A Post That's a Bit Topsy Turvy ...

Hello there! It seems like ages and ages since I last did a post although it's really less than a week ago! I'm a bit behind with what we've been up to - but will do my best to try and catch up. I uploaded photos so that I could get going with it - all the photos have come up in the wrong order but I can't be bothered to try and place them in the right order - sometimes with Blogger you just have to go with the flow or else it will get upset that you're trying to undo what it thinks is right and get rid of the whole photos - I've had it happen, so best to -  let it be. Can hear The Beatles song of that name playing in my head!

The above photo shows the carnations on the living room window sill. They've been sat there now for over two weeks and are still going strong.

Approaching two weeks ago now and we had some snow. Not as much as we had previously but enough for a covering. Then the rain came down pell mell and that was the end of that bout of snow. It has been getting colder and colder the last few days - it really has been bitterly cold.

So here goes the topsy turvy post! A week ago I attended my usual photography course - the photos taken are at the end of the post instead of here! Afterwards I went to RHS Wisley with a friend from the course. We had been a few weeks previously - I had then taken photos on the automatic setting as my camera seemed to be playing up but really I think it was me playing up rather than the camera! That and the fact that I hadn't realized that cameras take some time to acclimatise - it is hot in the glass house where the butterflies are and very cold outside.

The butterflies are not a permanent feature - I think that they will be gone by the 24th February, 2013.

When we had visited previously we didn't see as many varieties of butterfly as there was this time round. We were so glad that we had returned.

This one above is a Big Billy.

Using my Butterfly Spotter Guide I would say that this is a Tiger Longwing.

Many butterflies had thoughts of love in mind! It was only a day or two after Valentine's after all!

I think this is an Asian Swallowtail - many of them look alike!

A closer look at the Asian Swallowtail!

Closer still!

A Common Mormon.

I think that this is a Clipper - blue subspecies.

An African Swallowtail.

This one is not on the Spotter Guide but I love the green and pink combo!

                                                  Anyone any idea what this butterfly is?

Another Asian Swallowtail.

Ah, yes - love was definitely in the air in the Glass House!

And now, back to the Photography Class - it was a day with lots of sunshine with a chill in the air. We were told to go down to the river / canal and to take photographs using the flash compensation - this is where you use the flash to prevent shadows appearing. For example, when you take a portrait photo on a bright day - you get shadows appearing on the face but you can also use this technique when the camera may get confused as it is bright and  there are shadows!

Last week we took photographs of reflections and I seemed to have caught the reflection bug!

Some more photos using the flash compensation.

The following photos have been taken using this mode as well - not really happy with the above but have included it anyway!

You can probably see what we were up to better in this photo as I was standing in the shade and further down the river you can see that it is bright. Without flash compensation the front of the photo would probably be too dark.

Experimenting.

One member of the class had brought her dog along and she posed nicely!

And KP attended the Valentine's Disco at her school! The scarf is not dirty - it's where she has sprayed too much perfume on it!

Until next time,

June.