http://www.andyrussell.net/phoenixtales/ en-us 2010-08-08T21:01:55+00:00 http://www.andyrussell.net/phoenixtales/archives/000299.html
Here we have the final shot from Witley Court, which hopefully captures the size of the place. Walking around inside I found it almost impossible to imagine what it would have been like living there and also being able to afford it too! Captured: 27/07/10 16:00 Camera: Canon 30D Lens: Canon 17-40L Focal Length: 17mm Aperture: f7.1 Shutter Speed: 1/320 ISO: 100 Flash: Not fired Cropped: No]]> Andy 2010-08-08T21:01:55+00:00 http://www.andyrussell.net/phoenixtales/archives/000298.html
So here we have the next shot from Witley Court. There's one more to come, but I felt this one should be next. The fountain has been restored recently and the original apparently fired 100 feet into the air and sounded like an express train. Not bad if you can afford one of those in your garden! The lighting wasn't the best on the day, but I think I've managed to enhance some of the detail in the fountain even though it does appear quite dirty. Captured: 27/07/10 16:06 Camera: Canon 30D Lens: Canon 17-40L Focal Length: 35mm Aperture: f7.1 Shutter Speed: 1/200 ISO: 100 Flash: Not fired Cropped: 16 x 9]]> Andy 2010-08-02T09:25:30+00:00 http://www.andyrussell.net/phoenixtales/archives/000297.html
As a kid I have fond memories of running around Witley Court during school holidays with the family. I have't been there for probably 20 years and have always thought it would be nice to go back. So what better venue would there be for a stroll and photo tutorial? This is from inside the rambling remains of the 19th century mansion, looking out to the scenery beyond. It isn't the best view from the house, but I don't want to spoil some of the other shots I may post over the next few days. Captured: 27/07/10 15:25 Camera: Canon 30D Lens: Canon 17-40L Focal Length: 26mm Aperture: f4 Shutter Speed: 1/400 ISO: 100 Flash: Not fired Cropped: Yes]]> Scenery Andy 2010-07-29T10:59:56+00:00 http://www.andyrussell.net/phoenixtales/archives/000296.html
Here we have the third and final shot of the three-photo challenge. My planned trip out to find something interesting was rained off, so I thought why not do somethings with the rain instead? This isn't the shot I had in mind, but I do like the ripples that were created from droplets falling off the boat moored next door. I do have more photos from the rain that I may decide to post, but certainly some from a rather lovely outing yesterday. Watch this space... Captured: 26/07/10 15:33 Camera: Canon 30D Lens: Canon 17-40L Focal Length: 40mm Aperture: f4 Shutter Speed: 1/200 ISO: 100 Flash: Not fired Cropped: Yes ]]> Water Andy 2010-07-28T13:14:32+00:00 http://www.andyrussell.net/phoenixtales/archives/000295.html
The challenge was three photos... this is the second. It is from a stroll along the river yesterday in the hope of finding something of interest, but nothing materialised, except this. I was completely torn between this shot and another I took in the same field, but with a different perspective and colour. For some reason, this one just edged it. Shot three to follow tomorrow... Captured: 25/07/10 16:34 Camera: Canon 30D Lens: Canon 17-40L Focal Length: 40mm Aperture: f4 Shutter Speed: 1/500 ISO: 100 Flash: Not fired Cropped: No]]> Scenery Andy 2010-07-26T19:19:42+00:00 http://www.andyrussell.net/phoenixtales/archives/000294.html
No, no, no you're not seeing things... it IS a new photo on Phoenix Tales! Seeing as I had handed out a photo challenge this week I thought it was only fair to dust off the camera and get involved myself. Now, I'm not a fan of horse racing at all but I've had the idea for a while now to take some shots when a race is on. So here we have it, my first attempt. As always, I'm not entirely pleased with it (the fencing is so annoyingly placed next to the course - who thinks to put such things there!?) but enough so to post it here. Also my first attempt at post-processing in Aperture. Captured: 21/07/10 17:27 Camera: Canon 30D Lens: Sigma 24-135 Focal Length: 88mm Aperture: f4.5 Shutter Speed: 1/1600 ISO: 320 Flash: Not fired Cropped: Yes]]> Canon 30D Andy 2010-07-22T10:37:20+00:00 http://www.andyrussell.net/phoenixtales/archives/000293.html
I had an opportunity to take some shots of the kids last week, but again I'm not overly impressed with what I ended up with; however, I do like this one. I'm not entirely sure what my niece is looking at, but it's most likely someone trying to get her to smile for the camera. Captured: 06/08/08 20:37 Camera: Canon 30D Lens: Canon 50mm f1.8 II Focal Length: 50mm Aperture: f3.5 Shutter Speed: 1/50 ISO: 320 Flash: 420EX Cropped: No]]> People Andy 2008-08-12T18:40:47+00:00 http://www.andyrussell.net/phoenixtales/archives/000292.html
This is the final shot of my recent archive raiding and is from a fine summer's evening way back in May, taken in a little churchyard in Worcester that I pass quite often. I really like the detail of the leaves and the sunlight that shines right through them. Well, that's it for now... at least until I dust off the 30D and get back out there! Captured: 01/05/08 18:37 Camera: Canon 30D Lens: Canon 17-40L Focal Length: 40mm Aperture: f4 Shutter Speed: 1/100 ISO: 100 Flash: Not Fired Cropped: No]]> Flowers Andy 2008-08-07T16:43:24+00:00 http://www.andyrussell.net/phoenixtales/archives/000291.html
Here's the second and final of the St Ives shots, however I'll be honest as I can't quite put my finger on what it is about this one that I like. Yes, it was a horrible day weather wise and this (I feel) captures the bleakness of it, but I think it's more than that. I like how from the sea-facing side the houses extend down low, way past anything you would imagine from the front on the road, but again that doesn't seem to be it. I also tried processing this in black and white, yet it seemed to take something away from the shot - so maybe it's something to do with the colours. Whatever it is though, I do like it and think it goes well with the previous shot. Captured: 04/07/08 10:18 Camera: Canon 30D Lens: Canon 17-40L Focal Length: 29mm Aperture: f7.1 Shutter Speed: 1/200 ISO: 100 Flash: Not Fired Cropped: No]]> Costal Andy 2008-08-05T21:55:28+00:00 http://www.andyrussell.net/phoenixtales/archives/000290.html
Unfortunately I can't say I've been out shooting some new material, but I do have a few recentish shots that I've only just got around to processing, which I'll be posting during the week. I had a short break in St Ives last month and I'd hoped to take a bucket load of shots, but in complete contrast to when I was there last year, the weather was awful. This is where this shot comes in as I wanted to post it as a comparison to this one from last year - even the boats are moored in the same place. It was ironic really, that last year while the country was flooding, we had fantastic weather in Cornwall - however, this time it was us with the crappy weather warning! I have one more from St Ives to post and then finally something completely different, well different to this anyway! Captured: 04/07/08 10:12 Camera: Canon 30D Lens: Canon 17-40L Focal Length: 17mm Aperture: f7.1 Shutter Speed: 1/400 ISO: 100 Flash: Not Fired Cropped: No]]> Costal Andy 2008-08-03T21:58:48+00:00 http://www.andyrussell.net/phoenixtales/archives/000289.html
On Saturday I went to Hay-on-Wye, also known as 'the town of books.' Everywhere you go books are sold, mainly in shops, but also in an old castle, a converted church looking building, an old cinema and even from these bookshelves out in the open where the customers honesty is relied upon to pay the small change for the books. I wanted to find a shot that summed up the town and this is what I came up with. Captured: 14/06/08 11:28 Camera: Canon 30D Lens: Canon 17-40L Focal Length: 25mm Aperture: f5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/640 ISO: 100 Flash: Not Fired Cropped: Minor]]> Colour Andy 2008-06-15T17:04:21+00:00 http://www.andyrussell.net/phoenixtales/archives/000288.html
It seemed that a bit of a 'challenge' had emerged concerning the shooting of flowers between Mart and Rich, one that I had hoped to join in on a little earlier. Anyway, this is my effort from the garden at home, which is surprisingly lacking floral content at the moment. Captured: 04/06/08 14:34 Camera: Canon 30D Lens: Canon 50mm f1.8 II Focal Length: 50mm Aperture: f2.0 Shutter Speed: 1/6400 ISO: 100 Flash: Not Fired Cropped: No]]> Flowers Andy 2008-06-04T23:21:03+00:00 http://www.andyrussell.net/phoenixtales/archives/000287.html
This is Bliss Mill in Chipping Norton, an old textile factory that has now been converted into luxury apartments. I've passed this place a few times on my travels and thought one day I'll stop and take some shots. A view more towards the front of this (i.e. from the left as you look at this) does offer a better angle to appreciate the size of the mill, but I didn't get chance this time around. Maybe another time... Oh, and this is the 100th entry on Phoenix Tales! Captured: 14/05/08 16:50 Camera: Canon 30D Lens: Canon 17-40L Focal Length: 40mm Aperture: f6.3 Shutter Speed: 1/400 ISO: 100 Flash: Not Fired Cropped: Minor]]> Scenery Andy 2008-05-25T10:17:43+00:00 http://www.andyrussell.net/phoenixtales/archives/000286.html
As promised this is a shot of Kian, taken a few days after his 3rd birthday. One of his presents was a big trampoline, which was great, except that he subsequently broke his leg while playing on it. So, not visible in this shot is a full length plaster cast on his leg, which doesn't appear to be bothering him at all. He was scooting around like he'd had it on for ages. Anyway, the plaster actually came off this week and all appears to have healed well. Captured: 05/04/08 17:42 Camera: Canon 30D Lens: Canon 17-40L Focal Length: 40mm Aperture: f4 Shutter Speed: 1/60 ISO: 200 Flash: 420EX Cropped: Minor]]> People Andy 2008-05-15T00:06:52+00:00 http://www.andyrussell.net/phoenixtales/archives/000285.html
This is Kaysie and although you probably can't tell from this previous shot, she is actually getting bigger (as you'd expect I guess!). In fact, this was taken last month and I've attempted to process it a few times but never really came up with anything I liked. I've had to do some work on this to lighten it because as usual my indoor shots leave a lot to be desired! I have one more shot of Kian taken at the same time, which I'll post at some point soon but other than that I need to go out and get some new material. Captured: 05/04/08 17:34 Camera: Canon 30D Lens: Canon 17-40L Focal Length: 40mm Aperture: f4 Shutter Speed: 1/60 ISO: 200 Flash: 420EX Cropped: Minor]]> People Andy 2008-05-11T00:12:29+00:00