The outside of the Lab this time. 

A sunset the other night. 

Michael playing the guitar. He's cunningly avoiding being sold to shutterstock by covering himself with corporate logos at all times these days. Apparently he's even seriously contemplating getting a big Apple tattooed on his back...;-) (He also claims he doesn't have a beard just now, whereas it is clearly reaching Malcolm-esque proportions...) 

One of my big four-leaf clovers. 

Another sparkler pic - taken for TJ's birthday. 

More experiments with sparklers. This is the mini-bottle of pink champagne Michael got me when I passed my viva. With a straw (the champagne, not the viva). It occurred to me as I was walking down Ashton Lane with it that I might end up being arrested as it's illegal to drink alcohol outside in Glasgow. But at least it would be more refined that being arrested for drinking Buckfast outside...;-) 

This is the result of one of Gimp's filters on the champagne bottle pic. No idea how it gets from one to the other, but it's very pretty... 

Tour bus with picture of the Round Church on it, next to some people standing outside the actual Round Church. 

Spotted this guy marching down King's Parade waving a Scottish flag. No idea why. Perhaps he felt he had to ward off the large numbers of English people milling about... 

Some PhDs make off down Senate House Passage past some summer-school students. 

Bedellus-type guy waves his top-hat at the granduands as they go into the Senate House. 

Going in to the ceremony. 

Waiting for graduation. 

RTFM

They're cunning devils, the Canon people. Despite having had the D30 for several months now, I had failed miserably to get round to reading the effing manual properly and have basically been treating it like my lovely, but extremely basic, Centon semi-automatic. This meant that not only was I frequently fighting with the D30 when it did seemingly bizarre things like taking a succession of shots any time I tried to do a longish exposure at night, but I wasn't using exciting features like white-balance adjustments and Depth of Field Preview! The excitement of it! I've always wanted DoF preview...strange, I know.

Anyway, hopefully with a bit more practise (and more reading of the manual) my pictures will improve. I recently submitted some pictures to Shutterstock, and so far have made 80 cents! The likelihood of this funding an escape from the proof seems remote, but it's quite entertaining, and doubtless good practise (is that the right spelling of practise? or should it be 'ice'? I can never remember).

Apparently the sort of photos that sell best are ones with people in them, so I foresee a batch of Michael pics, as he's currently the only one who's agreed to sign the model release form. Other voluteers should form an orderly queue...;-)

Corridor in the Lab. Despite my boss' suggestion that an orange skirt would go well with my purple t-shirt, I have resisted buying such a garment in case I start blending into the decor... 

Another bit of the stairwell. 

Orange stairwell. This is my favourite part of the building (bizarrely enough). It smells nice (usually of freshly cut grass). 

Lights in the Lab 

Clouds (though not from both sides) 

Thistle with bee. 

Windowbox and geraniums 

A red door with hollyhocks along the street. Took me ages to catch it without cars in front... 

I fell prey to Heffers' midnight opening last night and went in and bought the new Harry Potter and a snowy owl. This was a bit of a disappointment as it doesn't hoot, it makes a kind of "ack ack ack, whistle" sort of noise :-( But it's very cute. 

Another picture of the giant spider on the bridge over the lock, taken on the way back from getting the new HP book. Quite difficult to take photos in the dark while avoiding drunk people and students from Hogwarts as they stagger past you. 

Blurry man on bike.  

Calming lavender stuff in a blue bottle from Dave's Navy (or Neal's Yard if you're not Michael ;-)