1000/387: 13 March 2011: Skull

1000/387 a photo by nmonckton on Flickr.

Found this one on top of a clump of something perennial in the garden. Not sure how it got there as I've not noticed a decaying rabbit lying about - and I guess I would.

365/352: 06 February 2011: Pan Pipes

I’ve been tempted to photograph these on a number of occasions, but couldn’t think of an interesting angle – until I was hit by this rather obvious idea. It leaves me wondering if there are left and right handed pan-pipes – this version has the low notes on the right, but I’m sure I’ve seen versions with the low notes on the left.

 

365/349: 03 February 2011: Bass pedal detail

One thing I’ve almost become used to – although I still don’t approve – is finding bits of Ashley’s drum kit strewn about the house. It’s an unavoidable fact that having a drum kit left in your living room is a bit more intrusive than having a flute left in the same place – I guess I should be grateful that he didn’t go for the harp or the double-bass.

This particular piece of kit – his double bass-pedal - was left on the top in the utility room so instead of complaining I used it as inspiration.

365/346: 31 January 2011: Family Photo

365/346
Originally uploaded by nmonckton

Not sure where these came from. They sit on the TV cabinet and stare at us inscrutably so I thought I'd reward their patience with a photo.

365/316: 01 January 2011: New Year’s Resolution

Found this piece of soft-drink road kill in the local lane, and took it as a sign that I need to lose weight this year. Actually I was lucky to see it beneath the overhang of my growing stomach.

365/314: 30 December 2010: Wine, wine wine

Cooked dinner again this evening. Marinated some tuna in a mix of oil cayenne and herbs and then grilled it so that the marinade formed a nice herby crust. Never sure whether red or white goes best with tuna so compromised and went for both.

365/237: 14 October 2010: Hobgoblin

Settled down for a quiet evening in watching 8 Mile in the company of a pint of Hobgoblin. Obviously I’m a marketing man’s dream be3cause I was tempted to try it by the rather odd picture and the slogan ‘Afraid you might taste something, lager boy'?’

If you like your beer bitter, and I’m generally drink Guinness so I do – then this should probably hit the spot.

Anyway – I thought , as befits a traditional evening in with a rap video – that I might do a little still life in front of the fire.

PS to Dan if you’re reading – now it really is beer o’clock

365/125: 24 June 2010: My Mate…

…Marmite. Possibly the world’s tastiest spread. And it spices up scrambled egg, mashed potato, mushrooms on toast – according to this cook-book you can even make Marmite oil and Marmite vinaigrette. Can’t wait to try them. Of course, I realise that not everyone adores Marmite.. but they’re just weird, aren’t they?

365/124: 23 June 2010: A close shave

Marion cut my hair again this evening – both of them. Thought the razor looked like a tempting subject and came up with this rather stylized view of the cutting edge:

365/122: 21 June 2010: Toilet roll holder

Another in my occasional series of bathroom fittings from hotels around the country. this time its the loo roll holder from the Days Inn at Warwick Services. No-one can say I don’t  know how to live. Spending the night here on my way to collect Ashley from London at the end of his diploma course.

365/119: 18 June 2010: Czech Spirit

Our eldest has just returned from two weeks inter-railing around Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic and Croatia. Among the many things she appears to have brought back was this bottle of Czech spirit – an interesting herbal concoction. We drank as shots, but I subsequently discovered it’s supposed to be sipped. Whatever! it was very pleasant anyway.

365/117: 16 June 2010: Hooray – I’ve survived 51 years.

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me etc etc.
Thanks to everyone for your best wishes.

PS If anyone knows how to photograph a flame against a white background please let me know

365/116: 15 June 2010: A Rubber Cow

Funny how the photographic muse (moos) takes you. Travelled back from Trawsfynydd today over the road to Bala. Absolutely gorgeous afternoon, stunning scenery and absolutely no urge to photograph it. Why?
Anyhow, just to add to the mystery, I got home and sat at the computer to read my e-mails, notice this rubber cow staring at me from the shelf and get an irresistible urge to photograph it. So here it is as a counterfoil to the designer reindeer from earlier this week.

PS Don’t ask why I have a rubber cow on my bookshelf – it’s just there.

365/83: 13 May 2010: As usual the weather was gone by the time I left the office

…which was particularly distressing because I’d travelled to Anglesey today and was quite looking forward to stopping on the way back to the hotel to do some shooting at Mynydd Parys. (Lest there be any misunderstanding the link is not to my photos)
Sadly by the time I got off site the light was the kind of gloomy grey that would have made Eyore look colourful. So I settled for another hotel room shot.
Have been reading about Minimalism recently so thought I’d give it a go. Here’s the lampshade.

365/79: 09 May 2010: The ultimate boy gadget?

Invented in the late 1890s by a Swiss surgeon called Karl Elsener, whose key innovation was to make use of the same spring to put a blade at either end of the knife. It must be the ultimate boys toy (if you ignore a Lamborghini) as well as being genuinely useful. Anyhow, I’ve had one for ages, and I’m not sure how half the household jobs would get done without it – this version even has a pen and a pin in it.

365/76: 06 May 2010: Election Special

For hopefully obvious reasons I thought I’d try a bit of satire today.

365/75: 05 May 2010: Home again

Took some rather nice shots of Hunterston A today but don’t really feel I can post them on a private blog given that they were taken in work time, for work reasons. So…waited ‘til I got home and did this one instead.

A wooden apple, made of apple wood. This wood came from a rather large apple tree which we used to have in our garden until the winter storms took it  a few years back. it fell on my car at the time, but fortunately did almost no damage. Our neighbour took a couple of decent logs from it and turned two of these and a small vase for us. The rest of the tree went off for firewood with the help of one of the farmers from the village.

365/74: 04 May 2010: I need to get out more…

..or at least get out of the hotel more. In Largs tonight, at the Brisbane House hotel, which has been done up very nicely since the last time I was here. Should really have gone into Largs and taken some photos across to Cumbrae, but the light was not great and i was a bit short of time so here’s another B&W of bathroom fittings:

Rather fancy shampoo bottles – don’t you think?

365 Challenge Day 60: 20 April 2010 – Oriental Memorabilia

Our house seems to be full of Japanese, Chinese and Korean memorabilia – little souvenirs given to me for time spent entertaining visitors to my previous employer – fans, table runners, hanging decorations, masks and my personal favourite – a postcard of a Japanese temple scene drawn by a TV cameraman I escorted on a couple of occasions.  His smile and wave when he realised he recognised me among a sea of strange faces on his second visit is one of those memories that is precious in a way you can’t quite explain.
For some reason I find all these ornaments infinitely more interesting than most British memorabilia – perhaps it’s the brightness of the colours or the fact that they reference a culture I barely begin to understand. Either way – there are a few more of them to photograph between now and Day 365 so here’s another example.

365 Challenge Days 41- 43: 1-3 April 2010 - A Weekend Away

Thursday 1 April – Day 41
Spending Easter at the in-laws means a fair bit of travelling so we decided to stop in to see our eldest in Manchester while on our way to Somerset. Had lunch in a little spot called Gabriel’s Kitchen, on Upper Brook Street. If you’re in Manchester and looking for an informal spot of lunch it is worth seeking out – the food was outstanding. I had a delicious mezze, Marion an equally delicious mushroom bruschetta and the two girls mushroom soup. The chocolate brownie was to die for, and by all accounts the sponge cake (still warm from the oven) was worth every penny. Not that it was expensive – it was very reasonable – which makes it all the more enjoyable.
Decor was a little ‘off-the-wall’ in places – as this photo shows (don’t be misled by the beans – this little cafe is as far from a greasy spoon as you can get):

Friday 2nd April – Day 42
Shattered from the journey and the weather is foul so we have taken shelter indoors today. Fortunately youngest daughter is amenable to having a large camera shoved into her face, which resulted in this shot which I’m rather pleased with – and so was she - if the fact that she’s immediately adopted it as her Facebook photo is anything to go by. Pity about the ornament behind her head – I feel a photoshopping coming on when I get to a faster PC.

Going for a second photo today as I found the late evening sun catching this daffodil irresistible:

Saturday 3rd April – Day 43
Rain looked like it might ease off, and we were all going a bit stir crazy so we went to Wells for a stroll around today. Wells Cathedral is easily my favourite UK cathedral, so was naturally drawn inside (the foul weather made this an easier sell to everyone else). My favourite photographers trick in such places is to lie the camera on its back on the floor and use the self-timer to take photos of the ceiling – like this in fact:
It often gets weird looks from passers by, but I just love the effect ( and to be honest I quite like the weird looks too). This was taken between the scissor arches that support the central tower. Here’s another example from the Chapter House:











In both these examples the folding screen on he back of the camera was invaluable – before this great invention it was a bit pot luck as to how symmetrical the end result would be. These two needed only very minor adjustments to get the required results.