Christmas presents to enjoy some time later

Firstly, I hope you like the new look of the blog, I decided it was time I gave it a bit of attention and having passed 90 blogs, thought it needed some organisation, so I'll be working on that gradually in the next week or two, it's somewhat of a work in progress. But please do let me know if you have any problems with it after my tweaking.

Please click on any of the photographs for a larger view.

I'm still tinkering with my new camera and getting to know it and macro was the next thing I wanted to address, as it has a very long zoom range (30x) so needed some thought about how to get the best from the macro function. For this series of photos I was just thinking about abstract shapes and the gorgeous patterns you get to see when looking closer.

I've always had a particular fondness for spring flowers, I love to see bulbs emerging from the winter soil with their promise of warmer times and longer days to come; a welcome sight after a seemingly long, cold winter this year.

I'm especially fond of snowdrops, I love their delicate elegance and over the years I've planted more outside and they're now starting to naturalise and expand nicely - I'll get some photographs of those as soon as it stops raining and we get some light - as they're just about at their best now.

The structure of hyacinths has always fascinated me, the way all the little individual flowers bud and open and then curl back.

Each Christmas I am usually lucky to receive some of the bulb kits that you plant yourself and this year I have a pot of very delicate and paper-like white crocuses, some pink hyacinths and a scarlet red amaryllis - that has put out two flowers, but rather smaller than usual - but gorgeous nontheless - and each a slightly different colour too. They all seem to have peaked at the same time and I took the opportunity to grab some photographs before they fade.

I concentrated on this occasion on some abstract images from framing in tightly so that I could enjoy the lovely shapes and structures of the flowers. One of the aspects of photography that I enjoy is that you learn to see things differently and whilst working on a series of photographs like this, you simply look - and are therefore able to enjoy - that bit more. It gives you a legitimate excuse for doing so.

A promise of more yet to come - I love how the buds are all tightly packed together and gradually spread apart before opening. Their shape reflects how they were squashed together as they formed, before they relax and spread.