Sunday, January 15, 2006

Sunday Morning in Bushy Park

This morning, I decided to take my bicycle and ride into Bushy Park. On the way, I took some pictures with my new camera. I love having a number of lenses to choose from.

It was a lovely cool morning, and given all the rain we have been having, relatively dry. It was a bit foggy when I wet-out but it hadn't rained in a couple days so the streets were dry.

Getting to the park I passed a squirrel who would keep going down to the ground and find chestnuts then return to his perch in the crook of this tree to munch down on them. I was able to snap this picture before causing him to scamper off.

It was perfect weather for riding and it felt good to get out and get moving. There was quite a bit of mud on the unpaved paths in the park so I decided to stick to the paved paths as much as possible. Once in the park, I found this cool old tree. It had a lovely gnarled shape and interesting texture of the branches and trunk; I just had to snap some pictures of it. The one to the right I have converted to Black and White. I love the feeling you can get with the effect of just light and shadow. Color photography is nice, but I think that there is a real art to black and white. (If I only had a bit more talent, I could really take some nice B&W.)

Oh well, I am my own worst Critic!

Also in Bushy Park you will see deer, elk, and reindeer. There are herds of them allowed to roam as they please.

They are not quite tame (they still run from you if you try and approach them) but if you have a nice long focal length to your lens, you can get some good pictures of them.

The pictures I have uploaded were taken with my 300mm zoom lens so I could get fairly close in.

All in all it was a lovely ride. More details about the route I took will be forthcoming in tomorrow's blog entry. This one has become a bit long.

I hope your day is as pleasant wherever you are!

Don Bergquist - 15-January-2006 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, United Kingdom.

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