Tag Archives: Photography

I Have No Dog

It started well.  Bored of no one returning my phone calls, I decided to get some fresh air and set off over the hill with Pepper by my side to take some nice photos of the old horses and ponies, while they are still in their winter coats.

Pepper was all nice and clean(ish) for her too.

En route I took a few pics of Gussie and Dahlia who were around.

And also saw my first Common Butterwort (or it is a dog violet – anyone?) of Spring and that was more evidence to validate my claim that spring is really here.

Anywho, the girls were unavailable for photographs.

So I concentrated on the Icelandic horses.

After I topped up their water and threw everyone some carrots, I called up Pepper and went back home, but she never appeared.  So, I shouted and eventually a small Bog Creature came racing home.

Ugh.

Even Dahlia was appalled.

My little clean dog is not so clean anymore.

Pepper knew and I knew she needed a bath and, to be fair, she was very good about it.  A one-man bath is never easy and my back is fairly screaming at me.

But now Pepper is feeling hard done by and a bit put upon.  My heart is hardened. Tough.  If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime!

Still, the photos came out well.

*** snigger ***

Tricky

As W. C. Fields used to say “Never work with children or animals”. Well, he was right.

Today’s breakfast was tricky.

Monster was absolutely no help at all and I failed dismally on the Connections puzzle (Wordle 6).

But Pepper had an eating-day, so that was encouraging.

The sunshine was also most welcome by everyone.  Animals sprawled everywhere inside and out.

The sheep are coming along well. I just need someone to buy one, two, three….. have a whole flock.

And the real thing were hanging around too.

After their supper, I tried to get Monster to pose nicely with Pepper.

She tried her best.

It just wasn’t a very good best.

And Monster quickly left.

Oh well, Pepper is still cute (and still eating) – oof, that little face ❤️

Off the wall

Hello everyone. Nick here, standing in while Frances heads South for a few days. I’m afraid I don’t have cute animal photos to share today, but instead will tell you about an exhibition I held recently.

My agent, Emma, lives in Oxfordshire and had decided to open up her front room as an art gallery for Oxfordshire Artweeks. She got in touch about exhibiting some of my photos too, so I had a selection printed and mounted, with some of them framed, and put them up for sale in the exhibition.

The green photo on the wall is an aerial photo I took in Iceland in 2013. It’s been very popular on my various social media sites and I sold it during the exhibition.

The house looked amazing with art from various artists all over every available space. Screen printed landscapes competed with abstract giclee prints and perspex art and there might have been the occasional photograph too.

Apart from the hung artwork, there was a rack full of unframed art that visitors could browse through at their leisure.

Hidden in this rack was a sunset photo I took on Lewis and Harris that sold on the second day. You might recognise it if you’ve been paying attention!

I’ve been taking a lot of black and white photographs of London’s modern and probably less famous architecture of late, and it was these photographs that made Emma interested in exhibiting my work at the exhibition in the first place. Above the mantelpiece was a photo of a car park behind Oxford street

And in the corner by a green pineapple lamp was ‘Weft’, a photo of an office building that recently appeared behind King’s Cross Station

We are hoping to have more exhibitions in the future. I really enjoyed talking to people about my work, and seeing how much people seemed to like it. And to thank you for reading this far, here’s a photo of Danny relaxing to keep you happy!

 

It’s not all black and white

You may have noticed some of my photos from Iceland are in black and white. There is a valid reason for this.

When I went in 2009, a friend of mine challenged me to shoot exclusively in B&W. This was a good thing – it took me out of my comfort zone, and forced me to look at photography in a new way. A lot of black and white images are created when the colour image is considered not ‘good enough’ and converting it is seen as a way to improve it. However when you think about black and white before firing the shutter, it does change your approach to photography.

Iceland is full of contrasts – white snow on black volcanic rock; smooth glassy water and rough landscapes, the old ‘fire and ice’ label is much trotted out but is also apt when you consider the geothermal heat just below the surface in places. Shooting in black and white serves to enhance these contrasts and introduces one of its own (black vs white).

Here is a selection of some of my favourite monochrome images from that trip. You can see more (and buy prints) at nickminers.com/svart_hvit, and if any of you are in the area, you can see some of them on display at the Harris + Hoole café in Rickmansworth High Street.

Click on the images to view full size.

Church at Prestbakki

Church at Prestbakki

Shelter in Steingrimsfjarðarheiði

Shelter in Steingrimsfjarðarheiði

Skull at Ísafjörður fjord

Skull at Ísafjörður fjord

Drying fish at Önundarfjörðut

Drying fish at Önundarfjörður

Wave breaking at Öndverðarnes

Wave breaking at Öndverðarnes

Puffin on the cliffs at Látrabjarg

Puffin on the cliffs at Látrabjarg

A lighthouse at sunset, Patreksfjörður

A lighthouse at sunset, Patreksfjörður

The stroke of midnight, Patreksfjörður

The stroke of midnight, Patreksfjörður

Horses on demand

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m rather fond of Iceland, and, yes, the horses, the lack of which in my post some of you noted. So here is a selection of Icelandic horses from my various jaunts up north…

First up, from a tour of the Icelandic ring road in 2007, these chaps/ladies were ignoring the snow and the cold and just being generally waaay too cool.

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I returned a few years later with my family, and headed to the Western Fjords in the extreme north west of Iceland. At Hrutafjörður, where the road to the Western Fjords leaves the main ring road, these guys needed a bit of persuading that we were friendly…

_MG_1624…but I eventually got their confidence and one even posed like a supermodel.

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The leader of the herd, with whom I’d had a chat to arrange the shoot beforehand, kept a close eye on me throughout…

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On a visit in February last year, something in the snow brought the poser out in the locals…

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Who weren’t even bothered by a bit of rain

Hestur

Of course the horses share Iceland with their feathered friends, the puffins, who are just as good at posing.

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I mean, yeah, you can catch sand-eels in your beak, but can you tölt?

Nick