Tags: photography

Sno fun

Tags: ambulance, photography

many times to many people i've described having to wipe my feet when leaving someone's house... this time myself and my crewmate jet-washed each other's boots after leaving this house!!

the house owner had been on the floor for a while and whilst still alive was quite dehydrated and had added her own filth to the already pungent aroma of over flowing litter trays and rotting food. it was almost impossible to stand anywhere without treading on an empty bottle or in something soft... the pictures don't do it justice.
the smell in the kitchen was so bad that i nearly vomited.

the alcoholic owner couldn't look after herself, let alone her 2 cats, so today i reported her to the RSPCA.

click on the picture for more... if you dare.

Tags: ambulance, photography

still, at least the accommodation was comfortable...

Tags: photography

--
Sent using a Sony Ericsson mobile phone

Tags: photography

this insect was in the toilet at work the other day.
i hit it pretty hard, but only stunned it enough to take a couple of photos.
i don't know much about insects. anyone else have a clue?

Tags: photography

yesterday was Tony and Helen's wedding. and of course i took the opportunity to play around with a couple of tonemapped HDR images (like the one above).

the service was in a nice little church down by the river in Bisham and was possibly one of the most stern wedding services i've heard. normally weddings are a joyous occasion, but the minister, vicar, preacher or whatever made it all doom and gloom... i'm pretty sure he even said at one point "let any who lead either party astray be struck down in the eyes of the lord" or something like that anyway.

then it was on to the meal which, as seems to be the norm at weddings, was about 5 hours after we all reached the venue. thankfully someone had planned for this and there were waiters and waitresses going around with plates of very welcome snacks.

for the meal, i had a starter of salmon (smoked, terrine and chopped with stuff) which was lovely, lamb for the main which came on a plate with beans and was served with potatoes and more of the same crunchy beans... the lamb itself was delicious though.
the pudding was a different matter, it was a summer fruits crumble type thing. mine was virtually inedible as it just tasted like sugar had been mixed into neat Ribena, totally unlike the person sat next to me who had a deliciously light summer fruit compote... oh well, you win some you loose some!

speaking of loosing some, what is it with blokes having tittie free stag do's? surely it's part of the experience?
i'm now on strike as far as stag do's go, unless we visit a tittie bar at least once...
all i can say i watch out mooney, you asked me to be your joint best man with your brother last night, rest assured on your stag do we will be seeing as many breasts as is humanly possible! we might also do some sort of activity thing too, i haven't thought too much about that though...

the evening included a steel band, a disco, a hog roast and the imbibing of much alcohol...

Sonning Fireworks were there in force and credit goes to Mr Nellie who did much of the setting up on the day on his own and produced one of the best fireworks displays i've seen!
http://www.sonningfireworks.co.uk


more of my photos of the day can be seen here
http://flickr.com/photos/big-ashb/sets/72157606140826280/

Tags: photography

over the weekend i was lucky enough to go to the British Formula 1 Grand Prix at Silverstone.

my sis and I went for Saturday and Sunday courtesy of the Motor Sports Association, which had it's own benefits in the form of a back stage tour. didn't get into the Paddocks or Pits, but did have a cuppa in Race Control!

for Saturday practice we were in Luffield B Grandstand, for the Qualifying i met up with Little Dave and his missus who were also there and we watched from Club corner.

Sunday was a 4am start, which was a good idea as we were in with the unwashed masses and had to battle for good 'seats' - we brought our own seats and a giant fishing umbrella to stay dry and pitched up at the end of the Hangar Straight nest to Stowe corner at about 6.30 am.
it turns out that was an excellent choice of pitch as that's where Lewis Hamilton over took Heikki Kovalainen to take first place.

there was racing all day from formula BMW, Porsche Super Cup, GP2 and various others. and then the Grand Prix at 1pm.
the weather was the only downside, but my fishing umbrella solved that for the most part (except when i nodded off between races and woke up with a wet leg and a trainer full of water!).

all in all a fantastic, but tiring 2 days!

Tags: photography

this is my first attempt at a Tone mapped HDR image (clicky) and i think it's come out rather nicely.
better in fact than the next few i tried!

Tags: photography

yesterday we went to Go Ape in Wendover Woods (clicky) for part 1 of Bubble's stag do, the activity bit. described to me as a high ropes course in the trees, i thought i'd rather keep both feet on the ground and someone would need to take photos. so i left early in the morning armed with my dad's camera and some long lenses.

as it was, the course didn't look too bad, slowly increasing the difficulty and height of the obstacles and the amount of safety lines meant that falling was an impossibility. i could have done the course, but i think the only parts i would have enjoyed would have been the zip lines (aerial runways) that were at the end of each series of obstacles.
so i don't really feel like i missed out.

afterwards we had BBQ in the woods and then departed in search of beer. stopping in several pubs on the way back to Marlow and surviving hippy's near miss in the car... we got to Marlow and had a bit of a mini pub crawl, some Chinese and lots more alcohol.


i caught the end of the F1 Grand Prix in one pub... how did Hamilton not see the flashing red light and the big red stationary car?! that's totally screwed my standings in my Formula 1 Fantasy league.

Tags: photography