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Christmas Present
Originally uploaded by Last Human Gateway For Yule we had the party (see previous posts about yuletide flatulence and related photo GIMPing).

After that, well, 23rd December was spent in the pub (not all the day, just the afternoon)... not much else to say, although I did venture (on the bus) to Parkgate Retail World (now known as Parkgate Shopping) to collect pressies from HMV. HMV had totally tossed up and not got me Babylon 5 season 2 in, just 1 and 3... however me being crafty ol' me... I told them I wanted to cancel the order because they hadn't fulfilled it in it's entirety... I then walked over to the display, picked up Babylon 5 seasons 1 and 3 off the display unit and bought fresh copies - for £5 less EACH.

For Christmas I got:
Fold up 5 way reflector
Slave flash
Lens & Camera & CCD cleaning kit
Money to pay off the final installment of my DSLR
Various clothing
Chocolates (many of which were Ferrero Rocher)
A digital photo frame (bought with Xmas …

357:366 - Kris
Originally uploaded by Last Human Gateway This, folks, is the result of lighting fairly high (giving a slight gradient to the backdrop) with hard light on the right and softer light on the left, removing most of the shadows but creating a blend across my face.

Canon Speedlight pointed as ceiling using ETTL.
Jessops 300D on right hand side of image set to 25%.
Digital Concepts slave flash pointed straight at me with hood over it.

I'm sitting on a drum stool and in front of a pop-up backdrop (white one side, black the other).

Apparently with the right combination of leather trousers and curry this happens.


Thanks to Dave Winstanley for being the "model" in this shot... thanks to me for pulling his finger... thanks to my gas soldering iron's uncontrollable gas flow for providing the flame.

Am I the only person who thinks Dave looks ace in leather trousers?

I am not a decoration.
Originally uploaded by Last Human Gateway Miranda Moon was playing with the decorations on the tree and just happened to jump up at the back of the settee as I pointed my camera.

The result is... well... beautiful!

I am offering licenses for this image by emailing me at krishudsonlee googlemail.com although I am willing to allow registered charities to use it free of charge provided the correct written license is obtained from myself.

I do believe this may be my best ever cat capture.

Please, don't drink and drive, for all our sakes.

The worst trousers in history?
Originally uploaded by Last Human Gateway I found a blog which is actually really funny - it's called food and pants.

I wonder if one of my old photos is possibly a contender for the ugliest pair of trousers in history? They were quite nauseating and I remember this as one of the days of my life I would rather have not had to endure.

I seem to recall it was also quite early in the morning and this walking test card didn't help my tour-addled brain.

more animals

It's not often I use exclamation marks in the title, but one of my pictures has made the front page on the lolcats site. I'm chuffed about this, as you can probably guess.

Something in the water?
Originally uploaded by Last Human Gateway It's always amusing when something like this happens, but it does prove that according to my facebook group - leather trousers are indeed NOT gay... in fact they are quite rock and roll.

Meanwhile, Mostly Autumn were superb (and I finally got a copy of their new album "Glass Shadows" although I haven't listened to it yet). They did some superb festive songs including Faerytale of New York and Merry Christmas.

PBII did a strong set too, and to be honest - I don't think a replacement bassist has detracted from how talented these guys are. He fits in well and they are as good as they ever were.

Heidi & Gonzalo - a very powerful set from these two. I can't wait for the full thing in April.

Dave on the keyboard
Originally uploaded by Last Human Gateway I've just been doing a few photos with Dave Winstanley in preparation for a "proper" photo shoot for the forthcoming CRS Follies album.

Quite a bit of it was trying to find angles etc. to match up with the site I'd like to use for this shoot. I just need to do a recon trip on the site to find out best positions etc.

I really liked this photo, however, and performed a little bit of magic with Digikam to fudge the contrast and convert it to a Selenium blue/grey greyscale.

The Moon
Originally uploaded by Last Human Gateway I went to the observatory last night for a little session of astrophotography.

Apart from my total inability to actually open the shutters fully (they are now really solid and hard to get moving) I did manage to capture a few nice moon shots through the murk and bubbling atmosphere.

Sadly, the atmosphere was very active and full of bubbles and turbulence so I couldn't get amazing clear stuff... not bad though for my first try with my camera on the Takahashi TOA130

This isn't just cake...
Originally uploaded by Last Human Gateway The snow promised on Thursday didn't show. I was rather surprised looking at the forecast that it didn't snow, it just didn't. We have another threat of snow tomorrow... I'm not holding my breath.

Friday involved me getting one of these photo studio in a box things. It means I can finally get good clear photos of close up and macro stuff.

Hannah baked Christmas cake a while ago and it's been standing and aging for a while. Today she decided to decorate them... voila - my first close up work with the portable studio in a box. I'm very pleased with the results!

Daddy, Leave flickr alone, love me.
Originally uploaded by Last Human Gateway I had to share this... it's beautiful!

Nothing else to say, except that we're forecast to have snow tonight.... I'm excited!

I know this picture doesn't really represent snow, but we didn't have any!

However.... most of the rest of Yorkshire did!. I was supposed to go to Rochdale on a test, but didn't make it in the end so had to do other things instead after I got as far as Durker on the M1, saw the queue ahead and the snow on the hills and got a little bit scared. It wasn't great on the roads but worse still - all the idiots were out and about.

I did finish the day with a trip on the trains to York (sadly, I didn't take any photos in York as I was in a rush) however, I did see one thing on the train home... an old guy got on the train from Doncaster to Swinton who was wearing leather trousers. Naturally... I did what any normal person would and sneaked a photo using my pocket PC (hence the really crap quality).

I also now have a flash hood (looks like a shower cap) - hopefully I can mute the flash a little in the close up pictures... I really hope it works. Now all I need is a small bean …