031: Frost Crystals

f/5.6, 1/40 sec. ISO 100, 50mm M42, 51mm extension.
This ice had formed on a dowel which protrudes slightly above the surface of a garden table. It was icier before I went indoors to get my camera and set up the lens, and I caught this not long before it disappeared in the morning sunlight. I could see it melting as I composed the shot, so I had to work quickly.
I have made myself a small bean bag for the very purpose of resting a camera on for difficult hand-supported shots, but this time I didn't have it with me so my wooly hat had to suffice. It was only just chunky enough when folded a couple of times and the camera needed more than a little hand support so I turned on shake reduction. I presume it did some good at 1/40 sec. as the image is just about acceptably sharp. I could have done with a tripod and a bit less direct sunlight. Turning up to ISO 200 wouldn't have hurt, either.

030: Black Radish

It won't be long before winter is over, but a few of these dark roots still lurk in the garden, refusing to be categorised easily in the kitchen. They are appreciated when cooked, but actually making the decision to prepare them is not a light one. Not only do they have to be banished from he bosom of the Earth but I need to consider a suitable way to cook them beforehand. Their hearty, robust nature [in structure and taste] does not sit well with many delicate, subtle ingredients. Their strength and stubbornness makes them probably the most wintry vegetable I can imagine.
But I can see at least a couple of these being roasted in the near future - so that's a plan already.

Photo settings were f/8, 1/100 sec. ISO 100. M42 50mm, 9mm extensions.
I haven't had much time or opportunity to take any genuinely decent photos today, but the frozen snow from yesterday added some interest to potential outdoor scenes. I think the radishes possess a great variety of textures and shapes, if not a great deal of colour. Spiky fresh leaves sit on top while gangly dead stems flop below them. An algal bloom encrusts the root tops, highlighting both the root's skin texture and the time it has spent in the ground. A scattering of crusty snow finishes off this picture - not a great image, but one that I can relate to.

029: Butternut Squash

This is the kind of squash you don't get in the shops: One with a proper stem attached. I particularly like the stems on the remaining ones I grew last year - chopped off with a few inches to hang them by or hold on to. There are also the characterful, unexpected warts that supermarkets would frown on. A harmless reminder of the wholesome uniqueness of home-grown food.
I have three squashes left in the cupboard, including this one. Every squash I cut open will make me feel a measure of remorse for destroying an object of understated beauty, but I know that I will enjoy eating them much more for the effort it took me to grow them.
What is not seen of this particular fruit (squashes are berries) in this shot is its short heart-shaped form, quite unlike most butternuts. I expect it's partly that way because it didn't grow as much as it could. I blame the slightly late planting and newly-dug clay soil on this.
I haven't made up my mind if I'll grow butternuts this year, but I'll definitely be having a go at growing "Turks Turban" squashes. Also perhaps another unusual variety if I have the space.
The photo was taken with the same settings and setup as yesterday (see post.) I enjoy seeing the combination of warm, earthy tones with smooth and bristly textures. The way the squash feels in my hand is definitely invoked by this picture.

028: Red, Green & Blue

These acrylic paints are in the colours we would usually associate with the additive primary colours, but here they are displayed as subtractive ones. (Although only at the origin of the paint blobs - we see them now as a collection of RGB pixels.) The green doesn't look particularly bright, but it's just the pigment mixture in the paint.
The red doesn't look so neat because it was thicker than the others and took a bit of 'styling' to make it's blob look more like the other blobs. Now the edges look a bit wet, but at least it's the most blurred. The blue looks neatest, so that's good that it's in focus. It's got a nice gloss to it.
Shot at f/8, 1/180 sec. ISO 100, low power flash, 27mm extensions, also a slight crop and neatening.

027: Plastic Orc

More an objective study than a composition, this small plastic orc stands proudly on the pink ground, his weapon glistening with the blood of his enemies... Does he like pink? Who knows. I thought it worked in an unusual way.
The figure concerned is from an old HeroQuest set that I painted [some] of the figures. Maybe I'll get round to painting some more of them. I think I'll have to buy a size 000 brush first, as I want them to turn out a little better than this one. (you can really see all the imperfections when looking this closely.) I like very much how I did the bloodstain and the drybrushed areas, but it's not all neat, especially around the gloss yellow. Better stick to matt finishes in future.
I took this at f/16 on an old Super-Takumar 50mm f/2 lens (with an 8mm extension ring) and all other settings as usual. This lens seems to give some dodgy results exposure-wise, but I like using it occasionally.
This is only one half of a picture of two similar figures, but I cropped it as I thought just the one looked better. I also removed some dust spots. I'm not very happy with the shadow, but I don't think I could have improved it much. Also the background has a nice gradation to it.

026: Pen Tops

I felt like taking a picture of some pens today. Again, an expample of not having a satisfactory range of colours, but there are plenty of differing forms and details to make up for it. The camera was tilted to the left and I regarded the image as landscape through the viewfinder, but the auto-levelling function decided it was a portrait format shot... I could have rotated it, but I kept it as it was as I prefer it.
I also could have dusted the pens a bit first. There's a surprising amount when you look closely.
Settings were f/7.1, 1/180 sec. ISO 100, low power flash, 18mm lens extension. I used a generous amount of white reflectors around the bundle of pens, which were tied together with a rubber band and stood in a mug.

025: Glass & Metal

Another combination of metal and glass here, but using much more magnification this time - a detail of the rear section of a cathode ray tube from an old oscilloscope. The extreme close-up of this detail is quite industrial-looking, like laboratory equipment.
I used a total of 46mm of lens extensions for this image (including M42-PK adapter), at settings of f/11, 1/180 sec. ISO 100, low power flash. Afterwards I increased the contrast and sharpness, and also corrected the rotation slightly.
I got curious about the magnification ratio of my thrown-together setup. The width of the glass rod on the final uncropped image is 1128 pixels. The 10.2 Megapixel Sony APS-C CCD used by the Pentax K10D is reportedly 23.5x15.8mm. Raw Therapee outputs a full image at 3888x2608px, so that works out at about 165px/mm.
With a ruler I got an approximate measurement of the actual rod as 7mm.
If I presume the ratio is 1:1, the glass rod's width would be 1128/165 = 6.84mm.
So the approximate magnification ratio is 7/6.84 = 1.024:1. That's near as anything a 1:1 ratio. Pretty good considering I paid next to nothing for this lens. The detail is very sharp at the plane of focus. I reckon the contrast's a bit lacking, but this may have been because of glare from the flash light - I had it reflecting at a few different angles in this shot.

I really should get out my bellows with a reversed wide-angle lens and start shooting at some near-microscopic levels.

024: Hyacinth Blooms

It's gloomy and raining. But today the hyacinths have come into full bloom, despite having been nibbled my hungry mice a few weeks ago.
The blue ends of the fresh flowers have a lovely satin sheen - they look like the kinds of things that squeak when you rub them together. The subtle variety of blue tones are very pleasing.
The image was shot using the usual manual flash macro setup I have been addicted to for the last week or so, this time with one 16mm extension ring. Settings are f/9, 1/180 sec. ISO 100. The background was white, but now slightly blue - most likely because the flash fired mostly on the flowers and reflected blue light to it. The background probably should have been closer, but I think the tint is fine.
I took some earlier photos of hyacinth flowers (2008, I think,) but those were not taken using a flash and it clearly shows. The colours are crisper, brighter and more contrasty this time. Especially with the distinction between the blue and violet ends, which was murky without flash. The white balance is quite accurate now - I remember that I had to tweak the earlier photos a lot to get them looking okay, and even then they were not quite right. I'm getting to appreciate the judicious use of flash light a great deal more than when I started using a digital camera a few years ago.
This is also the first photo I have posted that I photoshopped - but only to clone stamp out the most obvious dust blobs. I couldn't live with keeping them on this image - they made it look dirty when it should all just look crisp and pure.

023: Ladybirds on Holly

A lucky find today.
I was doing some pruning at the end of the garden when I discovered some red spots on the stubby end of a holly twig, partly obscured by a bushy growth of leaves. I didn't expect to find ladybirds somewhere like this in January.
I set up a tripod right next to the twig and mounted the camera with flash. After much fine repositioning (a requirement of very shallow focus range) I took this final image at f/7.1, 1/180 sec. ISO 100, low power flash. I pointed the flash forward with a foil reflector to angle the light down, and used a piece of white polystyrene underneath to reflect some light back up.

022: Bright Paint Pots

A colourful collection of small paint pots lie in a drawer, waiting for their crusty lids to be prized off again one day. Some of them may now be too dried up to be of use again, but their bright tops still attract my eye when I open the drawer.
Shown here are a collection of the more vivid ones, most of the others being dark, fleshy or earthy military-type tones. (I'm sure some of them are getting on for fifteen years old.) I took several tries at this photo before I was satisfied, the reasons ranging from the exposure to the position of the pots. I quite like the result, although I would have preferred to have a better selection of bright colours to use. But that's my fault for not buying them, I guess.
f/8, 1/180 sec. ISO 100, low power flash, 50mm M42 & 8mm extension ring.

021: Steel Screws

Continuing on my current theme of high-magnification photography, I decided to get close up on some small steel screws of the type that secure computer components in a case. The base surface is a recycled car tyre mouse mat. This has a good grip that the upside-down screws hold well to, and also an interesting fine texture that's somewhat like extremely fine asphalt.
Exposure settings are f/5.6 1/180 sec. ISO 100, low-power flash. Again it's full manual with the same lens as before. This is another image that I managed to get right first time, so I'm pleased with that too. I simply shot it and uploaded the JPEG straight from the memory card.
The only thing I'm not keen on in this photo is the out-of-focus highlights at the top left. They are a little harsh and clearly hexagonal, but they don't distract too much and I like hexagons anyway.
Expect to see more hexagons of various types...

020: Cotton Buds

f/16, 1/180 sec. ISO 100, low-power flash and white refelectors. This sort of image clearly highlights the presence of dust paticles on the camera's sensor. I postprocessed this (adjusting white balance, sharpness and exposure,) but did not edit out any imperfections.
Apart from that it's a revealing image, showing the spider-silk-like strands of cotton on the tips. The soft bumpyness would look quite dreamy if a wider aperture was used but I wanted to show up the imperfections this time, and I also found that the flash's power was difficult to control as everything was white. It's flash-lit from above and slightly behind which seems to work well as it casts soft shadows on the front of the buds, enhancing the texture at the side it's seen.
I should consider cleaning the sensor sometime soon. It doesn't usually show up as I don't normally stop down my photos too much, but I do sometimes spot an annoying blob here and there.

019: Light & Glass

A tower of glass and metal stands before you, radiating an eerie central glow through transparent walls of irregular detail. Imagine if any buildings actually looked like this close up - it would be fascinating, but you might wonder how stable the structure would be.
It's actually the side of a lamp, made from a brickwork-like lattice of glass pieces held together with a lot of wire. An 11W CFL light sits in the centre, possibly biasing the colour output (although I still don't think it looks quite green enough.) The light falls off quite attractively at the edges, but not due to lens vignetting.
DA 18-55 (@26mm,) f/13, 1/10 sec. Postprocessed with +0.66 EV, some highlight compression, a little straightening and white balance adjustment. In hindsight, it may have also done well with a little added contrast.

018: Aloe Leaves

The leaves of a diminutive variety of Aloe plant, seen close up. f/4, 1/180 sec. ISO 100.
I managed to make this shot work to my statisfaction first time, which is surprising considering the exposure and flash were all manual. I also tried the same M42 lens I was using before, but with an extra 16mm extension ring - so that compounds the unpredictability of exposure. I'm sure it's partly down to luck, but I know that I'm getting better at estimating the correct exposure with the particular setup I am using.
The JPEG image wasn't quite perfect stright out of the camera. It was just a bit soft on the focus details, so I added a some sharpening and +5 contrast.

017: Almonds on Yellow

Three almonds on some yellow paper. Curiously similar to yesterday's photo in that everything in frame is the product of a tree. (Omitting colourings.)
We're operating in quite a higher key than the cat photo, but with a similarly minimal composition. Also the same Cosinon M42 lens was used - it's becoming quite a favourite of mine for its sharpness and clarity.
This was shot a f/5.6, 1/180 sec. with low flash setting and a white reflector overhead. I originally just poured a heap of almonds in front of the camera and took a crowd shot, but decided that was boring. So I went back and made this simpler arrangement, which I prefer much more. I could have spent longer adjusting the almonds' composition, but I've been in a hurry to get this post up before midnight. I think it looks good as it is.
And yes, yellow backgrounds are good behind brown.

016: Lamplite on a Wood Kitty

A cute wooden cat drinks its bowl of wooden milk. On a wooden floor.
I used the same lens again (see yesterday,) but an LED torch to illuminate the kitty. I was intending initially to use flash. The room was dim, so I put a torch down beside it to help me focus manually. But the image in the viewfinder changed my plan immediately - no flash this time! I barely adjusted anything, it was just right as it was. f/4.5, 1/5 sec. I rested the camera on a wooly hat, and the "floor" is the wood-veneer top of a speaker cabinet.
The result is very much to my liking. It's pretty good considering how basic and contrived the setup was. It's not so much a testament to spur-of-the-moment thinking, but more about how unexpected developments can make a real positive difference to the outcome of photo.
Being away from home today, I am relieved that I remembered to bring my camera's USB cable. Otherwise no photo!

015: Allium cepa

The humble onion is a real thing of beauty when you look past its pungency and tear-inducing tendencies. Not only do they taste delicious (especially when cooked slowly,) but they show off a great variety of the smoothest, most curvaceous forms in your fridge - or garden. Then there are the layers...

Anyway, about the photo. I attempted this shot initially with my Tamron 70-300 lens, set to 240mm in macro focus. I wanted a flash from the left, and the 70-300 can't focus at less than about a metre - so I had to hold the flash in my hand and set it off manually in a long exposure (1/4 sec. with a two-second timer.) The results looked OK on the camera's screen, but when uploaded they exhibited signs of the dreaded wobble-blur. Clearly rubbish.
So I changed back to the lens I used yesterday (50mm M42 & extension ring) and was able to get practically the same shot, but sharper and wobble-free. It's much easier to adjust the framing close up. Also, because the lens was right up close I could mount the flash back on the hotshoe - all it needed was a bit of aluminium foil taped to the top and folded over to get the same flash angle.

f/5.6, 1/180 sec. The background is a black box folder, that when painted with flash light resembles a one of those blobby grey portrait backcloths. So I suppose that makes it a portrait of an onion.

014: Shards of Toffee

I'm savouring a piece of this delicious stuff as I type this.
Toffee is a curious confection when broken in such a way, as it resembles shards of obsidian - or even Neolithic flint tools. Although it's definitely the opposite of sharp in the mouth.

There are many ways of capturing such a simple scene like this, and this is just one of them. I thought the blue paper would make an interesting contrast with the golden brown toffee, but I am not so sure now. I reckon a yellow background might have been better, just to give an extra golden glow to the sugary chunks. Also a lower angle and wider aperture could have been more desirable to get a shallower depth of field, and pick out certain details on a few bits.
But it's just one photo, No more. I'll save any experiments for something else tomorrow.

013: Hyacinth Roots

Another snowy-day image from indoors - this time a manual macro shot.
The hyacinth stems themselves are only just starting to appear, but the roots are nice and long. They resemble noodles from a distance, but close up they posess finely a wrinkled texture rather like that of an elephant's trunk. Between my fingers, they have a very similar texture to beansprouts -but I hesitiate to try eating one for fear of any potential toxicity.
All the detail in the photo looks ever so slightly distorted and soft as it's seen through the glass of the bulb jar, but is still quite sharp. The bubbles are not set in the glass, but ones clinging to the inside of the jar.
Equipment used: K10D, Cosina 50mm f/1.8 (M42), 16mm extension ring, M42-PK converter, Canon Speedlite 300TL.
I placed the jar standing on a black background and the flash firing upward and forward into a white reflector above. I tried a couple of shots at f/5.6 and the flash on 'M Lo' but the focus was difficult to get accurate, so I tried f/16 and 'M Hi' flash power. This gave more detail and a deeper field of focus, but a little less contrast, so I increased the contrast a little bit in postprocessing. and here you have it.

012: Latex Gromit

Gromit is looking much the worse for wear.
It was found in the same squashed and twisted state last year, being stored away in less than favourable conditions. I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of the hideous thing - I put it down to an innate curiosity for the morbid and strange. It still stands on a shelf, proudly flaunting its decrepit freakyness.
Of Spanish make by "Lanco," it is good old natural latex. When found, it was still slightly gooey in places where it had deteriorated. It's generally dried up now, and is quite brittle all over. A close inspection of the face reveals many cracks and some mysterious coloured spots.

I used a black velvet backdrop and some polystyrene-reflected flash light for this shot. The result is a quite a detailed account of [one side] of its right-angled deformity. Quite a touching, if morbid portrait of a neglected object.

011: Red Peppers

Yet another quick flash shot, but still a satisfying one. These peppers definitely shout "Italia."
If somehow I thought to shoot them with the stems in view subconsciously - it would almost certainly be because I was painting an Italian-flag-like design today. And yes, there are some very slight dents visible on the fruit, but the arrangement is pleasing, the colours are bright and the in-focus details are suitably sharp. No postprocessing was done with this image, just as was yesterday's.
These peppers are the long, extra sweet variety that you can cut the bottom tip off and pretend it's a pixie hat!
Well I do, anyway.

010: Chocolates!

Aah, chocolates.
I'm sure some people wish they were a complete foodsource, but not I. Why..? They wouldn't be special if we ate nothing else! I see the maker's logo is noticeable, although I'm not advertising them. Honest. (They're nice enough, but not my favourites.)
This shot was done using the same basic flash setup as the potatoes, but with the black chocolate box paper underneath. This was to give the shot a dark base for richer contrast and shadows, and to keep the chocs clean. They are for eating, after all.
I keep a few large sheets of white expanded polystyrene around when I do these kind of shots - I find them very useful for holding in one hand to bounce the flash around at arbitrary angles. Cheap and effective.
Oh dear, I just noticed a fingerprint on one of the chocolates. Not so perfect now, but nevermind. And there's green fringing in places too, that'll be from using the lens wide open. But who cares - I'm tired and they look delicious anyway.

009: Mystery Potatoes

Potatoes, for me, are appealing not only on the plate but also in the eggbox - where they wait to be planted in March. Rescued from a paper bag in the cupboard, these were sporting thin and straggly shoots. Removed of these, they sit patiently on a windowsill while the sunlight assists them in growing some thicker and greener shoots instead.
I wish I knew what variety these were, simply for want of knowing. For another year these will be my "Mystery Potatoes."

I took the photo with a bounce flash at f/5.6 - very close up. The Pentax DA 18-55 AL is good for having a very close minimum focus, but it can display a curious grainy foggyness in out-of-focus areas. It's definitely different to other lenses I have used. This can work as a nice effect sometimes, but in high-key shots such as this one you can see the contrast falling off quickly with the blur.
...But I might be wrong about this, as I've known bounce flash to interfere with contrast at times.

008: Sauerkraut Lantern

What better to do on a miserable and freezing cold weekday evening than take experimental flash photographs of jars from the kitchen?
A third-eaten jar of homemade sauerkraut was the champion today, with [relatively] deep tonal range and a pleasing variety of shapes and patterns. The preserved cabbage resembles glowing marmalade when lit from below.
I had to use a long exposure here because the flash underneath the jar (which is in itself mounted on another camera's hotshoe) needed to be manually fired, as I have no off-board flash cable adapter. So it was a case of open the shutter then fire the flash before the shutter closes. Works for me.
Then the exposure had to be compensated by +2 stops in editing as I still felt there was not enough visible low detail in the image, even though that blew out the highlights a bit. An Acceptable loss.
Shoot RAW, and delete bad ones later is my policy.

007: Glass Twiglets

Today has been a day of long icicles. As soon as the snow starts to become slushy and tiresome in places, brittle little stalactites begin to grow under the eaves of roofs and the base edges of cars.
When I come across nearby icicles, I snap them away with glee and contemplate their curious forms - like a twiglets made of glass. I would even entertain the practice of using them as lollipops, if I hadn't first considered what the meltwater ran over before forming them; It would be tantamount to licking a shed roof or car bonnet. We all know what birds like to do to cars and roofs.

If glass is too risky or irresponsible to smash with gratuity, then ice makes an excellent substitute. It even disposes of itself! Just keep it outside and away from people's faces...

006: Snow Anemones

The snow is still here, and small icicles continue to form from the meltwaters.
It's been difficult to find good subjects today, despite the profound change that an unusually precipitous cold snap can bring. Maybe it's because I find the local area too familiar (or maybe it's just a bit dull,) but I'll put it down to the cold, a slight lack of enthusiasm and the fact that I went out once already today - just not with my camera.
I went to buy some onions and crackers on that short trip. Some of those badly-needed onions were cooked slowly in butter until light brown, slushy and sweet, which when added to lentils and some leftover roast vegetables made a very warming thick soup-stew. Just the thing for days like this. So I'm justifiably compensated, as well as sated. I could have gone out twice, but I wanted to take time over making an interesting lunch today.

Japanese anemones still provide a pretty display in winter, long after they have dried up and fallen still. Flowerheads stubbornly cling the wispy stems and provide a ghostly and beautiful sight when coated in frost or swathed in thick snow.
When shooting them like this, I find that the paler the backdrop the better, and as wide an aperture you can get away with to select details, smudge others and impart a satisfying sense of depth. But not so wide that only one or two heads can be seen. This one was shot at f/2.8.

005: A Magical World

The predictions came true.
Through the kitchen door I glimpsed a fantastic sight, all dim white and still. What was this alternate realm? I had little idea, but ventured forth boldly nonetheless.
Wearing my warm coat, gloves and hat, I felt the yielding soft crunch of the white ground underfoot. For a moment I was afraid that my feet would keep sinking until I was buried, but the ground was reassuringly solid underneath. The air was silent. Was this a dead world?
I was armed only with my trusty camera, my mismatched [but useful] flash and a cheap tripod to stand it all on. I quickly set it up in what I considered to be a good spot.
As the snowflakes continued to fall around me I tried a simple quick flash exposure on maximum power - not much to be seen save the foreground. Then I tried a long exposure of ten seconds with a burst of flash light, and behold! The image you see before you tonight is the result of a combined effort of a quick flash and a languid smothering of reflected sodium light.
Satisfied that I had accomplished what I ventured out for, I hurriedly collapsed my tripod and returned back to the welcome warmth of the house. Who could know what tomorrow would bring?

004: Frosty Leaves

Frost fascinates me endlessly. It's a winter sprinkling of icing on the cake of the Earth. Not always welcome to some, but to me an opportunity to notice how so many forms (natural and atrificial) we normally pass by are transformed into objects of curiosity and awe. Ther earlier you go out to see it the better, but the approaching sun is also welcome for the light it contributes on the otherwise shadowy winter scenes.
In exchange for being freezing cold, we get in return a beautiful layer of ice encrusting every exposed surface. A lawn, once springy and green, is now a blueish crunchy mass that remembers our footfalls. A leaf becomes a microscopic crystal garden. A spider's web turns rigid as though it were glass.
This laurel leaf takes on a texture utterly unlike its normal smooth, waxy surface.
Gradually the sun will wipe across, highlighting the ice and enhancing its brilliance, its heat slowly erasing the frozen display like an invisible etch-a-sketch.

I thought it would be a good idea to link to this video, as it seems appropriate to what I just mentioned about ice melting. Though this is faster and rather disco-like. I like the visuals and music very much. Have a watch with a good pair of headphones.

According to the weather forecasts, a generous helping of snow is expected tonight and tomorrow.
I must remember to dial in at least +1EV so my results don't turn out grey.

003: Mushrooms of Wood

A group of mushroom-like carvings fashioned from tree trunks, which I came across these in a clearing in some local woodland. Do these serve a purpose or are they merely the result of a forester's idle fancy? Either way, they caught my attention today with their unexpected forms.
They somehow seem like stakes with safety caps.

That same walk in the woods this morning was filled with small birds. We could hear two woodpeckers tapping on differently sized trees (judging by the difference in pitch.)
Plus a list of other birds we spotted:
Jay, Woodpigeon, Great Tit, Willow Tit, Blue Tit, Robin, Blackbird, Chaffinch (possibly.)
Our toes got slightly frozen again today, it's been an unusually cold winter. All the better for ice photos, though.
I didn't take any photos of birds today as it was too cold to stand around and wait, and I wasn't in a waving-a-large-lens-around mood. Besides, the birdwatching hide was a long way off and on the other side of a main road.

002: The Ice Man

Behold, an ice man! Found standing on a frozen pot tray in the garden, how it formed is a mystery to me.
I fancy it shares an silhouette with Batman, if only it was opaque. It rained after I took this photo, so I expect it's metled now.

Ice photos are a good example of how still photography doesn't just capture a frame in time, but how it can preserve a seemingly evanescant form, albeit mummified in ones and zeros, coloured dyes or silver.

Did you know that black radishes taste just like Brussels sprouts when cooked? They're both winter brassicas...
I was very surprised by this, which I didn't notice until today. Have the frosts strengthened their flavour? Maybe it's because they're older roots, or maybe it's just because I cooked them differently. It was a curry today, before I just put them in stir-fries.
They could be an alternative to the sprout for Christmas dinner, if you can tear yourself away from tradition.

001: Boats on the Canal

Canal boats
Moored peacefully in the cold
Their frost melts slowly

A Photo A Day Keeps the Black Mist of Creativelessness at bay. (Presumably.)
OK, The idea isn't an original one; but baking potatoes isn't either. Doesn't stop potatoes being baked. There's your philosophy for the day.
I've noticed how some people who post material on the web try to produce one interesting piece of work every day, as a kind of creative journal. It's the New Year, so I say what the hell. Might as well make an effort to do something regularly. It's not some sort of New Year's resolution, just an idea that came into my head yesterday. I have no presumptions of real competence in photography, but I'm often told my photos are good. (I show people the least rubbish ones.)
I get a strong sense of satisfaction in a good photograph, and making sure I come up with one every day sounds like a great thing to try and achieve. So this is photo 1 of 365.
Interestingly, this one's the 7000th image I've taken with my current [and first] digital camera, a Pentax K10D. Not bad going I say - I've had it for just over two years now, and I still consider it a formidable piece of kit.
That last sentence would have sounded strange fifteen years or more ago, when the progress of consumer technology was not quite so cruelly rapid.

I promise not to upload any old photos!
Happy New Year.