Day 241 - Monday 27 December 2010

Heli Pad. The helicopter operating base across the road from the PHF...

Day 240 - Sunday 26 December 2010

Festive Abstract 2. Fairy light maypole Christmas tree type thing in the Americal part of the flightline. I've superimposed and blended an inverted layer copy to acheive the abstract effect...

Day 239 - Saturday 25 December 2010

Christmas Teddy. This one is for my daughter, Sian, who wanted me to take a picture of the teddy she sent with me to Afghanistan...

Day 238 - Friday 24 December 2010

Receeding. A view of the service ally at the back of the TDA pods...

Day 237 Thursday 23 December 2010

RECON. Embossed lettering on a differnt make blast wall...

Day 236 - Wednesday 22 December 2010

Relection. The rather grubby reflection of sand and sky in the sheet metal panelling on the side of a jingly market stall...

Day 235 - Tuesday 21 December 2010

Hesco. Close-up of a Hesco barrier, an alternative to the concrete blast barrier...

Day 234 - Monday 20 December 2010

Close. Detail on the valve handle for the ablutions tent water supply. Yes, I know, it's a shot of the plumbing again...

Day 233 - Sunday 19 December 2010

Cocoon. A view down the corridor that links the tents within an accomodation pod...

Day 232 - Saturday 18 December 2010

Vent. The ventilation grill on one of the electricity supply power packs for the accomodation tents...

Day 231 - Friday 17 December 2010

Panorama. Took a drive around the perimiter fence for a better view of the outside world. This was shot through the chain link fence and is a panoramic crop from the standard 4:3 image from my compact. The foreground was boring bare earth and the inevitable razorwire fence...

Day 230 - Thursday 16 December 2010

Rugs. Back on the Boardwalk, this is one of several "local!" traders...

Day 229 - Wednesday 15 December 2010

Sign. The letters on the Passenger Handling Facility has letters cut from wood...

Day 228 - Tuesday 14 December 2010

Pink. Another cracking sunrise, but this time I crossed the road outside the PHF and climbed up the blast wall to get this view of the outside world...

Day 227 - Monday 13 December 2010

Boards. The well worn boards of the Boardwalk...

Day 226 - Sunday 12 December 2010

Razorwire. If it isn't blast walls then its razorwire topped fences that make up most of the "scenery" here...

Day 225 - Saturday 11 December 2010

Emblem. A couple of the blast walls in the airside yard have been painted with some unit insignia. This is one of the better efforts...

Day 224 - Friday 10 December 2010

High rise. This may look like a tall skyscraper but It's actually an air conditioning unit... one of several positioned around the outside of the PHF tents. Its only about two meters high...

Day 223 Thursday 9 December 2010

Let there be light. Service day for the PHF generator! It's offline for about an hour and we're plunged into darkness. The only way to get light into the tent is to open the doors to let the sunlight (and dust?) in...

Day 222 - Wednesday 8 December 2010

Festive Abstract. Hand held close-up of some fairy lights decorating the verandah of an American unit's building...

Day 221 - Tuesday 7 December 2010

Boardwalk. A location that is often shown on news and documentary programs! It's not as good as the press make out but it does provide some nice (if expensive!!!) places to chill out...

Day 220 - Monday 6 December 2010

8180. One of the tags used to identyfy our doby (laundry) bags...

Day 219 - Sunday 5 December 2010

Flip Flop. Close-up of an essential bit of kit in this dusty environment...

Day 218 - Saturday 4 December 2010

Sunrise. One advantage (and possibly the only one!!!) of the dust here is the beautiful sunrises...

Day 217 - Friday 3 December 2010

Chrome Spaghetti. The legs of 4 stools and a coffee table in the NAFFI coffee shop in the departures lounge... the coffee shop has the nicest, most comfortabe kit in the place...

Day 216 - Thursday 2 December 2010

Roll on. Close up of the rollers on the RapiScan machine used by the RAF police to scan the baggage...

Day 215 - Wednesday 1 December 2010

Comfy seats... not! Some of the nice comfortable seats in the departure "lounge" at the PHF...

Day 214 - Tuesday 30 November

Blind. The window in my room only has an old broken venetian blind which doesn't keep the light out. A previous occupant of the room hung a blue army issue duvet cover over the window, some time ago judging by the amount of dust on it! The sunlight shining through the blind makes an interesting pattern though...

Day 213 - Monday 29 November 2010

Mercedes Benz. Two of the clapped out old busses that transfer passengers between the airport, Camp Roberts and Cambridge lines...

Day 212 - Sunday 28 November 2010

Life beyond. Proof this place isn't entirely desert! There are some trees growing, these ones outside the boundary fence are just visible over the top of the inevitable blast walls...

Note...

It's been quite a busy and difficult week as I try to get to grips with my new job and sort out a decent internet connection to upload my pictures!  My posts may still be a little late in future but I'll still be taking that daily picture and  hopefully I'll not have such a big backlog to post.

I know there are many of you following my blog and I'd like to thank you for your interest and continuing support.  It means a lot to me.

Day 211 - Saturday 27 November 2010

Walkway. One of the many plastic honeycomb walkways around the Passenger Handling Facility (PHF) where I'm working...

Day 210 - Friday 26 November 2010

Blocks. I'm remembering to take the camera to work now! This is a detail shot of the breeze blocks that make up the blast walls in the passenger arrivals tent at Kandahar airport...

Day 209 - Thursday 25 November 2010

Bedspace. Another busy day! This is me crashed out in the bedspace where I'll be spending the next six months...

Day 208 - Wednesday 24 November 2010

Foot. A ong and very busy day as I start the take over of my new job! Too tired to go out and take a picture so this is one taken looking up from my bed at the bunk above. It's a view of the foot pad on the bottom of my kit bag through the mesh of the top bunk base...

Day 207 - Tuesday 23 November 2010

Exits. Side exit doors to the Heroes cinema/gym complex in Cambridge Lines...

Day 206 - Monday 22 November 2010

The Shadows. Sat outside the Heroes NAFFI complex in Cambridge Lines drinking coffee with friends as the sun sets, I noticed these shadows on one of the concrete blast walls...

Day 205 - Sunday 21 November 2010

Mountains. Another one from the flight. Not sure which mountain range this is but they were very photogenic...

Day 204 - Saturday 20 November 2010

No Step. An emotional day today, my last day at home before leaving for a 6 month stint working abroad. Didn't have time to take a picture so here is a detail shot of the wing of the aircraft I flew out on Sunday morning...

Day 203 - Friday 19 November 2010

Brum. It had to be done! When in Birmingham, risk a confrontation with over zelous security guards to take a picture of the Selfridges building :D Taken during a rare view of blue sky on a day that has been mostly foggy...

...Orange SPV-E650 mobile phone. Exposure unknown

Day 202 - Thursday 18 November 2010

Low Light. A picture taken for the PhotoPortal forum monthly competition. The theme is 'Low Light' so rather than submit one taken in low light I thought I'd run with a play on words...

...Sony V1, Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonar 7-28 f2.8-4, 1/25 @ 4, ISO 100

Day 201 - Wednesday 17 November 2010

Left hand. Debs relaxing with her left hand resting on the arm of her chair...

...Sony V1, Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonar 7-28 f2.8-4, 1/3 @ 4, ISO 800

Day 200 - Tuesday 16 November 2010

Snuffed. Not a unique picture, I've seen it done before but I wanted to give it a go myself...

...Sony V1, Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonar 7-28 f2.8-4, 1/80 @ 3.5, ISO 400

Day 199 - Monday 15 November 2010

Judges award. Just got my copy of Havant Camers Club's 40th National Open Exhibition catalogue. I entered some images but didn't get anywhere :( so my name doesn't appear. There is a familiar name though... well done Tanya :)

...Sony V1, Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonar 7-28 f2.8-4, 1/20 @ 3.5, ISO 200

Day 198 - Sunday 14 November 2010

Red hat. A garish cowboy hat Evan brought home...

...Sony V1, Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonar 7-28 f2.8-4, 1/8 @ 3.2, ISO 200

Day 197 - Saturday 13 November 2010

No CFC's. The inside of a polystyrene cup full of water...

...Sony V1, Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonar 7-28 f2.8-4, 1/60 @ 2.8, ISO 200

Day 196 - Friday 12 November 2010

Shower valve. Oh no! It's the plumbing again! This is the mixer valve controlling the temperature of 7 showers in the accomodation block...

...Sony V1, Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonar 7-28 f2.8-4, 1/80 @ 3.2, ISO 200

Day 195 - Thursday 11 November 2010

Autumn. A leaf stuck to the car windscreen in heavy rain, backlit by a street light...

...Sony V1, Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonar 7-28 f2.8-4, 1/20 @ f6.3, ISO 400

Day 194 - Wednesday 10 November 2010

XXXB. My daughter's new boyfriend left me a bottle of Batemans XXXB in the fridge for when I got back. I haven't met the lad yet but he's made to a good start...

...Sony V1, Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonar 7-28 f2.8-4, 1/8 @ 2.8, ISO 800

Day 193 - Tuesday 09 November 2010

Lips. Back home again one day earkier than expected after nearly two weeks away on an attachment...

...Sony V1, Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonar 7-28 f2.8-4, 1/8 @ 4, ISO 800

Day 192 - Monday 08 November 2010

Anti room. Or rather an alcove in the lobby leading to it. The Ante room is where you can sit and drink tea & coffee and read the daily newspapers. All very civilised...

...Sony V1, Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonar 7-28 f2.8-4, 1/2 @ 2.8, ISO 800