Dogs!

Unfortunately I don't currently have any pets, living in London, in rented accommodation with a full time job isn't really the best situation for owning any, so I'm always glad when I get to play with someone else's pets. In this case, whilst we were visiting the Island, I got to spend time with my Mum's dogs. She has two staffies called Magic and Rocky who are about 5 years old. They are extremely gentle, playful and very photogenic

I also thought they would give me a little opportunity to practice my photography, but before he could start modelling Rocky had to have his belly rubbed.

Although I don't think Rocky and Magic classify as proper wildlife, (you know, for my wildlife photography ambition) it was still lots of fun trying to get good photos of animals that wouldn't stay still, and in Magic's case, just wanted to play fetch.

Later that day I got to watch Magic and Rocky do something called 'Flyball'. This is where they run down an aisle, jumping over hurdles to grab a ball and return to the beginning. It's quite fun to watch, and the dogs seem to love it.

It was also a great opportunity to see lots of other types of dogs and got me thinking about what breed would I'd like when I do, one day, get my own dog.

I think it might be obvious that I was slightly taken by this gorgeous collie spaniel cross, she was so beautiful, soft and very friendly. So what do you think, do I have a career in pet photography calling?

Oh Starry Night

One of the things that I miss most living in London is the stars. There's so much light pollution you're lucky to see a couple even on the clearest night. The Isle of Wight however is a whole different story. As we were heading back from the cinema one evening I decided to play around with my camera and see what I could capture. At first it was too early, and with plenty of street lamps turned on, it meant we couldn't see any stars at all. 

After heading into Ventnor and waiting for it to get darker the sky was truly sparkling. Now I didn't have a tripod with me, and I am still trying to figure out shutter speed and aperture and all that jazz so the photos aren't as amazing as I'd like but hopefully they'll give you a good idea.

Then I headed inside to see what I could see from the upstairs window. 

It's almost enough to make me want to go camping and spend the whole night under the stars...almost.

A walk up the Downs

I've just returned home after a few days down on the Isle of Wight catching up with family and friends and thought I should share a few photos with you. The island is beautiful in the summer and so relaxing. I loved the novelty of not having to listen to the constant noise of traffic which I can hear now as I type in my living room. And all the fresh air! We went on some lovely countryside walks one of which was up the downs!

I'm not sure why they are called the Downs as you have to walk up a bloody great hill to start with! But before I show you some views from the top I'm first going to bore you with some shots I took on the way up of the local wildlife.

After spending time with the bigger animals we decided to look and see what we could find with my macro lens.

Finally we made it to the top, and I wasn't taking so many photos just to break up the walk up the hill - honest! The views were well worth the climb however, we had the sea to one side, and seemingly endless countryside to the other.

We carried on walking and taking photos until we finally came to my favourite view.

And there is was, arguably the best view on the Isle of Wight, the whole of the South West coast of the island in sight, with Portsmouth in the background. 

And with that we headed back down the downs for some fish and chips!