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Sunday 16 September 2012

Picton Castle Gardens


Taking a break for a while from my REWIND posts, this will be my first photographic post here on Blogger. This year has seen one of the wettest summers on record here in Wales, so opportunities to get out with the camera have been few and far between. Last Saturday (8th September) I finally got a warm sunny day, so I headed off to Picton Castle. Although called a castle, it's more of a fortified manor house, click HERE for a little of it's history.
It's has around 40 acres of beautiful gardens, including woodland walks, a maze, a walled garden and ornamental lawns. I took loads of photos, although I had to battle a stiff breeze, not easy when you're trying to get macro shots. I'll post a few of my fave shots full size, the rest in a slideshow at the end of the post.  I'm not very good with the names of flowers, so I often just make up my own.

1) Warm Embrace
Warm Embrace

2) Fire Leaf FireLeaf

3) Bee Face Bee 1

4) Outbreak Outbreak 3

5) Scarlet Glow Scarlet Glow

6) Thrush Thrush 1

7) Hidden Heart Hidden Heart

8) Double Trouble Double Trouble


Flickr Slideshow of whole album (Warning: 95 photos!!)

32 comments:

  1. Eight lovely photographs Mitch ~ I particularly like No. 1 ~ Warm Embrace.

    I also like the photo at the top of this blog which I assume is Picton Castle itself. Is it whitewashed or has the stone bleached over the years ?

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    1. Thanks Charlie. That one is my fave, too. Yes, the top photo is Picton Castle. I think it has some sort of finish on it of more modern times, that hides the original stonework.

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  2. As usual you do not disappoint us a stunning collection of shots, showing your skill across the whole range of Macro Photography genera. Beautiful work Mitch;)

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    1. Thanks Baz, much appreciate your comment :-))

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  3. I think you should be in charge of naming flowers; Warm Embrace is a lovely name and one of my favorite photos. Outstanding of the thrush - every piece of down. Wonderful.

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    1. Thanks Benni :-)) I like that name, too. As soon as I saw the photo when I loaded them from the camera, that name sprang to mind immediately. That thrush showed no fear, he/she was quite content to continue looking for bugs while I prowled around trying to get the best angle for a shot.

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  4. Awesome set Mitchy! I really enjoyed your slideshow.

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  5. These are fabulous (as always) Hidden Heart is my favorite :)

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    1. Thanks Danette. I liked that one too. All of them were at the same stage, so I couldn't see what was hidden within.

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  6. That must have been a wonderful place to spend the day. Lovely pics...

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    1. It is a lovely place. I didn't get there til 2pm that day, so only had three hours til closing time. Next time I'm gonna get there much earlier and spend the whole day. I only covered about a third of the grounds.

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  7. If you hadn't of said...I would have had no idea that you 'pet named' the flowers...as the names you chose fit well!

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    1. LOL. Thanks Lisa. I don't think the 'real' names of flowers do justice to their beauty.

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  8. I am not good with flower names either and I think you named them perfectly. Loved looking at your photos they are indeed very beautiful :)

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    1. I know the names of some of them, and occasionally I'll get several together that I name properly, but most of the time it's my 'pet' names.

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  9. You are very good at naming flowers... All are very appropriate.... love the
    warm embrace. Thanks for sharing... have a nice day!

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  10. The first one is my favorite. I'll be checking out the castle if I can get to the photos. Thanks :)

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    1. It's worth checking out, it's a beautiful place. Thanks for dropping by, Marci :-))

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  11. I haven't looked at the slide show yet Mitch but I am going to do so in a minute. These photos you have named are the loveliest I have ever seen. I think you naming them has given an extra warmth which enhances them above seeing a flower on it's own.

    Bravo!

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  12. Wow Mitch, that was a lovely slide show I must say, even some real lotus flowers whick look like a more lucious water lily. I must say that was a friendly thrush posing for you the way it did too. Would love to see some more of them enlarged.

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    1. Shayna, if you want to see the photos on the slideshow larger, click on the 'fullscreen' icon in the bottom right (it looks like four little arrows pointing to each corner). It'll show you the entire thing in full-screen size and you can stop at any photo by using the pause button. To return to the page from full-screen mode, just hit the ESC button on your keyboard.

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  13. Absolutely stunning Macro Photography, Mitch !
    Thanks so much for sharing !

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    1. Thanks Annette!! Nice to see you here. Are you back from your travels now?

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  14. I am a long time friend of Loretta-from 360 to M, and spotted you from her pages-I love photography-and yours is very beautiful Kathy

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    1. Hi Kathy. Thanks for dropping by for a look at my photos :-))

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  15. These are all beautiful! I'm Sugar Land Sweetie from Multiply. (Beth)

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  16. Welcome to my page Beth. Glad you enjoyed my photos :-))

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  17. Great pics! I like how they are big enough to see really good. Autumn is so beautiful

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