Playful Learning Ecademy - Through the Lens: Giveaway!

Playful Learning is a website that I love to just browse and be inspired by. Mariah Bruehl has such a wonderfully fresh style about everything she shares for families whether it is setting up learning centers, encouraging artwork, or helping us create wonderful experiences outside in our own backyards.

I recently reviewed her book, Playful Learning, over at The Curriculum Choice and I encourage you to pop over there and read more about this wonderful resource that you can use with all ages, all styles of learners, and keep as an inspiration reference in your learning book library.



Mariah is now offering online classes which she calls Playful Learning Ecademy. I am signed up with my son to take the next course which is Through the Lens. This course will use digital photography to inspire writing and art.

There will be four weekly classes which you can work through at your own pace. She will email you a video to explain the week's suggested activities and then you are free to complete the assignment as you have time with your children.

She suggests this course for children ages six through twelve (along with their grown-ups). My son is a little older than the age range but we thought it would be fun to test out this course and see how it inspires us in our outdoor time.

In order to take the course you need a digital camera, a way to print photos, and a blank journal. There is also the opportunity to share your work and to interact with other eCourse participants.

Through the Lens

It starts July 18 and ends August 8, 2012.

Cost: $68.00.

Would you like to have the opportunity to join the class? I am going to keep it simple.

Giveaway is now Officially Over

Giveaway for Playful Learning Ecademy: Through the Lens

Leave a comment and tell me which aspect of the course you are most excited about: digital photography, writing, art, journaling, or connecting them all together. One comment per reader please and make sure I can contact you after the winner is randomly chosen. You will have 48 hours to respond to the email and if I don't hear from you, I will choose another winner.

I will randomly choose one winner of the Through The Lens Ecademy course on 7/11/12 at noon. Make sure to leave a comment by then! Feel free to share this giveaway with your friends!

Update 7/11/12: Maria Mitchell is the winner of the 

Through the Lens Ecademy course! 

Congratulations!

Check out this upcoming Ecademy course.

Playful Learning Theory + Practice

Cost: $15.00






Please note that I am an affiliate for Playful Learning and I received this Ecademy course to try for free. My review of the course in August will be my honest opinion and I received no other compensation. 

OHC Summer 2012 Photo Challenge

A photo challenge for the summer!

I enjoyed participating in the April Get Outside Photo Scavenger Hunt a few months ago and I realized how much more I gleaned from our nature walks with a photo assignment in hand.

As part of the More Nature Study Book #4 Summer Sizzle ebook plans, I included a photo challenge with each assignment. I am going to open it up to anyone who wants to participate by giving you the list of assignments and the Pinterest Board for pinning your photos. If you would like to join the Pinterest board, please send me your name on Pinterest in an email: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com.

Free Printable List of Summer Photo Challenges

You can complete the challenges in any order you would like. You can take the photos or your children can take the photos. This is a fun, relaxed activity that I hope brings some joy to your outdoor time.

London Photo Festival

"Reflections on the public and the private" is the theme for the second London Photo Festival. Eighteen exhibitions, workshops and talks given by international photographers, and the lion's share of it is free. This is a great festival running throughout June, and I strongly urge you to go along if you can.

Buildings and Photos

Last night I was at a talk at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) where we were treated to a look at some of the hidden treasures in their photograph archives. We saw original works from the mid 1800's from photographers such as Maxine du Camp, Edouard Baldus and lots more.
It was fascinating to follow the different photographic styles through the decades up to the current style in architectural photography. During 1969 and 1970 the publication Architectural Review ran a series of articles under the title Manplan, the style changed to that of photo journalism showing people relating to the spaces created. Often taken in the rain or mist and generally in black and white. The architects who designed the buildings were pretty miffed at this, preferring their buildings to be shown as icons of beauty, glossy coloured images on sunny days.

Then came the images that looked more like graphic design focusing on details of buildings rather than the whole.

In addition to their incredible archive they have exhibitions, currently showing is "a place to call home". It runs until 28 April so get over there this week, not only to see the work but also the building. A beautiful art deco building. My image today is a pane of glass from the door on the fourth floor.

Spring Green Photo Hunt - Nature Study with Colors

Today's Photo Scavenger Hunt theme from Go Explore Nature: Green!

We are still noticing all the greens of our garden so this was the perfect assignment for us to do this month. You can see more about spring greens in our nature journal: Spring Green Nature Journal Ideas.

What Camera Do I Use? Updated December 2011

What kind of camera do I use for the photos on my blog?

First posted on May 1, 2008 and updated on December 29, 2011

I get asked this question a lot in comments and email. I have shared before that I really don't use a fancy camera but one that I can take with me everywhere in my pocket or in my backpack with no worries.

So what do I use? 
For most of my everyday shots I use the Nikon CoolPix S3300 (Point and Shoot). I also take some of my bird photos with my son's really old Canon Rebel with a zoom lens. I would say 90% of the photos on my blog are with the inexpensive point and shoot Nikon. Purple of course!






My point is that you don't need a fancy, expensive camera to take a good photo. If you learn a few tricks and practice taking photos, you will have more success.

Honestly, I use this camera for all my regular and macro photos with minimal cropping on the computer. I rarely, if ever, mess with anything other than that. If I do make any adjustments to a photo, they are done on Picnik (through my Flickr account).

Here are my tips for taking a good photo.
1. Take lots of photos. If I am trying to get a good photo of something for the blog, I will sometimes take ten photos of the same thing. I'm not kidding...with digital it doesn't really matter how many you take since you can delete the ones you don't like once you get home.

2. Learn to use your camera. I know those manuals are intimidating but you can skim through to find things that will help you take a better photo. What I did to take better photos was to learn what all those little symbols on the back of the camera meant and that immediately helped me take a better photo. I love the little flower setting....better known as macro. I can take close-ups of flowers or bugs now and they are truly in focus. I decided at the beginning of 2011 to read one page in my camera manual everyday and then practice what I learned. This was an easy way to work through the ins and outs of the camera and show me what it could do. 


(This photo I took many years ago. On this day, I think I took 50 photos to get this one keeper.)
 
3. Pay attention to composition. Take that extra second to see if there is something weird in the background, to make sure your subject is framed in a pleasant way, and that you are not taking the photo directly into the sun.
 
4. Watch shadows on faces if you are outside.
 
5. Remember your flash typically doesn't work farther than about 5 or 6 feet.
 
6. Take flower shots early in the morning or later in the afternoon and not during the glare of mid-day.
 
7. Take photos from different angles. Get low and look up. Get high and look down. Go child level. Sometimes an interesting photo is just one that comes from a different perspective than normal.

 
8. If you are taking a close-up photo, steady your arm or hand on something solid like a table or a fence post. Before pressing the shutter, breathe in and hold your breathe so you are as still as possible. This has made a huge difference in the quality of my close-up photos.

Taking a good photo is sometimes just a matter of being in the right place at the right time with your camera in your hand so take it everywhere you go.


You can see my Favorite Photos on Flickr:
Favorite Photos from 2005
Favorite Photos 2006 - this was a big year
Favorite Photos 2007
Favorite Photos 2009
Favorite Photos 2010 - my favorite slideshow
Don't know what happened in 2008....didn't tag my photos for some reason.

Ten Images I Should Have Posted On The Blog

I post lots of photos on this blog of our adventures, gardening, and nature study. You can only imagine how many images I don't share....perhaps thousands (30-40 a week adds up especially when you add in longer trips). I decided to share ten of those images that didn't make the blog for your viewing enjoyment.

#1 This was from an amazing day at Yellowstone...totally unplanned and we were on half-speed since both my boys were really sick with some sort of sinus cold. We had planned a glorious day of hiking at Teton National Park, but since they were sick we altered plans and opted to drive the short distance up to Yellowstone and take a leisurely day and let things happen. Sometimes you just need to be flexible and this was one of those times. It was a great day with some great images... this was the same day we saw the grizzly bear and cubs driving back from Yellowstone to Jackson.

#2 Roosevelt Elk in Northern California are such majestic animals...very powerful. This photo reminds me of a great camping trip full of boy stuff, including lighthouses, long deserted beaches, crazy long hikes in the redwoods, and roasting monster size marshmallows over the campfire.

#3 The real story of hiking with boys is shown in this photo. How do they always find something to climb on, over, or through? This gate leads to a fantastic little spot that we discovered this year and have been back in just about every season, including January with about four feet of snow.

#4 There is not nearly enough time and space to share all my wildflower photos with you on this blog. These are along the roadside inside Yellowstone National Park. Honestly, if I didn't always have boys waiting for me I could get stuck on just taking photos of flowers.

Prepare yourself for a different sort of image....

#5 Yep, this is one of my boys' favorite images of all 2011. They spent quite some time posing this salmon head for a photo. Mr. A had his camera phone out and was snapping away before I even took any images. Gross but sort of cool when you examine it....I think it looks like a fossil. Later they found a really funny looking dead fish but I will spare you the images.

#6 You must click over to Flickr and look at this one really big...the texture of the feathers is awesome. Do you think I will ever learn to identify more kinds of ducks. Mallards are the only ones I can name for sure...something to work on in 2012.

#7 I planned on writing a post that included this image and sharing how much I HATE brussel sprouts although they are really quite interesting to look at. Who likes brussel sprouts anyway?

#8 This is a combo I am thinking about for my yard. Isn't it pretty? Love the white of the birch and the yellow of the yarrow together.

#9 My daily friend who visits our feeder. There is a pair that sits on the utility wire across from our house and they make the most amazing sound when they fly....mourning doves are a great bird.

#10 This is what my family sees me doing a lot....gazing out the window at a variety of things, mostly birds.

If you would like to see my Flickr set with my favorite images from the blog from 2011...here you go:

Barb's Favorite Images from 2011

Photographers and Image Makers

Vision 11 was a two day festival for photographers and image makers organised by the British Journal of Photography and Computeractive magazine (both great magazines). Now in its 13th year the festival gave an opportunity to look at and test drive the latest in equipment and software. Several seminars were held over the two days giving a wonderful opportunity to hear what how some of the industries greats work.
One of the seminars I attended that I thought would be of particular interest t0 many of you especially those of you in the UK was that of your rights as a photographer. The London Street Photography Street Festival group have put together a small film showing most security guards do not know the law. Another link I'm a photographer not a terrorist where you can download a pdf pamphlet on your rights.

Road to 2012: Changing Pace

I'm sharing with you a special behind-the-scenes tour of the BT/National Portrait Gallery's 'Road to 2012:Changing Pace exhibition'. This work is year two of a three year project to capture a unique record of the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics and all those who made it happen.
Anne Braybon, Commissions manager of the portrait gallery shared with us how the two photographers, Emma Hardy and Finlay MacKay created this body of work. The difficulties, the cold days, even the day she had to take Chris Holme's guide dog for a walk to prevent him jumping in the pool during the photo shoot. I found it very inspirational to share in the behind-the-scenes process of producing work of this standard.
Hardy's intimate depictions of the men and women involved in the preparations for staging the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games show them in locations and pursuits where they might reflect or find inspiration. MacKay's complex scenarios capture world-class UK athletes where they train, alongside the people who are supporting their Olympic or Paralympic ambition.

Also there this evening were some of the story tellers. This is a group of artists, writers, poets, photographers who have been commissioned by BT to tell their stories as they relate to the games. You can also contribute. Road 2012 wants you to share your stories about what or who inspires you on the journey to the Olympics and Paralympics Games by uploading your photos to their flickr site here.

If you are in London or coming to London you must see this exhibition, I'm picking a winner in the national portraits award out of this work. It is simply superb.

Shift | The Arts University College Bournemouth Postgraduate Show Opens Today

Opening today, the highly anticipated Arts University College at Bournemouth postgraduate show features graduates from fine art, photography, graphic design, and many more, runs until the 8 September. The exhibition, entitled Shift, reflects the interdisciplinary nature of postgraduate study and represents the culmination of a meaningful, transformative and personal journey for the students involved.

Work in the show features Yves Findling who uses screen prints from the Internet and YouTube which, even if they reflect the production run of the mass-production of goods in the industry, have a hand-made character and a unique connection to the illustrator as the creator of the artworks; and Araki Shiro who investigates the complexity between architectural form and surreal sculpture and assemblage, creating objects by hand that resemble organic form using inorganic material such as carbon fibre and glass fibre, looking at the relationships between objects and the body in a subconscious form.

Shift also features the work of Noelle Barnett who’s ethereal and emotive series of oil paints investigate the depiction of skin in painting producing images that eliminate unnecessary detail and leave more breathing space for the viewer to work in their own interpretations and Isobel Browse who's practice relates to the domestic interior, a space that exists between house and home. Aesthetica spoke to Noelle and Isobel about their work and what the future holds for them after AUBC.


What has the preparation process for Shift been like?

NB: Studying part-time has meant that I experienced last year’s show, and was aware that we should plan for it earlier than the previous year. I have worked alongside another student, Isobel Browse, and we canvassed the group to establish a title for the show so it could be professionally ‘branded’ with a uniform quality of information to distribute as early as possible. I particularly wanted to advertise outside of Bournemouth and try to get people coming to visit from London! To be honest, I was really disappointed with the general lack of initial enthusiasm for the show from other students. I feel it is a really important aspect of any course, and one can learn such a great deal from the process. I hoped it would build an element of team spirit prior to installing the show in August. Nevertheless, a small working group was established with others joining later.


IB: Absolutely, working with Noelle on a show with such a diverse set of disciplines has been a fantastic experience. We couldn't have done it without the fantastic core group of students working hard on all the details of the show.


With such a broad variety of media on display, curating the show must be a challenge. Who is responsible for curatorial decisions and is there an overall theme?

NB: Last year, as the group was small, they had a lot of space and the curatorial decisions for the Course Leader were easier. This year due to a higher number of students, the show is being held in the AUCB Gallery and Fine Art Studios and the decisions are more complex. Due to the nature of the course philosophy there is no overall conceptual theme to the show. Each of our individual practices is supported and recognised in their particular diversity. However, similar concepts and ideas have emerged and traverse the pathways, and for me this aspect serves to demonstrate the excellent qualities of the course.


IB: One of the exciting aspects of the course is the diverse disciplines you find yourself working alongside. I don’t have curatorial experience but I had a strong idea of where I would like to place the work and it is quite site specific. We worked collaboratively with Ronnie Inglis, MA Course Leader and it has been fantastic watching the spaces come together. The nature of the course determines that there is not an overall concept, simply a strong desire to show all the work at its absolute best, enhanced by the pieces around it. I certainly have more experience than I did previously and I hope to be involved in many more exhibitions in the future.

Could you talk us through your work on the MA? What pieces will you be showing in Shift?

NB: I started the MA after completing a five-year, part time, BA in Fine Art at the AUCB. I had reached a point where I knew I wanted to take my work much further, and am so glad I had the opportunity and support to achieve this. My initial aims were to develop my painting skills and knowledge as far as possible, to increase my confidence in my practice and to research how skin was depicted within painting. Going back to look at Renaissance painters and looking at techniques and issues of representation of beauty and ugliness, led me to more in depth research about peoples attitudes to their own and others skin, taking into account advertising and media pressures. I used various techniques within my practice to back up this research, such as digital scanning and watercolour studies. The final phase of the MA took this research into the studio and the development of a series of oil paintings. These works are a response to the research and I have deliberately moved away from representation into an abstract and ambiguous depiction. They are quieter and more reflective, and offer a glimpse of the ephemeral, the experience of the body within the world. I am showing the final three pieces I made, as they mark both a conclusion and departure point within my practice.


IB: My practice relates to the domestic interior: the space that exists between house and home. Initially, I drew inspiration from an archive of my family’s photographs that I inherited, muddled in boxes with hardly any contextual information. I began to question whether our surroundings and possessions shape or mask our identities. Using phenomenology and anthropology, I investigate our response to our domestic space. Architectural motifs and preoccupied figures explore the transient and the permanent, serving to alienate and distance the viewer. Opposing themes of the interior and the exterior, cropped simplicity and pattern, create a sense of dislocation and unease: a series of frozen moments, psychological remoteness evoking elements of the uncanny. I work both in the traditional and digital darkroom and many of my images are initially taken using a view camera. The pieces I have chosen to show in Shift are images that reflect all aspects of my work on the MA, showing a synthesis of both method and methodology. 

What has been your main source of inspiration for this body of work?


NB: My main inspiration is skin. I have read so much about it over the past two years, and looked at so much, it almost became obsessive, staring at people in the supermarket and wanting to photograph them! The concept that skin is a two-way membrane is really important- and that it is our interface with the world. We experience so much through touch, and skin memory intrigues me - how far can we remove our touch yet still feel the surface we were touching- like the meniscus on water? The fact we shed our skin, and that it makes up 90% of house dust, means it is in the air we breathe, so the whole world can be understood as skin. I want to capture the equivalent of our existence in the world, what we experience, and how we feel.


IB: I draw inspiration from a variety of sources but throughout my time on the MA, Hammershoi, Hopper and the painters of the Dutch Golden Age have continually influenced my practice.

What’s next for you after you graduate?

NB: I want to take a short time out to consider my options, but would really like to continue with further research. I will be looking at what options are available for the following year. I have work in an Art Fair in London this October, the Parallax Art Fair at La Galleria, Pall Mall, 14-16 October, and hope to get work into exhibitions in London in the future. I would also like to do some teaching, as I am very passionate about encouraging people into education.


IB: I am going to concentrate on exposure initially. I will continue to make new work and I already feel an intense pull to continue my practice and research at the next level.

Shift will be open daily from 10 – 4:30pm with a late night opening until 8pm on Thursday 8 September.

aucbshift.co.uk

Aesthetica MagazineWe hope you enjoy reading the Aesthetica Blog, if you want to explore more of the best in contemporary arts and culture you should read us in print too. You can buy it today by calling +44(0)1904 479 168. Even better, subscribe to Aesthetica and save 20%. Go on, enjoy!

Image: Courtesy the artist

Death to bad handwriting!

Back in 2007 Time Health reported that doctors’ bad handwriting was killing more than 7,000 people each year in the U.S. This report certainly rings a bell with us: one of the reasons we really wanted to introduce our online photography ordering service last year was to replace the handwritten forms that staff sometimes struggled to read. Whilst not exactly a matter of life-or-death, we still want to get these orders processed for you as quickly as possible.

Our online service certainly helps our staff understand immediately which items you want photographed, meaning we can fulfil orders more quickly. We were able to go from this:

to this:

Here’s hoping that the e-prescribing described in Times Health has helped U.S.doctors give a better service to their patients too.

Mervyn Peake in China

At the weekend we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of the artist and writer Mervyn Peake (1911-1968). Most famous for his Gormenghast trilogy – the story of a hermetically sealed earldom decaying within the seams of arcane ritual – Peake often cited the influence of his childhood in China upon this sequence of novels.

The son of medical missionaries, Peake grew up speaking Mandarin in Tianjin, 70 miles south-east of Beijing. A time of warlords, where travel could still be by palanquin, the wondrous phantasmagoria of his childhood can be glimpsed in the photographs held by the Wellcome Library of the Victorian explorer John Thompson (1837-1921).

For the fancifully minded, the claustrophobic accretion of masonry that is Gormenghast is suggested in the photograph (above) of the Open Alter of Heaven in Beijing, and its crumbling acreage of towers and rooftops seen in the photograph (left) of the ruins of the Old Imperial Summer Palace.

The scope of Peake’s artistic commitment was vast and as an artist he illustrated works from Alice in Wonderland to this study of witchcraft. As the no less fantastical photographs of John Thomson show, the hinterland of Peake’s imagination was rich indeed.

Need an interesting image or the perfect picture?

The Wellcome Library has recently made ordering new photography from our wonderful collections a lot easier with our new online photography ordering service. We think this is a first – we’ve not seen any other library providing a service online quite like this.

We’ve made it easy for you to simply make your selections from our catalogue whenever you see the ‘request new photography’ button.

We’ve also given you the option to fill in all the form details yourself if you prefer.

 As well as making the process simpler for you, our staff are also benefitting from clear catalogue information and no more struggles with “doctor’s handwriting”.

We’ve already fulfilled online orders from as far afield as Germany and India. And don’t forget – you can already download many images immediately and for free from the excellent Wellcome Images.

Thanks go to everyone who helped to bring this to fruition: our users who helped our testing, Library and Wellcome Images staff, and staff from the Wellcome Trust’s web team, finance and IT departments.

Some More Backyard Birds to Share

We have had an abundance of birds in our yard for the past few weeks. Part of the reason is my new birdfeeder station in our front yard but mostly because it seems to be that time of year.

I grabbed my son's camera the other day and took quite a few photos of just a small fraction of the variety of birds right in our yard.


There are always lots of Western scrub jays in our yard. This one found an acorn snack.


This is the best I could get of the Northern mockingbird in our front tree.


There have been quite a few Western bluebirds hanging around this week. I was able to snap a good photo of this pretty little bird.


There is a pair of Nuttall's woodpeckers that are frequently on the utility pole across the street from our house. This seems to be the female...the male has red on his head.


This Western scrub jay was poking around in the rocks. I think he was trying to find some acorns or walnuts that he stashed but I was able to catch him holding still for a few seconds so I could capture his beautiful blue feathers.

Stay tuned because I am sure I will have some more to share soon. We spend time watching birds everyday and it is always fun to share.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Music

A student on her way to the Royal College of Music.
Founded by royal charter in 1882. This building was paid for by the industrialist Samson Fox and the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII). The school continues its links with the royal family. Charles took over presidency from Queen Elizabeth in 1993.






For those of you who requested a glimpse of my piece in the
L.I.P. exhibition here is a thumbnail.


Lots of great work so if you are in London do go and visit.

Exhibition

All hands on deck hanging work for the London Independent Photographers 22nd annual exhibition.

The Strand Gallery 19-31 October.
32 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6BP

I am proud to have a picture in this exhibition! Yes really. Do go and check out this work.

Behind the Scenes: Imaging Services

In this installment of Behind the Scenes, we take you into the world of the in-house photography team. Richard Everett, Head of the Imaging department, leads a team of four members of staff who carry out all the imaging services not only for the Library, but for the wider Trust as well.

The imaging department works entirely digitally. A wide range of equipment is used to cover the multitude of photography projects and jobs that arise, including medium-format cameras, dSLR cameras, overhead scanners and flatbed scanners. Working in three studio spaces, the team can accommodate all types of material: people, 3D objects, transparencies, glass negatives, books, manuscripts, paintings, and more. All digital capture, post-processing, digital storage and asset management is supported on-site.

Most importantly, the department has a huge range of expertise in many areas of digital imaging and contribute greatly to the range of services the Library can offer. Not least of these is the ability to advise and inform on strategy and procedures such as self-scanning in the Library, streamlining photography orders, managing overseas shoots for Trust business, and setting up a robust and sustainable image management environment.

The department carries out three main tasks:

"Ad hoc" photography, the domain of Photographer Ben Gilbert requires managing and fulfilling orders from readers, staff, publishers and picture buyers. Ben works closely with Wellcome Images staff, who manage the online picture library. Where possible, images digitised are made freely available on Wellcome Images. Most of the materials digitised under this service are special collections - books, manuscripts, archives, drawings, paintings and so on. Although the Library now provides a self-service scanner in the Rare Materials Reading room this is suitable only for private study and those who can visit in person. The Wellcome Library has a huge range of interesting visual content, and images from our collections have been used in thousands of publications, lectures, media events and more. Digital images can now be ordered online.

Project photography has become a big part of the Imaging department's work over the past few years with the development of the Digitisation programme. Most of this work is done in house, and complete projects include the digitisation of over 70 17th century recipe book manuscripts, 3,000 AIDS campaign posters, 600 glass plate negatives, 500 Arabic language manuscripts, and many more. Currently, Imaging supervisor Laurie Auchterlonie and Imaging technician Tom Cox, are working on a large project to digitise a series of archival collections, and the target is half a million pages over 18 months. This content will provide a basis for the Wellcome's ambitious plan to digitise a large proportion of its holdings to provide free online access.

"Corporate" photography refers to a third service the Imaging department provides. This includes capturing the events, people, and objects related to the work of the wider Trust activities and interests. Photographer Dave Sayer is the most mobile of the team, often travelling off site - to locations as far away as Africa or South-East Asia - to photograph Trust business. Dave works closely with the Trust's Publishing Department, providing images for Trust publications such as Wellcome History, Wellcome News, the Library's Annual Review and so on. Much of his work is taken up with Wellcome Collection events, such as the recent Billy Bragg play "Pressure Drop".

One of the biggest challenges according to Richard, is "managing increased productivity whilst maintaining the highest possible quality of service. That includes digital capture quality, speed of service, and ability to keep up with the pace of events at the Trust." The benefits to the Library are huge: digitisation of library materials provide greater access to them; and the flexibility and expertise of the team, the wide range of equipment, and the efficient management of content provides a valuable service to the readers and staff alike.

No Bull

Ok so this is a picture of a cow. Whoopee. Yes but this is zone one in London. Ah ha a little unusual wouldn't you say. I started taking pictures of said cow and chatting to it. Yes also a little odd but it's a cow in London, zone one.
I'm taking pictures when a security guard came out and told me this is not allowed. A group of young men nearby came to my aid and said: Its a cow in the centre of London of course you are going to take pictures and by the way where's the law that says she can't take a picture of a cow. The guard left.
So here is a picture of a cow.

Now a DRUM ROLL for the winner of the pizzaexpress winner:

Congratulations Brianna a voucher is on its way to you.

The correct answer is 119 pizzaexpress restaurants in London.

Light and Shadows

This totem pole stands in the entrance of the British Museum. The wonderful shadows cast are courtesy of the sun through the amazing glass ceiling.
This is the perfect place to practice your photography skills with light and colour balance. You have natural light and artificial light, several shades of white. What's more you wont be thrown out or confronted about spending hours taking pictures. That's not always easy to find in London.

Backyard Birds Part 2

Today it snowed. Today it rained. Let's just say we were surprised at how many birds we had in our feeders despite the crazy weather.

I had my Canon Rebel out again and did some practicing and experimenting with various settings.


This is a resident Western Scrub Jay in our Sweet gum tree. I like the little sticker balls in this photo.


This is my absolute favorite photo of the day. A pair of Mourning doves perched in the Sweet gum tree and did some posing just for me.


I love their little pink feet. They also make a wonderful sound when they fly. If you would like to hear what it sounds like, click over to Cornell and scroll down to where it has the listing for wing whistles. This is exactly what it sounds like.


Here is one of our many, many juncos sitting in the rain.


This photo is from yesterday and even though it is a little blurry, I thought you might like to see one of our Northern Mockingbirds with a tasty little treat in his mouth. He stopped on my neighbor's mailbox and looked over his shoulder at me before flying off.

That's enough birds for today......thanks for indulging my bird photography habit.