Birthday portrait

Last year I was blessed with a sunny, mild birthday spent largely in the countryside, and topped off with the excitement of views of watching waxwings feeding on rosehips. This year the sky scarcely lightened and it rained pretty much all day. We had originally made plans to go to London, but in view of the weather decided to go out for a pub lunch and a local walk instead, if the weather improved. In the end we did neither, though we escaped from the house for an hour late this afternoon to visit a local garden centre where I bought a few more half-price bulbs. And this evening we had a superb Indian take-away from a newly opened restaurant in Park Road. Despite the weather I enjoyed my day, and as birthdays in our family are regularly spread over a week, I'm sure that I'll get a day out in better conditions at some point.

Needless to say there was little scope for outside photography. I don't really like to be in front of the camera, but have realised that there are very few photographs of me, and thought it might be interesting to make sure a photograph was taken at least once a year, on my birthday. I set up the tripod, did a few experiments with Alex to sort out position and lighting, and then went in search of the remote control. There was a bit of a panic when I couldn't find the right cable to connect the receiver to the camera, and I went through an anxious few minutes thinking I might have thrown it away, but it turned up on a shelf next to my desk. I then took quite a few images, most of which were quickly consigned to the recycle bin. (Do I really make such strange faces??). In the end there were two I could tolerate, and the rest of the family selected this one as they said I looked cheerful (either despite or because of the double chins!!). Maybe next year the weather will be better and I can have a less posed shot taken outside :)