Tag: still life photography

A Woodland Walk {Photography}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography4 Comments

Hello friends!

Who doesn’t feel at home in a woodland? 

My inner elf just wants to be set free and run through the trees barefoot. I’ve taken a break from decorating this week and given myself a little chance to explore my new surround – a brilliant mix of woodland and fields (filled with sheep!) I can even hear them baa-ing from my bedroom which is amazing!!

The village I’ve moved to is only a mile across and you can walk for miles before you see another human being.

There’s even a 400 year old church and the bell still tolls the hour, which is rather quaint. 

The woods are filled with some of the prettiest snowdrops and foliage ever, its so relaxing to be out in the wild – something I wasn’t prepared for was how quiet it is, the bird song at dawn and dusk is incredible and I haven’t heard a plane since I moved! 

I wanted to take you guys along with me so you could enjoy the relaxing and calming atmosphere too! I hope these photos bring as much peace to your day as much as they did mine.

Ready?

Let’s go!

Snowdrops are pretty much one of if not my favourite flower. The way they burst out in February showing winter that its time is over for the year while everything else hibernates.

I don’t actually know what this little yellow flower is but I like how everything surrounding it is in focus while the flowers itself isn’t.

There are some amazing trees here their trunks are often quite gnarly with plenty of creeping ivy and fluffy lichen. Almost as if they’re slowly being claimed by the rest the plant life in the area.

I imagine some of these trees must be hundreds of years old!

I’m fairly certain this is a multi headed daffodil (maybe) but I like how it looks ‘caged’ by the small dead branches.

This gnarled tree branch looks like some sort of monster, maybe an orc or goblin. Its got eyes and fangs and if it was outside my house would definitely be scary in the night! I imagine it was made by something – possibly a Greater Spotted Woodpecker, trying to either turn it into a house or to eat whatever was already living there.

I kinda feel life has been hard on this poor branch.

More snowdrops, these were actually growing by the side of the road (using the term ‘road’ loosely) I love how many textures there are in this image.

Ferns and moss are literally everywhere – apparently there is a pesky bug called a fern tick, another reason not to go skipping barefoot through the woods. I’m thinking of taking some crayons and tracing paper to try and get some rubbings of these leaves on my next adventure in that direction.

Is this moss, or lichen or even a type of fern – I’ve no idea but its so pretty and super soft to touch!

When I was little I used to think that snowdrops were a sort of lantern for fairies because of how bright they are against the gloom.

This part of the world is definitely snowdrop country the grow in their hundreds along banks and amongst the trees, even by the roadside. These ones were like a waterfall cascading down the bank and pooling by the roadside.

Another mossy lichen tree trunk here, this one is more or less fully claimed by the stuff and I particularly like the contrast in colour between the green of the tree and the bleached straw colour of the protruding sticks and stems.

I think there are 4 or 5 types of leaf in this photo, it lovely how ‘wild’ they are not just grown in little pots so that they can mingle and spread into their neighbours space.

The lone snowdrop is my favourite photograph of the day (second place is the gnarly branch!) I love how soft the background is with all focus solely on the flower.

I love the natural tones of this shoot, the colours are naturally muted due to the time of the year, but I think the effects are quite romantic. I haven’t used any post processing on these photos the natural light was enough – the light in Cornwall is amazing .

So that’s it for this weeks post…I really hope you enjoyed these woodland foliage photos because they filled me a great amount of positivity and happiness. Did you have a favourite photo? Next week I’m hoping to post a new illustration. 

As always thank you so much for reading my friends, and have a lovely week!

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Fleeting thought #2 {Sandcastles, poetry & childhood memories}

On By ArtyMissKIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Hello friends, I hope you had a good week!

Today I wanted to share my second Fleeting Thought with you. If you’re reading one of my blog posts for the first time (hi/friendly wave) and if your back and happy to read more of my ramblings (massive hug and a beaming smile!!). 

For the uninitiated Fleeting Thought is something I’ve come up with while trying to post more of my feelings and be a bit more blog-ish, these wordy posts might sometimes include stories or poetry or maybe be a place were I can put photos/doodles that are a bit random and wouldn’t get a full post.  

Now, I’ve also written a haiku – you’ve been warned!

Ready here we go!

Have you ever watched someone create something and thought Yeah, I’ll take a whack at that, it doesn’t look too hard!

Well, I came across sand sculpting online when I discovered that Cornwall hold a few sandcastle competitions in the summer and couldn’t resist having a go on a recent trip to the beach…even though its February and at the very most 13 degrees! 

Was I the only lunatic playing in the sand, whilst wearing a wooly jumper…absolutely.

I haven’t built a sandcastle since I was little – one of my favourite childhood memories is my mum, sister and I used to build a boat when on the beach that had a bucket steering wheel, and we’d sail it on various adventures. I thought sand sculpting might be fun to try…it is very much enjoyable, but is much harder than it looks! So on that note I thought I’d share my first (and only) sand sculpting effort.

Also, while I personally love the idea that the human fascination with sandcastles began when mankind first stepped on a beach, there’s an eternal mystery in not knowing who built the first one.

Now for the grand reveal…

Ta-da!

Continue reading “Fleeting thought #2 {Sandcastles, poetry & childhood memories}” →

Magical cove {One frame}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography6 Comments

Hello my Friends!

Can you believe it, we’re already halfway through February?! Winter has been so cold and wet this year that it feels like spring is taking an age to get here, so I’ve been taking advantage of every moment of nice weather I can get.

Anyway, its been about a month since I posted my last One Frame and I’ve got a new landscape shot to share this week. The coast of Cornwall is magical and this photo was taken on Perranporth beach where there are some amazing caves/coves, this one is one of my favourites, its not so much a cave but an archway and has so many colours and textures in its stones.

In a weird way it reminds me of a Hag Stone, just on a much bigger scale.

The water that has been trapped until the tide comes back to claim it is super clear but Freezing cold and so much deeper than it looks! 

I kinda feel this particular spot might be a portal to Narnia or some other fairytale realm, with how the sun is shining on the cliff behind the arch. One day I might even be brave enough to swim through it…

That’s it for this week, I hope you like the little slice of beachy paradise. How is the weather where you are? Next weeks post is either gonna be the second Fleeting Thought or more art. 

Thank you so much for reading this post, and I wish you a prosperous week ahead!

Fleeting thought #1 {Hag stones, short stories, folklore & feelings}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography4 Comments

Hello my friends, 

Bear with me, I thought I’d try something a little different this week!!

I kinda feel I should maybe do a few more ‘written’ posts, expressing my feelings/thoughts not just loads of pretty(-ish) photographs and my art. I used to keep a journal and I even wrote a few short stories…but on my blog I’ve never really felt confident enough to post that kinda thing.

So here goes…I’ve come up with Fleeting Thought which I’m hoping will become wordy posts, sometimes containing stories or poetry or maybe just getting my feelings out there (and hopefully someone will read it) but they might also be a place were I can put all different groups of photos that wouldn’t get a full post on there own.

Back at the beginning of the month I mentioned that I recently moved house – which in and of itself is probably one of the stressful things I’ve ever done in life! But that’s not the point of this post. I happened to move from a city landscape to a picturesque one which is awesome, and in my new garden I found a Hag Stone! It’s small enough to sit on the palm of my hand, and is such an amazing shape…I think its made of flint.

Now, I’ve written a 200 word super short story (I think they call it a double drabble) about my hag stone! I haven’t written a story for ages!

But first a little bit of folklore,

Continue reading “Fleeting thought #1 {Hag stones, short stories, folklore & feelings}” →

Magnificent Swan {One frame}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography2 Comments

Hello my friends!

I hope life has treated you well this week.

Last year I that I realised that I had taken quite a lot of of photographs of wild birds – particularly mute swans (I even did a long post on them) but I’ve recently been through all the images on my camera in an attempt to clear some space on my memory card and found this one. 

Mute swans are actually very friendly and the wild ones I’ve photographed always seem so chilled out about the camera. I always assumed this was because I normally fed them, but I liked the idea of being a swan whisperer!

There’s something truly magical about swans and this one is almost looking directly into the camera. I love the way its sort of quizzically leaning, as if its sizing me up! Unfortunately the pristine whiteness of the swan shows just how dirty the river water is, but somehow that makes the swan all the more beautiful.

It’s a shame that as a country we’ve let our waterways become so polluted.

Well that’s it for this week, one lovely swan photographed for this post. I hope you like it. Do you have a favourite wild bird? They are wonderful creatures and I love watching them – and always try to keep the bird feeders full at home…I might even do a few posts on them this year. As always thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!

ps. Next week I’m thinking of trying something a little bit different!!

Pretty Winter Textures {Photography}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography4 Comments

Hello my friends!

Nature is magical isn’t it?!

There are so many different textures to be found. So this week I wanted to share some snaps I’ve taken recently. I wanted these photos to have a slightly ‘silver’ theme, seeing as its winter and there aren’t loads of brightly coloured daisies and the like. I wanted to take you with me into a wintery world of texture.

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Photography Recap 2022

On By ArtyMissKIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Hello my friends, 

I hope you had a good Christmas!

This week as it’s the last Friday of the year I thought that I’d create a little recap post with some of my favourite photographs taken in 2022.

So enjoy some black and white photography including ladybirds, butterflies and bumble bees.

In June I actually got some decent shots of a Holly Blue butterfly – I’d never seen one of these before – it had such stripy antennae! 

Letting the garden re-wild in the summer for #nomowmay was fun and it didn’t take long for insects to move in, there were so many ladybird beetles, I especially loved photographing them in the early morning.

I even grew my own wildflower ‘mini-meadow’ to encourage bees and really enjoyed watching them in the summer.

Continue reading “Photography Recap 2022” →

Gatekeeper Butterfly {Photography}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography2 Comments

Hello my friends!

Nature is magical isn’t it?!

This weeks post is a new butterfly centred photography collection. Its all about the Pyronia tithonus butterfly or Gatekeeper and over a couple of (very) early mornings it was most courteous and posed for a few pictures. I love insects and I wanted to take you with me into the early morning world of butterflies!

I loved watching the different flowers appear during #nomowmay (I even got up one morning to a huge patch of Ox Eye daisies) that I thought ‘that was fun, let’s let the unwanted plants do their own thing*.’

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Old Glastonbury Abbey {Photography}

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Hello friends!

This week I wanted to share some recent snaps from a day spent at Glastonbury Abbey and I wanted to take you with me – I don’t usually take many shots of buildings and things but it made a really nice change! The abbey holds mythical status as the earliest Christian church in Britain and is the possible burial place of King Arthur.

The abbey itself is dog friendly, has multitude of events held within it and can even hold weddings!

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Ladybird beetle {One frame}

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Hello my friends!

I hope life has treated you well this week.

I thought I’d share a new one frame this week as I’ve been going through my recent Ladybird beetle snaps, and can’t quite believe I have taken so many photos of them!

This one is a two spot ladybird up close and personal on a leaf. I love how the colours are so vibrant and I can’t believe how shiny the little bug is! Even the veins and patterns on the leaf look good. I really love how the left hand side of the leaf is slightly less defined with all focus on the ladybird and the leaf in front of it.

There are about 5,000 different species of ladybirds in the world. These much little beauties are also known as lady beetles or ladybugs because as suggested they’re beetles not bugs.

The natural light was so good that this image taken with my Nikon in macro mode, needed no post production.

Well that’s it, one ladybird photo for this post. I hope you like it. Do you have a favourite bug? They are wonderful little creatures that run our world and make no fuss whatsoever. As always thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!

Ladybird beetle {Photography}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography2 Comments

Hello friends!

This week I wanted to share some recent snaps of my new obsession -Ladybird beetles!! I’ve spent a few days outside watching these bugs and I wanted to take you with me.

Ladybird beetles, one of those little creatures that just gets on with life and never makes any fuss. I noticed a lot more them this year, which is always nice. Obviously they are a great aphid eater which helps the garden no end but they’re also incredibly beautiful.

Enjoy some warm and happy summer colours and plenty of ladybirds…

I let the garden re-wild a little bit for #nomowmay – it didn’t take long for nettles to overtake and the ladybirds were so abundant I ended up buying a feeder to make sure the little guys had enough to eat.

Continue reading “Ladybird beetle {Photography}” →

Bumblebee Photography 2022

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography2 Comments

Hello wonderful friends!

I’ve spent a few days outside watching these bugs and generally being at one with nature and I wanted to take you with me, so for this weeks post I’ve put together a little collection of bumble bee related photographs that I’ve taken this summer.

Bees have always been super special to me  – I try my hardest to take care of them and grow as many flowers as possible. They are so very clever and do so much good for our planet, that we really should be doing more to create spaces for them.

In a bid to do more for nature I decided to try and grow my own wildflower ‘meadow’ along the garden fence. I mixed all different seeds together and liberally sprinkled them into the trench – there were a lot of cornflowers (which are my favourite) that were multicoloured as well as nasturtiums, marigolds, californian poppies and various herbs like lavender, sage and rosemary.

As a lot of these plants are annuals I think I might try to strategically plant them next year as the corn flowers are so abundant that they’re cutting off the light to some of the smaller plants at the bottom.

Continue reading “Bumblebee Photography 2022” →

Large White Butterfly {One frame}

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Hello my friends!

I hope life has treated you well this week.

Well, its been four or five weeks since my last one frame post, and I thought I’d share this image – I was sitting in a grassy field recently when this little beauty landed near me! I’m pretty sure its a Large White (Pieris brassicae), it landed on a fox tail for maybe a minute before flying away!

When it comes to photography, I don’t use any special lenses or have a particularly high tech camera – I use a Nikon Coolpix L340 its a good little point and click camera (which I’ve had for ages) and although I’ve been threatening to upgrade to a DSLR for sometime, I like my L340 and know how to work it!

I was really glad to capture this image with quite a soft background and how the colours compliment the butterfly.

Well that’s it for this week, one butterfly photo. I hope you like it. Do you have a favourite bug? As ever I want to thank you for reading and wish you a wonderful week!

Holly Blue Butterfly {Photography}

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Hello friends!

This weeks post is a butterfly centred photography collection.

I recently got the chance to photograph a new butterfly, I’ve never seen one of these before and I wanted to share it with you. Its been flying around for a couple of weeks but has never landed long enough for me to photograph. Its a Celastrina argiolus butterfly or Holly Blue, and it was so tiny!

Isn’t he gorgeous – it is male the females have more black on the upper wings.

The undersides of the wings are just as beautiful, originally when I saw it I thought the little guy was probably a Common Blue but the small black spots on the wing undersides distinguish the two types of butterfly.

Continue reading “Holly Blue Butterfly {Photography}” →

Summer Beach {One frame}

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Hello friends!

A new beach landscape one frame  this week, it’s amazing how the light and weather can affect photographs. This was taken standing atop the dunes on a superbly bright day.

With the wave breaking and the super fluffy clouds against the incredibly blue sky that fades out into the horizon. I feel particularly happy with the way I captured the beach.

Being at an angle there’s just a little bit of dune sneaking into the frame gives the image depth somehow, there’s no post processing on this image – everything is more or less in focus and the horizon is straight. I kinda feel its one of the best landscape photographs I’ve ever taken.

So, that’s it for this week post! Part of the fun of a one frame posts is really focusing on narrowing it down to a single image – I really hope you enjoyed this little slice of paradise. As always thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!

A Day by the Ocean {Photography}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography2 Comments

Hello friends,

There is something timeless and soothing about the sea isn’t there? This week I wanted to share some snaps from a summer days spent at Perranporth Beach in Cornwall and I wanted to take you with me! 

You may or may not have know but Wednesday 8th June was World Ocean Day so with that in mind I hope you enjoy this seaside themed post.

It’s hard to believe that this picturesque photo of the sea lapping against the sand was taken in the UK, but it was (in fact it’s a beach in Cornwall). The Cornish light is something I truly love when it comes to creating art or taking photographs!

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A Beautiful view {One frame}

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Hello friends!

A new sea view landscape one frame this week as the weather has been amazing and I’ve been able to explore a little bit I thought I’d take you to my favourite place in the world. You really could be any where in the world, when I’m at this particular spot I like to think that I’m on a magical tropical island in the middle of nowhere! 

Isn’t this an absolutely stellar view?

This was taken in my favourite spot on the cliffs above Perranporth beach in Cornwall, but really it could be in the caribbean (esp when the weather is this amazing!!)

With the sea fading into the distance and the clouds revealing just a little patch of bright blue sky. there’s a tiny patch of sand but the main focus of the image is the little palms and the grasses of the dunes. I feel particularly happy with the way I captured this view – I even managed to keep the horizon level – which is something I always struggle with when taking landscape shots.

So, that’s it for this week post! Next week is the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II so I’m going to post something along the line of celebrating our Longest reigning Queen…I really hope you enjoyed this little slice of paradise, do you have a favourite place in the world? being close to nature is one of the most calming things in the universe and can really settle your sprit when stressed or down. As always I want to thank you for reading and I wish you a wonderful week!

An Afternoon on the Beach {Photography}

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Hello friends,

There is something ultimately relaxing about being on the beach isn’t there? This week I wanted to share some snaps from a few spring days spent at Perranporth Beach in Cornwall and I wanted to take you with me, so this weeks post is all about the beach and the happiness of being outdoors!

I hope these photos bring as much sunshine to your day as much as they did mine. Did you know that beaches are made from their surround and can be identified by the materials they are made of – like a finger print, how cool is that!

I love how the rock formations are really dark in the foreground, with a little light cutting through between the rocks and shining on the sand and water. Even my dog wanted to be in this one…

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Earth Day 2022 {Photography}

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Hello friends!

I’ve been on a bit of a tech detox from everything but my camera, which has been amazing – it helped that the weather was been good and that I didn’t want to be inside! But now I’m back in the real world and since today is Earth Day 2022 I thought I’d share some rather nice beach photography with you.

It’s amazing how a little bright sunlight effects the way we see the world. Gone are the dark bleak days of December here is the lush sunlight of April (until it starts raining of course!)

Anyway, enjoy some beach/earth related photography and a couple of ocean related pages from my sketchbook…

A few foot prints left in the sand as the saying goes “Take only photos, Leave only footprints” But just to prove that plastic will be with us forever…here’s some Lego that I found on the beach apparently it fell off a ship in the 90’s! I like to think that the mermaids were very happy when sea themed lego fell in the sea!

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Wildflowers in the spring {Photography}

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Hello my friends!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately but changing my url threw up a few challenges with my site and I though that it was best to get the issues sorted before posting anything else! But it gave me a chance to tweak a few things that I’d already posted and I’ve been able to redesign my avatar!

Seeing as this is my first post since the start of meteorological spring I thought I’d share some flower photography with you.

Its amazing how autumn is my favourite season until spring and summer arrive in full force and the beautiful colours of regrowth bloom and all the bees come back…even this early in the year there are bees in the garden and quite a lot of butterflies!

So, enjoy some floral photography…

These are two of my favourite plants to grow the little white daisy type flowers are camomile and the other is actually a runner bean flowers – they both attracted so many bees last year! Runner bean flowers in particular are so delicate and watching them slowly creep over the green house frame was amazing.

Continue reading “Wildflowers in the spring {Photography}” →