CanalCam Sunset Decisions, Decisions

The sunset was just beautiful this evening, I took more pictures in one walk than I have ever taken before, and now I can't decide which of these four I like the best, each has it's unique features that I just can't decide between.

Top left has a plane in it which adds nice detail
Top right has a central focus point with the sluice mechanics of the lock
Bottom left has ripples as a fish jumped out of the water
Bottom right has nice proportions of reflection to land to sky

Oooh, decisions, decisions - I dunno - you tell me!

Better than Real

As we walked this evening, the sun was just setting, and at times it was very still, making beautifully clear reflections
Spot the deliberate mistake in this picture, it makes you wonder which world we are in!

You might need to click on the picture for the larger version.

CanalCam Christmas

It's definitely Christmas time - I heard Noddy tell me last week, and you know, it's not Christmas until Noddy says so!
I saw another celebrity on the HNC today, paying the Pennine Moonraker passengers a visit.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I love digital photography

The cool thing about digital cameras is that you can take a million pictures of the same thing, all slightly different and pick the best one.

Earlier this year I was out walking the dogs one evening and happened to notice a bird high in the branches of a tree with the moon in the background and the last traces of a pink sunset.

A few careful steps to the left a bit and back a bit (could have ended with a sploosh in the canal!)
This was a difficult picture - maximum zoom of 300mm, dark, with a slow shutter speed, Rufus and Ava jumping up at me to try and get some attention didn't help either!
Firing off 30+ shots in the hope that I managed to hold the camera enough for one of them to be non-blurry, this one is the best of the bunch.

Canal Celeb

I'm sure I met a celebrity, whilst out walking the dogs today. Rufus took a liking to his Jack Russell.
But, it's a bit of a lame story as I've been wracking my brains but can't remember his name or anything he was in.
Not a sign of a minor celebrity - so much as a sign of bad memory!
Anyway, if anyone was out on the HNC about 3:00 today and saw a celebrity around Diggle/Uppermill area please let me know who it was!

Ode to Old Towpath

Alas. the old towpath surface was burried earlier this year, not quite six feet under, more like about half an inch actually.
The old surface did have its puddles and was fun to negotiate in the damp, but it also had something that the new surface is sadly lacking - puddles.
I'm sorry to say that the new surface just seems to turn into a grey-brown sludge in the damp.

So, in memoriam of the puddles - here are some pictures of them!!






OK, I admit the last one is more of an ex-puddle as Ava zoomed through it, nowadays, she and Rufus return slighty less damp and slightly more grey-brown and sludgy.

Not Batman

It's been pretty dark and wet for the last few days, so the blog has been similarly dark, but not quite as wet.
Still nothing new to report today, so thought I'd add in this pic I took of this little chap earlier this year. Quite festive and all that - ho-ho-ho!

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud

I think it's fair to say that Winter is definitely upon us.
This summer, the HNC towpath has been resurfaced, but I'm not 100% convinced that this new surface stands up to the wet weather any better than the old one did.

The old one did have a few puddles that you could skirt around, but didn't turn into an unavoidable quagmire like this.

Rufus and Ava don't seem to mind the mud though.
Pictured below is the old surface two locks up on the same day, you can see the difference.