Slapdash Photography

Last weekend I went to visit my boyfriend's family in north Wales, and I took my camera. I used to take my camera almost everywhere, but for the last few years it's come with me on holidays abroad and nowhere else. Patrick's family are big into walks, so I decided to try to use it as a way to re-inspire myself.  Abermenai Point has a couple of walking routes through the sand dunes and along the water. It wasn't an ideal photowalk as I was with a several other people who were already doing a less challenging walk than they probably would have been had I not been there (there are few things I hate more than strenuous walks at the pace of people who think it's fun and relaxing, and I have an ankle injury that makes hills extremely unfun for me), but I managed to get a few shots.  I got these photos as we waited for it to stop raining (because of course it started raining, and of course it was too warm to comfortably wear a waterproof jacket without crea...

We had as chilled a holiday in Madeira as we could manage, which meant very little hillwalking even though our apartment was on a hill (taxis are excellent things). But since Madeira is volcanic there's a lot of mountain to be seen, and in Funchal there's a cable car to take you 500 or so metres up to Monte and see things from a different perspective. Lower down the mountain at the beginning of the ride, the houses look very similar to each other. There's very little variation in colour and shape, though the placement of the buildings themselves isn't uniform, and from this perspective it looks as though it remains that way however high up and far away they go. But from further up, and tucked into the hidden valleys, it's a different story. There are fewer houses, but they're bright pink and light blue and perched right on the edge of a cliff and full of people hanging out their washing, completely unbothered by the hundred or so cars flying over the...