With 2 months still to go, I've just had a close encounter with artificial Christmas trees, artificial reindeer, plastic Father Christmas, strings of Christmas lights and gaudy baubles. Is this a record?

It was at a garden centre, of course. I went to buy a real plant, but needless to say they didn't have what I wanted.

Steve

A retired officer of Her Majesty's Royal Navy called round this morning. He didn't mention it. Pity. We just drank coffee.

Thanks folks. It makes you wonder what the mediaeval monks would have seen and felt when light was pouring through windows into dark rooms.

Processed in October but unfortunately taken in September. I suppose that doesn't count.

Steve

Thanks folks. The webs had gone by the afternoon and haven't come back. Got 'em just in time!

Steve

A ruined abbey and bright, mid-morning light. Old stonework looks much the same to me wherever it is (:twisted, so it was the light that caught my eye. Here is some of it. Much like chasing shadows but in reverse...

K3 + 16-85mm.

Thought and comments welcome as usual.

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Steve

Thanks folks. The light seemed good that morning so I set out to photograph light rather than just stone walls in various states of decay. I must admit that as far as stone walls go, one decaying abbey looks much like any another to me...

Steve

Much better but still visible on the tablet. Can't see it on the big screen. Whatever you did seems to have worked.

Steve

Gentle, peaceful, calming - I like it. Definitely art. Would look good big and hanging on a wall.

Just one niggling thing. The background is showing banding on my tablet, less conspicuous but still there on the big, calibrated monitor. Is it just me seeing it?

Steve

What a miserable bunch of relatives! At least you can claim the moral high ground and they have the guilt. And since giving presents isn't on their agenda, you are fully entitled to treat yourself to whatever you want - even a shiny new camera or lens...

Steve

Geoff, Chris - Interesting to compare your shots. One soft, dreamy and a mini-lanscape in a miniature land, the other crisp, detailed and a fine portrait of that particular fungus (whatever type it is!). No right or wrong here, just two different ways of seeing and photographing the same sort of thing. And a challenge to those of us who have yet to photograph a fungus this year!

Good luck - I got a book for the same reason and they hardly ever look like the pictures in the book. And a surprising number can only be identified with certainty by close examination of bits that can only be easily seen by 'uprooting' the fungus. Needless to say, I gave up trying to identify them in the field and went back to just enjoying taking photographs...

Steve