365:076 Bug Love

365:076 Bug Love, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

Copulating critters ...

365:075 Deer

365:075 Deer, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

"Whatchu lookin' at??!!??"

Deer-in-headlights, at Ashton Court.

365:074 Rust

365:074 Rust, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

The large fern-in-a-metal-tub in our backyard seems to be slowly recovering from whatever rust-disease it had been suffering from. Lots of green leaves now, but some of the old stuff is still there (for me to take photos of!).

365:073 Bike

365:073 Bike, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

Sunshine's bike in the corridoor. When its dark, its very easy to trip on!

Still experimenting with using the flash - picks out the reflectors on the pedals an wheel rims.

365:072 Smoke

365:072 Smoke, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

Part of my reasons for doing the 365 project was also to learn about the technical side of photography and the things that you can do with it, rather than just the artistic side, ie composition, cropping etc.

When I'd got to the end of the rainy day and still hadn't gotten a decent photo; Sunshine suggested spending a bit of time experimenting with smoke and lighting ... and this is what we got!

Such fun! And I learnt a lot about backgrounds and how to use flashes; and its always great to work collaboratively with Sunshine :)

Here's his version of the shot (inverted in photoshop).

365:071 Told Off

365:071 Told Off, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

"What have I told you about eating our plants??!!??"

Snail gets a right telling off by Sunshine ... He lookes quite ashamed really...

365:070 Spitalfields

365:070 Spitalfields, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

Last day of my London weekend - decided to visit my old haunt, Spitalfields.

Red silhouette of Christ Church Spitalfields by Eleonora Aguiari at the entrance to Bishop's Square, by Old Spitalfields Market.

365:069 Shadow

365:069 Shadow, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

Took a walk down to Green Park in the afternoon sunshine. Was intending just to get the flowers, but my shadow added an extra bit of interest (no, I'm not wearing a dress, its my raincoat/mac).

365:068 View

365:068 View, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

Visiting dad in London ... this was the view from his hotel window ...

365:067 Stitches

365:067 Stitches, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

I bought this gorgeous piece of fabric ages ago ... its called "Caught Up in Stitches". I've been "caught up in stitches" quite a bit of late with the boat project, and the current project, but I just can't bring myself to use this lovely piece ... I need to find a project that's deserving of it - maybe over summer ...

365:066 Blown Away

365:066 Blown Away, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

I wonder how Mr Spider manages to hang on when the wind blows ... must be that wonderfully sticky silk ... By the way, this little one was only about 3mm across!

Sunshine's just got us a macro lens for the SLR ... Oh My am I EXCITED! These are my first attempts - have to learn to hold the camera steady, and tweak the depth of field (its a bit too much when the bum of a 3mm big spider is in focus but his head is not!)

Can you see the spider hiding? He must only be about 3mm across ...

Only managed to get the wing in focus...

Can you see the little insect (less than a cm long!)

365:065 Moss

365:065 Moss, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

"Forest of Moss"

What a strange sense of scale - the stalks on this are probably half a centimeter high? Land of the Lilliputlians ...


And our lupins. Just blooming ... lovely how the outer petal peels back ...

365:064 Machine

365:064 Machine, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

The 'machine' does 'hands' ...

365:063 Mermaids

365:063 Mermaids, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

Bristol is full of mermaids ...

and green buses ...

didn't you know ...

365:062 Surprise

365:062 Surprise, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

Everyday there is a little surprise in our garden ...

We inherited all manner of pots from Sunshine's parents; one of which looked like just a tub full of grass ... in the last week, the 'grass' has sprouted these gorgeous yellow iris' ... what a lovely surprise :)

365:061 Bow

365:061 Bow, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

"All hail the photographer! I bow to you oh esteemed one!" ... yeah ...

Got to the end of the day and realised I hadn't managed my 365 photo as it had been a wet and gray day. We've also got a friend visiting so I was distracted by that ...

So about 11pm, we all headed out to the back garden, and they chatted (and our friend had a smoke), while I ran around flashing the resident snails climbing up the walls ... don't think they knew what hit them!

365:060 Colours

365:060 Colours, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

Mmmmm... Colour pencils make me happy ... they let me make things like this :)

My trusted set of Staedtler Luna colours, which I've had for over 15 years (I've got another set of 48 - yummy!). I've been looking it up and it appears you can only get the Luna range in Asia...

If only my teenage self that bought these knew where I'd be and what I would be doing with them 15 years down the road ;)

365:059 Fire

365:059 Fire, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

Spotted at the Tobacco Factory (or 'Bac Fac' as its known to us locals); while out having drinks with Duncan.

We later ended up at his for a barbecue

... What a smashing evening :)

365:058 Post

365:058 Post, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

Postman R.McArthur parked his bike by the pub and didn't return in all the time I stood there contemplating whether I should draw it or not ...

It didn't quite fit into the theme of what I was working on, so I took a photo instead ...

365:057 Soft

365:057 Soft, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

Soft dandelion in soft focus ...

365:056 Alpine Strawberry

365:056 Alpine Strawberry, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

The garden blooms evermore - pink alpine strawberry flowers :)

365:055 Vespa

365:055 Vespa, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

Spent most of today walking round the Southbank Bristol Arts Trail, which was all round our neigbourhood. Saw all sorts of arts, crafts and installation, like the cul-de-sac with lots of plants - plants in shoes, plants on trolleys, plants in bins, and even plants in a Vespa!

I love living where I do :) ... And what a fab opportunity to visit people's houses and get to talk to and make friends with all our creative and talented neighbours...

365:054 Clematis

365:054 Clematis, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

We've been in our house since early autumn last year, so there are plants that we haven't quite seen flowering yet ...

Today I noticed the clematis in the front garden. Made me soo happy :)

ps, sorry to those of you who are bored of my flower photos ... its SPRING! And anyways, my mum likes them ;)

And so does Mr Ant ...

365:053 Stigma Stamen

365:053 Stigma Stamen, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

What you can't tell from this photo is the size of this poppy - the flower head was massive, at least 9 inches across!

I spotted these (and some giant iris and giant lilies) in the compound of our local St John's Ambulance building (The Harry Crook Center) this morning on the way to college. On the way home I just HAD to go and see if they were real - I'd never seen them this big before ... and indeed they were. Real, huge, and smelling pungent ... and I felt like a Lilliputlian next to them!

365:052 Boys

365:052 Boys, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

The Southville Center is quite the pretty little building - but I've not managed to find out much about its history apart from that it's grade II listed, and it used to be a school ...

Must have been a boy's school as I saw two of these signs, but no 'girls' (maybe the other side of the building ...)

365:051 Buoy

365:051 Buoy, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

"I'm not sure about nipple rings on a b(u)oy" ... nope, I didn't say that, Sunshine did ...

365:050 Blue

365:050 Blue, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

Saw this boat propped up on the tarmac at Bristol Marina ... it looks like someone has gone and painted pretty stripes on with watercolours ... but in fact it is discolouration of the paint ... so beautiful.

Here's what it's from:

365:049 Shoots

365:049 Shoots, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

Sunshine planted some sunflower seeds in the garden not too long ago, and they're sprouting! Its so nice to be in the garden now as stuff WE'VE planted starts to grow ...

Sage about to flower ...

365:048 Ruston

365:048 Ruston, originally uploaded by planetmithi.

Day out at the Avon Valley Railway .. chugging gently up and down the tracks on a beautiful old restored diesel engine. More pics:

Seat number '48' to celebrate 48days of 365

Oh yes, I like door handles ...

Rust on one of the older unrestored engines in the train shed.

Then we went for a walk to Willsbridge Mills Nature Reserve (which is just round the corner from the railway), with flower-cam and insect-cam at the ready...

Poor peacock butterfly ... someone's bit off his wings ...