I Spent The Day Playing,

with just two photographs,

this one taken at Kew Gardens, I kept thinking that top of the photograph was a bit to 'busy',

so a slight crop and a few other adjustments,

the other taken at our day out in Dymchurch, above out of the camera,

and after I played with it a tad, I will print both of them out tomorrow, after my evening meal, time for a film, tonight,

Marie Antoinette, whilst not a actual production of her real life, the sets and costumes were certainly a spot on for a colourful look at the French court at the times it was supposed to be set in, quite enjoyable, just before it finished Diana arrived home, so I will watch the rest of it at a later time, after a coffee and a chat it was time for a Midsomer Murder, one we had not watched for some time, next as Diana has another 05.00AM start we were off to bed.

I Had A Busy Day

whilst Diana was at work,

looking through the photographs I had taken at Kew Gardens, I had run into a problem, using the 100 - 200mm lens, if I focused on something nearby like a magnolia flower, when I cropped it the image looked fine, but if I zoomed in as I did with these 2 foxes, below

when I cropped the image, the crop was out of focus, 

the same for the bird above, it looked fine in the view finder, but arriving home the out of focus was obvious when the image was cropped, 

so I printed them off to take to the club tonight, 

I then started printing the black & whites I was playing with a few days ago,

it was only when I printed them at A3 size, 

that I could see small areas needed at bit more playing with, a job for a few days time, 

it was by now time for my evening read and glass of milk, no sherry this evening as I am driving to the club and after that picking up Diana,

for tonight a huge beef stew that Diana had left me, after which I was out to the Beckenham Photographic Society meeting, tonight it was the judging of a black & white competition that I had entered 2 prints into last week,

 I choose 'The Shadow', from our trip to Edinburgh in March of 2018,

and 'High Rise Living', taken in Hong Kong when we were there in October 2015, unfortunaly there were only 8 prints entered into my class, so it was a bit of a hollow result taking second and third place, but there it is, hopefully more from my class will enter the next competition, the good news is that chatting to Brian and Nigel, they hopefully have solved the problem that I am having with my cameras focus, apparently the focus box I was using was too big, so it was averaging an area to focus on, not at the point I wanted it to, so next time out I will try again, next off to pick up Diana, arriving home a Endeavour had just started, one we had not watched before, which was a bit of a bonus, after which we were off to bed.

Blog Posted,

breakfast eaten,

and I was out, here to Kew Gardens,

I had called by to photograph the magnolia blossoms, a quick look at the maintenance/window cleaners ladder on the Palm House, 

a huge burr on the trunk of this tree, 

and here they are, 

the first of the magnolias that I saw today, 

I should say, 

I have not played with any of these, 

they are all as they are straight out of the camera, 

if you are interested in calling here for similar photographs, 

it is I am guessing just a tad past midway for the flowering season,

some have already finished, 

some of these past their best, 

with a hang dog look,

the good news is that everywhere you look there are trees with flowers, 

but alas many have already shed a sea of petals,

these absolutely magnificent, 

but as I mentioned there are still a lot of trees still in bud, 

so many that hopefully next week when Diana has a day off we will call back,

back to today, 

there are of course so many varieties, 

I will not even try to tell you their names, 

all I know,

is that as the sun came out of a gloomy grey day, 

I was happy I had decided to come today, 

also to make sure there would still be plenty of blooms here for next week, 

on the down side, 

these are pretty much the last of the daffodils, many beds here well past their best, these are just a few of the hundreds of photographs I took, I will be spending the next few weeks playing with 2 or 3 a day,

in the late afternoon I started to leave the gardens, a last look at the Palm House, 

and the formal gardens in front of it, what a great day out, arriving home home it was feet up for a sandwich then I was out again, 

to the Bricklayers Arms, in Beckenham,

the Nature Group of the Beckenham Photographic Society meet there for the bi-monthly meetings, above one of the posters I put up the week before the meeting, I have to say the images that other members of the group brought along to display on a lap top were superb, from caterpillars to birds with dragon and damselflies not to mention a few mini toadstools or fungi perhaps, along the way, I wish I had some to put on here they were just so impressive, our next meeting will take place on May 12th. at the Elm Tree in Elmers End, meeting over I popped over the road to pick up some Butterkist popcorn in TESCO Express, then on to a number 54 bus home arriving before Diana, when she arrived I had a surprise for her, at Kew station on the way home I had brought 7 different buns and cakes from the lady selling them there, we had a bit of a laugh when I said, "3 months ago my wife and myself called here, it was a Monday, can you remember what she bought?" well we both thought it was funny! Diana was so happy with the cakes, a few of which she nibbled as we watched a Endeavour before we were off to bed.

After Posing The Blog,

and Diana leaving for work, 

I had a bit of time, so what better than to use it to play with a couple of images? the first from our trip to Willows Birds of Prey Center, that we made in July of last year of a falcon, I had played with images of this falcon before, I just wanted to have another play with it,

then one from our last trip to Kew Gardens for the orchid festival, 

after which in the afternoon out of the park,

as luck would have it just as I approached the bus stop one arrived, only three stops and I was off of it again,

so I arrived in plenty of time for the strip down of the clubs photographic exhibition, 

the annual exhibition closed at 4.00 in the afternoon, so forward a few volunteers from the Beckenham Photographic Society all helping to dismantle the exhibits load them into a van and then place them in the building at the school where we normally meet on a Wednesday evening, 

that finished a walk home past the graveyard with it's display of daffodils, 

and then past the church though Beckenham Green, arriving home I watched a film,

Reach for the Sky, from the blurb:

"The true story of airman Douglas Bader who overcame the loss of both legs in a 1931 flying accident to become a successful fighter pilot and wing leader during World War II" 

what an amazing man he truly was,

 by now it was time for my read and sherry, 

followed by a huge chilli-con-carne that Diana had left for me, 'Cheers!', after which there was a evening of Midsomer Murders being shown, after the first one Diana arrived home, so feet up for a coffee and a chat as we watched the second one, Diana had a early night, for myself 2 from Bangers & Cash before I too was off to bed.