Photography - 16th February - Museum of Cannock Chase, Staffordshire

Yesterday my Dad and I went to the Museum of Cannock Chase in Hednesford for the second of our weekly photography course.  The Museum of Cannock Chase is another place I haven't been to before but is only a few miles from where I live.

The museum is an old colliery which closed in the mid 1980's and it describes the rich heritage in the area.  Cannock was a mining town and the landscape is due to mining in the area.  Even the hospital where I go for my treatment boasts ward names of some of the old collieries, such as Hilton Main, Hollybank, Fairoak and Littleton.  Many of the minors donated some of their pay to fund the building of the hospital and the names are a tribute to that.  I still remember Littleton when it was a working mine, I remember driving past it on the way home from the hospital and seeing all the minors coming up after their shift had finished. Now, unfortunetly, it's a housing estate.

When we arrived at the museum the lecturer Steve came over to tell me that my picture of the Blackpool skyline (if you can call it that!) was fantastic BUT and it's a big BUT, I caught a girls head in the picture.  I knew I'd done this but I wanted to ask him if the basic composition of the picture was correct and he said that it was.  He then asked me if he could show the rest of the class my pictures and discuss how he would have taken the picture or if I could have done anything differently, he also wanted to show me how to crop extra bits out of the picture.

Here are some of the pictures he changed:

My photo of Blackpool with this girls head became.....

The idilic landscape of the Maldieves became...

My pool pic became...

and the reason, because I chopped the tow of the flip flop off!

And the picture we all want to walk in and take a seat became...

After this we went for a look round but unfortunately we lost the group because we decided we would stay in the warm and have a cuppa before we went.  My Dad and I ventured out on our own merry way which, to be honest, was better because I can’t walk as far as the others.  This was the first time in about 20 years that I had set foot on Cannock Chase and it felt amazing.  I drive through it all the time but I hadn’t actually be able to walk on it and although I only took a few steps it felt good.

Here are some of the photos my Dad and I took.

Here is my Dad walking through the chase.

Everything is so gloomy this time of year.

I wonder how long this has been there.

Forcing myself to read more

My friend told me the other day that his English language skills have improved greatly since he started reading more.  I told him that I've always struggled with the English language and particularly with writing.  This is maybe why it was such a massive deal for me to start this blog and why, at times, it can be such an effort for me to post.  Words don't flow even though I know what I would like to say.   Lecturers used to say 'you know what you want to say Sally, you just don't know how to say it,' and that is absolutely true.

I'm not sure that even my friends realise how much I struggle and that I'm actually rather embarrassed about it.  I suppose the general consensus is that, 'you got masters degree, you can't be that bad,' and I don't think I am that bad.

What I tend to forget is that my degree was in Music Performance and I got it because I was good at it. I wasn't necessarily good at writing about it, but I was good at the performing and that's what got me through it.

I'd love to get back into reading and maybe it will help with my English.  Don't get me wrong, I do read, but not as much as I used to.  It's commonly known that once you start knitting you stop reading and this definitely happened to me.

Therefore, following on from my conversation with my friend I've downloaded a few of the free classics on my kindle app.  I'm going on holiday next week and I'm going to make a real effort to read more whilst I'm away.  I've already started reading Little Women which is a book that I have always wanted to read so I will let you know how that goes.

Between reading, knitting and photography I won't have time to do much else, so here goes.

Photography - 9th February 2012 - Marquis Drive, Cannock Chase, Staffordshire

What most locals, like me, forget to remember is that we live almost on top of a wonderful area of woodland called Cannock Chase which was given Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty status in 1958. (reference www.cannock-chase.co.uk)

Cannock Chase is a haven for many people who live in the area, cyclists, walkers, adventurers and not least photographers.  So, why not make use of this magical place for a photography class?

Last Thursday my dad and I went off to Marquis Drive Visitor Centre on the Chase for our first photography class.  The first thing I learnt was that you don't have to have a fancy camera to make photos look good, anyone with any sort of camera can take good photographs.  We learnt how to create a good photograph by looking at the composition and how to frame the photograph.  I don't think I captured this very well but here are a couple of photos I took on a cold and gloomy day on Cannock Chase.

www.visitcannockchase.co.uk

Photography Class - The new Lord Lichfield...obviously!

A few years ago I bought myself a digital SLR camera and have been looking for a class where I could learn how to use it ever since.  So imagine my excitement when my mum saw a free class advertised in the local newspaper.  My Dad phoned up and signed both him and myself on the course which was, what we thought a one off two hour session.

So we arrived at Poplars Landfill in Cannock on a cold Thursday morning a couple of weeks ago.  Now I know a landfill site doesn't sound like a good place to take photographs but Biffa (the company who own it) are trying their best to make it look as good as they can by planting over it and generally trying to make it fit into the landscape of Cannock Chase.

We soon realised that this session wasn't the one off class we were expecting but it was the last week of a six week photography course.  So after a few conversations we signed up for the next six week course when it was running.

Meanwhile...The lecturer is a guy called Steve who is really nice and a great photographer.  He's obviously really passionate about what he does.  Steve came straight over to talk to me about photos I'd like to take, and what sort of experience I've got.  He soon realised I am a complete beginner when it comes to photography and he asked me if I would get together some photos that I'd taken and bring them to the next meeting.

I wanted to share some of these photographs with you. They are some of my favourites from over the last two years since I've had the camera. See what you think.

These two photographs were taken on a cold and rainy July day at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland where some scenes from Harry Potter were filmed.  July 2010.  Alnwick Castle is a lovely day out if you are ever in the area. www.alnwickcastle.com/

This was a day trip to Blackpool on another cold and blustery day in October 2010.

Our trip to Maldives in January 2011.

This is taken at the Green Grocers in Mill Street in Stafford in February 2012.

Losing weight and a dress size

As you know I've started using My Fitness Pal.  I started in December 2011 and I'm happy to announce I've lost 9lbs and am already wearing clothes that are a size smaller.

I'm feeling a lot better in myself and my joints are benefitting too.  Obviously the last month has been difficult and I haven't done much exercise but when I have managed to do a bit my joints have felt a little more comfortable.

The only exercise I've been doing is on the Wii.  If I exercise at home I can do a few minutes and then sit down which is a lot better for me than going for a 30 minute walk, which I couldn't do anyway.  It's worked well for me so far, some days I can't do anything and some days I can manage up to 10-15 minutes split up into small manageable chunks.

I find My Fitness Pal easy to use because it has a website (myfitnesspal.com) and an app but the best part is that it's free.  After adding a few details, height/current weight you can add in how much weight you want to lose, either 1 or 2lbs per week 2 lb per week, and it calculates how many calories you should be having each day.  The friends feature is also good as you can help each other along the way.

Adding food into the app is easy as it has a barcode scanner but there is also a search facility, then all you do is you add how much you've had and it tells you how many calories is it in.  The only problem with that is that due to the website being American people have put things in lbs, oz, grams, cups, all sorts of different measurements so I've also downloaded a free converter app so I know how much I'm having.  And no I haven't got a clue how big a cup is!  People also put calorie values that are totally wrong, either too much or too little so you have to double check.

The app also shows your projected weight loss if you continue eat like today, for instance if I've eaten 1350 calories it tells me 'if everyday were like today you will weigh so many lbs in 5 weeks'. I think this is good because it gives me something to aim for and doesn't leave me disheartened.

So will I continue to lose weight? Well I certainly want too so watch this space and see!

More physio...

Last Friday I went for my second physio appointment.

The physio was really pleased with me and said I was far ahead of where she would expect me to be at this stage.  I have been pushing myself though.

We've had to change some of the exercises due to the arthritis in my other joints.  I have to lift my operated arm with my good arm but my good arm isn't strong enough so my mum has been helping me to lift it.

With my mums help I've managed to get it moving.  I'm so pleased that I'm getting better.  The physio said that it wouldn't be long before I can do things for myself again so that's given me hope.

I've got a few more exercises to do but I've not been doing as much physio this week, but I need to get back to it.

Shoulder Resurfacing 2 weeks on, a little late I know

A few weeks ago I went my first physio appointment since the surgery and then I had a 2 week check up with the consultant straight after that.  It went really well although this is when I have to get my arse in gear, no more sitting around!

I saw a lovely physio called Rachel who was really nice.  She asked, as they always do, about work, I guess she's trying to get me back to normal life as soon as possible.  Rachel gave me about 6 exercises to do at home.

I had to take my sling off for the first time since the operation; it felt really strange at first.  I quickly got used to not having to hold my operated arm with my with my other arm, it felt a little uncomfortable but not painful.  The exercises weren't as painful as I'd thought it would be, I was prepared and took some oramorph before I went to the hospital.  My shoulder moved quite well although it was difficult to move it and the scar felt like it was going to burst.  I felt that the joint did move further than it had done before which I'm obviously pleased about.

I was told that the rehabilitation would take around a year and I am really quite disappointed about that.  I just want to be able to dress myself again.  It's so frustrating to have to wait for my carer in a morning and I'm getting really fed up of them coming in really early.  I have 8am starts most weekends which would be fine but I have to be up and hour or so before they come in so I can have my tablets before they get here.  It also means that the whole house has to get up early and when I have a quiet day at home being up so early makes the day seem never ending.

After I went to see the physio I headed off to see the surgeon.  I saw a different surgeon to the one who did the original consultation but it sounded like he was in my operation too.  I get the impression that they don't do shoulder resurfacing very often so they all came in to have a look!  He said I could start back with everyday life as best as I can.  So I can start driving and having a shower again which I'm most pleased about.  The surgeon also told me that I don't have to wear my sling anymore and I just have to wear it for 'comfort'.  It feels kind of weird without it, but amazing at the same time.

So now just to do much physio as I can and fingers crossed I'll get back some sort of movement.