Hypothyroidism and me!

My thyroid problem discovered.

Well slowly over the last 6 months my health has deteriorated. i have been back and forth to my doctors, which triggered them into sending me for all sorts of procedures. Most of the procedures were not related to my Hypothyroidism, nor did they identify it as my problem.
My main symptom was a sore throat, and a fullness in the throat. I felt the doctors were not taking me seriously, but at the same time i felt like i was being a nuisance!
Finally i was feeling ill enough to go back to the doctor and ask again for his help. The consultation was not going well, with the doctor rolling out the "you need to lose weight" rhetoric. I finally said that i wanted to have a blood test and asked if they could check my thyroid function?  the doctor agreed to this as well as sending me for another consultation with the Gastro consultant.
I turned up for my blood test early the next morning and read the card which said i should have fasted for 12 hrs! This had not been relayed to me by my doctor. I had to ask the nurse if i could return the following day when i had fasted, and this i did.
After 5 days i called my doctors who said my results were in and i could come in to see the doctor. My doctor went through my results and confirmed that i was suffering from Hyperthyroidism. He prescribed me some tablets and sent me on my way.
On getting home i decided to have a look at what the symptoms of Hypothyroidism were.
it turns out all of the following afflicted me.

Dry skin.
Sore throat.
Sore below the ears.
Swollen tongue.
Tiredness.
Mood swings.
Feeling cold.
Hot flushes.
Gaining weight.
Mind racing.

I have only taken my first tablet this morning and can not expect to see any improvements for a while.

If you are suffering the same symptoms, insist on a blood test which checks for your thyroid function.

god bless.

I guess when the weather is too bad for one to venture out into the suburbs, you have to become a little inventive in the home.
in a recent issue of a popular photography magazine my eye was caught by some interesting items. One of which was a shot taken on a office desktop using limited resources. that put me to work in my kitchen, using a beaded pillow which i thought might be of interest. I also had a small led light which produced a very white light.
The camera was my D7000, which i had set upon a tripod, as i was going to be using a long exposure.

uninteresting after my experiment.

Got the shadows to cast, but nothing of interest.

I have experimented with other materials as well. My first attempt was using silver foil as a base to illuminate a drinks glass and ice. Again it was not impressive, but i guess that if you don't try it you will never know.

Just did not work as i thought it might.

I finally got out with the camera 1 day in the week. I tried to capture an image of a moody youth wearing red which contrasted with the surroundings. i was not unhappy with this effort, but with the youth being moody, i could only get 5 minutes of cooperation.

Moody youth.

This weekend i will be out with my detector and hopefully taking a few pictures of finds.

Happy days.

Walsall wood camera club, on the move.

Shortly after joining Walsall wood camera club i discovered that they were going to move their home.
The new home of the camera club will be at the Anex (the old boys school) at the top of Brownhills.

Having been a witness to the parking problems that they had at the church hall in Walsall wood, i fully understand their reasons. There is potential for the club to grow, but not where they were located.

The Anex will provide ample parking and a room easily large enough to accommodate and increase in membership.
You can find a link to the club here. Contact details and meeting times are all available for anyone interested in joining.

It is a friendly and welcoming club, so if you have a passion for photography, get yourself along to a meeting.

Happy days.

Fisher F75 special edition in action.

Its been over a year since i purchased my F75 special addition. At the forefront of metal detector technology i was told. Well i have to say it has been a disappointment to say the least. Before the F75 i had a Whites spectrum XLT, which i really enjoyed using over the 14 years i had it.
Today i traveled to some fields which have been done over and over again by many enthusiasts. I was not expecting to find another Staffordshire hoard, just a general run out and may be pick up a coin or two.
I was initially trying to arrange for a few of the clodhoppers (a group of detectorists) club members to attend the farm on Sunday 6th. When i asked the farmer he was all for it, but the land was deep with mud. Also the crops are still to be harvested from most of the fields due to the bad weather, where they are Harvested the tractor has created deep sludge.

photo taken with my Blackberry of mud.

wellington got stuck in this lot!

One of my problems with the F75 is that it will not work when near power lines. The first field i went on had a railway track running along it. If i got within 25 meters of the track i got major feedback, rendering the machine useless. Even without power lines, i get lots of chatter through the headphones while searching. I have to turn the sensitivity way down to get the noise down to manageable levels. i don't see the point in having high sensitivity settings that i can't use.

All that being said, i do find plenty of things with the machine, i just don't get on with it. Here are the interesting and slightly interesting things i found while out.

Finds from muddy field.

Bottom center looks li a lions face pendant and is my favorite find of the day.Next to it on the left is what i think is a Roman pin head. the coin is a 1932 half penny. the strange shaped item above and left of the lions face is what looks like an oak leaf.

On the whole not majorly productive, but enjoyable. Now, what to do with the F75?

A local walk with local Photos.

This morning the weather looked like it was taking a turn for the better. I therefore donned my wellies and coat, threw my camera around my neck and picked up my tripod. Nell and Bella were in tow(my two Jack Russell), all excited as they knew they had a good walk ahead of them.
the first thing of interest i came against was a angler trying to catch Pike. Difficult to get a good Photograph of a single person who is watching you all the way down the towpath.

The loan angler.

As i passed the angler i had a chat with him and established that he would not mind me taking his photo when i returned. Always good to get into a dialogue with people as you soon find out if they are willing to be photographed. i did get him and his mate on my return. Not overly impressed with my effort, but you live and learn.

I next came upon a small pool out the back end of Clayhanger, i am not sure what it is named, but it sure is beautiful. I was quite pleased with this photograph, and will see if i can do anything else with it.

local beauty spot.

I bumped into at least six more anglers an my way to my next photograph, most of which were pike angling.

Turning off the canal towpath i took a rather unused public footpath that lead me around a a few large fields. the older of my dogs Nell, was beggining to feel the pace a bit, so i stopped and took the following photos. In my humble oppinion, the image looks better in B&W, what do you think?

B&W image of drainage ditch,

Colour close up, not so good.

As i pushed on i happened upon one of the local beauty spots that has a large pool with two islands set in it. It has a wealth of bird life upon it, however they are easily spooked. I think it may pay for me to spend a hour or two around the pools to get some good wildlife photos.

Geese on the move.

The edge of the lake caught in bright sunlight, with moody skys in the background.

The whole area is a wetland type of landscape with pools and puddles everywhere. A little further on, the track way passes under a old railway bridge i took a photo of it, but some how it is not pleasing. i can't work out why, and would appreciate some feedback. Finally i turned it into a monochrome, but still not impressive.

What could i do to improve this image?

About 20 meters through the bridge the little pool on the right has overflown and engulfed the footpath. I crossed it easily with my wellingtons on, but the Jacks got their bellies wet!

Flooded footpath.

As i passed the puddle i noticed how the sun was occasionally catching the ball-rushes on the right.

I set the tripod and took a few shots. I managed to get a old signal tower from the railway track in the background. Again i am sure there is much more i could have done with this setting.

under exposed, and an epic fail as the sun went in as i snapped this one.

Rushes without signals in sunlight.

Finally i traveled most of the Journey home on the roadside footpaths. I did however divert to the canal for the last mile, so i could see the angler in the early shot. i found a couple of swans in all of their Majesty which i just had to snap. I know there are millions of swan photos, but they are so photogenic.

They are just so powerful.

The angler had now got his buddy with him, both of them were real friendly and talkative. i did get a shot of as they said goodbye to me, but it is not as candid as i would have liked it to be.

Happy anglers.

I hope you enjoyed my local snaps, please comment if you feel the need.

peace be with you.

Woz.

Photographing Fungus with Nikon D7000

I have a strange kind of affinity with Fungus. If I see it while out walking I feel the need to photograph it. Maybe it is that whatever the time of year, there is a fungi somewhere waiting to be photographed. Some are colourful and some are downright plain, but all are interesting.Today, while walking in a local nature reserve (Park Lime Pits), I spotted this particularly photogenic fungi. I am not sure of its name, may be some one can help with that?

A very photogenic tree fungi, of unknown name.

I took this photograph using the self timer and the bracketing button. I set the camera to take 3 shots, again at short intervals. One over exposed, one under exposed and one exposed correctly. It was a particularly grim day with water cascading down the banks into the pools. The pools were overflowing into the local brook which was itself cascading away down towards Goscote.I set the camera to ‘A’ aperture priority and the ISO to 4000. The shots were taken from my tripod, and turned out fairly well to my eye. This may not be what others think, I am very open to criticism so please leave comments.Here is a Fungus i shot prior to Christmas on Gentleshaw common. It is a colourful specimen, however it was so dull i had to use the flash with my D60. I think that it looks unnaturally light and is spoiled by that very fact. 

Flashlight Fungus.

Another rather lonely fungus on Gentleshaw common. I only thought this worthy of a photo as it looked very lonely and isolated.

Lonely little fellow.

Finally on my way home from work in late November i spotted these Ink Cap mushrooms. They only last a short time so i took my chance in the pitch dark of a November evening.

Ink caps.

Water cascades from one lake to another.

Scratch marks on tree trunks, may be from Deer?

Stream running at full capacity.

Stream emptying into largest pool.

Thanks for looking, and peace be with you.

P.S  please leave your thoughts and comments.

The Ogley dirt farmer.: HDR with the D7000 around Chasewater.

The Ogley dirt farmer.: HDR with the D7000 around Chasewater.: I thought i might blog my first experience with the D7000 while out and about on boxing day. The sun was shinning brightly first t...