Daily Photo - 26/6/2012

Not a new photo. Not only is this one of my favourite photos, it is also my most sold photo of the greetings cards I make. [Top left of second photo in this post] Through my feedback, this picture is a definite favourite.

Line of boats at St Ives, captures the heritage nicely.

Daily Photo - 21/06/2012

I know they're common but I think they're beautiful! Cinnabar, a day time flying moth. Spotted it on the side of the house a couple of days ago.

Mount Edgcumbe 17/6/2012

Mount Edgcumbe present so many photo opportunities. Here is just a small selection of the 70 photos that I took! More may follow soon. The first photo is my favourite, combining modern Plymouth with older Plymouth, and its maratime history. Looking out on to The Hoe.

'French Connection UK' - Brittany Ferries departing Plymouth, crossing Plymouth Sound in front of Smeaton's Tower and the wheel on Plymouth Hoe.

This is the folly in Mount Edgecumbe Country Park.

Old door by the Orangery. All the rest of the photos in this post were taken in a small garden next to the Orangery.

Instow Beach, N Devon - 6/5/12

This is the second post from North Devon back on 6 May. The first post was >Fremington Quay, N Devon - 6/5/12<. These were all taken on my Sony HX100v. And, considering recent feedback, I have made the watermarks smaller and less opaque! Enjoy!

Similar photos can be found on my post: >St Ives. Sept 2010.<

Olympic Torch Relay - 19.05.2012

So it's not every day the Olympic Flame visits your home town! Here are some photos I took while it was passing.  

It was running 30 minutes late! Typical Cornish! This was the first day of the relay from Lands End to Plymouth.

I had been watching it live online for most of the day but it was completely different seeing it in real life. Thousands of people lined the streets all over Cornwall and over 50,000 people attended the evening flame welcome in Plymouth.

Saltash was the last Cornish stop. It was carried across the Tamar Bridge to Devon. I also made a video: These photos along with footage - You can watch it >here<.

Best of Cornwall Video

I have finished a video of the best photos of Cornwall I've taken so far. If the video isn't playing or you want to see it bigger, you can go directly to YouTube by clicking here.

Fremington Quay, N Devon - 6/5/12

I had a lovely walk in North Devon last weekend (6 May) First I visited Instow Beach and took a few shots - I will post those photos later on (And no, I haven't forgot about the last in the Siblyback Lake photos set! That'll be along here too soon!) The second half of the day was spent at Little Bridge House Hospice catching up with people we haven't seen for a while. Then we went to Fremington Quay and walked along the old railway line; a very straight and flat path but so much to see! I took about 70 photos alone that stretch of railway alone!

Pictures taken on the same day at Instow Beach can be reached by clicking >here<

Unknown Wildflower (If you know, please let me know!) I think it was a tree blossom.)

Apple Tree Blossom

Snail in Tree

Chaffinch in Oak Tree

Tree Blossom

Oak Apple

Early Purple Orchid.

On the way back, we found a quite content baby rabbit. The mother was in the bush behind. It didn't seem put off by us; just stayed there until we left!

Baby Rabbit Resting.

The very distinctive Lords and Ladies plant. I feel a 16:9 ratio was perfect for this particular photo.

Lords and Ladies

Old Shipwreck

 Again, the 16:9 ratio is perfect for this photo promoting the tree line and reflection.

Fremington Quay

Back Garden Butterfly.

I saw something on the wall of the house out of the corner of my eye - It was a Speckled Wood Butterfly. I've been trying more and more to get some good wildlife photos and have succeeded! Especially today after a walk along an old railway line in North Devon - post to follow soon!

The butterfly soon flew off to the bottom of the garden onto a Leylandii tree, providing a more natural background. After a few minutes wait, it opened its wings and I got a few snaps before it flew off.

Below is the best photo I managed to get of the butterfly with its wings open on the Leylandii. Sorry it's a bit blurry!

Daily Photo - Tues 01 May

Golitha Falls River Reflection

Golitha Falls in Cornwall. Other good photos from here - links will be posted as other are uploaded.

Plant Before River Rapids.

Daily Photos - Sat 28 Apr

Just adding a few photos to keep things fresh! Went in to Plymouth today to see a steam train. I go nearly every time there's one down here! But these were extra good shots today!

For anyone interested this was the 5043 Earl of Mount Edgecumbe and I also have another railway photo >already on the blog< featuring the 60163 Tornado. :)

My second favourite railway photo I've taken; and I've taken quite a few! I thought the sepia added an aged effect. I didn't like the greyness of the concrete bridge either. I love the composition and how the train emerges from the steam gathered under the bridge making the busy station background invisible in this particular shot.

Malta | 20-24/02/11

Managed to get 700 odd photos down to this lot. Took me long enough!

May upload some more at a later date!

Some of my favourite photos I took in Malta back in early 2011. The architecture there is amazing. So much work went in to buildings and I thought it was too good to not take photos of! Enjoy!

I absolutely loved it there; Such a beautiful place. There is such a clash of cultures too; where we were staying, the Intercontinental Hotel had a mall, cinema, and clubs in the same road, and looking over those buildings to the distinctive limestone buildings on the skyline. Places we visited include: Mdina, Valetta and Victoria on Gozo (The northern island next to Malta) and I highly recommend those places if anyone goes to Malta!

Malta is also famous for its prehistoric remains - the Hypogeum being one example. We didn't have time to visit a lot. Perfect, good excuse for another trip there!

Building in Valetta.

Gardens in Valetta.

Straight hill road, Valetta.

Something us British aren't too used to - grid system city plans! I love the straight roads in Valetta!

The picture on the left shows Valetta on the right hand side of the harbour. This was taken coming in to land - the airport can be seen in the top of the photo.

And below, a panorama I made looking out onto the harbour from an archway in the gardens shown in the photo 2 pictures up.  

The photo below was taken in Mdina, the old capital of Malta. This was one of the best places for my architecture photos. I took over 700 photos over the 4 days. Managed to get it down to about 200!

Main alleyway, Mdina.

Valetta Skyline.

Church in ?Valetta?

Valetta Building.

Cat on Balcony, Mdina.

I loved looking down alleyways. You'd never know what you'd find! Old lamps, plants, trees, secluded gardens. A bit like a lucky dip! I feel they have so much character and they are all unique. 

Alley in Mdina.

 Doors. Like the alleyways, they have so many different styles.

Green Double Door, Mdina.

Blue Single Door, Mdina.

Red Double Door, Mdina.

Light Green Double Door, Mdina.

Leaf Green Double Door, ?Mdina?.

My favourite door photo from Malta. Old and rusty. This was taken after a long walk through all the alleyways in Victoria on Gozo.

Old Rusty Door, Victoira, Gozo.

This was St Paul's in Mdina. (below)

Looking Up!

Apologies - I forget which church/cathedral this was in. 

Grave Floor. Malta.

Alley in Mdina.

Alley in Victoria, Gozo.

In Malta, one of the main building blocks in older buildings is limestone, which is composed of dead animals. Walking through the alleyways and back streets I found numerous fossils in the stone.

Limestone Fossil Shell.

Something I think that defines Malta are their very unique buses. The bus below is similar to a Maltese bus but Gozo buses are different colours; the Maltese ones being yellow and black. They are so full of character as most of them are made from bits of other buses, have been built from scratch or passed down through generations. I managed to get a brilliant photo of the Maltese buses - 4 of them lined up and interestingly, in order of age too! (right) Adding to the unique-ness is the bus terminal in Valetta.

Traditional Gozo Bus.

Not really a photographic last part but I wanted to share this because I thought it was awesome. The trompe l'œil dome in the Citadel in Victoria, Gozo. Not enough money was owned to complete the dome, so a fake one was painted on. I thought it was interesting.

I could write for hours on the trip but this is a photo blog, not a travel one! So I better stop now before I start boring you!

Having been to Malta I can cross it off the list of 'I want to go to...' places! Up next is Iceland, Canada and New Zealand!