May Day Morris Dancing

This morning the alarm was set for before dawn, to ensure we arrived at Wandlebury, just outside Cambridge, in time to see the dawn Morris Dancing by the Devil's Dyke Morris Men on this May Day morning. The day when tradition has it to roll in the dewy grass, although today the dew was of the white crunch variety.

(This is the holding page to ensure a 1st May date on the blog post and whilst the rest of the edit is completed in between a full weekend of assignments. Do come back later for the full set of images)

Looking Back - 2014

Wow - and what a year!

I will open by indulging with, what in my view, was the high point - in more than one way, and although this is a picture taken of me rather than by me there was a serious message to this daredevil stunt I did back in June Yup, I jumped out of a perfectly good aeroplane in aid of the RNLI, raising £580 in the process. I loved every minute of it and I will be back to do more skydiving just as soon as I can, with the aim of doing a solo freefall - yee-haaaa!

Well, that was June, what of the rest?
It has been a year full of great highs and unfortunate lows, both personally and work-wise.
It has been a year of decisions and changes.
It has been a year which has challenged my determination, my strength and my emotions.
It has been a year which opened up new experiences and ideas.
It has been a year where I have had some success and recognition.
I guess this is what you might expect through any year but the main thing is I'm still here, even if I have been a bit quiet of late, and I'm looking forward to great new challenges in 2015. (More of those in the next post) However, before we leave 2014 behind let me pick up on some of the favourite images and highlights from the year.

January

2014 arrived with gusto, when we felt the full Atlantic force down in West Cork.

A first visit to the wonderful city of Glasgow for Burns weekend. So much to see, including the fabulous Transport Museum. A return visit is a must.

February

Big changes! The decision was made to stop hiding and transform as Celia Bartlett Photography - a new look and a new website 

Still finding time for going out to enjoy a favourite place with a favourite walking companion

March

Back out to another favourite place - West Cork, with lots of plans to mull over

Visiting an interesting location on a shoot for a well known, quality supermarket - now one of my regular clients.

April

Another new work association with a great name - and one we already have a personal interest in to boot!

Who can't resist a bluebell wood?!

May
 

Private view for my Open Studio - with special guest.
Two weekends in April / May

Back to the stunning scenery in West Cork, with plans now starting to take shape.

June

A selfie with a difference! Admiring one of the many motorbikes at the annual Meldreth charity motorbike show.

Reaching the middle of the year with an early start for the Summer solstice sunrise at Lowestoft

July

Theatrical photography, now a regular feature throughout my working year, whether it be outdoors or indoor



 

Covering big events is also part of the working year - and the biggie of the year was the Tour de France but look who stole the show?!

Delighted to have had a sell-out souvenir book off this once in a lifetime event.

August
 

Photographing politicians - one of two I had the brief to fulfil this year:- The Rt. Hon. Sir Alan Haselhurst MP

A visit early on in the process of the Tower Poppies - just amazing!

September 

Another ride out to the Ace Cafe London for the buzzing Annual Reunion

An extra special early-morning photo shoot at the stunning Glendalough upper lake, Co Wicklow, Ireland.

Magical!

October

Surfed back in to Ireland ahead of the West Cork Photography Weekends I had been planning for months.

A reflective evening just before my first guests finally arrived for the Photography Weekends.

And so successful they were, I am rolling them out again in Spring 2015!

November

The first of the regular annual events that take place in November - the big noise of the fireworks ...

...contrasted with capturing the serenity of the Remembrance Sunday Parade.

December 

Rounding off the year covering an event that would bring joy to many families - the Homecoming Parade - the troops had returned home from Afghanistan in time for Christmas

I would like to thank you for your support over these past twelve months and may I now take this opportunity to -

Wish you all a Very Happy New Year.
May it be full of joy and happiness!

I look forward to sharing 2015 with you.

Remember, remember...

As a kind of follow-on from the fireworks display on Saturday, today I was fortunate to go with a group of colleagues to visit the Houses of Parliament, accompanied by our local MP.
Im afraid I can't show you many pictures as photography isn't allowed inside the building. However, I did manage a few in the impressive hammer-beamed Westminster Hall, the only building to survive from the old Palace of Westminster. The picture above shows the stairs from Westminster Hall which lead into the Palace of Westminster as it is today.
However, what I can admit is that this time around I found the visit very interesting. (Last time I had visited as a mildly disinterested 9 year old!)

Grateful thanks to Rt. Hon. Sir Alan Haselhurst for a knowledgeable and comprehensive tour.

So, mindful of the date, we were all happy to have safely concluded our visit to the Houses of Parliament.

Day 23 - August Challenge

Challenge - "Seasonal plums that you have picked from a local tree."

Suggested by - Paul via Twitter

How more seasonal than greengages, and how more local than from the old tree at the end of our garden?

With our Victorian house came a greengage tree, one of the many fruit trees portioned out onto house plots from a large parcel of land and which had once been the orchard of a large house. The house and land use ultimately giving our road its name. Every August since we have been here, it has provided fruit crops in various quantities. In the mid-90s, we had such a bumper crop that sadly, we lost three limbs of the tree under the weight of the fruit. Other years, the wasps have made the most of the diminutive crop. However, what we have been able to accomplish over the years, is many jars of jam, and delicious it is too!

During the past few days, I have regularly been feeling the plums ...and before you go there, I will qualify! I wanted to ensure that the greengages would be at their best for picking today. And so they were. On my return home this evening I went the short distance down our garden to pick from a crop which is now sadly, a shadow of previous years. They may not be big fruit, and they may not be perfect skinned, but it was still hard for me not munch my way through the scrumptious subject of my shoot. Thankfully, I resisted, and left some of the fruit on my kitchen table whilst I went back into the fading light of the evening, to pick a bumper crop of blackberries.

More jam on the way!

The grab shot

My thanks to:

Paul for the suggestion
Mother nature for the harvest

Tomorrow, Day 24

"Allotment site record"

Sweet Chestnut

It was as a picture from the past.

I happened on this simple covered work area in the corner of the wood, when out exercising mutt the other day. In fact, it was the day of the llama encounter, and I had gone off with my own preferred four-legged walking companion. Looking at the tops of the trees, the tell-tale long creamy-white, bottle-brush-lke flowers told me that this wood consisted almost entirely of sweet chestnuts - a tree I had become familiar with during a working holiday in the area many years ago. This species of tree is prevalent in this corner of 'the garden of England' and comes into flower around this time of year, eventually producing a crop of the winter favourite, the edible sweet chestnut. However, it was another, just as important but less recognised sweet chestnut product that was of interest here.

Armed with just my little G12, I started to take a couple of shots of the set-up, and before I knew it, I was taking shots to tell the whole story. To some, it may be mundane and un-interesting, but to those with a connection to trees, timber or wood products, it probably sets certain senses to alert. To those who think they might find this post boring, I apologise in advance but you never know, you might just find out something you didn't know if you dare to read on!

Sweet Chestnut Castanea sativa is actually a member of the beech family and is not related to the Horse Chestnut.

Here, a lone oak makes a stand.

In this area of Kent /
East Sussex, the trees are grown in coppiced woodlands.

Having grown to the required size, they are cut into sections and cleaned of the bark

Having been stripped...

...and chipped

...they are cleaved and turned into bundles of stakes.

Certainly gives a new meaning to stake and chips!

So, looking familiar yet?

You might just realise that these bundles of stakes are what eventually end up as fencing material. The type of temporary fencing that in the past, was put around disused land. The fences that were strung together by two bands of looped wire. However, today they are often made into trellises, arches or ornate fencing panels. Larger stakes being made into fence posts and in the past, the very large straight sections were also made into hop poles.
(So now the beer connection comes with the stake and chips too!)

The fact that sweet chestnut is used for fencing is purely due to its' properties, as it is well known as being durable and long lasting without the use of preservatives.

However, what fascinated me about this set-up, was that non-industrial artisan production methods were still being used, and whilst time may have mostly left this production method behind in favour of mass production, there was one thing that stayed the same...

...the importance of having the right equipment to do the job!

VMCC Banbury Run 2013

After the buzz of the TT post the other week, let's go right back to the beginning with motorcycles all built before 1931.

Over the past thirty years, I have been to watch these old machines at a particular summer event on a number of occasions. This has mostly been due to the fact that himself has a passion for two wheels. So, coupled with the fact that we haven't been for a number of years, and the newest member of our family also has a passion for two wheels, it seemed a perfect reason for us all to set off on Sunday, picnic-in-panniers, to watch the annual Vintage Motorcycle Club 'Banbury Run' take place, starting from the Heritage Motor Centre in Warwickshire.

It is amazing to think that enough of these old bikes are still road-worthy enough to be able to get together to make such an event but nearly 600, mostly British, veteran and vintage motorcycles took part.
With almost a complete lexicon of all the old manufacturers names,
from Ariel...

...to Zenith,

riders could choose to be competitive...

or just social and for the fun of it.

From traditional tweed-clad riders...

...to those in a mixture of old and new, the riders lined up the bikes in batches of five, ready to be waved off at minute intervals, to cover one of the three circular routes.

 

With such clouds of smoke and a succession of bikes queueing for the electric rolling road to coerce the aged machines into life, it was questionable as to whether some of them would actually make it all the way round their designated route.

All knew what lay ahead.
Cue the moment to hop back onto our own two wheels and head over to Sun Rising Hill.

................

Situated on the A422 Stratford to Banbury road, Sun Rising Hill is the long, winding road from Warwickshire up over the wooded Edge Hill escarpment into Oxfordshire. It is notorious for the best wheels, let alone those belonging to this ageing band of motorcycles. It isn't any wonder that spectators gather on the hill to watch as these machines pop, wheeze and bang their way up the hill, with some seemingly covering the route with little effort.

Others get caught out for any number of reasons.
But can you imagine the possible embarrassment of being overtaken by a cyclist?!

Hats off to this cyclist though for riding non-stop up a road where many spectators walked just a small portion, and wheezed worse than some of the old motorcycles!

Countless machines expired just in sight of the top of the hill, relying on the VMCC volunteers and sometimes, spectators to give a friendly push to the top, whilst other motorcycles just plodded on past.

As machines went by, there was always the hope of that distinct whiff of Castrol R to confirm that the event was indeed running old and not modern machines. We didn't need the proof though.

Where else might you see purple motorcycle and sidecar outfits like this?

Some machines 'flew' up the hill but not necessarily quite as planned.

For others, touch-down would be imminent.

Whilst there were those with a long taxi back.

Sun Rising Hill. Sorts the men from the boys. There are those that can and there are those that can't but by one means or another, they all still have to get to the top...

 ...but there will always be one straggler.




Post script

Judging by my blog stats, it appears there are loads of you out there dropping in to have a look at this post
- and thank you!
Would be lovely if just one or two of you might leave a comment too. (Don't be shy!)