I always carry a camera so that I am always prepared for a scene that takes my eye:
The camera in this case was my compact camera, albeit a better quality one rather than a bargain basement one. I was in the village of Eaton Socon in Cambridgeshire visiting relatives and we went for a walk in the afternoon to the local river that passes by the village: the Great Ouse.
This view is from the side of the locks looking north towards the moorings and old mill buildings (my grandfather used to work in these mills and I have recollections as a small boy going into the mill with him). As you can see, it was a fine September afternoon with blue sky and fluffy white clouds. I really like this photo for both the colour and composition.
In one of the little side streams of this river was a single swan:
This swan was feeding, so was often head-down and tail-up – I managed to photograph it between feeding sorties. In this photo I like both the colours and composition. The only downside was the swan being burnt out to white, despite my attempts to correct for this. Compositionally it would not win any camera club competitions but I find it quite pleasing.
I took a third photograph without the swan:
This just shows the side stream of the Great Ouse. As before, I like both the colours and composition of this view – to me it has an almost magical quality to it.
Larger versions can be seen in the Featured Photographs Gallery.