Large Red Damselfly

Let's shrink things down even further than a miniature sausage dog.  It's finally got warm and the dragonflies and damselflies are making an appearance.  Here we have a female large red damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) having a bit of a rest on a white Spanish bluebell (yes, I know that a traditional English one would have been more in keeping, but explain that to the fly).  I couldn't find a male anywhere.  Being red all over, the males look even more striking.  I'll try and track one down when I get the chance.

Hand held, no flash, Sigma 105mm macro, surgeons hands!

Macro photography of insects gives you a completely different view of them, the details you can see are quite amazing.  You do get a nasty shock if a bumble bee flies in front of your lens though, I nearly jumped out of my skin!

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More Dog Photography!

There seems to be a bit of a thing developing here with dog photography, I didn't appreciate how popular it is.  I've got a greyhound to do at some point as well, I just hope it's an old lazy one that likes to sit around in the sun all day...

Meanwhile here are some more of the little sausage doggy that goes well with mustard, although he's grown quite a bit since I last photographed him, he must be nearly four inches long now.

These were taken on Eastbourne beach when the tide was out, although he had to be carried over the pebbles to reach the sand as most of the pebbles are larger than him.  By lucky chance we discovered that he has a bright future ahead of him as a professional snake wrestling stunt dog:

Head down, tail between legs, this seems to be his "I've been a bad doggy and must be punished" look:

Funky beach dude dog just checkin out the surf:

OK, so I'm grubby, your point is?

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Catriona and Mike's Wedding at Rochester Cathedral

Rochester Cathedral is one of my favourite wedding venues and Catriona and Mike were lucky enough to be able to get married there - you do need to fulfill certain requirements.  Catriona got ready at the Bridgewood Manor Hotel in Chatham, which was also the venue for the wedding reception.

Although Rochester Cathedral is incredibly impressive, it's not so large as to be overwhelming, which actually gives it a sort of nice friendly atmosphere.

There had been quite a bit of rain over the previous few days, so doing the group photographs in the garden was not a sensible option - high heels and wet ground are not a good combination.  Luckily you are not short on space inside and the steps leading up to the organ make an impressive backdrop.

While everyone made their way to the wedding reception, Catriona Mike and I went down into the crypt for a few shots and a quick Bella Lugosi impression (from me that is - it's a crypt, it has to be done). 

The girls from Catriona's hen-night told me that they had "acquired" her lipstick as a joke. This is apparently Catriona's most prized possession (apart from Mike obviously) and she was quite put out to think that it was lost.  So before the big lipstick reunion ceremony we decided to take it on a little photo tour - at the bar, cooling of in the ice-bucket, etc.

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Lady in Red

Just a quick one this time.  I photographed a wedding at Eastbourne Registry Office yesterday and got this shot of the Mother of the Bride getting ready.  I loved it so much I had to share it straight away - isn't she great:

I don't have time to do a full post at the moment, but will get back to the rest of this wedding and a few others at a later date.

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Nick Clegg Visits Eastbourne

The Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, visited Eastbourne today on part of a  tour of the country to try to convert any last minute waverers in the final few hours before voting starts tomorrow.  Eastbourne is one of the marginals that the Lib Dems hope to win and given the number of poster they have up around the town, I'd be amazed if they don't.  The current Conservative MP, Nigel Waterson, has made himself rather unpopular with many voters by supporting the introduction of parking meters and traffic wardens in the town.  I feel this may well come back to bite him tomorrow...

There was quite a reasonable turnout from the public along with a strong media presence.  If the film crews were hoping for a "microphone moment" (just to add a bit of balance you understand), the closest they got was that it kept cutting out every few seconds.  This must have been pretty irritating for Mr Clegg, although he certainly didn't show it.

Having seen both David Cameron (very smooth, very convincing) and Gordon Brown (very... well, very Gordon Brown), it was interesting to see Nick Clegg at work.  He comes across extremely well. 

The only thing that concerns me about Nick Clegg doing so well is the idea of a hung parliament.  It's not the politics of it that I have sleepless nights about, it's just that if Gordon were to somehow get back into No 10 he would grin at us.  I don't understand why his image consultants let him grin, it's creepy.  You could use his grin to frighten bad children (although I'm sure that legislation has already been introduced to prevent this).  It's the sort of grin that only Roald Dahl could have thought up.  It's like something from a 1950's B horror movie - "The Grinner from the Black Lagoon", "Grinzilla" , "Attack of the Grinning Leeches".  I think the answer is to be "tough on grinning, tough on the causes of grinning".

The only minor fly in the ointment for Nick Clegg's visit is that a local Lib Dem activist was arrested last night for allegedly stealing Conservative party posters from around the town - not the brightest move on the eve of your bosses arrival. 

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