The Magic of Bluebell woods

Carpets of bluebells are one of my favourite English sights and a wonderful signature of spring. For some reason, purple is one of the colours digital has most trouble capturing accurately, so it took me 2 separate attempts, over 2 springs, to come up with some images which I felt started to do their glory justice. Here are my favourite 5 to date.

If you love them too, you can buy them as a beautiful 5-pack of 15cm sq archival art greeting cards via the Vivid Greeting Cards website here: Bluebell Carpets 5-pack, for just £15 (please excuse the flagrant plug!)

Night Flowers II

Fireworks offer up wonderful abstracts and you never know quite what you'll get until you've bagged and edited them. These were taken at Richmond Golf Club's great show last night, with a tripod, cable release, 35-100mm lens and ISO of 100. Most were also shot at f11 and with a shutter speed of around 1 to 2 seconds, though using the 'bulb' setting (which means the shutter stays open as long as your finger's on the button) which left a lot to intuition and luck!

Posing on a Saturday afternoon

These are my favourite 14 shots from a recent portrait session with Nick & Amy's stunningly beautiful children. 4 hours of dressing up, trying out poses, & running through a rainbow of emotions, & there was portrait magic on a damp autumn afternoon in West London.

Milan

In the bohemian Navigli quarter

 ...also known as the 'Venice of Lombardy' thanks to its canals

 The antique market which stretches 3km either side of a canal every last Sunday of the month

 Lots more creative graffiti

 as well as some truly bizarre clothing-presentations - in one of the fashion capitals of the world

The 'kangaroo-in-Bermuda' look anyone?

 And would this 2-headed, 3-eyed Elvis make you reach for the vodka?

 The design capital at its slickest

Wish I understood Italian, then I'd have known what this gentleman was haranguing the police about - while they did their best to ignore him

I was surprised by the number of people - and whole families - cycling here. There's also a great, and cheap, public transport system of trams, buses & metro, and bikes and eco-cars to share. All of which leads to far less city-gridlock & cleaner air.

 A beautiful lake in the huge park behind Castello Sforzesco

 Fountains are great places for people-watching

 1 of the many cool, gloomy & ornately-decorated churches here

 ...and a flat back tyre

 A pirate-themed restaurant in the Corso Garibaldi

 A surreal well-sculpture in a quiet Brera square

The shopping-&-restaurant precinct of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, leading off the Piazza del Duomo

And, finally, the gothic Duomo itself at dusk. Milan's centrepiece, with its 132 spires & 3,200 statues, & by far it's most striking architectural feature