The Cosmic Photo Challenge: In the trees.

What a beautiful weekend it was, the perfect weather to be out taking pictures for The Cosmic Photo Challenge, which is brought to you this week by the prompt; In the trees.

I love this time of year, when the leafy canopies are opening and whole areas of open ground, previously covered in bare sticks once again become green cathedrals of dappled shade and birdsong. And the good part is, I only have to walk two minutes down the road and I’m in this small slice of arboreal paradise.

Where did your weekend wanderings take you..?

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To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.

Tag your posts with  #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: On the shore.

On The Cosmic Photo Challenge this week, I asked you to capture your images; On the shore.

After over 20 years living in North Devon, I finally made my first trip to a hidden Victorian gem, Tunnel Beaches in Ilfracombe.

Accessed by an unassuming white tunnel entrance just a few minutes walk from the high street, these beaches were opened in the early 1800s with the two naturally separated coves enabling ladies and gentlemen to bathe with their modesty intact. The gentlemen’s beach was in use for a wedding yesterday, so I took a stroll around the rugged landscape of the ladies beach and made a video tour, accompanied by an extract from a recently composed piece of appropriately watery ambient electronica*.

Where did your search for the water’s edge take you at the weekend? Let’s have a look at your pictures…

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*{Should you wish to experience the full version of this new track, along with it’s own, strangely mesmerizing video, you can do so HERE}

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To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.

Tag your posts with  #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: In bloom.

This week’s prompt for The Cosmic Photo Challenge was an optimistic one for some of you, I know, due to all that pesky geography and those inconsiderate local seasons, for which I can only apologise. ;~}

But for those of us fortunate enough to be entering the beginning of the end of the beginning of Spring, a lot of the world is at last; In bloom.

I returned once more to Marwood Hill Gardens just outside Barnstaple (and you can see my full collection of photos HERE); where their internationally renowned camellia collection was still in spectacular flower, along with magnolias and rhododendrons, under-planted with swathes of daffodils, anemones and hellebores.

So, what’s bursting forth in your part of the world at the moment? Time to let the rest of us see what you have for show and tell…

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To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.

Tag your posts with  #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: As the world warms up.


Good morning, on this Monday’s edition of The Cosmic Photo Challenge, we’re having a photographic roundup of how it looks; As the world warms up.

I wasn’t (necessarily) looking for photos of impending climate catastrophe with this week’s theme, although you can, as always, spin the prompt however you like.

I was inspired simply by the weather brightening up over the weekend and, for a couple of hours each day at least, you could actually imagine you felt the promise of summer warmth on your face.

I took a drive up into the hills between Barnstaple and Bideford, the land of the wind turbines and solar farms, where I discovered what happens to that blades in a panoramic shot if it’s taken while the turbine is revolving…

Where did the sunshine take you over the last few days?

Come and join in, it’s so easy to do…

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To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.

Tag your posts with  #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Art from nature.

Yes, I’m afraid it’s Monday again, but don’t let the start of the week get you down, The Cosmic Photo Challenge is here to brighten your day.

This week the prompt gives free reign for your creative imagination to take flight, as we consider the possibilities of; Art from nature.

I chose the literal path and made three artistic images from recent photos, since the weather refused to cooperate with outdoor photographic pursuits over the weekend.

The first of two reimaginings of the Devon countryside is especially effective if you are viewing it on a phone or tablet, as it comprises multiple landscapes from different angles…

…and the second is a kind of photographic trompe l’oeil, combining elements of four different locations to create the illusion of a fifth.

Now let’s see your artistic contributions for the week, it’s easy, come and join in…


To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.

Tag your posts with  #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: When the wind blows.

A predictably metrological theme for The Cosmic Photo Challenge this week, prompted by my request that your images capture the world as it looks; When the wind blows.

I took my photos on a woodland drive along the edge of Exmoor, early yesterday morning when I took Rhonda to work.

Like most of the UK over the weekend, we were battered by Storm Eunice, leaving a lot of debris on the roads and many trees looking worse for wear.

How did your windy images turn out?

Do let’s have a look at them, it’s easy to take part, just follow the simple steps below…

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To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.

Tag your posts with  #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Woodland winter.

Another week dawns and another edition of The Cosmic Photo Challenge rises from the ashes of the weekend to brighten your Monday.

Good morning everyone, I hope your day is going well so far and you’re ready to face the challenge of the prompt; Woodland winter.

I took a very pleasant, if slightly soggy walk, through the woods around the soon to be developed Venn Quarries just outside Barnstaple.

The river was pretty swollen by the recent heavy rain and I managed to capture a few long exposure shots of the swirly currents, giving the water an ethereal, misty effect, along with some super slo-mo clips of waterfalls, which you can see in the short video tour below.

ended up with too many shots to choose between, so I have posted the entire gallery on my other blog and you can see them all HERE}

Now it’s time to see images of your own winter woodland wonderlands, I can’t wait to see what you have for us.

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To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.

Tag your posts with  #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Let’s hear it for the leaves.

This week’s edition of The Cosmic Photo Challenge was one last hurrah for autumn colour, photographically speaking, as your theme was; Let’s hear it for the leaves.

I took a stroll round the park yesterday, just as the morning sun was making everything golden. I found some interesting foliage around the war memorial, along with crisp carpets of leaves in every shade of red, orange and yellow.

Now let’s see what you captured for us over the weekend.

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To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.

Tag your posts with  #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Autumnal landscapes.

Hello everybody, welcome to Monday and, more importantly, welcome to the new home of The Cosmic Photo Challenge, today themed around the prompt; Autumnal landscapes.

To meet this week’s brief, I once again took a stroll around the woods and riverbanks near Fremington Quay on the river Taw, just outside Barnstaple.

Thank you all so much for the support you’ve given the Cosmic Photo Challenge over the years, please feel free to spread the word by sharing the new site with anyone you think would enjoy the challenge, now let’s have a look at what you captured over the weekend…

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.

Tag your posts with  #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.