Litter picking in Cornwall

Yesterday a friend posted a rather touching comment on their Facebook profile. My friend is a first time dog owner and now spends a lot of their time walking their dog on Cornish beaches, He wrote a post about how since being on the beach every day had noticed the sheer amount of litter on the beach.

He does really great things and actually takes some of this litter home with him and disposes of it properly, but wonders how much of this litter is dropped here by previous visitors and why they can't take this litter home themselves.

This got me thinking about the work that Surfers against sewage do and how they work so hard to keep our beaches clean when it's some of us, 'The population' that drop this litter in the first place.

Driving to work this morning on the A30 I noticed a Cornwall council van with several workers litter picking on the side of the road and in the roads lay by's. This angered me so much, not that they are litter picking but the fact that they have to litter pick. I can not understand why people can't take litter home with them, or even utilize rubbish bins in the local town or super market. I often keep a carrier bag in my car for any rubbish and have never thought once in my life to discard litter out of my car window. Also the council have enough to spend their money on without picking up rubbish after people too lazy to dispose of it themselves.

So that's my rant over, I'm lucky enough to live in Cornwall, which is an amazingly beautiful place even the main roads have their pretty scenery. I just wish that everyone would take a little more care over it, and if like my friend notice a discarded drinks can on the beach, pick it up and pop it in a near by bin and help to keep Cornwall beautiful.

Fire in Chicago warehouse

Recently I heard on the news that there was a fire in a warehouse in Chicago and that due to the cold the water used to extinguish the fire had frozen. After a little hunt around online I found several images of the ice covered warehouse and am in awe of the images.

In Cornwall it hasn't got that cold, I know the rest of the country has experienced snow and the big freeze but none of the images of the uk's recent blast come anywhere close to the amazing images of this Chicago fire freeze.

Image courtesy of trbimg.com

Image courtesy of dailyrecord.co.uk

Image courtesy of nuttynewstoday.com

Image courtesy of http://blogs.wsj.com

Ruarri Joseph - Until the luck runs dry

A few months ago I posted about Tony Plant and the amazing patterns that he creates on the beaches around Cornwall. Well here is Tony Plant collaborating with the amazing singer songwriter Ruarri Joseph on his latest song Until the luck runs dry.

Beautiful artwork on beautiful beaches, with beautifully shot video and stunning sounds.

Snow in Cornwall

I wish there was snow in Cornwall!

There's something truly magical about beaches covered in snow, Cornwall is beautiful anyway but when it is covered in snow it is even more amazing.

Whilst the rest of the country gets a blanket of the white stuff to have snow days and play in I thought I would share some images from previous years when we were lucky enough to have snow in Cornwall.

I know it causes traffic disruption and it can be extremely dangerous but there is nothing better than getting snow and adults everywhere playing in the snow like children. Keeping my fingers crossed that we get some of the white stuff this year.

Rapid Weather changes in Cornwall

If anyone was up in the early hours of this morning in Cornwall they would have noticed the most amazing, beautiful sunrise. Currently it is very dark and bleak when my alarm goes off in the morning but after a quick shower the daylight soon starts appearing. This morning was incredible, the house was filled with a pink hue, and when I looked outside the sky was a mixture between pinks, and oranges and tipped with dark night clouds.

As I left the house and drove to work the sun continued to rise, as I approached the A30 junction I looked across towards the clay pits of St Austell and the sun was now beaming from behind these hills.

I always pride myself on having my camera on me or at least my mobile phone so if I can stop and take a picture I will, however whilst on the monotonousness morning commute I not only didn't have time to stop, but there was also know where to stop to capture this beauty. As I continued on my journey west into Cornwall I passed the village of St Newlyn East, and the church. There was what looked like a beam of sunlight breaking through the clouds and shining straight onto the church. The village and fields around were lit by this fantastic orange glow, it was all very peaceful and stunning and i felt so happy to live in Cornwall and see such scenery even o the main duel carriageway on my way to work.

All I could think was that I needed to pull over and take a picture, and then it went. Just like that, with a blink of an eye the beam of light had disappeared  that beautiful orange happy glow coating everything had gone and within a few seconds the rain had started to spot on my windows. The rain got heavier and the sky darker.

I arrive to work in the pouring rain and dark skies and wondered if I had imagined such a beautiful morning.

Jessops goes into administration

Earlier today the sad news was released that Jessops the well known and well loved photographic retailer was facing administration. Several hours later the sad news had been confirmed and a company has been drawn into to deal with the financial demise of the store.

Being a Photographer I am saddened by the news but honestly not surprised. In the past when I was a student I lived in Jessops. Buying film on a regular basic, visiting regularly to get my films processed, the excitement of not knowing what I would see develop in my images. Test's on film that took time and patience to think about, you wrote notes about the exposures used with each frame and experimented and learnt the skill of photography. But then the digital age was born, still I used my local Jessops store. I vividly remember saving up all my paper round money to buy my first digital camera, it was a fuji film camera and cost around £400. There were no digital screen's on the back of the camera like modern digital cameras today. You still had a view finder like a traditional film camera and used it very similarly to before. The memory card was a smart media card, this then came out of the camera and into a floppy disc card reader. It was amazing and I was thrilled with the camera and so pleased with the novelty of only printing the pictures that I wanted to and not paying to have whole films printed that weren't worth printing.

This in my opinion was the start of Jessops decline as a high street retailer, up until this point I was always using the store. However as I became further involved in photography and further involved with digital my requirements from Jessops changed. I can now upload the photo's that I want to print to an online photographic printers and they are printed and delivered to my door quicker and cheaper than visiting my local Jessop's store. Then there's my personal journey into more professional photography, This led me wanting more specialized equipment and my local Jessops store just didn't have these in stock. I have used their online store to buy products and collect them in-store, but just not on a regular basis, and sadly shopping around online has given me cheaper options to buy the same item.

I hope that this isn't the end of Jessops entirely, as to me it's a household name that doesn't want to get forgotten. My thoughts are with all the staff that are effected by today's announcement as it's a sad day for any one in the photographic industry.

Wadebridge Foodbank's fantastic work is highlighted on the BBC

On Monday night, BBC One screened an episode of Inside Out Southwest. This featured the absolutely fantastic work of the Wadebridge Foodbank, and in particular Jacqui White who heads up the team in Wadebridge.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01psbqy/Inside_Out_South_West_07_01_2013/

I knew of the work that she does but even I was shocked at just how much she does that we all take for granted, and really made me feel proud of just how hard she and the teams involved work.

You would have seen images on my blog before around the festive period when she was annually involved with the Samaritans purse shoe box appeal. Not to mention the charity ball that she was also involved in setting up last year to raise yet more funds for the charity.

Watching the program on Monday really pulled at the heart strings and made you realize just how lucky some of us are in life but also how much others struggle. It doesn't take much for each of us to donate an extra tin of soup each month or to give away those chocolate biscuits that you know you really shouldn't be buying anyway, as your on a diet.

Next time your in the supermarket look out for a local Foodbank box and give something to help someone else who isn't as fortunate as you and support the work that Foodbanks all over the country do. If you really don't have the money to donate items of food yourself then anyone can donate time to help continue the work that Jacqui and the rest of the Foodbank team do.

It's January NOT Easter!

Walking into my local co-op I was horrified when I saw the massive stand displaying Hot Cross Buns, not to mention the whole isle that's dedicated to Easter eggs. It's not just the stores either, I've already seen the Cadbury's cream egg advert both on TV and online. 

It's January!!!!! Can we please get some normality back into our lives, It's January that means January sales and diets, New Years Resolutions and certainly not thinking about Easter chocolates by the 6th day of the new year. Media and retail are also pushing us speedily and hastily through the year, magazines that i bought yesterday are the March edition. What happened to just enjoying the time we are in and looking forward to things that are coming in the next few weeks and taking each day as it comes. 

Surely by the time we even approach February we will all be sick of the Easter festivities and still no where near the big day. Likewise I get angry when shops put out their Christmas stock out in September. Please let me enjoy the late Indian summer whilst we get some long awaited sunshine and please don't remind me of the gloomy winter ahead. 

I know January can seam a little dull after all the excitement of Christmas but it also gives us a chance to recoup and save, and I certainly will not be buying any Easter related merchandise until at least March.

Happy New Year 2013

I can't actually believe it, for the first time in weeks it isn't actually raining and not only that the suns even out! Lets hope this is the way of thing to come and 2013 won't be as wet and miserable and flooded as 2012 was. Maybe if we are really lucky we might even get a snow day down here in Cornwall this year.

Wishful thinking, but it would be lovely.

Last night I spent my new years eve with friends at my old local the phoenix in Watergate bay, and I have to say it was truly one of the best new years eve parties. Whilst hitting the bar hard and nursing my way through lemsip's and appletize and barely drinking alcohol I thought to my self why had i even bothered going out when i was feeling so under the weather. But it's the biggest night out of the year and staying in and getting an early night just doesn't work on NYE.

The pub soon filled up with lots of familiar faces and lots of friends and the atmosphere was more of a house party than a pub with young and old all together enjoying the evening.

The entertainment was none other that local boys the Jeramiahs with headline act Wille and the Bandits, now for those of you that follow my blog will know that the Bandits are my favorite band, they are incredible and have such a unique hypnotic sound. I've seen the boys so many times yet i'm never disappointed  pulling new unheard songs out the bag yet again It was like seeing them for the first time.

As 2012 drew to a close the Bandits jammed in a stonking electric guitar count down, with everyone in the pub hands joined we sang Auld lang syne.

I couldn't have had a better night, best friends, best music, and a walk on the beach under the stars to kick of 2013.

Happy New Year and hears to another fantastic year.

2012 year in review.

As the last day of 2012 draws to a close, many people will be reflecting on what they have achieved over the last 12 months and what they want to achieve and even give up for the new year ahead.

2012 has been a big year, remembering back to those soggy summer months celebrating the Queens jubilee and the Olympics. Here's my review of my 2012 from Cornwall.

January - Personally January was an incredibly hard time for me. On the 4th of January I went to Treliske hospital in Truro and had fairly major surgery on my face. I had my jaw broken in three places and am now tied back together with metal plates and screws.

Being stuck indoors for weeks and on liquid diets wasn't the best start to the year. As I recovered I was able to get back out with my camera and February provided some real good photographic opportunities for me.

February - The start of February began with a big freeze. Beaches froze and Watergate Bay saw the formation of massive icicles on the cliffs. Braving the cold weather and wrapping up my new face i ventured to beach to capture the amazing formations. My images were featured in both the Newquay Voice and Cornish Guardian newspapers.

March - This was a sad month for local Cornish radio station Atlantic FM that sadly shut down and was taken over by the generic Heart FM. Although they still have some localisation on the new radio station, personally i don't like being part of the chain radio station and am now in favour of Pirate FM, hopefully the new year will bring something new to fill the airwaves of Cornwall.

April - With the weather getting better and spring on the horizon it was time to start enjoying the beach, April proved to be a great month with Zap Cat racing coming to Newquays Fistral beach. With large waves this created a real spectacle with boats flying and launching themselves over waves. If you get a chance in 2013 this is definitely worth going to watch.

May - For me May was the best month not only because that's when I get to celebrate my birthday but also because I was lucky enough to get up to Scotland and visit Edinburgh Zoo and see the Giant Pandas. This was honestly the highlight of 2012 for me as seeing Giant Pandas has always been a dream. Hopefully the breeding plan put in place by the zoo will be successful in 2013 and i will have another excuse to take a trip up to Scotland in the new year.

June - As the longest day was reached the weather continued to shock and the summer was feeling a long way off. The wet weather continued and staying in the dry seamed to be the flavour of the month. Whilst staying in the dry I put my time into making a birthday cake for the other half. I wish he would have been happy with a simple Victoria sponge and had not requested that I make him a replica of his Porsche 914!

July - Summer in Cornwall is always about loving the beach and live music and 2012 certainly didn't dissappoint. Watergate Bay hosted the Electric Beach festival which was headlined by De La Soul. Feeder amazed crowds over at lusty glaze beach and both nights were fantastic and not a spot of rain to be seen. Unfortunately this didn't continue for the Eden Sessions which were some of the wettest sessions to be held there. Seeing Frank Turner was a particular highlight but by the end of the night a lot of people had left as they had been at the session for hours in the rain.

August - At the height of summer we also saw more rain, as 2012 has come to an end it has now been recorded that the year has been the wettest since records began. Hopefully things can only get better in 2013.

September - As the soggy summer draws to a close the end of season parties and festivals continue. The over the hill festival was a new festival for 2012 and was a complete success. Three days of live music and camping are a definite must for 2013 where hopefully the festival will keep it's intimate local vibe. The season ended with the incredible surf and roots festival held again at Watergate Bay with a massive night to remember created by live music from backbeat soundsystem and Wille and the Bandits.

October - The rain actually eased off in October and the waves picked up seeing the cribbar break just off Fistral. Crowds were down at the headland not only enjoying the massive waves but also soaking up some long awaited sunshine.

November - As with every November men everywhere ditch their razors and grow facial plumage for winter in aid of good causes and November in Cornwall is no different. Great Western beach in Newquay was turned into a massive piece of art work created in the sand around the mustache theme.

December - So we come to the end of the year, another month of torrential rain, more flooding in the west country, the world didn't end like the Mayans predicted but the weather could be described as apocalyptic. The rain has now become relentless and the roads like rivers. Let's just hope that 2013 is a much dryer year for all those that have been effected by flood damage.

Happy new year and here's to a fantastic 2013 in Cornwall and afar. I'm hoping for a year filled with more amazing live music, laughter and fingers crossed some Cornish sunshine.

Womens size 9 shoes

Today I decided it was time to replace last years trusted fluffy boots with a new pair, a pair that didn't leak and weren't wearing thin on the soles. Heading off into the local city centre of Truro I headed to the first shoe shop. I enter Treds, my eyes light up with their range of shoes and boots and so I head straight to the sales assistant to ask for a particular boot in a size 9. She replies with "Sorry we don't stock ANY size nines in this store any more" 

A little disappointed I head to the next shop this time Clarks, all their sale shoes are sorted by size. With a grin on my face I head to the section that is clearly marked up with a big number nine. Sadly I am mistaken once again; below the number nine is nothing but size seven and eight shoes. The sales assistant in here was good enough to come to my help and offer to order in a pair of shoes in a size 9 if i wanted and also said that i could order them online. 

Without sounding like an ungrateful child that wants everything right now, I don't want to order shoes online, i want to go into a shoe shop like any other lady and be spoilt for choice over which shoes to buy. I want to try on several styles and several colours and then buy the nicest fitting shoe or boot. I want the frill of coming home from a successful shopping trip with a shiny new purchase. 

Next I head to Schuh and now I’m getting really excited, there's Hello Kitty trainers for adults, Vans wellies in black and white checked prints not to mention the array of fluffy warm looking boots, exactly what I’m looking for. Marching straight up to the counter I ask for anything in a size nine? Yet again, I’m told that they don't stock anything in a size nine. Although they did offer to try and order something in the store for me. Since getting home I have been on the Schuh website and sorting the shoes by 'Womens' and 'Size 9' i'm deduced down to a selection of just 7 pairs of shoes to choose from, 6 of which are a unisex shoe. And as i'm looking for a pair of boots i'm still unhappy. 

From the comfort of my sofa i head over to see what they could potentially order in for me from Treds. I soon realized that I couldn't even search the site by shoe size. So without looking up every page of shoe that i might vaguely be interested in and then checking to see if it came in a size suitable for me, I decided this would take several hours of my time and so quickly gave up.

Next over to the Clarks website where i'm delighted to say they actually have a dedicated page for the hard to find size 9 shoe. 49 different varieties of shoe all in a size 9, unfortunately they still don't have the flat comfy warm boot that I am trying so hard to find.

 

I have however, heard of a shop on an industrial estate in Newquay itself, that make their own sheepskin boots in lots of colours and up to a size nine!!!!! Fingers crossed the local trader can help out and supply me with a new pair of boots to keep my feet warm this winter. I will let you know how I get on, but I’m really hoping that I can visit the store and choose a shoe or boot that I like, try it on in my size without feeling like a freak for my big feet and treat myself this Christmas.

Is it so wrong for a woman to want to go into a shop, see lots of choices of clothing or footwear and try items on until you find something that makes you feel fabulous, that you want to part your hard earned cash for? Just because I’m tall doesn't mean that I don't want to be a girlie girl and enjoy a good old fashioned shopping trip. 

The Biggest Movember Mo EVER

In November, men all over the country started growing Moustaches in aid of Movember. Raising awareness and money for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and testicular cancer.

Local artist Tony Plant took it one step further and turned Newquays Great Western Beach into a giant canvas and created the biggest Movember themed sand art ever. Tony invited locals down to the beach, armed them with rakes at low tide, and tasked them to create mustache themed artwork. Tony's work is all about creating art work within nature that can then be absorbed by nature, whether this is washed away with tides or removed by storms his art work is brief and this is the beauty of it.

It was amazing to witness the sand art from both on the sand and from the cliffs looking down. 

Well done to everyone involved and particularly those that raised money for such a great cause. See all my photographs on my facebook page and don't forget to 'like' the page to keep up to date with all my latest photographs. 

North devon floods, rainbows and classic car shows.

Last weekend whilst photographing a wedding in North Devon i was caught up in the worst weather and flooding the west country has experienced for years. News reports were coming in from Cornwall of very severe weather and that is was moving east and on it's way to Devon. Twitter feeds were full of reports of flooding and local radio stations had changed their usual shows to feature constant updates on the latest news and the situations on the roads.

This did not in any way damppen the spirits at the wedding, with the christmas decorations up the bride, groom and the hotel all looked wonderful and you'd never even know it was monsoon weather outside. 

The dreaded storm moving over Bideford old bridge.

 Rainbow over the new bridge Bideford.

On the sunday i was delighted to find a small classic car show in the panier market in Barnstaple.  

Baby it's cold outside!

Finally it feels like winter is here, With the advent calendars hung and the first chocolate consumed a heavy frost is just what was needed to complete the festive feeling.

The weather has been so crazy lately being rather mild and then getting terrible floods it makes a change to wake up to a cold crisp frosty winters morning and go for a walk in the Cornish country side.

A Photographer without a computer!

Firstly i wanted to apologise for the lack of blog posts lately and share with you my frustration at having no computer :@(

2 Weeks ago my beloved iMac decided to blow up and give my the white screen of death. Now at first i thought i can live without a computer for a few days, how hard can it be! I can still take photos i can use my iphone for the internet it'll be fine, I then realised just how dependant i have become on my computer.

Mainly i am a photographer and these days that means you need a computer, I shoot all my files in RAW and so need my computer to convert these files into something more usable.

Two weeks ago when my computer died i took it into my local mac store for repair, to my horror it was the hard drive in my machine that had died. Fortunately being a photographer means i have back ups externally of all my 60,000 photos. However with the computer dropped off i went straight to the beach to photograph the Movember beach art down at Great Western Beach in Newquay.

Looking at the pictures on the little screen, i was keen to get them home and share them on my blog..... then remembered my lack of computer, No Lightroom software, no Photoshop, even having a laptop this wouldn't be able to cope with the size of 100 raw files.

A week later and i'm photographing a wedding and again missing my iMac to process the photos. Now after two weeks my iMac is back and the pictures will continue to flow on the blog. Hopefully a little more frequently now too, there's a backlog and with Christmas just around the corner i feel i have a very busy few weeks ahead of me but glad to finally have my machine back, Even if it did take me hours to reinstall all the software and get back up and running.

This is a message for anyone that has treasured photos, videos or files saved on a computer, NEVER rely on saving important documents in one place back them up more than once! I now have all my files backed up on the Mac, on an external drive and now on the cloud too.