At some point in 2010 I started following this artist on twitter.  Something about his style really interested me and I knew I wanted to own one of his pieces, I just had to figure out which.  After looking through his archives and several months of watching his new posts, I finally found the one for me.

So a couple of quick emails to the artist, a painless Paypal payment and I had my tracking number.  All I had to do was wait.  And wait I did!

The package was shipped in April of 2011 and was successfully delivered around August 15th, 2012.  I say around as at that time in 2011 I was subletting from a friend and the package was delivered to her place. I’m not 100% sure of the date it arrived, but that’s about when she called me to say she had received it.  I just met up with her last week so I didn’t get my hands on it till then (hence the delay in my post).

You can see here the post mark from 2011.  The next two images are just to show that there isn’t anything on the packaging to explain the lengthy delays…

I have a screenshot of the tracking information from usps.com which you can find here.  It’s pretty clear that the folks from USPS got the package into the country without too much hassle, but it seems to have fallen behind a desk for a year after that.

Here’s a rather cute note attached to the back of the painting.  I like to think that it was this little guy who helped the package arrive in the end!

And here’s a quick photo of the piece.  I’m very pleased it arrived in the end, it’s getting framed shortly and will be the first thing I hang in our new home when we move in next year!

November sort of flew by without much photography activity from me.  I think the fact that it was either raining or monsooning (that’s a word, no need to look it up) for 98% of the month put a damper (that’s right, I’m telling puns now) on my creativity.  I did manage to take a single, postable photo however so the month wasn’t a total bust.

It’s pretty close to straight out of the camera with the exception of a couple of minor adjustments.  The whole thing took about a hour to set up and then about 30-40 shots to get one where I liked how the ‘snow’ was falling.  I did a couple of these for my 365 last year and I’ve now got some new Lord of the Rings lego, so expect some Middle Earth themed shots soon.

Here’s the setup shot if you’re interested.

The softbox is essentially the main light, acting as the sun in the background.  I have a wonky homemade snoot on the inverted flash at the back to give me my round hot spot for the actual sun, and the big umbrella up front is just for fill.  I used some black foil for the mountains in the background and all of the snow is just baking powder (I used baking soda in the past, but I like the snowfall look of the powder better).

Anyway, that’s it for November.

I decided that while I had Ian’s 300mm lens I’d make a trip back to Tower Bridge and get some ‘close up’ shots.  It being such a long focal length I figured that my best vantage point would be from neighbouring (and very dull in comparison) London Bridge.  As it turns out, London Bridge isn’t far enough away with such a long lens so there were quite a few partial images but it was nice to get a slightly different vantage point.

I have to say I’m not a big fan of the buildings going up behind Tower Bridge, they certainly don’t add to the view.  Progress I guess?

One of the partial views of the towers and some sunset glowing clouds.  If you look closely at the cloud line you’ll see an airplane, something Ian’s lenses can’t help but photograph.

I did a few panoramas as well, but nothing extrordinary I’m afraid.  All in all it was a rather disappointing outing, but I did come away with this bit of knowledge: if you’re ever planning on shooting Tower Bridge from London Bridge, a 70-200mm lens is just about perfect.

Couple more images in the gallery.

After my last trip to Richmond park was only partially successful in finding any deer, I knew I had to go back and try again.  Fortunately, this time of year is the best time to go and there were several folks from the POTN forum who where planning a trip.  Better still, the plan was to go out (very) early in the morning to get a few shots with the sun rising and the deer just starting their day.

I was lucky enough to borrow a friends 300mm lens for the day, which made all the difference in the world.  The longest lens I own is 200mm, and it just wouldn’t have cut it on this day.  If you’re reading this and also wondering what to get me for Christmas, one of those lenses wouldn’t be turned away.  You’d even get a thank-you card!

It’s apparently too early in the season for the deer to start rutting, but there was a fair bit of territorial stomping and honking.  I don’t know the correct term for the noise the bucks make, but it sounds like an angry car horn so I’m going with ‘honking’.  There were a few of the bigger guys sharpening their antlers on trees, but no real action to speak of.

It was a bit of a learning experience as I’m not really all that familiar with the species of deer that are present here in the UK.  There are apparently 2 different types in Richmond Park: Red deer (the first two images) and Fallow deer (the second two).  The red deer are similar to the Mule deer we had back in Canada and Fallow deer are a bit of an odd one, looking like cute fawns that have moose-like antlers.  They were a bit less aggressive as well, letting us get closer to them and not spending their time competing with the other stags.

All in all, it was a much more productive day for deer spotting than my last attempt.  I only wish my wife and mother in law were along this time to see the amazing displays that they missed out on.  At least the deer aren’t going anywhere, we can always try back next time!  Thanks again to Lee for offering up a lift and to Ian for the lens loan.

There are a few more deer type photos in the gallery.

One of the first things I noticed when we moved out to Sutton were the massive spiders all around our new complex.  I’m not much of an insect photographer but I thought it might be nice to get the camera out again.  It’s been spending a lot of time collecting dust this year.

Anyway, I wasn’t particularly happy with my first set but I suppose that’s a good thing as it leaves all that room for improvement!

When I’d finished poking around my neighbours gardens I came back inside and set up my light tent for Danni to photograph some of her new jewelry stock.  My handy stormtrooper is always eager to stand in for a few test shots while I get the light sorted.  It made me want to do some more staged shots with the lego, I’ll have to dig it out of storage soon I think.

That’s it for the macro shots, I’ll try to get a few more keepers next time!