capturing animals in 2010 ...

so here is the first of my round up posts for my personal photography of 2010 ... there has been so much going on this past year & honestly i have watched my photography grow in more ways that i could have ever imaged. So i'm going to share with you guys some of my favourites ... & from this first post i know you will see a theme for the things i love the most! 

leave part nine: chester zoo

We went to the zoo ... i loooooove the zoo! Chester Zoo is the zoo i have been visiting since i was knee high to a grass hopper & it's a wonderful zoo. If you ever get the chance to visit i highly recommend it, as they take wonderful care of their animals not to mention taking part in conservation projects nationally & internationally. So less talk & more pictures today ... enjoy! 

ok so i admit i went a little nuts in the butterfly house but it was macro heaven! 

proof that men are the same everywhere! 

& last but certainly not least ... my favourite ... the Ring Tailed Lemur. Don't ask me where this started but ever since i was a child i have loved them. Every time we went to the zoo we would have lunch on the benches by "Lemur Island" & so you know i could have spent hours watching these wonderful creatures. The first time we walked past they were hiding but after lunch they came out to play, i just wish i'd had a longer lens! 

photoshop actions ...

I was introduced to the wonderful world of photoshop actions last year by my friend Jen Kiaba. It was love at first sight. Simple put they are a way of changing the tones & feel of a photo through a series of actions in photoshop, done all at one time. & they are so much fun. I love messing around with the free ones on the web (check out websites such as Coffee shop & The Pioneer Women) & customizing them for my own work.

As a photographer i firmly believe that composition is the key to a good photo, & photoshop is a tool in creating stunning images but it needs to be used in conjunction with the actual process of taking a photograph. I personally feel it is wrong to use photoshop to "remove" an object from a photograph because you don't like it there (& trust me when i say there is a whole lot of debate on this subject) & actions can & do sometimes push the boundaries. But i feel that where you are using them in the same way you would use a camera, a lens, light, or the old school dark room it's ok & all kinds of fun.

Anyways back to actions two of my wonderful talented photographic buddies have recently been creating their own actions & me being me well of course i volunteered to take a look. On the butterfly below i used an action by Elle Moss called "dreamland" (for more information check out her blog) minus the "optional blurry edges" just because i felt for this image it didn't work (this is the fun on actions).

& for the chairs i used "dark dreamy glow" created by Jen Kiaba that i have fallen in love with (it creates such a haunting feel to many of my images for some reason) & totally transforms what would otherwise be two wooden chairs stood in the corner.

it's the simple things in life that make me happy ...

getting in some vacation time ...

photographing a wonderful family (over & over & over) ...

reliving childhood experiences ...

nandos ...

knowing i will see my cats again tomorrow night!