Taking a break 2

In a week when i re-adjust to life generally in 2012 as an armchair photographer, I am sitting here at my kitchen / dining table dreaming about nostalgic times in the past and a few pre planned trips that I hope to fulfil this year. My Mother is now back home and there are different concerns to worry about but I am mainly assisted by a professional team who are supervising her three times a day. I visit her most nights I can for about an hour and then return home to a regular rotational e-mail list to report on the progress. Contrary to what followers think, I haven't abandoned or stopped blogging but it's been difficult trying to fit everything in. Just as I wanted to publish something in February, I will endeavour to comment on blogs over the next week, sorry for my absence to your works.

In a parallel journey, my internet problems this year have led me to explore issues of watermarking and although I have moved on in life from the previous post, hence why I need to post something new ... the Hotel who were not directly profit making from the photo, apologised, removed the image and offered me a free cream tea !! ... probably worth around £5 !!

.... it's a nice thought but not the easiest of places to get to, 370 miles in the car, possibly 2 or 3 nights Bed and Breakfast ... in The Sidmouth Harbour Hotel ... moving on to the next paragraph...

The first step in my editing journey was the complex issue of Photoshop elements 10. It seemed like a great idea to sign up for the free 30 day trial. I have come to the conclusion like anything to do with computers ... "it is easy if you know how". My journey began with the difficulty of trying to access the beast. Personally I think 30 days is not long enough as it is more important to gain an understanding of how the system works during the period rather than perform advanced editing.

I managed to create some brushes thanks to a YouTube link from Petra and a Seeing to pictures post from Adrian. However I had difficulty creating a standard size brush for both cropped and uncropped images which Adrian answered personally but I couldn't understand why this didn't work. I asked a question in a Forum to which it took several replies to ascertain that my elements page had been corrupted in some way and it was unfortunate that he spoke a different computer language to me !! As I had spent too much of the month on this issue, I had a desire to sample other features of Elements ...

 ... next on the list was the other hot topic on my page of eliminating distorted verticals on buildings. As an introduction, all my photographic life, I have used standard lenses with the option of moving up to zoom lenses on a variety of cameras. With my lack of knowledge on the wide angle lens ... of 24mm from December 2010, the temptation was too great to push it to the limit in an area that I was unfamiliar with.

This process of correction was difficult at first but with two YouTube clips I found a complex and detailed link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpAiIVWA5t4

followed by a simpler one who sounds like one of my Yorkshire friends ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h6mQ_D4zm8

Unfortunately the file was 70MB and wouldn't load through my photo storage supplier. I found by accident a short and unusually swift presentation of how to reduce the MB size of an image or rather "Get as many hits to the link as you can because there's no way you are going to understand this after 4 plays " !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMgY22pyoNc

Unfortunately, I may not have been looking at the correct video because after the file of specific images were reduced to 3.8MB or even 1.5MB, loading was still an error.

I discovered by accident that I could copy from the Facebook note page but would not load the initial file of 70MB, however after re sizing it did. Yeah, that nasty website meant that you are looking at the next four images.

"Computers are easy if you know how" !!

I was overwhelmed by support and ideas in the comments section of the previous post. All these ideas and programs need time to explore. Wind ... you have gone way beyond the call of duty, I appreciate your input and your comments have been noted. As a tribute to Wind, here's my take using some past images...

I dream of escaping ...

My door ... in Summer

My Car ... stuck

My door ...  in Winter

My dinner .... lol

My next trip !!

Ah well, best go and get the milk out of the fridge and make another cup of tea !! ..........

Wells, Somerset

Wells is the one of the smallest Cathedral cities in England and is near to the village of Cheddar (previous post). It is ideal for timing to combine both places and visit them on the same day.

The name Wells originates from three wells in the historic centre dedicated to the memory of St Andrew. The example above is the one found in the market place. Although of minor importance in Roman times,  Wells became prominent in Saxon times when the King of Wessex organised the building of a church around 700 AD.

In the Middle Ages, it became a cloth making centre which decreased in importance although the market tradition carried on to this day.

Market place lamp, Wells

Doorway to market ( Penniless Porch)

It is unfortunate that in the city of the "three wells" that I only have a photographic record of one of them, so as an alternative.... I bring you the city of three doorways !!

Doorway to house

Doorway to Cathedral

Looking over the wall

Although there is evidence to suggest that parts of the cathedral date back to the 10th century, it is accepted that most of it is built in the 12th century with surrounding walls, buildings and entrances (Bishop's Eye and Penniless Porch) completing the enclosed area during the mid 15th century.

Vicar's close, Wells

Vicar's close, adjacent to the Cathedral, claims to be the oldest (late 14th century) residential street in Europe. Canon Walter de Hulle gave land for the building of homes for 13 priests. Architecturally, it is pure genius as the street is built in a tapered fashion with the width being 3 metres narrower at the top providing the optical illusion of a longer street.

On the opposite side of the Cathedral stands The Bishop's Palace which has been their home since the early 13th century.

The Gatehouse and moat built to protect it were built a little later during the 14th century...

 ... while the entrance from the market place into the Palace was built during the 15th century.

With the temptations of the market and the price of some of the more salubrious shops today, I felt that I could follow this ("shop till you drop") woman and take my seat in the ancient begging place called ....Penniless Porch !! ....

Penniless  Porch, Wells