Canon 400D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L lens - 1/80 second, f/11, ISO 100

The second in this series and right next door to the previous one. I have to admit I cloned out a bit of the sign to highlight the word but it summed up the mood that day. I have forgotten what the whole word said but in searching for another photo I came across lots of very good photos taken on Bournemouth beach which are well worth a look.

Canon 400D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L lens - 1/100 second, f/11, ISO 100

This was taken a few weeks ago down by the beach in Bournemouth. For the end of January it was very warm and I liked the simple lines (also, it was very busy and pointing the camera up was the only way to miss the crowd).

Canon 400D, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-f/4.5 USM lens - 1/60 second, f/4, ISO 100

This is what was behind the camera... As the chalet is hanging on the mountainside there is a huge vertical drop just outside these windows. The view is spectacular and not for people that get vertigo. You can see the whole of Meribel and you feel like you are sitting in a bird's nest.

Photography wise this is the shot I'm least happy with because it doesn't have the same level of colour saturation as the others (I tried but it ended up looking fake). Also, in this series I used quite a severe vignette to focus attention on the centre of frame which gives them a bit of a 70's feel (especially with the decor).

This is the set complete. I hope you like them. There are a couple more in my Meribel 2008 set which I won't blog about. Next time I'll post some architectural shots taken whilst photowalking around Bournemouth.

Canon 400D, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-f/4.5 USM lens - 1/6 second, f/4, ISO 100

As I mentioned yesterday, the chalet we stayed in was rather unique - built hanging on to the mountainside. The entrance is at the top of the building (behind the chimney in the picture). The precarious landing and steps are not child friendly either. The living space is at the level you see here with rooms on the floors below. The fireplace dominates the room and, as the steps to the right of it indicate, has a sunken seating area in front. The really spectacular feature is behind the camera - tomorrows shot.

I've done a fair bit of processing with all these pictures as the light was truly awful for photography - dull and grey. The chalet itself was quite dark under these conditions and any shot with a window in instantly blows out the highlights. All the internal chalet shots are a blend of multiple exposures taken from a single RAW file.

Canon 400D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L lens - 1/4 second, f/22, ISO 100

It's been a couple of weeks since we got back from skiing but things have been hectic with the wedding planning so I haven't had much time to process the pictures. I didn't take many because a bulky SLR is not the best thing to carry if you might take a tumble on the slopes. There are more in Claire's photostream.

This one was taken from our chalet. You will see from the next few in the series that it was rather unique and had some specatcular views.

First I read this and now I read that... Then laughed my socks off at how blatant a PR tool the Google Blog is. C'mon guys at least allow comments and make it a conversation.

Canon 400D, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-f/4.5 USM lens - 0.6 second (BKT), f/22, ISO 100

Since the sky was so dramatic this afternoon, Claire and I took a walk down to the beach to watch the sun go down. This shot is actually an HDR composite of three bracketed images.

I've messed around in Photoshop a little but only to bring it back to what is was like in reality. The only think that still irks me is that the horizon is in the middle but it had to be in order to make the stick in the foreground lay on a 1/3 line.

Canon 400D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L lens - 1/125 second, f/8, ISO 200

This is the second shot from Prestbury and one that has a lot of memory for me as I grew up in this village. This is one of those views you remember but has changed subtly from childhood - the 20 zone signs, the roundabout and road markings, the shops on the left and right are selling different stuff.

I'd love to find a photo from 30 years ago because I suspect the only constant, apart from the buildings themselves, is that the Legh Arms is still a pub.

Canon 400D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L lens - 1/60 second, f/8, ISO 200

This is one of a series based taken last April in Prestbury. Again I've reprocessed the image but this time to more of an ideal than how it actually was. You can see the difference between this and the original.

Canon 400D, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-f/4.5 USM lens - 1/80 second, f/9, ISO 100

The second of two reprocessed shots taken in Egypt this year. The reprocessing really was just to bring it back to how it was in reality.

This was at the other end of the day with the sun disappearing over the mountains behind Sharm-el-Sheikh airport. As the sun dropped out of sight you get these rays of light in the clouds due to the difference in angle.

Canon Digital Ixus 500, 1/400 second, f/2.8

This photo was hastily snapped just before we dived on Jackson Reef. It's about 5am in the morning; the early start was so we could see the sharks that are around this early.

This is one of a collection I've re-processed with Photoshop.