Blackie

A couple of early morning shots from earlier this week... Saw some beautiful frosted trees in Hampshire this morning, but I don't think the other motorway drivers would have appreciated me stopping to get photos

I came across this link, cc: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sto...c0-79a6919b6d9e. That's bound to make a few people on here very envious :lol: Shame to hear about those beautiful old trees in Stanley Park, Roger. That's one of my favourite parts of Vancouver. It must have taken the brunt of the winds.

Fabulous photos. The contrast between the funnel-producing clouds and the pink-tinged ones is great - and that last photo on the 2nd page is incredible. Almost looks like two twisters have been stuck together in the middle with a bit of tape!

Thanks Rich. Very descriptive but little real detail. It sounds like it was bad, though. Did you get the effects of it in the Rockies?

Sounds as though it was pretty nasty, Roger. Good to hear that it happened when not many people were up and about, but I can just imagine the devastation with all those beautiful trees uprooted. Which areas have been worst affected around your area? And how did Vancouver Island fare?

Apparently it was very wet and windy here last night. I wouldn't know. I slept through everything - my first Sunday lie-in for months! Clouds just starting to clear and a little breezy currently. Must set up the weather station I got for Christmas last year.

Beautiful picture coldfingers, and a very worthy winner. Difficult lighting conditions but excellently captured.

:lol: Gawsh, thanks. Never tried that before and I was very pleasantly surprised by the results, especially as I wasn't using a tripod and just balanced the camera on the ground. I love your firework pics on the Guy Fawkes thread, and the self portrait(s) of you is amazing.

OK, my three entries - all from November 4. A little experiment with my small Canon G6 set on the ground below the rocket tube with the full moon in the bottom of the frame, then set to self timer while I scarpered! I can report that the camera is recovering well, if a little singed round the gills. As I mentioned on the Guy Fawkes thread in the photography area, that is my brother in law lighting the fuse. The match acted like a mini-flashgun to freeze him in the frame while the long exposure caught the fuse starting to fizz.

I second that emotion. Fabulous colours in the sky, cjefferz. Must have been hard getting those pictures without fireworks spoiling them

This post is bringing memories flooding back for me, too. I was only 8 at the time and we lived in my uncle's guesthouse right on the seafront at Southend. I remember it was so cold the sea (well, the Thames Estuary) froze on the foreshore. We had huge lumps of ice pile up on the beach an when the tide came in it was just like a scene from the Arctic. My dad was a freelance news cameraman for the local and national press, and he was also a cine news cameraman for the BBC. So he got me and my two brothers to go out onto the snow and ice on the beach while he filmed and photographed us throwing snowballs, making snowmen and generally larking about. It made the news on TV that night and all the newspapers next day. We were stars - even thought you couldn't have recognised us because we were togged up so much aganst the cold. I remember my mum made us put balaclavas and mitts on with our duffelcoats, and huge knitted scarves round our necks and tucked into the coats. We must have looked like real plonkers. But we loved it. I also remember the lake in the park just behind where we lived was frozen solid and people were walking on the ice, so we did too - and my young brother fell in. I helped to pull him out and didn't think any more of it, until my mum and dad started saying how dangerous it was and how he could have died. So instead of being feted as a hero I was a villain for taking him onto the ice! Actually in hindsight they were dead right, too. I remember it going on for weeks and weeks. My mum was expecting my sister at the time, and my dad was looking for our first house to buy. We ended up in the country and visited it while it was still very snowy. I just remember it being so bleak and snowy and cold. I visited Nunavut (the Inuit province which comprises most of Arctic Canada) in mid-winter about six years ago, and it suddenly brought back memories of the 62/63 winter at home. The same numbing cold (although at -25-30C it was much colder than then, of course), the frozen sea and the dry snow blowing across the roads and fields like ghostly white snakes. I feel sorry for kids these days. They have all the electronic games, mobile phones to keep in touch with each other all the time, the latest clothes and digital cameras. But they are missing the innoent excitement and fun we used to have, especially when we lashings of snow and ice. Yes, a similar winter episode now would have this board in meltdown, but the trouble would be that no sooner would it arrive than people would already be rubbishing it or talking about when it would end. We used to just live for the day and go out and have fun in it! My dad kept some of the photos he took, I think. He died nearly 10 years ago but my mum still has boxes of his photos and she is moving soon. So if I find any good ones I will dig them out and post them on here. I hope the mods pin this thread as it would be a shame to lose all these memories. They should be archived. It's just like when old relatives pass away. They take all their memories with them and future generations are left poorer for the lack of knowledge or understanding about how life was. Think I'd better stop now. I'm sounding like an old fart!

Lovely picture there, potsy. Very atmospheric and lots of movement and fluidity with the sheep coming towards the camera. I love the muted colours as well. Definitely a shot I could imagine on a calendar.

Hi Chilly, not bad for a camera straight out of the box but...you might want to resize your photo entries so you don't incur the wrath of our wonderful mods. See Shuggee's post at the start of this thread with an easy to use programme. There are others as well. I use PIXresizer, which is very easy to use and understand. Similar to the one Shuggee suggests, if not the same one by a different name. At the moment your images are about twice the size they need to be. Good luck getting the hang of the camera, and with the resizing. :lol:

OK, three from my trip to Sri Lanka. I did get a little sunshine, but also a lot of rain. They were having the worst monsoon for years, as I said before, and mountain roads were being washed away or blocked by rock and mudslides. Even getting to the airport was an ordeal - the road was flooded and the the water was washing over the bonnet and splashing up the windscreen and onto the roof. I heard today that 25 people died and over 300,000 were affected. And after everything else they have gone through. Yet they keep smiling through it all. It made me feel very humble, especially after visiting the tsunami-hit areas and talking to some of the survivors. Anyway, here are the three entries: The approaching storms. This was the leading edge. After it came over everything went pitch black and it just hammered downwith rain continually for days on end. I've never seen anything like it. On a mountain road coming down from Nurawa Eliya, the highest town. The torrent gushing down the mountainside was so strong it was spraying onto the road and felt like a high-powered water canon when we drove past. The road was blocked by rock falls and mudslides a few hours later so we were lucky to get through. A more mellow moment, taken from my room in Kandy. The worst of the rain was over by then, but the clouds were still hanging around the tree tops and mountains like ghostly spirits... Not part of the competition, but I like this shot - it is a fire dancer in the middle of the monsoon, blurry because I didn't use flash but quite atmospheric and you can see the rain lashing down. How it didn't put the flames out I don't know.

What you get for being a Net-weather millionaire. But if Paul is member number 2, who is number 1? Is there a mysterious Russian billionaire behind all this? Not been around much this month as I only got back from Sri Lanka a couple of days ago. Typically I was there in the middle of one of their worst monsoons for years, so it rained every day. I may post some shots when I get a chance to sort them out, in between all the work i have to catch up on (including from Sri Lanka). But not sure about entering any in the competition. If it's for a calendar they should be UK and Irish ones rather than farther afield. Correct?

Berry nice, tuggy!

OK, 3 from me. I didn't escape the house much last month, so a couple of shots of my wife's potted horse chestnut tree with its lone conker (which has now gone missing). Conkers always sum up autumn to me, and I never knew if it was best to bake them or soak them in vinegar... The last one is from the September 13 storms. I only got the edge of the lightning, sadly, but it was an impressive strike.

Great shot Wibs. Well done. But sad that there couldn't have been two winners this month - MCT's wave cloud was spectacular as well.

Good luck, TH. Sounds like typhoon chasing over there is a whole lot more challenging than for those who go tornado or hurricane hunting in the US. B) Look forward to hearing how you get on, and fingers crossed Xangsane doesn't cause too much devastation when it hits. Seems Hainan got lucky this time round.

Three absolute beauties there, OON. The colours in the first shot are stunning and the silhouetted trees are really crisp. I love the juxtaposition of the spider's web and barbs as well, and the third shot is very tranquil and well framed. You have set the bar very high this month. Damn you!

I'll keep the camera handy then. I might even get a big one out, in a manner of speaking. :o I just hope all the rain hasn't buggered our new block paving. They cemented all the edges today and finished sanding between the bricks. Probably all washed away. :o You must have seen the mess the builders haven't cleared up yet when you drove past, Eve.

I think that strike I photographed must have been right over your house, Eve. I had the camera too far to the right but most of the action seemed to be more your way and to the north, over the Crouch.

Oops, didn't notice this thread. I just posted a pic of tonight's storms over Essex in MCT's thread in the photo section from a few days ago. But here it is again anyway. Lots of lightning, but always in the wrong place for the camera and just as I was about to press the shutter button or while it was counting down the self-timer. Doh! :o Managed to get this strike just on the edge of the frame though. Any more to come tonight or is that it?

Bob? Fred? How about Rover? It looks like one of those dogs with lots of rolls of skin (shar-pei?) snoozing, with its paws stretched out to the bottom right. Well, I think so. I always see things in cloud formations. PS - nice pic, tuggy.

That's West Africa it has just left not Mordor, my precious. Edit: oops, wrong side of the continent