Blipping Photos

I wanted to tell you about a milestone I have just hit. I have just blipped my 100th blip!
For those of you who think I have finally lost the plot, let me explain. 
Blipfoto is an internet thing where you produce a photographic journal, basically taking a photo every day and posting it. You can write about it or just post the photo. You have the opportunity to comment on other peoples photographs and have them comment on yours.
This is My blipfoto page. I call myself Maisiebeth in case there is any confusion.
I posted my first picture on the 18th of May after much deliberation.

I was concerned that having to take a photo everyday would prove to be too demanding. To be perfectly honest it has been challenging at times and I think my photography has improved because of it. It really focusses the mind and makes you look at things in a completely different way.

On a day when I couldn't get out at all, I blipped Al, my ted.
The challenge was to still make it a good picture and not just an "it'll do snap". So I arranged him as best I could, gave him a pretty background which I tweaked in Lightroom and let the world in on my secret cuddle!

Over the 100 days I have started to follow other photographers and got a fair few followers in return which is lovely and every single comment I have had has been kind. No harsh criticism on this site! As I follow people, I have made the obligation to view and comment on their work which can be time consuming but I have learned such a lot from other peoples interpretations.

There is Abstract Thursday and the above is my first ever attempt at doing abstract. That is a whole new avenue for me, never tried that before and really enjoyed it. The picture is actually of torch being shone through a blue glass bottle and then edited a bit to take away some of the detail.

Blip isn't just for serious photographers. Some people just take snaps of their everyday life and use it more as a diary, which is great. Some just post pics and don't comment, but being generally nosey, I like to know about the picture and why it was taken. You meet some very interesting people and some excellent photographers.

This was taken at Ty Mawr Country Park in Wrexham on a beautiful summers day and was one of my most popular photos. Although the one that has had the most views and comments is the tree I blogged about a few days ago, my black and white nightmare tree.

One of the very best things about Blipping for me is that when I get up in the morning, I have absolutely no idea what my blip for the day will be and that is very exciting.

Lessons Learned: I do seem to have a bit of a creative imagination! I am being brave with my creativity and surprisingly, sometimes it actually works! I can do Art, so there, Mrs Icke, art teacher from school!

Diet Diary: D-Day, September 8th, waddle back to Slimming World. Making the most of it till then!

Blipfoto and Erddig

After much deliberation, I have signed up for Blipfoto. This is basically an on-line thing where you have to take a photo every day and create a photographic journal. I have resisted up until now because I am not able to get out every day to take photos, but then I tried to look at it from a different angle. I want to be able to take pictures of the ordinary and make them interesting, like Richard Hammerton (see photographers to inspire) is so good at. So I decided that this was probably the challenge I need to inspire me. This is my page: https://www.polaroidblipfoto.com/Maisiebeth and I do hope you will go have a look. This is one of the pictures I have posted.

Taken in Whittington, Shropshire. The tombstone graveyard!

Today I was able to get out for a couple of hours for my photos and decided to revisit Erddig and maybe go around the house this time.

The difficulty there is that due to the delicate nature of the furnishings the lights have to be kept very low. You are not allowed to use flash or a tripod so it was a real challenge to get some decent shots. 

My ISO never went below 1600 with my aperture as wide open as possible, and even then I had to lean on odd bits of pillar to keep the camera as still as possible!

This little selection was in the music room and I thought quite charming. I am not into all the pretty furnishings or paintings, I prefer the everyday bits and pieces that people used and enjoyed.

Erddig is one of the few places I have visited that show how the servants lived and worked. This fabulous vacuum was in the housekeepers room. Just add small boy to peddle!

This next one is my favourite photo from the day. It was taken in the Butler's rooms and is completely fabulous.

Because the room was so dark, I have had to do quite a bit of editing just to get out the details and you can see that it has gone quite grainy as a result, but to be perfectly honest, in this instance I don't think it is a problem.

I am just loving anything old and mechanical at the moment. I adore the whole steampunk rage that is going on. Show me anything with cogs, clocks or keys and I am hooked!

This is in the main kitchen and I can imagine Erddig's own Mrs Patmore sitting in that chair, overseeing preparations! Always found life below stairs more interesting than that above. Obviously know my place in life!

(A 2021 edit, this is my most plagiarised photo! Do a search on steampunk kitchens and this comes up and has been used dozens of times, but sadly there's not a lot I can do about it so I have chosen to be flattered rather than annoyed!)

Saw these beauties (and their horses) in the courtyard, for ferrying guests around the estate. Certainly a bygone era. Another old form of transport, but not quite as old follows:

Another fabulous trip today, I must admit I am really getting my money's worth out of my National Trust Membership.

On a completely different note I would like to share what I am thinking of doing next. Because for most of the last few years I have never done anything, I have never thought of having a Bucket List. I have now decided that it is about time I did. Not much on it yet, but throwing it open to you for suggestions. So here it is:

- Zip wire, worlds longest zipwire is in Snowdonia.
- White water rafting, plenty of that around here.
- Be a bit braver on roller coasters, aiming for the Rock n Rollercoaster at Disney next year.
- Photograph the movement of the stars, then sleep beneath them.
- Get a tattoo. Maybe only temporary and certainly small.

There is one more thing on it, but I can't tell you that one!
That's not much of a list so ideas welcomed. If you can't leave a comment here as I believe it doesn't always work, please e-mail me.

Lessons learned: Don't go anywhere family orientated at half term! There was so much shouting, shrieking, crying and complaining going on, and that was just the parents!

Diet Diary: If you go to a NT property you have to have a scone with jam and cream. Its the law!

Erddig

I have been lucky this week in that I have had the opportunity to go out exploring a few times. The weather hasn't been the kindest, but whats the worst that could happen? I get wet. So I'll dry, eventually. I've waded through 3ft of water, so I laugh in the face of rain!

Decided to visit Erddig, a wonderful National Trust property near Wrexham. http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/erddig/

Its not just a Stately Home, it has beautiful gardens and many interesting workshops in the grounds.

There is a different attitude in this house. They treated their servants more as family apparently and had paintings done of them. It is one of the few homes where you can actually see how the staff lived. No pics this time, as I concentrated on the outside, which was probably the wrong way round with the rain and all!

One of the owners was a huge collector of vintage vehicles and they are all displayed. All in various states of repair, pushbikes, motor bikes, cars and coaches.

The above pic shows a couple of the cars in their garages, plus I think you might also be able to pick up just how much it was raining!

This is the grooms workroom and I just love the horse boots on the table. I was a little concerned with a lot of these photos that they wouldn't come out clearly. I forgot to take the tripod and so was using a high ISO with slower shutter speeds, but most seem to be ok which is great. Any graining from the ISO seems to add to the overall vintage effect which is also great. Just tweaked the clarity and adjusted the colours a bit and I am pleased with how it is looking.
I was very sceptical about Lightroom originally, but now I love it. Still not looked at Photoshop tho. One step at a time.

The rain eased off momentarily and I ventured into the garden where I saw the beautiful creature above. Apparently a Greater Spotted Woodpecker. I was perfectly positioned behind a hedge with the telephoto already on when he swooped down for a quick snack and was gone. Talk about right place right time!

On a completely separate note, I had a question posed to me earlier. "what would you attempt today if you knew you could not fail" Can't tell you my first thought, but my second was sky diving. Always liked the idea of the flying through the air part, but not keen on jumping out of a plane or landing several hundred feet below said plane. 

I have been pushing my boundaries and taking risks over the last few months, what with all the hiking, mountain climbing and pink hair and it is difficult to know what to do next. I am thinking possibly zip wires in Snowdonia, but not sure yet. I saw a T shirt on Facebook earlier which said "If I can't take my camera, I'm not going!" so that might limit my choices. Watch this space.

Lessons Learned: Don't ever let the weather stop you getting out. If its not acid rain, then it won't do you any harm, just keep the camera covered!

Quote for the day: Take risks, if you win you will be happy, if you lose you will be wise, either way, you will feel alive (unless the risk you take is skydiving. If you lose at that, you won't feel anything, ever)