Summer in Cyprus, Part 3, The West
The last part of our journey took us to Paphos and the western side of Cyprus where we stayed for just a couple of days. In Paphos there was a most interesting scene by the sea, where the rocks were quite jagged and rough, someone has put a swimming pool style entrance to the sea…..interesting
We then travelled to the mountains from the western side of Cyprus, a route never taken by us before, into one of the main wine growing regions. The villages up there are very quaint with a lot of traditional architecture and stone built buildings. The vibrant colour of this doorway was particularly striking.
The doorway to this home by contrast was in need of a lick of paint! Nice plants though.
The traditional ovens are alays interesting. its unusual to have one inside the walls of the family home as this one was. The flower pots are quite original too!
These are some slightly different views of Cyprus this year, I hope you enoyed them.
Summer 2010 in Cyprus, Part 2, The Mountains
Its been a while since we travelled to the Troodos Mountains, so this time we decided to visit a couple of waterfalls as it was soooo hot over there this summer. Our first port of call was one of our favourite places, the Caledonian Falls near Platres. It was about a two mile, two hour long hike uphill that was VERY tiring. BUT, when you reach the falls, you really feel that you’ve accomplished something. The cool air falling with the water spray of the falls is definitely the best form of air conditioning there is. The water was all but freezing, and so refreshing. There were dozens of people there, but I managed to scare them all off for a couple of moments just to get this shot. What do you think?
On the way down from the falls I noticed the bark of a tree that actually looked metallic! It had a silvery grey and bronze sheen to it that really made it look like it had metal plating on it, look at what I mean:
We then travelled up the mountain to the highest point in Cyprus, some 6,400 feet up (1952m), where we could get panoramic views to the North and western tip of Cyprus. The most surprising thing for me was that there was a field of wild barley right there, glistening in the sun and wind, on the peak of the mountain.
There was another privately owned piece of land further down the hillside, not far from the town of Trimiklini, with a waterfall in it called Green Valley. They’ve tried to make it a bit of a tourist attraction and charge an entry fee to see the falls, but to be honest, the walk down, just some 300m is a bit run down. The waterfalls are nice, but not as spectacular as the Caledonian Falls. They are still worth a photo though!
The restaurant at the roadside by the Green Valley falls had an all too rare sight nowadays, a vine spreading right accross the front. The bunches of grapes reminded me of the Cyprus of years gone by, when most houses in the villages had a vine of their own, and in August as they ripened we’d help ourselves to the sweet firm grapes they had to offer. They looked something like this:
Further down the hillside we came accross a view that I just HAD to photograph. It was a house perched on the edge of the hill – really a cliff face. You can’t imagine the parents letting their kids play in the back garden could you!
So they were some of the highlights of our trip to the mountains. I hope you like them!
Summer 2010 in Cyprus, Part 1, The Surprise Wedding
This summer I did a few jobs in Cyprus, including a last minute wedding! The happy couple arrived from Edmonton, Canada & decided to get married on the spur of the moment! It was all arranged in just a few days – amazing!!!
It was conducted in the “Temporary Town Hall” of a town called Lisi, which is the occupied North Part of Cyprus – so although the town itself is under Turkish occupation, the town hall has moved to Larnaca till things get sorted…bizarre!
So for those that can read Greek, you can see the wording accross the top of the building “Temporary Town Hall – Lisi”
Well, inside it wasn’t just hot, it was SWELTERING around 42C if I remember correctly. The guy in the shorts, that’s the Groom, Brian, and he’s not just looking pretty holding the wife to be’s flowers, oh no, he’s actually got the best spot in the building. He’s standing right underneath the aircon unit, which is just out of sight above him on the left! That’s why he’s smiling!
In case you wondered where the blushing Bride is, she was looking even prettier than the Groom by the front door of the Town Hall.
Then, no sooner had the registrar finished the ceremony with his oh, so broken English, Brian got hold of Joann and gave her a smakeroo on the lips!
All this kissing was too much fun for Brian, in the end everyone was doing it!
This wasn’t the biggest wedding I’ve ever done, but its the only one where I was wearing long trousers and the Groom was in shorts. Surely it should be the other way round? Anyway, this was the whole group at the “Town Hall”.
So…… were they happy? I think so, well we all got the thumbs up anyway! By the way, nice wedding sandals guys!
Just in case you couldn’t see if the happy couple were really smiling, here’s a close up too.
David Burrowes MP Photographed by Panikos
The Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate was recently photographed by Panikos at a local BNI networking group.
This is a groupd that meets on a weekly basis and refers business to each other. The venue for the meeting was the Willow, a restaurant in the heart of Winchmore Hill that has fabulous food food & Jazz! Its a great place to do business too. Dozens of local businesses meet every Friday and promote their services to everyone in the group.
David was very impressed with the professionalism exhibited in the group, and gave a short speech toweards the end of the meeting stressing the importance of networking.
At the end he was interviewed by the lovely Deborah Sharpstone of Bijou Media for a few words to be published in the local press.
Animals of South Africa
I’ve finaly got round to getting some of the wildlife images from South Africa. There were some very early morning starts to get some of these photos, as well as some images taken at dusk
A beautiful lillte Impala in afternoon sunlight
A young Kudu, notice the little black specs on its neck, they are actually ticks. Nearly every animal we saw there had hndreds of ticks stuck on their necks and faces. A lot of Kudu meat is sold in the restaurants and food shops in South Africa. We had some rather tasty Kudu sausage while we were there. Kudu biltong (sort of dried & cured/spiced meat, more info here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biltong) is quite a delicacy.
This is a Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) as opposed to the Black variety, a few large flocks were seen in Pilanesberg. Look closely and you’ll see how the Wildebeests eyes almost look like they’re popping out of its head! That gives them great peripheral vision.
This shot of an African Elaphants was taken just before nightfall, we were able to approach it from the side and get very close up without it being distracted from its meal at all.
This young lion was roaming the plains with two other lions very early in the morning, the early morning sun just catching its fur from behind.
Another early morning shot, this time of a Zebra, on the high resolution file you can clearly see the sunrise reflected in the Zebra’s eye, you can also see the incredibly long eyelashes of this animal.
Oh well, there are some of my animal shots nearly all of them taken at the Pilanesberg National Park www.pilanesberg-game-reserve.co.za/. I’ll update some landscapes soon.
Great Day at St Andrews School in Enfield
Last Saturday we had the opportunity to take photos of lots of families at St Andrews School, Curchbury Lane, Enfield and helped raise £180 for the school! And that was just from 10:30am to 3:30pm, they would have made lots more if it was a full day!
The way it worked was simple. The parents paid a “booking fee” to the school to have their photos taken at pre arranged times during the day. The school kept the booking fees in full – that’s how they raised most of the funds, and then on top of that we gave the school back 10% of everything we took o the day. The photos were fantastic value at just £10 for a 9″x6″ mounted print, AND we did a 3 for the price of 2 offer as well!
The photos were printed on the spot, so there were lots of happy mums showing off their beautiful photos to all around. The treasurer was very happy too, as they didn’t have to do anything apart from give us the use of a classroom, which took us about 45 minutes to set up, she just popped in at the end of the day & we handed over the cash for the school!
There were lots of friends in their last year of junior school together, who will no doubt cherish their photos for years to come!
Some of the prizes from the School Fayre were used as props too, how about this for an “air guitar”, that was a hell of a jump!
It was the hottest day of the year so far, so the sun hats got an airing!
Oh, and Charlies Angels were there too!!
So…. If you know of any schools that can do with some extra cash in the kitty, and want lots of happy mums, why not get them to give us a call and we can do the same for them.
Oh and by the way, this wouldn’t have happened without the help of the excellent Mel Tadhunter of Life & Seek Coaching, so a SPECIAL thank you to her – in fact why not check out her web site at www.lifeandseek.com
Family Photos on Location
Just a couple of weeks ago we were blessed with beautiful (and mild) weather, and I had a great opportunity to take photos of Howard, Amanda and their children in a Wood near Potters Bar in Hertfordshire. This is where they often come to spend time together, keep fit and enjoy lovely natural suroundings. When we took the photos it was incredibly quiet as the were no airplanes flying because of the Icelandic volcano. All we could hear was the birds in the trees and a few dogs barking, it was great!
The kids really “went for it” over the tree stump!
I couldn’t keep them out of the trees!
There’s always one who’s looking behind!
I don’t know what it was, but Howard & Amanda came over all romantic! Good pose though!
Off they go again.
There’s nothing like a good old tickle is there?
Finally, one for the family album.
So, we all had a good time, I got the trusted 70-200 working again & it didn’t disappoint, the quality of that lens is just fantastic. The photos surprised Howard, he didn’t think they’d be THAT good.
Birds of South Africa
As promised, I’ve finally got round to sorting out some images from SA. These are some of my favourite bird images. There are more, but I’ll save showing them for another day. These were taken in the beautiful Pilanesberg National Park.
Many people think that Ox Peckers just eat the ticks & insects off their hosts. In fact they often open up the wounds caused by the insects and feast on the blood! More of a parasite really!
The Liac Breasted Roller is probably one of the most beautifully coloured birds commonly seen in SA
The Yellow Fronted Canary is the same size as a sparrow, but so much prettier, wouldn’t you agree?
Just a few moments after this was taken, it came zooming past me with a fish in its beak. Although I got another photo of it in flight with the fish, it was half hidden behind a branch! Oh well!
All these photos were taken at the amazing Pilanesberg Game Reserve, more info at www.pilanesberg-game-reserve.co.za/
That’s it for now. More photos of animals will be coming soon. Now its back to work though.
Cherubs Day at Royal Chace Hotel
We had another great day at the Royal Chace Hotel on Saturday 10th April. Eight little Cherubs were photographed, but as some of them are getting older, they really do want things their own way!
We had a few 2nd sessions and some 3rd sessions too. Just to explain, Cherubs is a promotion where mums can register for just £35 and have 3 (yes THREE) photo sessions of their babies taken at roughly 4 monthly intervals starting when the baby is around 4 months old. I’m the Cherubs “Partner” for this area, more details on www.cherubs.uk.com
When they are at their first sitting at the 4 month stage, the babies stay where you put them (usually). At the time of the 2nd sitting/8 months, they usually are able to sit up and support themselves for a little while. We do have one early starter though who is running around at just 8 1/2 months! For the final sitting, they can almost definitely move around – at some speed too.
We just finished our very first tri-fold Folio for Mary’s little Ellena, its really beautiful seeing the three photos all together showing how the little ones have grown over their first year. Here’s little Ellena’s Folio with photos of her at 4, 8 and standing at 12 months old!
Panikos Wins Cherubs Photo Competition
Yesterday I attended the Cherubs Annual Convention in Coventry, where Ray Lowe was the guest speaker. There were around 120 Cherubs “Partners” in attendance. I submitted 3 images. Ray Lowe was looking for “Happy Babies”, images that mums couldn’t refuse. Well what do you think? My winning image was of Rachel smiling, shot with a 70-200mm lens hand held using available light.
The other which got an honorable mention & was in the top 5 images, was of little Yasmeen where I took a series of images of her and compiled a “multi-tile” of her many expressions.
All in all, a very satisfying day!