Last week we were cheered up by Mudge's Primary Colours Competition. This week, because its miserable here in Durham, I've chosen The Weather. You might have tropical heat waves, monsoons or icy blasts where you live but we've all got weather.
Usual rules apply, entries must be taken on Pentax cameras or related clones and the winner should be prepared to select the following week's subject, judge it and pass comment on all the entries.
Deadline for entries: Midnight British Time Sunday January 17. Google it to get it right if you live in Outer Mongolia or Wogga Wogga.
David

Flying Scotsman was a rare visitor to the North Eastern Region in my 'spotting days' as it had earlier been transferred from Kings Cross to Leicester to work trains on the Great Central line between the East Midlands and Marylebone.
All the A3 class, of which Flying Scotsman was one, had been displaced by the newer and more powerful A4s and A1s on the train of the same name - the two 10-o-clocks from Kings Cross and Edinburgh Waverley, each day, by the time I was spotting.
I have seen it in preservation however and plan to photograph it back on the mainline in Cumbria in a couple of weeks.
David

Hope you'll be well enough to use your batteries again very soon Stan.
David

Love these abstracts, inspirational use of spare time spent indoors on a grey day. But what the hell's a Wimberley Plamp11 and where do you get one, Sainsbury's? Boots? SRS? hardware store? Waterstones? sex shop?
David

Good action shots, full of colour and god light. Considering the terrible weather we've had recently you were very fortunate on this day.
David

No crops? You have managed to get in really close. Well done.
David

Love these Gary. It looks busy but not as bad as at the Goths. There's some wonderful atmospheric light in the sea scenes. I assume some of these were on a tripod, try setting one up during Goths time!!!
David

I've selected one image a month to represent my 2015 portfolio. These are among my favourites, not my best work because I never know what my best is. They are a cross section of what I do and were taken in a variety of locations in England, Scotland and Wales. All three of my cameras in current use were involved one each from my K30 and K5 and ten from my K3. The lenses were DA*200. DA*50-135, DA*16-50 and DA 35mm AL.


JANUARY Duchess class steam loco on the climb to Shap, Cumbria, with a heavy charter train. A huge blow-up from the K3's generously sized sensor.



FEBRUARY Street photography in Durham. I like this because of its surrealism



MARCH Mirror, mirror....My grand daughter Bethany's 15th birthday. Reflection in her wardrobe door mirror.



APRIL Into the light. The cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral.



MAY Fish 'n chips evening special on the Ffestiniog Railway. The restored 1890s-built engine Linda comes up the hill into Tan y Bwlch station in North Wales.



JUNE Action on the River Wear at Durham Regatta



JULY Sunset over the pier and Severn Estuary at Clevedon, Somerset.



AUGUST A very close crop of a performer at The Edinburgh Fringe



SEPTEMBER Floral Dance, taken in the Butterfly House at Preston Park., Stockton during a camera club assignment day.



OCTOBER Spawning season on the River Wear in Durham, this is either a salmon or sea trout leaping a weir. Another huge crop from the K3 sensor.


NOVEMBER
Ice Garden. Another camera club assignment, this time to the National Glass Centre at Sunderland.



DECEMBER I've found you a red dress - Christmas shopping at The Metro Centre



Feel free to comment, better still also add your own favourites of 2015.
David

Very dramatic pictures JAK. Poor old York has had a real battering from the floods over the years.
David

Its sad this happens so often, sometimes with new members or first time competition entrants. I get the impression that some people enter the competitions without bothering to read the rules. In this competition I clearly stated that it was for the use of wide angle lenses and the winner was expected to set and judge the following week's. One of the pictures submitted was taken on a 300mm lens. I PM'd the photographer concerned but my message has yet to be opened.
David