Milford

Milford on Sea is a town I've visited many times in my life, my Grandparents moved there when I was around four and lived there until I was about 16. In that time I spent many school holidays staying with them in their house which was situated just opposite the beach, with a wonderful view of The Isle of Wight and The Needles from every window to the front of the property. Sadly they had no choice but to move when a property developer made an offer to buy the house (which was very large and on a big piece of land, separated in to three large homes) which the other two owners could not afford to refuse. The house I remember is now gone, replaced by modern homes and barely any of the fantastic garden I played in as a child, but the memories remain. We recently visited on my Mum's 60th Birthday and I have to say I can't remember a time there with better weather.



A view of some buildings on the beach front. As a child I'd walk with my Grandad and the dogs along the top of the wall - these days there is a safety barrier to stop anyone getting close to the edge. Just underneath the window to the top right of the frame there is a closed off (and I suspect filled in) view point used in WW2 to spot enemy vessels approaching the south coast of England.



A familiar view for me, I spent many hours looking out at this view of the English channel from my Grandparents' house (often through Grandad's binoculars which I never could quite get the hang of). It brings back instant memories of my childhood and spending time with them. I can almost taste the fish cakes from the local fishmonger as I write this!



My Niece Sophie and Nephew James never got to meet my Grandparents, but it's great to see them enjoying the same rocks and beach that my sister and I did as children. In this case Sophie sat on some rocks with The Isle of Wight in the background.

Bulldog

On the way back from a quick wander around with a friend looking for some photogenic urban subject matter we bumped into this bulldog waiting for its owner outside of a Tesco store.

Probably the best shot of the day for me, so a rare stroke of photographic luck but one I was more than happy to take advantage of!! Glad to get the focus too as it started to move toward me as I composed the shot, and there isn't much room for that when shooting at f/1.4 at close range.

Summer... finally!

The sun finally came out! Hopefully this will motivate me to get out with the camera a bit more in the coming months.

To start, a simple shot of some buttercups - shot upward to give a different perspective and to add some nice blue sky to contrast with the bright yellow petals. 




Some more shots to follow shortly.