James Whitesmith's photostream  

Yesterdays snowfall provided a great contrast to the tightly packed, vertical tree trunks in Spring Wood, a local beauty spot.

I spent a good while trying to compose so as to give the best depth through the trees, and think I was quite successful although maybe the dominant tree in the foreground is a little too central.

My wife and I went for a walk in the falling snow today, and for the first time in the 4 or so years I've owned a WR camera (and more recently lens as well) I actually made good use of the weatherproofing to shoot in adverse conditions.

I'm all for sharpness in portraits (I know that's not everybody's cup of tea but I'm a fan) and the DA* 55mm delivers in spades; definitely my favourite lens.

The promising weather forecast convinced me to visit Almscliffe Crag this morning. Unfortunately the sky was virtually cloud free but it was good to get out. The rock formation is probably a little too prominent in the frame but it was rocks, fields or featureless sky and I think the worn, weathered texture of the crag is quite interesting.

In 2011 I caught the cycling bug and ended up riding a few well known climbs and clocking over 2000 miles in the 10 months or so I rode. I've got a couple of big goals set for this year, the main one being to conquer Mont Ventoux in June.

In the meantime I decided to get creative with this 'Pasta Di Bici' to make up for the sunrise fail I dragged myself out of bed for in the early hours.

I know I'm a few days late with this (been away from the computer) but a belated Merry Christmas to all my Flickr contacts and Happy New Year in anticipation of next weekend!

This is my first upload shot with my new Pentax K-5...Santa was particularly generous this year!