Spring...

Well it is here. Yipee. Actually, I think I might be tempting fate by writing this and the winter could come back and bite me in the bum but what a wonderful day. The sun shone, the birds were singing their collective hearts out. Quite literally the sap was rising as most of the plants were showing signs of new growth.

As I sat in my garden this morning trying to capture some of the birds coming to the garden it was amazing what a bit of sunlight will do to your spirits. You don't have to be suffering from S.A.D.D. to feel better when you finally seem to have turned the corner and the days are getting longer and lighter. I was going write warmer but there was a frost last night - a product of the clear sky over night.

One final thought - spring is a noisier time than in the past. Nothing to do with the din of passing traffic nor bird song or even lawn mowers but rather expanding plastic. Most of the house where I live have plastic guttering and as soon as they get a bit of sun on them they start to expand. This leads to a continuous click and crack sound. The warmer it gets the more click and cracks. Just another sign that spring is one the way.

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.blogspot.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

What travels a third of a mile an hour?

Sand Dunes - Lindisfarne,

Some days it feels like me but the answer, according to the national treasure and iPad fanboy Stephen Fry, is spring*. I believe this having driven back from the frozen north of England to the relatively balmy East Midlands. One sign that spring is here is the dawn chorus of birds. In Seahouses there was none but back home the birds are on fine form - a joy to wake up to - especially after the long journey.

So I am back home, refreshed and raring to go and what a lot the spring has to offer. Exhibitions to visit, competition to enter and disappointments to get over, historical facts to unearth and who knows what else? So lets start with a disappointment. My book. I have no idea why but the production was a total disaster. Not only was the dust sleeve not produced but also the reproduction of the photographs was appalling. Over the next week or so I am going to work out what went wrong and I am sure I did some things wrong but I am also sure I did a lot of things right. I will not pontificate any further until I have undertaken a full post mortem.

Enough bad news. On a more positive note I got round to producing a couple of photographs last night from the visit to Northumbria and the results are most encouraging - perhaps I might be able to produce a photograph of Lindisfarne which is not a cliché after all - lets hope so.

*I always get my vast amount of useless information from QI - a veritable vat of such things.

Grubbing about at the Roadside

You know what it like, you see something and you know you have to take a photograph.  Well that happened to me this afternoon.  I was driving in my car and I saw a large patch of dandelion seed heads.  Somewhere in my sub conscious I recorded this for further work.  After my evening meal the sun was setting and the light was just right to go and make the photographs - so I did.

As usual it involved me lying prostrate to get just the right angle for the light.  Now I think I might be getting a bit a reputation locally as the strange man who is found in hedge bottoms or grass verges.  As usual I got some strange looks from the passing motorists which is alright as I am quite use to this by now.

So I have just got home and processes the first two photographs - both with their own problems - however I feel that these actually add, rather than distract, to the final photograph.

Bluebell woods

Been thinking about the question of 'how do you capture a bluebell wood without the photograph becoming a cliche?'   Not sure I have an answer yet but I have been looking at some of the images on Flickr - needless to say they were very much what you might expect.

The same can be said if you do a Google image search.  It is an interesting question though - one I will work at for the next week or so.

Spring

Spring is a wonderful time.  I got up this morning and saw this view in my garden.   It doesn't matter whether it is a good photograph or not it just adds to joy of being alive.

Crazy about flowers

I'm going through a very organic phase at the moment.  Perhaps it is the feel of spring that is in the air or perhaps my recent dalliance with daffodils has had an effect way beyond what I thought.   Anyway, I find myself making more and more photographs of flowers.  Again the trusty G9 is coming into its own.  I am also trying to explore what it means to take a flower photograph.  I wonder were this will take me?

Getting a bit swampy...

I don't want to sound alarmist but the Hawthorn is coming into bloom.   This flower is known as the 'mayflower' because it flowered in May.  Well, as I write this it is not even mid April and the Hawthorn is blooming which would indicate that the tree thinks that it is, in fact, May.  Or put it another way spring is at least 3 weeks earlier this year.  Now there are a whole series of reasons for this but they all would indicate that we are warming up.  This could be a clear sign of global warming.

I have also noticed that ground is also very dry. This might seem strange given the wet winter that we have had.   However, if this is true it may well be another indicator or how things are changing.  Now from my point of view that is the best way of looking at Global Warming.  Things are changing and that is all you can say.  

Whether, these changes are good or bad is almost impossible to say because it depends on your perspective - you have to remember that not too long ago where the Hawthorn stood there was an ice sheet up to a mile thick.  The world changes it always has done and it always will it is only humans who try to categorize these changes as 'good' or 'bad'  nature doesn't it just adapts.  Unfortunately this means that the ecosystem changes but it survives.   The question is whether the human race is one of the survivors?

Now I am not sure whether this is a Gaian approach to understanding the world or just me rambling on, I suspect the later, but things are changing and we just have to get used to it.   It reminds me of the Chinese curse of living in interesting times.

Steady old day

White Willow catkins

Another lovely early spring day - so what do I  do?  I spend it inside working on photographs on the computer.  Well I have a huge back log to work through so that is my excuse anyway.  Might get up early tomorrow to see what the dawn is like...then again perhaps not!

Daffodils Daffodils Daffodils...

The process continues.   My battle with the the Narcissus continues.   Had a wonderful time lying on a steep bank making photographs of Dafs. Got some strange look from the passing traffic but then I am used to this.  I think I am getting a bit better at making photographs of this accursed plant!

Tails from the river bank

It was a lovely spring morning, ratty was sunning himself on a mud bank when suddenly...Perhaps not. I have been walking down by the river again and watching out for new signs that spring is here.   The widgeon are still in the old gravel pit, they should be flying north soon.  No sign of any warblers yet - again too early.   But all around life is renewing itself.   The branches have new green buds, native birds are performing courtship rituals and stacking out territories for the summer ahead.

But perhaps the most encouraging sign I found today was more evidence of the otters.   In the mud at the edge of the river there were clear tracks that could not have been made by a dog.   Does this mean that it was an otter?   I can't say that for certain but it was in the same place that I saw the otter last month and they certainly looked like otter paw marks.   We'll have to keep an eye on this and hopefully come across more signs.