third thursday challenge

Today's photograph is for Brenda's Third Thursday Challenge.  Why is it a challenge for me? Well, for a couple of reasons really.

Firstly, this is the first time I've really played around with developing a photograph in Lightroom. I recently watched a video on PhotoTuts which was a bootcamp in using Lightroom. I can't remember all the tips as it was a lot to take in in one go but I remembered quite a few items that I hadn't even realized existed in Lightroom. So I did some fine tuning to the individual colours and a little burning (that wasn't too successful but I can work on my technique!). Will I ever use Photoshop Elements again! Well, yes because...

...Secondly I designed a new banner for my blog using one of my favourite recent photos. Hope you like it and hope you join in with the Third Thursday Challenge. Thanks Brenda!

out early

I took my camera with me when I went out walking this morning. Lovely light

LAKE 1 APPLIQUE

This is what I did with the materials I collected together the other day. It's my first go at applique and the inspiration was the lake that I walk around each day with my dogs.

At this time of year it's crammed full of Canada Geese and I love their constant chatter and the sound of their wings as they fly overhead.

I think I have a colour balance problem here though I'm not quite sure how to improve it so at the moment I'm going to leave it alone and maybe come back to it when I've sat and looked at it for a bit.

DUCK SHAKE

A lot of water disturbance for such a small duck! I watched it for quite a long time playing around on its own, dipping its head under the water then coming up and shaking vigorously. I wasn't that sure about posting this as the duck is pointing in the wrong direction, but I thought it quite a good one to demonstrate Kat's Rule of Thirds.

WINTER LAKE

This is the only bit of unfrozen water that's left on our local lake and it's crowded. That's probably also because it's where people come with bread to feed the wildfowl. The swans take bread from my fingers but they have sharp beaks and they lunge so I have to be careful. When the Canada Geese are around I try to feed them by hand too but they're much shyer than the swans.

There are several of these little 'snow islands' on the lake where vegetation pokes up from the surface. Some of them are like mini sculptures.

This is a minimalist one!

Colours of January

These are the colours of January around my local lake. Silvers, greys, whites and the palest of pale blues. It's unusual for us to have such a hard and prolonged snowy period here so it was imperative that I got out there with my camera to record it.


Another view - this time of part of the lake that hadn't yet frozen, seen through a stand of delicate winter stems wearing their snowy gloves.

I posted these after visiting Life Looms Large and My Life is Just a Tapestry both of whom are also posting their colours of the month. If you want to do the same, go to Life Looms Large and join in! I intend posting photos of 'my' lake through all the months of the year because it's the place where the changing seasons impress me most as I walk round it at least once a day with Misty the Irish Wolfhound. I love to stop and note what's new - who's had ducklings, where the heron's fishing today or whether the old swan has found himself a new mate (I do hope he does or I'll miss the annual arrival of those beautiful cygnets).

New Family on the Lake

There's a new family on the lake near our house. The two swans that have inhabited the lake for years have just had their new batch of pale grey, fluffy cygnets. Seven this year which is the same as last year and seems to be about the average.

This is mum with all seven of her brood bobbing about on the waves caused by the high wind this afternoon. I've been meaning to take my camera down there ever since the beginning of this week when they were born but kept forgetting, so this is a week's growth. They get bigger almost by the day and I'll try to take a photo every now and then to record them growing up.

They stay close to their parents for most of the time they're growing. There's a particular grassy patch at one point beside the lake where they all regularly come ashore and groom themselves, resulting in a mass of feathers lying on the ground; from the long, curly white adult feathers to delicate little puffs of grey fluff from the cygnets.

Eventually, in late autumn, there will be a day when the youngsters just aren't there any more, chased off by their parents to go and find homes of their own whilst the amazing cycle starts all over again next spring.

This family is just part of the wildlife surrounding this beautiful lake. There are Canada Geese, Moorhens, Great Crested Grebes, Gannets, Grey Herons and Mallards. But the swans are the boss of the patch and have even been known to drown ducklings by holding them under water.

I walk by this lake every day of my life, usually early in the morning, with Misty and it's the most amazing thing to see the effect of the changing seasons. It's one of my Zen places.