Anglesey Butterflies/Moths

It was my first time holidaying in Anglesey & the spot we stayed in was beautiful. We stayed in a little village called Llangaffo in some pretty lodges with an absolutely stunning view. The owner of the lodges owns the land surrounding the lodges so we had an opportunity to walk along incredibly beautiful farmland. I was surprised at the amount of butterflies around & spent the holiday searching for different types, many I'd never seen before.

So here's a small list of the butterflies that we saw over the week.

Peacock


Meadow Brown


Small White (no pic)
Large White (no pic)
Comma (no pic)
Green Veined


Red Admiral


Gatekeeper (no pic)
Speckled Wood


Small Copper


Common Blue


Painted Lady


Wall


Small Tortoiseshell


And a magpie moth


Twitter: @_purpleface
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Skippers throughout the years

I love Skippers, they have fascinated me ever since I spotted my first one back in 2010.

Since then, I've photographed them every year. Here's a small post dedicated to them! 

2010

2011

2012

2013

MAN/EGCC 5/3/2013

MAN/EGCC 5/3/2013, a set on Flickr.

Had a lovely day on Tuesday 5th March! It was the warmest day so far of 2013 & we went to Ringway Road then stopped off at the pub on the way back :) Will definitely have to go back :)

Asteroid 2012 DA14: How to See It in the UK

image from www.sky-watching.co.uk

This Friday night sees the closest passing of an asteroid for a long time. Scientists are even saying that it has the potential to impact us in the future. But for now, we can enjoy this spectacle from the comfort of our gardens in the UK. 

As you can see from the map above, the asteroid will be visible to us, starting at 8pm. By visible, I mean with a small telescope or a pair of binoculars. The magnitude of the asteroid will be 8. Which means it'll be incredibly faint to the human eye, unless you're in a dark sky site & then there's a small chance you may be able to see it with the naked eye.

A few people have asked how I will be capturing this. If all goes well & we have clear skies (pleasepleaseplease!) then I'll be out at around 9pm. I'm going for the star trails approach, where the end result will (hopefully!) show the path of the asteroid as a small streak. I'm going to start my camera off on 30 second exposures & do this for an hour. I'll stack all the shots using Photoshop.

As this is the first time I ever attempted something like this, the results could either be absolutely amazing, or a downright disaster. 

Any questions, please leave a comment below or you can contact me via twitter @_purpleface :) Please share any images you get on Friday night! :)

Photo pendants - finished product

A small update about my new pendants. They're now available on my Etsy store :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/purpleface?ref=si_shop

Best of 2012

It's my best of 2012 post! I do like to review my years gone by, it's nice to see what you've been up to. 

Last year was really awesome. Many things happened including a trip to Amsterdam, reaching my fourth year of being with my lovely other half, a new job, getting some more images in magazines & newspapers & I think I took some of the best photos I've ever taken which makes me happy. I'm far from perfect in my approach to photography in general but I think I'm getting there. I won't ever be perfect (which is fine, I love learning new things) but I think I'm going in the right direction & learning valuable skills that can be put forward into my career. 

I always feel a new hope when a new year arrives. It's like a fresh start. This year, however, I've decided to leave the stupid resolutions & just have a few goals I'd like to reach. Some are personal, which I won't post here, but most are regarding my work & happiness. 

Mainly I would like to be published in some different magazines. I've been published in Outdoor Photography, Amateur Photographer & Practical Photography magazines so far which is really amazing as I never thought anyone would want my work! So I would like to get some more magazines in my portfolio as it all counts.

Some goals not regarding my work involve travelling back to Amsterdam, seeing an A380 aircraft fly over me (planned for my birthday on Friday the 4th Jan!), travelling to London for the first time, reaching 100 sales on Etsy plus lots more! 

So that's me, what about you guys? Let me know in the comments :) Happy new year & have a good 2013!

Photo Pendants - the beginning

Hello everyone! I really hope you had a lovely Christmas!

So new year is fast approaching & my attention has turned to my photo pendants. I've been meaning to make them but haven't got round to getting the glue. I was a bit confused about which one to get but it's now on order thanks to Emily on twitter. I expect it'll be after new year when it arrives though!
 Here's a small preview of the pendants, this one was made with an inkjet print although I'm going to be getting the images printed professionally.

I'll start making them as soon as I get the prints & the glue. Below are some of the images I'll be making initially.

I'll make a new post once the pendants are made & on Etsy.

Let me know what you think :) Have a great new year!

Orion & Meteor 9/12/2012

Orion & Meteor 9/12/2012, originally uploaded by purpleface.

I am not very good with words so I wanted to use photography to say thank you to Patrick for inspiring so many people to look up at the stars.

He'll never be forgotten!

Rest in Peace, Sir Patrick Moore.

Winter!

Oh I do love winter. Frost, snow, Christmas & my birthday. It's just awesome.

Here are some of my favourite images from my flickr favourites by people who I follow. Drop by & give them a comment/fave!