Back to Ickworth on a Snowy Spring Day

So this March has been pretty damn cold... I don't ever remember wishing to get a fever before, just to feel warm.  This weekend has been particularly notable, as rather than just being cold, we had strong winds and lots of snow - the first time we've had snow in late March since 1952.  Going outside was not a particularly appealing thing to do, especially as there was a smattering of unmelted snow on the road so you couldn't be sure if you'd end up in a traffic jam.  After all, we're a country that experiences snow every winter, and therefore can't cope when it arrives.  Consider then, how panicked people would be getting with snow in SPRING!  PANIC AND MAYHEM!  Surprisingly though, the hysterics have been rather mellow this weekend.  Rather than fretting and complaining, they just stayed indoors, choosing not to venture out into the big wide world and experience the amazing sights.  This made for a wonderful trip out for my wife and I.  Rather than being defeated by the weather, we pulled on coats, hats, gloves and scarves, and went to Ickworth House.

We've been quite a few times before, and it really is a lovely piece of land with slight hills (a rarity for this region!), woods, lakes and wildlife.  With it being so late into March, many of the sheep had given birth, so there was a plethora of lamb-like bleating because of the cold.  And boy was it cold!

The wind made the snow come in sideways on, and we were soon absolutely covered in the stuff, but so were all the trees and the landscape overall.  It was stark, barren, whited out and so peaceful!  Because it was so cold and snowy, we were pretty much alone in the grounds.

There's also some more photos up on my Smugmug if you're interested!

Rediscovering Nature

Given the pomposity of this posts title, I should start by saying that I have not rediscovered nature at all today!  I just took a couple of pictures which I liked - call that a rediscovery if you like, or just see them as pictures.  In fact this doesn't make sense and I'm losing track what I'm talking about...

The first couple of pictures are taken about 30 seconds from my Door - in Ely, we have hundreds of geese who line the pathways hissing at you if you don't give them food - I tend to growl back unless there are people nearby in which case I whimper... We also have these awesome punking ducks with mohawks who just waddle around all day being fed.  I wish I could do that!  But unfortunately it would be frowned on for me to waddle around without clothes on eating food from the ground...  Life is unfair.

The last three are just pics of a spider who is still lurking over my head - I keep checking he's still there, but as soon as I look away, I feel tickles on my head and back.  Stupid spider...

Macro Noobishness

Aah Macro!  I Love it!  It's been ages since I had any time and really played with a macro Lens, and I forgot just how interesting and exciting it can be.  There's something about the microscopic world which has always interested me, and using photography to explore that world seems like a perfect coupling!  I particularly love how the different objects and textures combine and form a whole new item out of something very normal and office based!

I did make a complete noob error though it has to be said - didn't check the quality settings on the camera before snapping away.  As such, all the photos were taken on basic quality small JPEG - you can't really see on these exports, however it's weird working with 3MP images again!  Anyway, here's a few textures from around the office.

Remembering Uni

So I've just been looking back in my Lightroom galleries, and found a heap of old photos from when I was at DMU; it's been fun going back and having a little fiddle with some of the old crew again, and just remembering the times which happened around them.  Here's a little selection!  The first few are from a movie trailer which Graeme made called Worst Case Scenario - I just hope this gets made into a full feature some time soon!!  The others are just miscellaneous I just saw and thought looked nice.

 

Ickworth House

Ickworth is a beautiful National Trust property just outside Bury St Edmunds.  It was actually one of the places that we really wanted to have our wedding, but unfortunately it was just far too expensive - as all National Trust properties are apparently...

As a present, Grace's parents gave us a years National Trust membership, so we are able to visit any of their places for free - and today I got to make use of it finally!  Ickworth Hall itself is a gorgeous building with a very famous rotunda and expansive innards, however we weren't there for that today, we wanted to go for a walk in the grounds.  And so we did!  It was lovely, and even the rain managed to hold off for most of the walk!

Summer Stock Checking

So the summer is here (by date anyway; the weather it would seem has different ideas about what constitutes summer!) so the Media Loans department in which I work is dead as the proverbial murder victim... This would be ideal - getting to just sit back and relax while browsing Gizmodo, Macrumors and the source of all worldly information Facebook - however we have summer jobs to do instead.

While doing these lists of work - stock checking, Edit Suite installs, cleaning and general drudgery - we also have the opportunity to check the kit is all working properly so today have got to spend a bit of time with the Steadicam.  I've only used it once before in my life, so was keen to take the opportunity to get better acquainted with it...  which I now am.  And the chance to use it again is one which I will make me jump to attention at any time - and run like the wind in the opposite direction.  I am a massive fan of the kit when used properly, and by someone competent at it, however this person is not me...

It's a bit of kit that requires finesse, dexterity and grace; three things which I am sadly lacking.  Not to mention a level of fitness and core strength which require a bit more work... It's a heavy beast of kit and I have the upmost respect for anyone who can use it!  I would also recommend that anyone who wants to use it should be strong, dextrous, and physically very fit; there's a reason most people who can use it well are strong and sinuous!

Antonis is really good at it (as is Andrzej), and it's disgusting seeing how comfortably he wields it around!

Married Life!

So it's officially happened - I'M MARRIED!  It's so fantastic to finally be able to say that after the months and months of planning (20 to be precise!)  The day was just perfect.  On the build up, there had been rain for pretty much every day for weeks, but then on the 5th May the heavens dried up - just for that 24 hours mind...

I married Grace at a gorgeous place called The Grange just outside a little village called Thurston, with a very small selection of family and close friends, before jetsetting off to Canada for our Honeymoon!  We drove across the Rockies with wild abandon (also known as judicious acceleration and a wreckless habit of keeping exactly to the speed limit for fear of being fined!)

The journey we did took us from Calgary -> Banff -> Lake Louise -> Jasper -> Clearwater (briefly) -> Harrisson Hot Springs -> Whistler -> Vancouver Island -> Vancouver -> Toronto and home.  It was exhausting, but the scenery was absolutely spectacular; it was clearly a journey of a lifetime and we will never forget it!  Here's a few photos from the trip: