I'd have considered £69 the right price when I was looking for one not so long ago - they seemed to go on ebay for around that. However, for some reason the market for used lenses seems to be in the doldrums so it might be worth shopping around.

I like it, there is something of the reptilian. I'm not convinced by a square format which places the eyes too centrally for my liking. But a very good result.

Good first outing, I thought you would like it. The tulip is excellent.

Very impressive if it was dead. I can't imagine it posing nicely for 251 shots.

Well of course not. But there is a very good point to this thread. And that is what is the purpose of a photograph? Not all photographs have to be great. There is nothing wrong with OK images to give a sense of place and time, the type of images that are well suited to a blog. As you said, if these were comissioned by a tourist board then there might be a different interpretation. There is a place for the hang it on the wall shot, a place for the this is how it was when I turned up shot, a place for a commissioned image, a place for a documentary shot, a place for a snapshot. There is a place for everything and how it is received will depend upon how you manage a viewer's expectations.

Interesting thread. I like number 3 as well.

There seems to be plenty of good raw material there to me - the curved line of houses in 2, a fab tree in 5. I don't think it's about finding different locations. I think making the most of this green and pleasant landscape is about three things. The light, the light and the light.

Adrian would have refused due to feelings of guilt about such a low price. Maybe.

Congratulations on 1x, that is no easy place to get accepted.

Dr Orloff would have bought that back had he seen it in time. Cripes, what a bargain.

You will enjoy it, one of the very finest Pentax lenses.

They look pretty good to me. If anything I would reign in the processing a bit, the blurring of the legs in the first looks too much to me. I think the bigger improvement here would be the framing rather than more pop - cut off paws look awkward.