Sybil Reborn

After a very busy week in my new job, I finally had a welcome day off with my friend, Lydia. She owns, and has owned several, Reborn Dolls. In September last year I did a shoot for her micro-preemi doll she was selling called Toby. Click here for more info.

Not only was this a great break from work, it was also a good photography practice for my own new little nephew when I go back to SA at Christmas!. Yes, I am an auntie to a lovely little boy called Michael. I can't wait to see him and you can be sure photos will be up on this site after Christmas!

Anyway...we decided to take an early morning trip to Prior Park in Bath for a photoshoot with Lydia's latest doll, Sybil. The morning started promisingly with blue sky and a fresh breeze but the wind brought with it some rain clouds and we did get a little wet. Thankfully Prior Park is pretty photogenic in any weather! Sadly, even though it was the beginning of November, not all the trees had changed yet so we didn't get to see the park at it's best but there was still some colour to be seen.

I managed to capture this raindrop landing on the leaf.

Baptism Weekend

A few months ago I finally took the decision to be baptised. It was an opportunity for me to stand up in front of my church family (and visiting friends and family) to publicly commit myself to the Lord. I've been a Christian for about 15 years or there about and one of the things that stopped me over the years from being baptised was my stage fright. But this year I finally took the plunge, literally.

You might wonder why I'm telling you this? Well because it was also an opportunity for my parents to spend the weekend with me in Wiltshire. And I had plans. On Sunday evening we drove up to the Westbury White Horse to watch the sun set. As I didn't have my camera with me last time, I wanted to go back up there and get some photos and as sunsets are my favourite time of day, it seemed the perfect opportunity (especially since I didn't want to walk from Trowbridge again!).

When we arrived the clouds had taken over the sunset possibility but I didn't lose hope. It was windy so it was always possible the clouds would move a bit and allow the sun to clothe them in colour...

When we had had our fill of watching, we turned to the other side of the hill where Long Barrow stands on Bratton's Roman Fort.

A lone centurion? No, just dad, picturing the fort as it would have been back in Roman times with it's wooden palisades, and buildings keeping out the chill wind. Don't forget the mud that would have been thick on the ground as men trampled the grass too much for it to grow. It must have been such a dreary place for those soldiers used to the sun and warmth of Italy and the East.

The sun trying it's best to peek through the clouds obscuring it.

Looking out to Westbury and beyond.

And I can't leave you without a picture of the white horse now, can I?

After my first Monday sleep-in for a long time, we went off to Lacock to view the 15th Century village. Parts of Lacock Abbey were used for the inside castle scenes in Harry Potter and the village was used for Hogsmeade in some of the other films. Unfortunately the Abbey was a bit too expensive to go into, so we bypassed that for the village.

Inside Lacock's church.

Oo, look. The Tudor Rose. Henry VII really did get his new insignia everywhere!

A few of the Abbey over the wall.

Within the Visitor's Centre they had a photography exhibition and some historical stuff on one of the founders of modern photography, William Fox Talbot.

This is what he wrote:

Some old cameras.

All in all a good weekend. It was nice to get my camera out again. I know during the next few weeks/months there won't be much opportunity because of work but I'll do what I can.