Hirst Lock

Today has been absolutely stunning. Clear blue skies and some vestigial warmth in the sun, perhaps the last we're likely to feel until next year. I didn't get to see too much of it but I'm not going to moan because I did escape for half an hour at lunchtime before an afternoon of meetings and teleconferences. Quite remarkably, I believe this to be the first lock gate that I've blipped. I think you can expect a few more of these over the coming weeks as I try to get back into my running and venture out further along the canal at lunchtime. The legs felt quite good again today, to the extent that I found myself gradually catching up some cyclists at one point. I couldn't resist that kind of target so I upped the pace a little and overtook them before I turned off for the office. That old competitive spirit hasn't died yet!

Thanks for all the love for yesterday's Falling Leaves. I had the shot in my mind's eye when I took it and I was pleased to be able to process it to get the effect I wanted. I must admit that the heart shape was an added and unexpected bonus. Those who saw that have a very good eye! Reflections always seem to be popular, along with shots with sharp shadows. In a photograph reflection and shadow are brought much more sharply into relief. The mind is almost adapted to tune them out so that we don't ordinarily notice them much. To focus on the patterns of reflections and shadows would be to distract the mind from more important features in our field of view. We almost have to learn to notice such things. Photographs of them are perhaps appealing because they force our perception to engage in a deeper way. Something like that anyway! I better stop before I waffle on too much!! Have a great weekend.