Well…it’s been a while..I think August got lost!

I took a holiday from No More Dead Pixels on the 28th of July this year. A WordPress holiday that was meant to coincide with our family summer vacation. This would mean lazing around in the Canarian sunshine, tanning and an occasional dip in the pool to cool off. Oh I forgot to mention the cocktails…but thats another story. I took the iPad along to watch films on the aircraft and to collect the occasional email but nothing else. I even added a WordPress app to be on standby, just in case I captured the image of the century. More of a hope than a probability, had I captured the image of the day let alone the century I am quietly confident that a quick splash in the newspapers would have been enough to make me want to phone home let alone want to write a blog about it.

I didn’t even take a DSLR with me. How is that for a shock? Well, flying Ryanair does have its restrictions in more ways than one. We decided not to take Mr O’Learys’ offer of hold luggage at £10 million per item each way and managed to jam pack four small cases that would conform to cabin baggage regulations. This in turn meant that my trusty DSLR would have its own holiday….safely locked away in a case at my mother-in-laws. Before you ask, yes I would miss it. The number of idyllic photo opportunities that would present themselves were beyond belief. I had to put faith in my reserve kit and a very “hand-luggage” friendly Canon Powershot G9. And thats where the image above comes from. Two Canon Camera Raw images stitched together and edited using Photoshop CS6. Not all bad then eh?

Lanzarote was fantastic though. Exactly what we had planned; a “family” holiday with no pressures and a complete chill-ax. Fantastic nights out with some lovely meals and visiting old friends. It feels really good to walk in to a bar and be instantly recognised then greeted with “Hello again….” or in some cases even called by name. A big thanks to all Danny, Lisa, Jamie & Lindsay at Sunset Beach Bar along with all the staff…as ever, you were fantastic.

Coming back home I managed to secure a window seat again. I had managed this on the inbound journey without contest. Booking a seat with Ryanair does have its plus points as once all priority boarders are all seated there then is an option to reconsider your current location and relocate somewhere better. Which is exactly what I did. On the flight to Lanzarote I had noticed some very large circular fields whilst cruising at 40,000ft over Portugal. I had decided to take a second look at these on the way back. I really couldn’t believe the size of these fields as some of them must have been at least a mile wide to be noticeable from the air. I wasn’t able to get a decent image of them as the wing was getting in the way but the first thing I did when I got home was to get straight on to Google Earth and try to find them.

Above is the screen grab from Google Earth. You can clearly see what I am talking about now… To answer my question and possibly some of your’s… these are created by something called large circular irrigation or centre pivot irrigation. Centre Pivot Irrigation is also called circle irrigation, it is a method of crop irrigation in which equipment rotates around a pivot and crops are watered with sprinklers. A circular area centered on the pivot is irrigated, often creating a circular pattern in crops when viewed from above (sometimes referred to as crop circles).Most center pivots were initially water-powered, and today most are propelled by electric motors. So there you go, we all need to learn something new everyday, this is my contribution.

The British summer was laughable wasnt it? Either side of our summer holidays the weather was atrocious, which is an understatement really. It was quite a culture shock to actually feel the heat of the sun on your skin on consecutive days whilst in Lanzarote. Something I could easily get used to….honest.  At the end of the eleventh day the flight home beckons and I begin asking myself questions…all of the answers reaching the same conclusion. Yes, I could quite happily stay on this island indefinitely should the funds were available. So if anyone reading this wants to support a mid-forties photographer to live on Lanzarote with his wife and family. In return  I will try  to turn out a nice photo once in a while…. then give me a call or drop me a line. I’ll give it a go…..honest.

Thanks for reading this far…only a short one, as I get back in to blogging I will write more. Trust me, I have a lot to say

Byeee..