these pictures are taken in my mum's rather unique garden. some of them are just cropped and slightly colour adjusted in gimp, but with some i've been a bit more creative.
this is the second time i try to post some of my own photos and photo manipulations here. the first time was so scary i wasn't sure i'd ever dare to do it again but i think i have to if i'm ever going to feel just as safe about letting people see and comment on my photos as i feel about letting people see the rest of my gimp work.

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.

1. the bird's chapel. mum built that herself. i thought it looked really picturesque in the snow but the background was a bit messy, so i toned it down a bit.
2. the blue lantern. this looked a little flat but adding more contrast made it ugly, so i just did some very small changes and left it at that.
3. "little nell's grave". actually, "little nell" didn't refer to the dickens character but to the clematis growing in this spot - but how should i know? in any case, i liked the picture because it set my imagination going. i didn't do much to it."little nell's grave". actually, "little nell" didn't refer to the dickens character but to the clematis growing in this spot - but how should i know? in any case, i liked the picture because it set my imagination going. i didn't do much to it.
4. this mirror hangs in a corner of the garden that's turned into a sort of outdoors bathroom, with a mosaic wash basin that mum and i made one summer and an old fashioned bath tub that mum uses on warm summer days. i loved the snow and frost on it.
5. another with the mirror, taken from a different angle so you see a bit of me as i'm taking the picture.another with the mirror, taken from a different angle so you see a bit of me as i'm taking the picture.
6. "new year's bells". here's one where i was a bit creative. i liked these old rusty bells, but they got lost among all the detail in the surroundings. i thought they would look lovely with a sort of glow around them and it would add to the frosty cold feeling of the picture.
7. the snake. this is an old water polished stick mum found somewhere and painted as a snake. the colour doesn't really look like this, but i wanted to recreate the feeling you get when you walk around in a wintry garden where everything is white, grey or brown, and you suddenly come across this snake that's green.the snake. this is an old water polished stick mum found somewhere and painted as a snake. the colour doesn't really look like this, but i wanted to recreate the feeling you get when you walk around in a wintry garden where everything is white, grey or brown, and you suddenly come across this snake that's green.
8. sky, frost and old iron. first i wanted to take pictures of the frost on the iron, but then i just liked the effect of the iron grid against the sky, so i clicked lots of pictures like this.

I love the first and the last pictures. The first one is so cute with the snow piled up on top, and toning down the background to highlight the 'chapel' works really well. The last one I love because it makes you feel like you are tipping your head back and looking at the sky, and the contrast of the frost against the bright blue sunny sky is a pleasant surprise.

2-ton: thank you! i'm glad you like those too, i'm very partial to them myself .

Nice photos. I like the bird's chapel. Do you often repeat yourself? Do you often repeat yourself?

erisian: oh always. oh always.
it's for the benefit of coffee drinkers, who usually don't get things unless you repeat them at least once...
it's fixed now .

Hey, I'm like Schrodinger's cat without my coffee!

Very nice photo Anmal

erisian: both dead and alive? i think that state is infinitely to be preferred to the truly miserable state where you're filled with coffee...
photo comix: thank you!

Well I'm everywhere at once until I observe coffee then I occupy a particular point in space/time until I go to bed.

erisian: let me correct you on this: you perceive yourself to occupy a point in time and space until you go to bed. but it's just an illusion, because actually the space time continuum is reserved for the tea drinkers. my brother's a professor in theoretical physics, so i should know .