Yellow Green Blue - plus Moon!

Yes – I did say that yesterday’s time exposure of the moon over the jetty was going to be the last of this lunar cycle, as it is fading fast and is now a mere three-quarters of what it was.

So I went out for a little sunrise walk this morning but definitely without the tripod. I’ve been seemingly chained to that thing for days now – so it was the fast Sigma EX f2.8 lenses, 24-70 and 70-200mm that were my optical companions.

My little walk somehow got extended a bit further than intended and past Old Sarum and up into the gorgeous Woodford Valley – rocker Sting (The Police) and missus Trudie live up there – and it’s a great place to cycle to, as the road follows the Avon up to Amesbury.

I don’t cycle these days and but I saw this bright patch of yellow and wandered, lonely as a photographer, up toward it. The birds sang (loudly), the sun broke over Old Sarum’s outline but I just carried on strollin’......

Anyway – rapeseed oil is a magnet, a photographic catnip for landscapers, usually with a wideangle lens and polariser, to bring out the colours. So, I used the telephoto!

And lo and behold, the moon from last night was just about to slip behind this hillside. It HAD to be my Blip! The low morning sun was raking over trees and so was only just kissing the furthest parts of this field. I tried vertical shots but not only was the foreground yellow flowers too out of focus, they were dull as the sun had not spilled over onto them.

I did take loads, slightly different focal lengths and juxtapositions between moon, tree and foreground. A roe deer watched me. The lens was not long enough to get a good shot of him and in any case I have many half average shots of deer looking at me....

In the end, I went for this one. It’s probably no better than some of the others but I had to decide on one, after all! I used a polariser, which is not an obvious thing to do with a longer lens as the effect is much less pronounced. The Sigma is not a stabilised lens so I had to be careful to not let the shutter speed fall too low.

Many many thanks for all the great comments and stars and Favourites that helped get the aforementioned moon jetty Blip nice and high in the spotlights. It was sure good to be back there!

Last evening I met up with Blipper Jingly Jan and her husband. I already had my Blip, of course but Jan had not and so we ventured off round the Cathedral Close, on a beautifully bright sunny evening. Everything looked wonderful and we were out for almost two hours! We then went to Wetherspoons for food – thanks! – and you will all laugh at how we were all trying to eat it as the lights got dimmer – and the “music” got louder! Being Good Friday, it was easy to forget that it was also the weekend and the pub turns into a nightspot for the young and trendy, which I think I can safely say, did not include us!

I then got the local Ordnance Survey map out as they were planning where else to go, whilst they stay in the area for the Easter weekend. Jan’s husband was peering at it with a torch, whilst Jan and I had our hands over our ears!

The three of us may well be meeting up again at some point – have to see what the weather and their plans include, though the inside of the Cathedral is a definite idea. It was great for me to have my third Blip-meet, the first on home turf. They probably won’t see the Close at a better time, with the new sculptures, the yellow setting sun hitting the Gothic stone and the occasional neat group of young people sitting about on the grass.

Genuinely overheard, about the Royal visit in New Zealand. Seems that William's wife is absolutely gorgeous and very sexy - and that he is not. "Christ! He's punching well above his weight!" Doh! Future King!! Now, that is one of the better reasons why a chap can pull a fit girl!