The Photography Training Blog

Yorkshire for tea

2014-03-13T02:23:00.001-07:00

We travelled up to Yorkshire where you can travel from an inner city area to beautiful landscape in a matter of minutes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire

A panorama view just outside Keighley West Yorkshire. Taken at lunch time so the light was not that kind

I would like to improve my landscape photography, particularly around the most beautiful county in England, Northamptonshire and therefore considering purchasing some filters

http://www.leefilters.com/

And if you want to be inspired to travel and see some great views please check out the following website.

http://www.lik.com/

Frogs Rule

2014-03-11T14:07:00.001-07:00

The below photo is the first nature photo of the year. Thankfully frogs have returned to the garden pond and we are awash with spawn. One of the happy couple who contributed to this is pictured below. I think it is, using the BBC amphibian identification guide, a common frog.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/22120791

Please see the link and if you disagree then please let me know. The newt population of the pond is also increasing but because they only come to the surface for air and then dive down again I will not be able to take a photo.

I only cropped the photo and did not enhance it in anyway. I left the plant with the reflection in the picture as it added context to the frog rather than being a distraction. Discuss.

Sunday 9 March - A cruel day for some

2014-03-10T12:09:00.003-07:00

I enjoyed taking and playing with this photo. I used a flash to balance the light from the window and spent some time positioning the knife and olive oil.

I liked the bead of sweating running down the face.

But his sacrifice was for a good cause and enjoyed by all.

http://theshiksa.com/2012/10/03/all-about-butternut-squash-how-to-peel-seed-slice-and-prepare/

2014-03-08T14:37:00.001-08:00

Saturday 8 March 2014

Using the outside light, a reflector and the darkness I was able to produce the portrait. It is a shame there are still shadows on the face. Using photoshop I blocked a protruding ear that was a distraction.

The photo of the style was on my new regular run. It is a five mile cross country track including this style which had no fence either side of it.For those still interested in my running the most recent half marathon was 2 hrs 2 mins and 21 secs. I was disappointed that I did not break the 2 hour barrier. I will apply for another marathon and hopefully ensure it is flat.

We have purchased the nutribullet to improve our diet, we bought it from Amazon and it has now become part of my daily diet and my first impressions is that it is good.

http://www.nutribullet.com/

2014-03-07T10:41:00.000-08:00

This is not the greatest picture ever taken but what this has done has got me thinking about so much to do with photography.

Trying to capture a pin sharp ant with shadow - the contrast of its surroundings, editing it with layers and contrast etc etc.

This photo also tells me summer is coming soon with ants frogspawn butterflies and bees it the garden.

Love it.

2014-03-06T08:41:00.003-08:00

For the last couple of weeks I have been on holiday in Canada and then back to work on nights and with Jet lag it has been difficult to keep the photos coming on the blog.

So below are a few from the back log which again have not been edited. I will add descriptions soon but I know the demand to view will be great

Path leading to chapel bit boring needs a more dramatic sky and vulture flying over

The abbey in Malmersbury at night, it would have been better if I had a tripod and it wasn't raining

Series of photos on our recent trip to Canada. Enjoy.

Not in Canada - back at work - not edited but I like the snake like hose leading to the fire engine

No Time to edit Part 2

2014-02-10T03:46:00.001-08:00

9/10 February 2014

The attached photos were taken on a trip to a hospital to see a relative. I regard the experience as the first time I have faced persecution for taking a photo. As I took the pictures of the front entrance a young security guard came running up to say that this was private property and I could not take photographs. I apologised and said that I would never do it again.

I must in the future try and take more interesting photos of buildings using natural and artificial light sources

The apples were taken in a bed pan which makes a good fruit bowl. Just wish there were more grapes and bananas to make it more interesting

Life is quite hectic so I have not done any editing apart from the basic crop and contrast. The apples was done on fully automatic in elements 10.

No time to Edit

2014-02-07T14:38:00.001-08:00

6/ 7 February 2014

Photos from a day trip to Malmersbury. There has been no time to edit to make them more interesting

The keys to taking a good photo from an online course I did several months ago on lynda.com

Balance
Simplicity
Point of focus
Fore and back ground (I think)

I intended to take interesting photos but it was raining the light was poor and I had no tripod. I will use photoshop elements to see how I can improve what I have done. Watch this space.

The abbey at Malmsbury taken from a carpark with one hand holding the camera and the other holding an umbrella!!

360 Photo Valentine Card

2014-02-05T23:05:00.002-08:00

5 February 2014

The intention was to take a photo that describes the stormy weather battering the UK (It won't last long) However I spent most of my day off playing with photoshop elements trying to create various birthday cards. And as Valentine's day is fast approaching I thought I would do a card for wifey and the below effort is it.

Please note the black border and the 2 inch 'mount' - I was impressed with the result. I just hope wifey will be, The photo was taken at Stoke Bruene Canal centre. http://www.stokebruerneboats.co.uk/

The image was on a post and was cropped to produce the below. The writing was obviously added using elements.

Photography used to be about the taking of the picture and for most of us the sending of the film to Bonusprint and hoping for a good result.

For those keen photographers, who I admired, they would develop their own photographs. Now the photoshop world is available for us all to edit, print and publish our photographs. And as I develop my photographic skills I will, in tandem, develop my photoshop skills. Unfortunately this does not come naturally to me so I am continuing to search Youtube for help. One excellent company is lynda.com but I did not use it enough to warrant the monthly subscription - but well worth a visit.

lynda.com

I will continue to use the monthly Digital Photo magazine for help and youtube to improve my editing. Any suggestions will be gratefully received

360 Photo Flowers

2014-02-05T01:16:00.002-08:00

4 December 2014

One does get inspired looking at good photographs on the web and flowers do seem an easy object to capture. Particularly indoors where there is no wind to move them about and take them in and out of focus.

Again as with most things in life, it is easier said than done and here are my efforts.

And talking about life, the below verse is somewhat relevant as the poor rose that reluctantly agreed to pose for the photos is now somewhat dishevelled. It is past its best and now en-route to the compost heap.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying.

The challenge for today is somehow capture the storms that are battering our green and pleasant land. Although I should have plenty of opportunity as the jet stream is settled in its current position and is quite content to bring depression after depression into the UK.

With regards to the above efforts, wifey was impressed however I am still disappointed that I can not get sharp focus and looking at the photos on the blog perhaps I used too much editing so they look unnatural.

360 Photo, Bon Appetit

2014-02-03T11:42:00.004-08:00

3 February 2014

Photographing food is quite difficult as the point of focus is so important.

I used an F11 stop to have a large depth of field and used a tripod with the subsequent slow shutter speed. But even now the food is not that in focus and is rather disappointing. But I must add that the vegetable curry was absolutely delicious. It is as good as it looks.

I did like the black hob and reflection in the saucepan.

After taking the photo I checked the website for inspiration and instruction. I should have done this first. The BBC had a page on how to take photos on food and I thought the images of food on Charles Ward site were brilliant as is the rest of the photos.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21235195

http://charlesward.com/site/photographer/food/

360 Photo Birmingham

2014-02-03T07:12:00.002-08:00

30/31 January 2 February 2014

I have been in Britain's second city for the last few days. I did take pics with the phone with the noble intention of uploading them via the phone and/or tablet whilst away. With a poor wifi in the hotel and not really knowing what I was doing this was not possible.

The first photo shows quality of the hotel we were staying at. The missing letters and no directional arrow depicts the cheapest hotel we could find. As my mum says, "You get what you pay for."
The other photographs were taken on a run early Saturday morning

The statue is of Joseph Sturge. I had never heard of him either but thanks to the internet now you can.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Sturge

The photo for the 2 February is a selfie whilst running along when I returned from Birmingham. For those still interested in my running I did four miles at an average speed of 8.35 mins per mile. Quite pleased but I need to keep this pace for a further 9.1 miles.

And finally the below link is photography I aspire to do. Wonderful and very emotive photographs that tell stories and get people to linger and look.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2014/01/26/russian-mother-captures-atmospheric-photos--family-portraits-of-sons-on-farm

360 Photo Windmills in my Mind

2014-01-29T06:53:00.001-08:00

29th January 2014

The Windmill at Brill Oxfordshire

I assume this is the most photographed windmill in Oxfordshire, I doubt if there are many! This was taken at night in the wind and rain with a 30 second exposure. The lights in the distance I believe are Oxford.

The photo was taken in raw with an idea of using photoshop to improve. I did sharpen and desaturate of colour and that was about it. The light gray on the horizon and surrounding the windmill 'arms' was too difficult to darken so I left it as it is.

I really need some photoshop tuition as I struggle using Youtube tutorials.

I have found the adobe instructions online so hopefully this will assist.

http://download.photoshopelementsuser.com/subscriber/foundationvideos/03_Editor_Layers_Part1.mov

Photo 365 You learn a lot from badly taken pictures

2014-01-28T14:49:00.002-08:00

28 January 2014

I had hoped going for a walk in the winter afternoon I would produce a good landscape picture featuring a bleak foreground and dramatic sky. Unfortunately I made assumptions that shooting in raw I could capture anything and make it look good on the computer.

This was not the case. The below photo of a tree and a field and a sky was taken underexposed. I played with various levels and produced a picture that I was disappointed with. It does not look good, it looks artificial and the tree which was very underexposed remains in the shadows.

The tree was meant to balance the rest of the picture and again I do not think it works

If I used layers properly then perhaps I would have done better. Learning layers in elements is a goal and if anyone knows of a website that can assist then please let me know.

I must try harder

360 Photo - Birthday Cards

2014-01-27T13:52:00.002-08:00

27 January 2014

We have a large family with numerous nephews and nieces. The challenge for me this year is to produce a birthday card for each of them. And todays offering is three cards I quickly edited in elements so they could be printed and sent.

I had planned to take a photo of a large numbers of fallen apples. Similar to the linked image. However I took the camera minus a memory card, so today no photo.

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-fallen-apples-image6519604

Disappointed I returned home to practice my editing skills using Photoshop Elements 10. Over the year this will be something I want to progress in. Editing does not come naturally to me so I need the practice. The yellow candle, taken at a birthday party yesterday, was sharpened with elements and the below cow was lightened to remove the shadows on the face. I am pleased with the results and look forward to having them printed

Any recommendations on good programmes on youtube that help with editing with elements will be gratefully received.

Unfortunately the kayak card is grammatically incorrect so I will have to send the card to someone I do not like; that will be my brother.

365 Photo The Eyes Have It

2014-01-26T14:38:00.003-08:00

26 January 2014

I took the camera, my Nikon 600 and realised how much I have to learn about this camera. Over the next few weeks I will commit myself to really getting to know the camera and its flash so I can feel comfortable and confident with it. Even today as I used flash and aperture priority it took several attempts to get an interesting photograph.

I like the picture as in black and white I am drawn to the eyes and as we all knows the eyes are the window to the soul. And this poor soul is obviously concerned about the football score update she is receiving on her mobile.

Tomorrow is a day off so hopefully I will be able to spend some more time composing and editing.

And if you want more photos of eyes to look at use the following link

http://www.photographyserved.com/Gallery/Your-beautiful-eyes/428809

365 Photos Huntington Disease

2014-01-24T10:31:00.002-08:00

24 th January 2014

Today I went to visit my friend Mick who is in Hospital suffering with the awful genetic condition Huntington Disease. I have seen the gradual deterioration of him over the years and it is so difficult for him and his family.

I am running the Silverstone Half Marathon to raise funds for the Huntingdon Disease Association, so if you want to know more then check out their website

http://hda.org.uk/

It was difficult taking the picture - there was little light and I had to use the camera flash - hence the shadow.

I am determined to get to know my camera and be very comfortable with it. Time was short and I did use the preset portrait mode. All I did was to remove one blemish and lose the colour. Perhaps it would be improved with cropping. Any feedback would be appreciated.

365 Photos Laced Up and no where to go.

2014-01-23T14:40:00.002-08:00

23 January 2014

Laced Up

A quick photo inspired by Practical Photography. It is very difficult to train laces, and I will try and do better next time. Because of coming home late there was no time to edit or amend the photo. I considered it a priority to have the photo published on the blog.

I do need to practice with the lighting. I used a lamp and a flash from the camera. There is a lot to learn to get a good photo.

365 Photos Continue 22 January 2014. Pegged Out to Dry

2014-01-22T13:22:00.001-08:00

Wednesday 22 January 2013

It has been a busy day and rushing back to eat and watch some tele has left little time for practising the photography. So I did some still life in the kitchen again using the camera to try and obtain pin sharp still life images. The pegs were lying around and so I used them with a pea taken from the freezer to add some character to the picture. (What ever that means)

I do need to improve my photo editing as I do not really know what I am doing. All I do is the contrast and light choices. A vine

I prefer the lower image as the underexposure adds a threatening atmosphere. The middle green peg looks intimidating. Not a peg you would want a fight with. I may try and do another still life image with other kitchen utensils tomorrow and see what I can produce.

365 Photos Continue

2014-01-21T11:16:00.001-08:00

Tuesday 21January 2014

It has been a hard day. For those wanting to know how the running is going I am glad to say that I ran 7.45 miles on a hilly route and ran 9.14 mins per mile. I was very pleased and hopefully if the weather is kind I will break the 2 hour mark for the half marathon.

The response from my father, who I met after the run, was "I could walk faster than that." Oh well!

I have recently purchased skipping ropes and really enjoy the exercise. I am learning techniques from youtube and there are some very impressive routines which I aspire to complete.

I must be careful with my knee and rest the old body.

The weather was frosty this morning and there was little wind so I went into the garden to take pics of a spider's cob web. Now spiders are not know for being that intelligent. (Do they have a brain?) You would not want one as a team member in a pub quiz but I am impressed how they build their webs. Praise God for Evolution.

I used the live screen on my camera to try and focus on the droplets hanging on the gossamer thread but it was so difficult. A breeze not noticeable to the human skin still moved the web about so I could not get the pin sharp focus I desired.

I will have to practice to see what I can do. I used a tripod together with the camera timer to reduce camera shake but the pics are not as good as I wanted.

For those who want to skip, or for our american friends, jump rope - check the following youtube clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyEXnFeiJAI

365 - A photo a day

2014-01-16T06:25:00.002-08:00

20 January

A portrait of a son of a friend. It was very sunny so I used the reflector to prevent shadows on the face. It is a shame because if I had ensured all the sun was blocked and turned the toy so its face was showing then a reasonable photo would have been good.

No editing apart from a crop to remove the overexposed area, and some removal of spots and crumbs

I did try it in black and white but the face became washed out and boring. A great toddler - friendly and content which I think is captured.

I am starting to try and use photo editing including layers to see how I can improve my knowledge and the final result.

19 January 2014

After a few months I thought it was time to get back on, not in, the water. The sun was setting, the sky was clear there was a good opportunity for a good silhouette of a kayaker on the river. Unfortunately by the time we got on the water the sun was set

I used the waterproof camera on programme setting and I could not change the setting wearing my anglers gloves.

So below is the shot taken with little control. The only editing was to reduce the shadows. The colours were not enhanced.

The image was cropped using the rule of thirds.

Other pics were taken but the light was not good and so they were very grainy.

A good time paddling, one day I would like to get a waterproof box for the SLR and see what I can do.

18 January 2014

The last few days have been tiring with working nights and not sleeping. So to celebrate the end of something, not too sure what, we had cheese and biscuits.

I have never really had port before and I am now a fan. It is very rich and comforting. The camera was on a small depth of field and focused on the label to make it more interesting and that is it.

The object in front of the Port is a block of stilton cheese. Possibly the best cheese in the world.

http://www.stiltoncheese.co.uk/

Some have described the relationship of me and wifey as that as stilton and port. Like eggs and bacon we naturally compliment one another. It is a shame that wifey sees herself as the Port.

Please visit the Stilton website - some interesting photographs that I may use as inspiration in photographing food.

I will try and do something more interesting tomorrow.

17 January 2014

16 January 2014

Is it possible to publish on this blog a photo a day, to record the year - from 16 January 2014 to 15 January 2015?

It will be a challenge and at the end of the year I will be able to do a photo book which will surely be a delight to many. Ideally I will use my Nikon cameras but if I struggle then my smart phone will have to assist. I was tempted to use some old photos and pretend they were done today but being a man of integrity I know that would be wrong and wanting a good night, or days, sleep I will seek to publish on this blog a photo taken on the day listed.

This morning I walked to Tesco's to get a skipping rope as somehow over christmas I lost mine. Hard to believe but its true. I have been skipping to warm up before kettle bell exercises but after seeing some videos on youtube I have been inspired to become an excellent skipper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlbM7Mew0Ys

Unfortunately Tesco did not have a rope, however I did end up spending £10 on stuff I had no intention to buy. I decided to walk to Tesco's rather than run and I took the camera and tried to take some good pictures of people, dogs and vegetation in the woods as I walked to the store. All have been deleted and resting in the trash waiting for the click that sends them into oblivion. The below pic is the only one remaining. It was taken at speed. I saw the bike approaching. I knew the camera was on shutter priority and with a panning motion took the picture.

In photoshop elements I sharpened cropped and removed the colour. I still have to learn how to use layers in the photo editing. I do keep practising and watching youtube clips but I am a very slow learner.

I will be taking the Nikon V 1 on my run tomorrow so there will still be photos taken on my regular runs.

The Real Trots and Weight Loss

2013-09-06T05:58:00.000-07:00

Family Photo of my Kettle Bell Weights. The small one is used for the Turkish Get Up exercise. Hard work - look it up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGRBvom4Zrw

For those who watch the video the instructor and I have similar physiques. Just ask Wifey.

A lot has happened since my last blog. I have bought a new mobile phone, a Sony Xperia L and it has changed my life. I now can do face book where ever I go, does life get any better than that? And more importantly I have now downloaded the mapmyrun app.

I had a number of apps to choose from but I decided to opt for MMR as all the other apps asked if they could contact all my contacts and I did not want this to happen.

MMR has been so easy to use my only problem is that it thinks I am female. It will not let me change my sex which is rather disconcerting. I have used it on three runs and it dominates my thinking whilst jogging. Prior to August 20th when I bought the phone I would listen to music and meditate on the run. Now every few minutes Xperia gives me a split time and tells me my average speed in a dalek like voice.

"You have travelled 4.19 miles, total time 39 minutes and 4 seconds average speed per mile 9 minutes 21 seconds ...... not bad for a girl!"

http://www.mapmyrun.com/my_home/

I have used the camera to take pictures which will be used on this page.

On a rest day I ran a 12 miler to my in laws house. According to MMR it took 2 hours 27 minutes which is rather slow going. I decided to go slowly to ensure I had the energy to do the run. I consumed vast quantities of cakes and biscuits before hand and took a bottle of diluted pop with me. It was an eventful run.

Concerned about the lack of light as I ran on roads I found a discarded,lightweight, sleeveless yellow jacket. Probably it had been worn by a ground worker who had thrown it away because it was too dirty but it was good for me.

As I was coming towards the end of the run and feeling tired and aching I jogged past a lay-by with a couple of travellers caravan occupying it. I watched a woman dump a black bag of rubbish in the ditch.

"Why don't you put it in a bin, why dump your rubbish?" I shouted at her.

"What?" She replied.

"You're dumping rubbish.." I then made a derogatory commented that cannot be published.

As I jogged on I was conscious of my aching limbs and slow pace. I then imagined the reaction by the woman's husband to my comments and my speed rapidly increased along the desolate country road until I reached the relative safety of the next village

(We can always run faster than we think we can it depends on who is chasing us.)

Cycling in Wales

I have recently done some cycling with a mate in Pembrokeshire. In this Welsh speaking area there are some serious hills. We went to peddle around and visit a Christian retreat centre for some peace and quiet. Unfortunately there was a group from an inner city church visiting. As I peddled up the hill to Ffald-y- Brenin and for those who visited they will know how steep this is, the first thing I did was to stop some children throwing stones at the cattle. It must have been good fun for them but it was not conducive to a peaceful contemplative time. In response to this experience I wrote a poem which is attached.

With regards to the pub mentioned this is perhaps the best pub I have ever visited. It is like going back to 50 years, when I was still in nappies. More to follow in the next blog

Weight

I have now reached 78.4 kilos which is good. However this may be more to a couple of days feeling ill and not eating anything rather than the diet and exercise plan. My next weigh in will be before the park run on Saturday.

Also enclosed are a couple of photos I took in Norfolk.

The pics are black and white and silhouettes. Two aspects which I enjoy and hopefully makes one look at the image. The above picture was taken at Hunstanton. It is a shame that the man coming out of the sea looks like he has only one leg and is hopping.

My next goal for the photography is to use my Flickr account and upload edited pic on this site and share them.

The Road to Ffald-y-Brenin

By Mike the Bike

We happy few, we lucky two, on bikes

Went to south Wales for a couple of nights

To peddle around on coast and shore

And although tired we’d often say “there’s more

Cycling to do,”

On the road to Ffald-y-Brenin.

So we camped each night and ate much porridge,

And in Graham’s van there was room for the storage

Of bikes, and cookers and a six berth tent

That allowed the us the time and it really meant

That we could cycle

Along the road to FFald-y-Brenin

So on a cloudy, wet and sunshine day

With a smile and a laugh we’d make our way.

With Graham behind shouting, “ Show me the meaning of speed, go like the wind,”

We would make our way and at last ascend,

The steep steep road to Ffald-y-Brenin.

So we got to the top and we walked about

“Where are you God,” we would shout

It was noisy and sadly there was no sign of God

Was it because, Graham, in the chapel had food in his gob?

So disappointed we cycled away from

The road to Ffald-y-Brenin

So rather depressed and not very gay,

We free wheeled downhill and made our way

To Wales greatest pub and drank much beer

And saw in the corner God and said, “Why are you here

Away from the road to Ffald-y-Brenin?”

So taking our seats we sat at his table

And he said to us, “I am glad that you’re able,

To join me at Bessie’s the place I love best,

Away from the noise, it’s where I find rest.

Close to the road to Ffald-y-Brenin”

So we will return to this Godly place

And with the meaning of speed we will race

To the pub and the centre and there meet with God

And ensure there is now no food in our gob

On the road to Ffald-y-Brenin.

Cod Liver Oil, fruit and nuts and evaluating priorities in life.

2013-08-20T01:24:00.000-07:00

I live quite an active life. My mind is usually buzzing about the next thing I must accomplish. Do I do photography or kayaking, what about the garden, the veg needs watering. Should I spend time with wifey or go for a run. (I am trying to get her jogging so I can kill two birds with one stone.) I haven't seen my parents for sometime and I do not want to lose out on my inheritance.

I am also making plans to visit Uganda in February and someone has asked me to take photos at their wedding in October. At home Wifey and I are preparing for a fitting of a new kitchen in preparation of me finishing working for the police in 2015. It is our intention to rent our house so we can have a little overseas adventure. Hopefully together.

So life is hectic, we are like two hamsters in the same exercise ball not too sure where we should be going. But we are two hamster who enjoy each others company and have fun even though we do occasionally knock into furniture.

And with regards to the half marathon in less than four weeks I am now looking for sponsorship to raise funds for the Huntington Disease Association. Please see earlier posts about the HDA and my friend Mick Billingham who suffers from this awful disease. For more info look at the website

http://hda.org.uk/

Mick Billingham and me at St Andrews Hospital.

Friday 9 August 2013

This morning I met my parents for breakfast at Silverstone Golf Course. I consumed with a hint of guilt a full english breakfast that included fried bread. Yesterday I had a food binge when I munched my way through two large packets of Walkers Cheese and Onion Crisps, (Not the children size) and a mars bar. It was not my fault as I was working a 12 hours shift, I had eaten only a bowl of partly cooked porridge for breakfast. I did not have my fruit and nut mix to eat when I got the sugar shakes so I raided the snack vending machine.

I continued my binge at home when after dinner I ate 3 apples pies with custard. They were exceedingly good. Again this was not my fault as Wifey had bought the pies and left them alone in the cupboard.

On Saturday my parents came to visit and after they left I ran around a big block 6 times. According to my online distance calculator each lap is 1.34 mile which equates to 8.046 miles.

Great news is that the knee seems to be okay and I had no urge to make like a bear. A great relief for me and my bowels.

On my return home I had to get fluids and salts into my body so I had a large drink of watered down pepsi. Not too sure how healthy that was but I do feel refreshed, after some stretches I feel quite good. I feel relatively confident that I could run an extra 5 miles!

Diet

I was annoyed that when we met for breakfast my mother commented on wifey's weight loss. Nothing was said about my improving physique. I wanted to tell them, over breakfast, that a woman in the control room said I looked brown and fresh but I thought it would not have been a good time.

To battle the sugar rushes at work I do eat a lot of mixed fruit and nuts and to ease the pain in my joints I have started the daily taking of cod liver oil and Glucosamine Sulphate. I am skeptical about what benefits I will feel but Guru has advised that I take these supplements. Time will tell and I will use the achey pain levels when I walk down stairs in the morning as a guide to any improvements.

I am please with my anti blister socks. Only problem is that I bought one pair and they are beginning to smell. It is again not my fault as they are not being washed as regularly as they should; and I am not in charge of these procedures.

Aims

My aim is to get below 12 stone. To achieve this I must lose 3 kilos. (Sorry about mixing imperial and metric.) This is the weight of my smallest kettle bell so it should be achievable. Problem is next week I am cycling in Wales with my mate Graham. Although we will doing some serious cycling there will be some serious consumption of solid and liquid carbohydrates.

The curse of the Ford Transit and Jerry and Benny's Ice Cream

2013-08-05T13:27:00.001-07:00

It has been an eventful week in my fitness and weight loss programme. It is interesting to note how easy it is to put on weight and then so difficult to lose it. For wifey's birthday treat we were going out for a meal. However as time was short the meal ended up at home with pie and chips for me and a healthy stir fry and a few stolen chips for her.

My regular trips to the scales showed a massive increase in body mass for me the next day. It does seem so unfair.

The following day I was courageously injured on duty. I am worried that this bloody injury could impact my training programme.

Driving north to Kettering I entered a congested roundabout. In front of traffic lights I saw a transit van stationary, it had broken down. I parked behind it and activated the blue light. I went to the van and joined the driver looking under the bonnet. I pretended to know something about car mechanics and made a few pointless observations and it became apparent he knew less than I did. It was no good, so to clear the road we had to push the van off the roundabout. The driver, his mate and I pushed the van off the road on to the grass. We were stronger than I realized and at speed the van mounted the kerb and headed with momentum toward my police car. I thought that if anyone was recording this on a phone, the sight of a police man running round a van as it collided with his marked car would make a great youtube clip.

To prevent this I started to run round to the back of the van only to trip up over the drivers mates foot and fall forward into the oncoming traffic. I landed on my right knee just above the place 3 pins were added when I broke my knee a few years ago. It was agony but I could not show the pain.

"You alright mate."

"Yes fine no problem"

"I thought you were about to be run over."

"Yes so did I but it's okay."

"You sure you're alright, you're limping and are you crying?"

"I am fine, never felt better. Must go"

And with that I drove off with grazed knee and damaged pride and a nice egg like swelling on my knee. The good news is that I think I can still jog. Time will tell.

After I got home I thought I deserved a treat. There was some Ben and Jerry's cookie dough ice cream in the freezer. I deserved a couple of scoops but unfortunately I ate the who tub. It was not my fault as once started it was impossible to stop.

1 August 2013

The months just fly by and here we are in August when it should be June. I went for a 40 min Jog this morning and despite some pain in the right knee the run went well. I followed Gurus advice and did a different route. As my calendar is now complete I am looking for a different place I can regularly run passed and take photos once a month to record a year at one, iconic, beautiful spot.

And concerning the photography, I went to Silverstone on Sunday to take a photograph with the theme of colour. I took a number of photos of both cars and people.

Late in the afternoon I saw these beautiful women working for a tyre company all dressed in black playing with their ipads leaning against a bright orange wall. Great, I thought, this will make a great picture. I'll be bold and ask to take their picture. All good so far until I tried to focus. My Nikon was distracted by their beauty and would not focus and therefore I could not take the picture. I felt too embarrassed to spend any time trying to reset the camera, so I pretended that I had taken a picture and walked off thanking the girls for their help. The picture taken here was done away from the girls and missed the impact of them the black dresses, their shadows and bright orange background.

4 August

For the stats I am now 79.9k and I ran 7.5 miles in 1 hour 20 mins. My objective for the programmed long run on Sunday was to finish, I was not concerned about the time. This week the training programme include a 40 min tempo run so this will hopefully improve my speed.

A blocked path that lengthened the long run by 0.5 miles

And the good news with regards to my injury is that apart from slight discomfort in my right ankle knee and hip I seem to be able to continue training.

On the advice of a radio pundit I purchased a pair of Anti- Blister Socks from Sports Direct. The pundit said that runners will buy an expensive pair of running shoes and not consider what quality sock to wear with them. Good socks improve running, he said. There will be an update in the next blog.

http://www.menshealth.co.uk/living/gear/put-a-sock-in-it-9781

The rise of the Mediterranean Diet.

2013-07-28T01:49:00.003-07:00

July 28

I am spending a lot of time each day jumping on and off the scales to see how much fat I am losing. I am now bordering on the 79k/80k boundary. To be consistently below this 80 k mark has become a psychological goal for me. My diet is that of a guinea pig rather than your average omnivore. Salad is now my staple diet with nuts and dried fruit fulfilling my need for sugar, yet my weight does not drop as I would have expected it to do so. The belly fat does seem very reluctant to go. I am sure it is very comfortable, it has been there a long time so it stubbornly resists my diet and exercise eviction tactics.

When I returned to work a female sergeant commented on my changed appearance.

"You look good," she said, "You look brown and fresh."

"Brown and fresh like a what?" I asked

She remained silent and said, "I don't know" she replied

I am sure she was thinking of something but would not say.

So today it is 6.00 am and I am off for my programmed 60 minute run. Last night we went out to celebrate Chaz's birthday at an Italian Restaurant in town. It was a great time with friends and good food and I now feel inspired to look at mediterranean diets to eat well and healthily.

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/how-to-follow-the-mediterranean-diet

It is now 6.08 hrs and it is time for the run. Hopefully I will keep the cadence at approx 180 an hour with no toilet stops.

09.15 hrs

The run went well with one toilet stop. I hope and pray that the curse of the JT's will be history by the time I run the Northampton Half Marathon in 8 weeks time. Apart from that the run went well with the opportunity to take the final calendar picture in the field of ripened rape.

I came home and did my stretches and touch of kettlebell weight exercise.

Photography Stuff.

When I grow up I want to be a photo journalist. To be able to take pictures that tell stories and reveal the emotions of peoples lives is an ambition, or a pipe-dream, of mine.

(PS the expression Pipedream comes from the dreams of those smoking opium in pipes)

My on line tutor encourages me to be bold and go and take my camera into places and into peoples lives to record what is happening.

The below website is mentioned on the course.

http://www.paultaggart.com/home/

And below is a photo from Cornwall I am pleased with. A small aperture to obtain a good depth of field with a long exposure to have the necessary light to capture the image of the 'mediterranean like' port of Porthleven on the South Cornish Coast in July. It captures, for us, the warmth of the day and calmness of the night. Thankfully it does not record the incessant call of the bloody seagulls who would not stop screaming

My next assignment on the course is to look at the use of colour in an image. So, watch this space!