr Jones goes through the emotions

2010-01-15T13:45:00.002Z

Today I would like to introduce Mr Jones. He is a willing model (since Drew doesn't like having his picture taken). Obviously, I have done a bit of photo manipulation.

Before the cinema

2010-01-14T22:01:00.008Z

Hopefully something more interesting today.

Drew and I went to the O2 Dome to see the film 'Nine'. A musical by the same director that did 'Chicago'. Here are some pics in and outside the O2.

The first pic is from the main lobbey. There a light installation hanging from the ceiling that changes colour from light to dark blue and sometimes green.

The second pic is the escalators that lead up to the cinema. I have slightly desaturated the colour in the background to bring out the blue.

The last three were taken outside the dome. The next is of boats on the Thames. It was a foggy afternoon and I like the way the background disappears into the distance.

The penultimate is a covered walkway that leads towards the Thames Clipper. I like the way that it seems to go on longer than it really does.

The final pic is called 'Millenium Cloud, and is by Anthony Gormley, who recently had people on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. The cloud is made of lots of metal shapes which, in the right place come together to show the figure of a man, which you can see in the pic if you squint slightly.

Who?

2010-01-13T13:24:00.003Z

OK, so I like Dr Who! Today it has snowed again so I have been wandering the house taking pics of almost everything. I took this just because there was a row of them with different coloured covers. It came out better then I thought.

Tomorrow, Drew and I are going to the cinema, so hopefully more interesting pics tomorrow night.

When shall we three meet again?

2010-01-12T12:53:00.006Z

Today, some pics from indoors. These are the three withches from the Terry Pratchett books. From the top, Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlik. I love the Pratchett books and the witches are my favourite characters.

The pics are of three wall mounted, broom mounted witches. They are on my wall like the three flying ducks you used to get.

They were taken with my snappy camera. I will try again another day with the good camera to see what the difference is.

Hornchurch County Park

2010-01-11T14:29:00.006Z

Although on leave this week, I had to go into work to drop some things off, so I thought I would go into the park behind work to take some pics.

The first two pica are high dynamic range. I like using this technique so that the dark and light parts of the pic are visible. Some that I see on the net seem to be overprocessed and there can be halos around some objects. The third pic is just cropped and some of the camera artefacts removed.

Snow, snow, quick, quick, snow

2010-01-10T11:59:00.003Z

Why did I decide to do this photo a day thing during the middle of the coldest spell in the UK? Anyway, here is a pic from our back garden. I love the colour of the ball, with the bright blue. I have cropped the pic and desaturated all of the other colours to bring out the brightness. This pic was taken by my 'good' camera. Sorry about the shake, it was cold out there!
I have put a watermark on this and all subsequent pics because, although I don't mind others downloading and using the pics, I would like some recognition.

Day one...

2010-01-09T16:27:00.002Z

This is the first picture taken with my 'snappy' rather than my 'good' camera. This is a picture of Canary Wharf from a local park. I took it as Canary Wharf is what I look for when going home, so when I see it, I know that home is not too far...