A Winter Wonderland

A village scene in the snow

It is a bit of a shame, but snow around my area is a rarity nowadays. We only get a splattering maybe once every couple of years. So, imagine my delight when I opened my blinds on Friday morning to discover that everything was white outside. I have to confess that the child in me comes out when it snows. After work, I grabbed my camera and went exploring with a friend. It was a lovely day with a perfectly crisp chill in the air. The kind of crisp air to make your nose go cold and your eyes water, but still feeling cosily warm underneath several layers of clothing. It would be so unfair of me to experience such an afternoon without sharing at least a handful of photographs with you...

My friend Faraz making his way up the snow covered road



 

A day off school provides a perfect excuse to go sledging.

 

  

An amazing moment captured when a flock of swans took off over the frozen lake

 

The church at Lydiard Park looks amazing in winter.

 

 

I love the way colours contrast against the snow.

 

 

We all feel like this occasionally 

 

 

Heading back home to warm up in front of the fire

Declaration of an addiction

I am writing a slightly unusual post now.  However, as I have an addiction for almost a year now, I think I need to be brave, stand up and announce it.  Well here goes..... (Graham stands up, takes a deep breath, his bottom lip holding a slight quiver of apprehension).

I, Graham Ettridge, from the rural county of Wiltshire in England, have been addicted to.....

....the music from Schiller's album "Desire" for a year now.

 

Yes, I know, how could I abandon all the thousands of other tracks on my Ipod?????  How could I be so cold as to walk away from "Queen", "Moby", "Cat Power", "Sia", "Stereophonics", and all the other talented artists, imprisoned in the Ipod, frozen out of the play selection?  How could these dark winter evenings go past without at least a sprinkling of "Beethoven", "Mozart" or "Tchaikovsky"?   Not even the silky powerballad voice "Adelle" has managed to break through to my playlist, even though I did tie myself to the chair and switch on the radio to hear the full version of "Skyfall".

So I am now going to formally declare that I am going to stop listening to Schiller from now on.  No more, finished, nada, finito!!!! 


Well, maybe just one more track....



Thats it now!  No more, after this one last final one....



Well, it would be wrong to stop listening to Schiller without experiencing a concert just one more time, wouldn't it?????......



Well, maybe it is all too much for me to give up at the moment. Perhaps I should start this next week, or the week after, or the week after that..............................

The World In Pictures - By Graham Ettridge

When I look around me I see the world in pictures,  I search for the extraordinary within the ordinary, I see the beauty beneath the plain, I sense the colour within the black and white.

Wherever I go, I enjoy capturing those magical moments, those moments which time will never give us back.  Here is just a handful that I will share with you....

 

 



 

If you would like to see any of these in more detail, along with any others, please be welcome to visit my on-line gallery at: http://www.redbubble.com/people/getty72  Within the on-line gallery, there is also a facility to purchase any of these images as cards, prints, framed photos, or even posters.

 

As a budding photographer who always seeks to improve and grow, I would be grateful for any feedback or comments that you have about my work.  I invite you to leave a comment at the end of this post with any thoughts/critique that you have.

 

Thank you,

 

Graham