New App

3rd April 2014

I now felt after my 18 holes of golf it was time to go on that bike ride. After walking around a golf course all day, you could forgive me for feeling slightly tired. This wasn't an excuse I was prepared to use. I decided to download an App for my phone to see if I can track the distance covered in my rides. The app I downloaded is brilliant. It tracks distances, times and speeds, with the option of posting them into a 'community' like area where you can compare segments of your rides with others. It works out your milage over certain time frames. It so far is a cracking app. Recommend it to all cyclists and runners. Its free and you can pay for the premium version if you want to - http://www.strava.com/

Below are a few screens shots from the downloaded App, showing the results of my latest bike ride.

Showing the route which I cycled.

Looking at my speed in segments.

Looking at my elevation in segments.

Highlighting all the segments of my ride.

18 Holes at Etchinghill

3rd April 2014.

It's Thursday. My day off and a chance to get out on my bike. The sun was out and it was shaping up to be the perfect weather for a ride. Instead, I decided to have a round of golf. 18 holes on Etchinghill's "Valley" Course. Im not a particularly good golfer - it's just something which i'm beginning to get into and on a bright day, the course is a pretty good place to be.

It was my first time playing 'The Valley' course so I was never going to take the world by storm, quite the opposite.  I was just hoping to get by without looking completely out of place. The condition of the course was immaculate, the greens were first class. It is fair to say the quality of the course outshone my ability to play golf.

The greens are in great condition

Tee-ing off, great course, great weather

For anyone who is getting into golf I would definitely recommend Etchinghill Golf Club. Theres a choice of three courses to play on, they also have bar and serve great food alongside good and friendly service across all areas. Visit their website to find out more; 

http://www.pentlandgolf.co.uk/etchinghill/etchinghill-golf-club   

Mid Morning Cycle

27th March 2014

Another day, another ride.

Thursdays are currently my day off, and with the weather picking up a mid morning bike ride is becoming a must! I went on a similar route to last time, just adding a few miles at the start of the ride and about five more at the end. I aim to cycle at around 12mph - so i'm not the quickest cyclist in the world! As I look to add distance to the ride to enhance fitness I am looking to be able to sustain my average speed, which I feel is more important. Todays ride worked out at 26 miles in around 2hr 10 which sits perfectly at 12mph which is my aim.


Whilst on the final part of my ride, I took a brief stop and took in some of the scenery, Below are a couple of photos I took of the views.

A view from my bike. 

Another view from the bike

25th March 2014;

Just decided to pick up my camera again and make some imagery, went to a local wooded area near where I live. The weather wasn't good, mainly overcast and grey skies with the impression that rain was on its way, with that said - there where a few moments where the blue sky tried come out. I decided with some of my images to play around with shutter speeds. I closed down the aperture to between f25 and f36, allowing for a shutter speed of around 1/6s while keeping a correct exposure. The blurred effect is intentional as I chose to hold the camera rather than use a tripod, also adding extra movement as the images where being taken. This effect has made the photographs look brighter and warmer. Here are a couple of my images below;

F25 1/8s Focal Length - 22mm.

F36 1/6s Focal Length - 98mm.

I also briefly looked at the idea of image overlay in camera, to see what effect that could create, below is an image of this. Two different images taken in the same area and merged together. I think it has created an interesting result.

Image overlay, created in camera.

Back on the Bike

24th March 2014

In recent weeks we have seen a change in the weather, From what seemed like 40 days and 40 nights of rain has turned into bright mornings full of promise. This has encouraged me to get back into cycling after a winter with, quite frankly no interest. In recent weeks I have been on several rides, averaging around 20 miles just to get into the swing of things.

Bike prepped, ready to go.

Seafront view during the ride.

Todays route was a reasonably new one. A route that, in the summer months will be a joy to ride with a lovely seafront section around 12 miles in, the flat roads and great views make the ride easier - thats for sure! Over the next few weeks I will look to gradually add distance onto these rides and with my photography background this could be a great way to source locations for potential shoots and also fall upon some amazing scenery and landscapes along the way.

Starting Fresh

Have decided to re-vamp my blog after a long time without any posts, I've simply just started again fresh and will aim to keep this blog running with regular updates, containing my imagery and thoughts on photographs.