Other Shots

Taken at West Wycombe Garden Centre. Getting away from all the Flickr nonsense. Not sure whether or not I will continue with Flickr. So far this site is a delight and already seeing many wonderful and inspirational photos :-) Daisy is at the Owl Rescue Centre www.owlandpetrescue.co.uk/ based in the West Wycombe Garden Centre. For a minimum £1 donation you can hold ‘Daisy’.

From Wikipedia - “The Milton Keynes Peace Pagoda was completed in 1980 at the northern edge of Willen Lake in Willen, Milton Keynes. This was the first Peace Pagoda in the western world. There is a Nipponzan-Myōhōji Order temple and monastery nearby.” From www.theparkstrust.com/parks/willen-lake-north - “The Peace Pagoda was built by the monks and nuns of the Nipponzan-Myōhōji as a symbol of world brotherhood. Above it, 1,000 cherry trees commemorate the victims of war, while prayers and messages of hope decorate the nearby One World Tree. Alongside the Pagoda is the distinctive Buddhist Temple, where the public is welcome inside or to visit the grounds with their Japanese and Zen gardens.”

A shot from a long time back :-)

A shot from a while back :-)

From Wikipedia - “The Milton Keynes Peace Pagoda was completed in 1980 at the northern edge of Willen Lake in Willen, Milton Keynes. This was the first Peace Pagoda in the western world. There is a Nipponzan-Myōhōji Order temple and monastery nearby.”

A shot from a while back when I was attempting to be a little creative :-)

On 23 June I was torn between two essential photo opportunities!! Both were held @ Willen Lake, Milton Keynes. One was the Milton Keynes Dragon Boat Festival with much needed funds from the event being donated to the nearby Willen Hospice. The other event was the 33rd Anniversary of the building of the Milton Keynes Peace Pagoda. This was the first Peace Pagoda to be built in the Western World. We arrived in plenty of time but although the distance between the two events was not huge it would have been much better if I could have been in both places at once :-) So, it was a case of goin’ back and forth between the two :-) In the afternoon there were multi-cultural events at the Pagoda. These delightful Japanese ladies sang songs in English as well as Japanese. It was difficult to find good viewpoints (excuses again!) without standing in front of people. But I was fairly pleased with this effort. I felt the shot would be enhanced by a little soft focus so I did just that in Photoshop :-)

Soft Focus again :-) I most definitely didn't need another camera but I recently went to Argos and bought a very inexpensive FinePix Bridge Camera and this is one of the shots taken with this camera :-)

A lovely summers day in MK :-)

Thought it was time to try something in monochrome :-)

'Intended Camera Movement' technique.

Added to ‘Soundtrack Weekend’ www.ipernity.com/group/362993 The Wheel in this shot is next to Startops End Reservoir. Seems logical to me, therefore, to link this with “Heart Like A Wheel” by Linda Ronstadt from her 1974 album of the same name. From Wikipedia - “Heart Like a Wheel is Linda Ronstadt's fifth solo album recording and the last of her studio projects for Capitol Records, released in late 1974. It is universally considered to be Ronstadt's all-time high-water-mark masterpiece recording and a pioneering blueprint of Country Rock. It spent 51 weeks on the Billboard album chart and has never been out of print in the now 38 years since its release.” Watch/Listen here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4edvNAtAwE I expect Linda to feature quite often in this Group :-)

NOT icm.....this time :-))) I applied ‘motion blur’ to the original shot taken wth my phone. But, I was thinking about goin’ back to try icm! However, I think that may be a little difficult. These towers are surrounded by high wire fencing, trees and dense undergrowth!! I had to fight my way through the dense undergrowth to get the original shot :-) I think it would be difficult to find a viewpoint where I could move the camera about without it smashing into tree branches!! Also, there were a number of security cameras and me being caught on film waving a camera about might attract unwanted attention from security guards me fears :-)))

I need a shot of a Hotel for “Soundtrack Weekend” and that has probably given the game away!! Looking thru’ some very old shots I think I may have found a suitable one and whilst looking I came across this shot where, clearly, I was trying to be a bit arty :-) This comes from the time Helen & I went to Amsterdam for one of our Wedding Anniversaries. That was back in 2004. I really don’t know why we haven’t returned to Amsterdam ‘cos I thought it was the most amazing and beautiful place :-) Anyway, this also comes from a time when I would rarely make a note of what I did in Photoshop! But, I do believe this could have been a Painterly effect combined with a dash of the Buzz.Simplifier filter. I am sure you wanted to know that :-)))

I have been trying ever so hard this evening to get up-to-date here on ipernity! But, although getting close, I have failed to meet my target :-( So, I am having a few minutes break in order to upload something slightly different! In the September 2013 issue of ‘Digital Photo’ magazine there is a “Make Plastic Fantastic” tutorial. You can use a camera (obviously) plus a tripod, computer laptop screen, plastic objects, circular polarising filter. The photo in the mag is of 8 multi-coloured forks and I am working on something similar :-) But, I had the idea that rather than putting the camera on a tripod I could try a little icm here! And, I was a little stunned by this result. There was only one fork.........honest :-)))

Added to Soundtrack Weekend www.ipernity.com/group/362993 The building on the left is not really Hotel California. But, it is for the purposes of Soundtrack Weekend :-))) I wish I didn’t have to look through so much foul language when reading YouTube comments but that is a gripe for another day!!!! Anyway, one comment includes the line “The ending of this song is simply one of the greatest sequences in rock history”. I would totally agree!! The interplay between Don Felder and Joe Walsh is breathtaking!! Add to this the most perfect vocal performance by Don Henley. “You can check out any time you like/But you can never leave" Listen/Watch here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dyw6LZpSOA p.s. it is actually ‘swissotel’ on the left of my shot :-) We stayed in 'Hotel Amsterdam' (in the middle of the shot) back in 2004.