So, I needed a Photo-Fix . . .

With one thing and another, it seems like an age since I got out for a few hours, with the camera, just for the fun of it.  After several planned trips had been aborted - due to crappy weather and my kids rather active social life (and their need for a chauffeur), yesterday I finally got out for 2 or 3 hours, and DH, youngest DD and self headed to Ty Mawr country park, for a wander and for me to see what I could see through the lens.

 I really like llama's - so stuck up!

This fellow - a pot bellied pig called Rusty - seemed rather attracted to the camera . . .

         
           In fact - he got a little too close!















The 'Petting animals' are all very well, but there was so much else around that I wanted to focus on  . . . I swapped to my 70-300mm lens, set the macro function and set up the tripod . . . so many 'little' details make up the whole landscape, and I wanted to focus on them.

And once I started snapping the wild flowers, then I started to notice the insect life - over the last two years or so, I've become fascinated by the detail and fabulous colours and patterns in the macro wildlife around me. I make frequent trips during the Spring/Summer, to various locations that I know of, just to look for the insect life, but this is the first time I've specifically looked to see whats on offer at Ty Mawr.

 

Ty Mawr was pretty packed, with lots of young families enjoying the sunshine, but we did also manage to find a quiet spot on the river - and there some of my favourite insect life obligingly came 'out to play.

These are Damsel Flies - I'm no expert, but I can tell the difference between them and Dragon flies by their eyes - Damsel's eyes are placed either side of the head, whereas with Dragons, their eyes look forward and 

are close together, actually touching, or almost touching each other.   I think their colours are just fabulous - iridescent and vibrant, and I can - and do - loose hours photographing these beautiful creatures.    

As mentioned in a previous blog, during the last uni module, we were set the task of creating a 'joiner' - at one point during the day, gazing at the viaduct, I decided that it might just make a good subject for a 'joiner' - so spent a while taking dozens and dozens of shots, to see if I could create one - usually, when attempting this type of photography, I visit my 'subject' several times, over 2 or 3 days, to capture the differences in the sky and the light - knowing that I wouldn't be able to re-visit Ty Mawr for  a while, it was an interesting challenge for me to see if I could get what I wanted in just one visit . 

I was pretty happy with the result !

I've managed to book the uni photography studio for several sessions, concentrating on portraiture, for later on this month, and I also have a few more photo-days planned. Add to that, a couple of film projects in the pipeline, and hopefully, I'll have plenty to do - and keep me busy - with one sort of camera or another, for the rest of the Summer break - so there will be a few more blogs to come.