This time last year I was tidying up loose ends and handing my work over to my colleagues. After Christmas and New Year I started to think about how I would occupy my time. I bought a DSLR camera with the generous amount of money donated by my former colleagues. I took a few photos using the automatic settings and was reasonably pleased with the results. The other options on the top dial had me scratching my head, so I enrolled in an online Digital Photography course run by the Open University.
That course didn’t start until October. In the meantime, I cast around somewhat randomly for something to occupy my time. I bought a guitar, tuned it, and put it in the corner of the room. I took out paints and sketch pads but lacked inspiration. Strangely even my interest in reading had waned. Daytime television felt like giving up so I got on my bike and tootled about Belfast.
It’s quite a bike-friendly city. Most cars give you plenty of room, although pole position at the lights is ignored by cars parking themselves on top of the bicycle road markings.
It’s not just ladies who lunch. I do like a leisurely seafood chowder or a bowl of Irish stew around peckish o’clock. Alternatively, I’ll pick up some ingredients and work the magic that is Mary Berry to fashion something highly edible.
Now I’m in week 7 of the photography course and often take my new camera on my tootles. There’s a lot of reading material that I have not caught up on, but I have printed it all out so that I can return to it when the online content disappears. I have taken some photos of murals in the city centre and used the Adobe Lightroom editing software to tweak various settings and crop images.
Here’s a recent effort…
odespinner 