Mount Ephraim Gardens

 

So this off-Friday saw Dad & I head off to Mount Ephraim Gardens Nr Faversham for some snapping. We took a punt on the weather being reasonably OK and took the bigger cameras along albeit wrapped in large sandwich bags to keep the worst of the wet off. So wish I could have weather proof sealing ;-)

Actually it wasn't too bad weather wise, a few small showers and indeed we holed up under the trees on a bench we'd previously spotted, to grab some lunch during one particular shower. The sun put in a bit of an appearance and the gardens were lovely.

A couple of young lads fishing had a chat with Dad, who has always been a keen angler. We'd watched them catch and return fish from the other side of the lake. As they were the only two there I'm sure they had a good session. Apparently fishing is a peaceful past-time, can't quite get my head around the abject boredom myself but hey ho!

We had coffee & cake in the tea room before finishing off the gardens, all in all a really good day out and about.

This image was of the neighbouring area that we could see from within the grounds.

2021 Camera Data Thus Far (Up To July)

 

So the above screenshot comes from my latest Camera PowerBI data file, a breakdown of this year's photography by camera and type. Not doing too shabbily, as expected my M50 accounts for approx. 75% of my images, the remaining 25% split between my DSLR, compact, Infrared and my mobile.

Not quite sure where this kind of breakdown will take me, but I can already see that my usual holiday month of July has seen a significant drop in images since 2019, obviously 2020 was the start of Covid-19 and the "closer to home than usual" Staycation. In fact this year proved lower than last year.

I think it's shown my overall migration from DSLR to Mirrorless albeit still the APS-C sized sensor, can't yet justify going full-frame, not least because many of my lenses would need replacing.

This sort of digging into data has enabled me to learn a little about PowerBI and it's ability to provide interactive visuals on data. Click here, click there and you can dice and slice to your hearts content!

The above visual is just one such example of the filtered data based on the year. Quite a cool (and free) piece of software if you have the time to figure out how to use it!

Back to the "Office" Tomorrow!

 

So with my Hollibobs pretty much over, it's Sunday evening after all, I shall be back at the dining room table, sorry "Home Office", as of tomorrow morning.

It's been a quiet two weeks, another staycation as I've done for the last few years although 2020 and this year have been quieter than usual.

Did have some good times out with my Dad though, wandering around The Dockyard and a few local countryside parks with our respective cameras at the ready. Dad is a font of knowledge on all manner of things, hedgerow plants, the River Medway and all things of a watery nature. It's been good to have some quality time together, especially given I didn't see that much of him last year due to the restrictions of Covid-19 and our collective efforts to protect each other from catching anything.

Still have eight days of leave left which in my present part-time state equates to another two weeks, will have to try and shoehorn that into 2021 at some stage given our holiday runs from January to December. I can carry over some but even that becomes a pain at times, trying to use it up on top of the usual allowance.

Maybe as the year rumbles on there will be easier times ahead, she says hopefully, time to maybe have a better holiday that doesn't involve staying so close to home because I'm worried about using the bus/train - delete as appropriate.

Surely at some point we'll reach the stage where we've done all we can to vaccinate people and we'll just have to get on with life. That was supposed to be now, with Step 4 of the Government's Roadmap, but although for some reason it got badged as "Freedom Day" it has actually turned out to be anything but Freedom. Whilst the social restrictions are no longer "law" they are still "expected", so in reality what's the difference? Not much let me tell you. And the longer it drags on the more tedious it's becoming. The constant reporting of cases/deaths/hospitalisations... Things that I can't seem to avoid reading because one feels it's better to be in the know than in the dark.

I kept waiting for 2020 to end thinking that this year would surely be better, but it's still more of the same Covid-19 "stuff". And there are plenty of times when I feel like things will never be the same again, like there is no light at the end of the tunnel that isn't another train coming 😱

Hollibobs - Looking for Z' eds

 

So with today being cooler and more my kind of temperature day, I took the TZ90 out for a mooch looking for inspiration for the next family I Spy challenge - Z. Not so easy, took a quick look for ideas on Google last night, including using Google Maps to locate zebra crossings - not as many around now as there used to be, and set off to keep my eyes peeled for anything Z like!

Coming back towards Horsted Park I saw the sun casting rather pointed shadows from the roofs of the new houses - a bit of Photoshop license to highlight the "Z" and Bob's your Uncle, one in the bag :-)

Whilst I was scouting around for ideas I also found this...

It's a telegraph pole up near the top end of The Ridgeway - nothing special about that I hear you cry. But just look at the patterning on the wood 😍 It's to die for - never seen this sort of wood grain before, very floral in it's pattern. So although not a "Z" I had to take a couple of shots as a record of what it looked like.

Came back home and shot a few more ideas around the house/garden, we're on subject number 58 and the ninth letter in this I Spy challenge. We've been doing the weekly photo challenge since Lockdown kicked off and we started doing a weekly video call. All fairly keen photographers (some more than others!) it's been a good way to keep the creativity flowing.

Tomorrow I'll be back setting up Dad's new PC when the new monitor has arrived!

Hollibobs - Local Walk

 

So today, whilst Dad waited in for the delivery of his new PC, I took the old Goldie Infrared camera out for a local walk just up the road to Horsted Park and the small nature reserve and then back through the fields afterwards.

Glad I dug this camera out of the cupboard last summer, I'd forgotten then just how fun it is to use and the interesting faux colour images one can produce from it.

Last year I tweaked my LR Infrared presets that have been honed over the years I have been shooting Infrared, each time I use the cameras I seem to have a different overall expectation of the look and so they have altered slightly over time to reflect this.

The purple tweak works well on over exposed images or where you need something to stand out more. Given none of them are true colours I think the purple works well some of the time, mainly when there is no sky in the image!

The pink/yellow are simply based on personal preference at the time for each image. The presets being based on the traditional colour channel swapping that is normally done in Photoshop to swap the colours recorded by the camera - namely brown skies and cyan foliage.

I like the other worldly look of the Infrared whether that's colour or my Deep Black & White. It shows the world in a different vein from what we are used to seeing, the everyday colour of things being no longer relevant.

The trek around the nature reserve was somewhat hampered by the fact that whilst they let the natural plants grow wild, they also don't appear to mow or trim down a proper pathway around the site. Fortunately today I wore shoes and long trousers although still had to be careful of the nettles, brambles and thistles. Still I made it all the way around without stumbling over my feet, or anything else for that matter! Another really warm day so was kinda glad to get back indoors into some coolness. We're so not used to this heat and it makes walking about in it harder the older I get 😉

Hollibobs - Ranscombe Farm Nature Park

 

Today saw me and Dad head back to Ranscombe for a short walk through the woods - once again trying to avoid the heat. Tried in vain to locate the pathway we walked back in May when the Bluebells were out, but now the ground foliage has increased it's hard to tell where we needed to be! 

Still we did a few circular routes and sat for a while on a bench (once I'd used a stick to remove someone's discarded face mask 😡 - people are disgusting) and had some refreshments and a natter before heading off on another path again.

Thank goodness his car has air-con, we definitely needed it when we got back to the car. A short hop and home to run through the photos whilst the thunderstorms they promised finally kicked in ☔

Hollibobs - Annie Sitting!

 

Monday saw me sitting Annie for the day whilst Julia & James attended a weekday wedding. One that has been postponed several times due to Covid-19 restrictions so I think they were just glad to get out there and do something normal for once!

So Annie came to stay for the day, and well into the evening. We slept and played and ate, her not me, but I think in the end she gets to the stage where she just wants to go home. Without her harness and stuff I wasn't able to take her out for a walk and it was a very warm day again so we had the fan on all day and she spent some of the time on her cooling mat trying to keep cool. At least a recent trip to the groomers has seen her coat shorn somewhat which hopefully helps her to feel less hot.

Still it was good to spend some time with her, for a while we sat on the front doorstep and watched the world go by, catching the breeze that only seems to blow around the front of the house!

Hollibobs - Chat With Mum

 

So, popped along to the Crematorium on Sunday whilst Dad went to a BBQ at John & Pauline's to have a "catch-up" with Mum.

I like to stand by her tree and natter away like I would if we were on the phone. Tell her all the latest news and how weird life still is in this Covid-19 world we're all still bouncing around in.

Walked through the side footpath through to Podkin Meadow where I managed to find the only bench in some shade for lunch. Came back via Hurstwood Woods, a shady reprieve from the blistering sunshine that appears to have descended across the UK for the latter part of my Hollibobs.

Found it difficult to find my mojo taking photos in the woods, at least for a while. After spending quite a few photo jaunts out with my Dad it felt strange being on my own - well just me and Tedster but he's not very chatty 🤣

Still I got into it in the end and took some I quite like. Couldn't wait to get back indoors and into the coolness of home. Kept thinking to myself I'm glad I did the gardening the day before!

Us standing by Mum's tree.

Hollibobs - Leybourne Lakes

 

Friday has seen us meet up again, this time to head out to Leybourne Lakes, another local country park albeit this one belonging to Tonbridge and Malling.

A circular walk took us around the main lake I believe, some water sports being taken advantage of in the hot weather. Some type of canoe that you sit on rather than in, this poor woman ended up in the lake trying to get onto hers, fortunately I'm sure she would have dried off relatively quickly in the warm sunshine. Paddle boards were another popular choice along with swimmers who carried some sort of buoyancy balloon with them, presumably to alert the other lake users to their presence thus avoid being struck by a passing paddle.

Some wild flowers still in abundance which was nice to see, lots of dragonflies and butterflies and all manner of water fowl from swans to ducks.

Apartment buildings just outside the perimeter of the park afford the lucky residents with stunning views across the lakes from small balconies. Gateways provide easy access to the park itself.

The water was a gorgeous blue in the main and uber clear where it met the shoreline. There were various wooden sculptures like the cricket you see above in the collage.

A little mobile café provides refreshments and there's toilet facilities in the main car park, which has a small daily charge associated with it.

Hollibobs - The Historic Dockyard Chatham

 

So Wednesday saw me and Dad at the Dockyard in Chatham. It started off a tad overcast looking but warmed up as the day wore on and the sun put in an appearance after lunch.

Had a good mooch around the site, went into the Hearts of Oak where unfortunately the computer gremlins are still out in force and so some of the digital story was offline and the staff lady talked us through it instead. A shame really as it was like that a few weeks ago and it's yet to be fixed :-(

Did the Ropery Tour too, although with Covid-19 they no longer sit inside and tell you the full story, preferring to just line up inside the ropery itself for a practical demonstration of rope making. Which is actually pretty quick once the yarns are all connected up to the machinery. 

From there we had lunch and then strolled alongside Anchor Wharf before heading into Commissioner's Garden post a welcome ice-cream.

The collage is just a few images as are the flowers from the garden below...

Hollibobs - Riverside Country Park

 

Went for a mooch along Riverside Country Park on Sunday with my Dad, we took the cameras along, I took the TZ90 this time as there were threats of potentially heavy showers. Fortunately no rain appeared to stop play and we had a good meander along, Dad pointing out all the plants in the hedgerows. Damsons, pears, rosehips to name but a few. A good place for foraging if you are in to that sort of thing!

Plenty of old boats in the water, benches to sit on along the pathways, some shingle areas reminiscent of the seaside and a few dogs enjoying cooling off in the water!

Kids catching crabs and generally enjoying paddling in what is a tidal River Medway. All very peaceful and good to be out in the sunshine.

There's a café and toilets plus a large children's play area behind the visitor centre and plenty of free parking.

Processed a couple of normal images through Aurora HDR 2018 to give them a bit of pop, indeed the bottom image on the right of the collage is one such instance. 

Hoping to head off to the Dockyard this week with Dad after a couple of dodgy wet days...

Hollibobs - Coney Banks

 

So went for a mooch along to the Coney Banks on my Off Friday which kinda kicks off another year's "closer to home than usual" Staycation.

Suspect it will be a re-run of 2020's summer holiday which was lots of local walks with a quick venture along to Mote Park where the crowds and building works put me off.

Might make more of the Dockyard this year given that it is open, during last year's break it was still closed for Covid-19. I didn't get a visit in until post my holiday.

Oh and the lifting of restrictions should coincide with my 2nd week so may have more flexibility but suspect this will make minimal difference. Merely do I wear my mask... or not! Will probably still prefer to stay away from people I don't know although that might be more of a quick walk past than diving out of the their way to not even a Thank You from them - some people are uber rude :-(

Anyhoo, walked the hillside path through the wild flowers and then back down the footpath into the main field and home through the woodland. 

Spent the afternoon shooting the breeze over my Dad's, enjoying the fresh air in the garden.

Sometimes it's not about where you go but just leaving the work routines behind and not being tied to clock watching. Just having some time to "be" rather than chasing one's tail. As long as I'm somewhere with my camera I'm usually content :-)

Usual Routine Walk - Well Maybe Not So Routine These Days!

 

On my usual route through the fields I took the M50 along for a change and snapped a few bits and bobs as I meandered along - in between spending quite a while catching up with Julia & James who were walking Annie.

Came home and as is usually the case I made a start on the editing in Lightroom.

Fell in love with these grasses/wild flowers growing in the main part of the fields, I crouched down low and shot looking up the hillside. My usual preset applied and some tweaking with the texture and clarity gave me this image.

Just goes to show that one doesn't have to travel miles to find beauty, often it can be found on one's doorstep.