To make the most of the fantastic weather we were having this weekend, I revisited West Kirby Marine Lake with a photographer friend of mine.

There wasn’t as much activity on the lake as I’d seen on previous visits, but the conditions made it ideal for capturing some waterscapes with this being my favourite:

This image is actually a composite of 3 separate long exposures blended together using HDR techniques.  Personally, I think this composite represents what I saw more accurately than any of the single exposures.

There was another shots I was trying to get and it involved this boat:

As soon as I saw the light from the setting sun hitting the boat, I made a run towards it in my brand new pair of walking boots only to discover the sand was not quite as solid as I thought it was…

Oh well, at least I got to test them out properly.  Though, next time, I’ll take wellies too.

If you’re in the Wirral area and the weather’s looking photogenic then I’d strongly recommend a visit to the marine lake because there’s just so much to take photos of there.

As the lake is less than an hour’s drive away from me, before setting off, I check on the very handy West Kirby marine lake web cam to see what the sky is like and whether there’s any activity on the lake.

If you’re wondering exactly where it is, then here’s a useful map:

View Larger Map

Yesterday, 70 Superlambananas took a last stand to the public at St. Georges Plateau before being auctioned off for charity.  I went along, looking to get some shots of the Superlambananas that didn’t look like all the ones I’ve seen before.

As you can see, the exhibition was very crowded and I left St. Georges Hall somewhat disappointed that I wasn’t able to get any clear shots without people clambering all over the statues and into frame.

When I got back home and reviewed my shots, I was no happier, but that was before I turned to Photoshop…

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The rucksack style of camera bag is often favoured for reasons of comfort, security and its ability to disguise itself as an everyday rucksack that isn’t brimming with expensive equipment.  In terms of giving its wearer quick access to the bag contents however, it tends to lag far behind its shoulder bag counterparts as most traditional backpacks require the wearer to take it off before being able to get into the bag.

With a Lowepro Slingshot 300 AW or one of its siblings, this isn’t the case (or rather the bag).

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This is a blowing-my-own-trumpet post as one of my landscapes from Buttermere has been published in October 2008’s Digital SLR User magazine as part of their monthly reader’s pics competition and one of my squirrel shots is being used on the Save Our Squirrels charity website homepage and squirrelpox virus page.

No payment exchanged hands for these as I was just happy to see them being used and appreciated by others

Given the vast resource that flickr must have behind it, you’d think they’d fix whatever keeps breaking…