Testing! So long since I added a post. Yes, already botched it by deleting but it still came so putting it back again. 

Horses again. I know now why it is horses with me all the time.  American daddy's cousins were rodeo riders . He told me they were all cowboys when they were kids.
Messing about as usual - I want to create a mood rather than a straight photo of these horses. It's made from two photos.

Manchester Cathedral

Went to see the PAGB Photo exhibition at Manchester Cathedral before it ended 2 weeks ago - it was excellent and was good to see some great pictures. I love the cathedral. When I was an art student in Manchester I used to go and sit and listen to choral evensong every evening on the way home. The music always finished a day off well. 

Took this pic on Thursday with my iPhone and later found that Corel have launched a new iPhone App  - Paint-It. This is the result. 

Flower Paintings

Bought a little Chinese paper sketch book and have been painting away in the garden when the sun was out.  One of our dahlias has been amazing with flowers that are 10 inches in diameter so that was one of my subjects. it is still hard to get going and I hope the course I start in a couple of weeks will give me the discipline to do more painting - and on big paper.

Chinese Watercolour Painting

I'm going to do a course in September on Chinese watercolour painting. it is something I never did before and decided it would get me motivated to do real art again. Chinese watercolour painting is very disciplined and is meditative in nature. The brush must only make a mark that is deliberate and the calligraphy is something that all Chinese people have to study from an early age.

I have had some days over the summer painting and this is one of my avocets.

Mood Swings

 Several weeks ago I started making a drawing every morning on my iPhone because it cheers me up. I start very blue and end up being colourful and happy.
http://gallery.me.com/caroltipping#100199&bgcolor=dkgrey

In to the Garden

 Finding it hard to Blog at the moment as don't seem to have anything exciting to tell.  Physio is the  highlight of the week!
Had a morning in the garden photoing the daffodils. Folders of pictures that aren't any use  -but its a start to be using a camera again.  Had to read the camera manual its so long since I used it!

When he came to Hoylake to do a workshop Paul Gallagher said you can be anywhere and just take photos without even moving from one spot. It's good discipline apparently. I go with that theory but I'd still rather be up there with those wild ponies in Conway - - only a predicted 11 months and will be there!

Phone Pictures on Mac Gallery

Havent been able to photograph out there for a while now and have actually run out of viable photographs to work on so the new direction of using the iPhone  camera just around and about where ever I go has become quite exciting.

I'm very privileged as well to be a member of dot mac or should I say mobileme and it is so easy to send the phone pics up there to the web gallery and now I could share them - yes, I will send the link here!

The pictures show the mundane everyday things  - just my life at the moment in time. Pic of poor little birds in a cage at the garden centre - -

http://gallery.me.com/caroltipping#100164

Hipstamatic

Found a new lease of life - Im now using my iPhone to take photos. I'm still not getting out and about to photograph but somehow the pressure to take "good photos" is off and this is a lot of fun. Here's a quick grab from the prom at West Kirby.

Big Camera - Wet Day

Just got an infra red photo from Jonathan Hillhouse that he took of me at Flaybrick Cemetery a couple of weeks ago. He said it would be a good thing to do - IR makes the skin look white, the lips look yellow and you look like a zombie - sounds good - so - - - It was pouring with rain and very cold  - Jonathan was using an ancient plate camera and as he was only taking ONE photograph it was ultra important to get it right. The rain was coming down so hard,  I was soaking wet and Jonathan was taking for ever setting up the camera  and saying "Keep still!" I never laughed so much in ages! Brilliant day and am using the resulting pic as my avatar.

FRPS

Well that was a massive relief and I never want to see those pictures again!
I heard today I have been awarded my Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society and of course I am over the moon!
The project started when I was invited to make re-creations of well known paintings for Digital Photographer and Creative Imaging Magazine - with screen grabs of the whole process.  Some of these images took over a month to complete but I loved every minute of it. I have my models to thank - my own daughter, Rachael,  my friends daughter Sarah, my Nymph, and not forgetting Jessica of the Pre Raph hair, my "Pandora" and Margie, my "Persephone".  Thanks to my friends for their support and making me carry on when I failed it the first time!
Now I can relax - and make pictures.   Back to the greenhouse - - -

Greenhouse ~ Again

 Went out with Photo friends to photograph the autumn leaves and I just happened to get waylaid by the sight of "glass" - -  cant resist!

 So, another place, another greenhouse.  A new treatment for this one.

I do like the 16:9 ratio that I can select with my new camera. Great for landscapes and wide angle subjects. it also has the options of 4:3, 3:2  and 1:1. The greenhouse is taken on the 16:9 setting. This camera  (Panasonic GF1 with 20mm lens) is terrific - great on focus and clarity.

Day of the Fox

Had a dental appointment today and on the way back I stopped the car to take photos of some horses in the field - to try out my new camera. I took a few photos  and was on the way back  because the light was very harsh.  I heard a rustling in the leaves - and a fox came by. As the lens is only 20mm I didn't get  decent shot of him but it felt  like a good omen. More magick.  Picture "Spot the Fox"

Greenhouse Windows

I'm still  working away on my almost a hundred greenhouse pictures. Greenhouses that have been abandoned to the take-over of nature, glass that has still kept its memories of years ago. If someone cleaned it all the magick would go. (btw that is the correct way to spell magic-k with a k if you believe in it.)

Got a new  camera today. It is the new Panasonic lumix DMC GF1 with 20mm f1.7 ASPH lens. Lenses are inter changeable and very light - being of the G Micro System.  The world's smallest and lightest -  well its looking good!  Next comment will be a picture taken with it - today it is pouring down with rain so it is still in its box!

Greenhouse Gone to Seed

This greenhouse has known better days and it is so sad to see the result after so little time's neglect.
Nature takes over and unless the site is redeveloped it will be interesting to see if  any beauty can replace the sadness and decline.
Greenhouses are my special theme this Autumn and this is the 2nd of my finds. Neglected - rather than cultivated is my theme. I wonder what that signifies~
More pics here:    http://caroltipping.com/page13/page24/page24.html

Picnic

Family picnic on the grass today - Henry, the pet sheep included. Dogs had a good time too.

The Ringer

The photograph I took of The Ringer inspired me to make a picture - it took me a while to decide whether the bird was better as originally taken or to rotate. I did eventually rotate the bird and darken the whole image for dramatic effect.

Carol Tipping Photo Artist

So today is the start of something - Steven you asked to see my pics well you got it!

Yesterday I went to photograph very early in the morning - for me 7.15 am is very early! Dave was ringing the birds as they flew in to the net which was stretched across the channel in to the lake and I got pictures of a Chiff Chaff and a Blue Tit. The migration season might be a bit late now to get the hundreds of birds that flew in to the net in previous days. I loved to see the little bird, so fragile in Dave's big hands.