Camping with the New Forest Ponies and my Agfa.

Last weekend we took a well deserved break away to the New forest on the South coast of England, camping! It was a tough decision but due to lack of space in the car I had to limit myself to  just one camera. I had a rummage around in my camera cupboard and pulled out a 1962 Agfa Silette-L that belonged to my late Grandfather. I'd never used it before so thought I'd give myself a challenge, plus the fridge door has been full up with expired film for over 3 years now so it was about time I actually used some of it! I only noticed once we'd got there that the light meter on top of the camera didn't actually work so there was a lot of guess work going on. However, settings-wise and without the use of said light meter I'm happy to say that all photos were at least exposed correctly! 

The combination of me getting confused over feet and metres on the distance dial along with my need to walk and shoot at the same time didn't exactly add to the aesthetics  in many of the photos as the shutter speed only goes up to 1/125th of a second, so most are out of focus. Anyway, here are some results from my first roll of film.

Easter weekend - Sunshine, family and a beautiful tribute

I've been a little quiet on the blogging front recently. Things got a bit crazy here and we disappeared for a week to house-sit in the countryside but we're settled back in at home now after an incredibly hectic but beautiful Easter weekend! 

On Friday morning we went to the seaside. We were there well before 9AM to avoid the awful traffic that builds up during such lovely weather, the beach was almost empty apart from a few dog walkers! Even the group of loud less-than-lovely people with sand-throwing, swearing children and a ghetto-blaster (on full blast) who pitched up just feet in front of us (when the entire beach was available) weren't enough to spoil my day!

Saturday afternoon was spent with my wonderful Grandmother who made the most delicious veggie soup for lunch and syrup sponge pudding! She then presented me with an enormous plate of her famous Chocolate Crunch. Now, I don't expect anyone outside of the Knight family to have tried this delicacy, but I can assure you it is absolutely amazing. I'd love to post some pictures, but it's all gone! I suppose I could post a recipe, but I'm sworn to secrecy - I've only just got my hands on it myself.. maybe someday.. maybe.

Sunday morning was an early one. The entire day was to be dedicated to my beautiful Grandmother Pamela Richardson, who sadly passed away in 2005 after a long battle with cancer. Midge and I started the day walking up to the top of Kingley Vale, at 7AM. This is seriously early for me - especially for a Sunday! We took croissants and sat in the sunshine for a while until the rest of the family made it up the top of the hill. My siblings flew kites and we relaxed for a while until it was time for lunch at a local pub. We then walked home through the fields and spent the rest of the afternoon basking in the sunshine. Here are some little snaps I took that day, the misty ones are early morning as you can probably tell!