This is a reaction to yesterday's fiasco of a 365 shot - massive thanks to everyone who left encouraging comments but I haven't changed my mind about it - it still sucks. You guys really made me feel better though so hats off to ya. I've got a new plan now. What I'd like to get out of the next one hundred days is a solid grounding in the fundamentals. The art of taking a good photograph. This has become more and more important to me over the last week or so and hopefully it's been reflected in my 365, with less reliance placed on Photoshop and more shots taken on location so to speak. If I can call my back garden a location ha ha! With this in mind I had a flick through a book my dad found at my grandparent's house. It's quite old (first published 1977 - older then me!) and of course it's all about film cameras but the fundamentals of photography aren't going to change so I figured I can get the theory from this book and translate it to the digital age. I read up about depth of field this morning - I love a bit of bokeh so I thought it'd be a good place to start. I think I understand it a bit better now and I wanted to put into practise what I'd learnt so . . . I spent a bit of time in the back garden this morning trying it out. I've decided, after yesterday's disappointment at getting some nice shots at Nothe Fort ruined by me lazily auto-focusing, to use manual focus as much as possible. This way I'll get what I want in focus instead of what the camera decides. It took me exactly fourty-four shots to get this one - I had one other serious contender but the detail was clearer in this one. I put it through Lightroom to boost the greens - basically I whacked all the sliders pertaining to the colour green up to 100. I know that the bokeh in this shot isn't really bokeh, but the maximum I could stop the aperture down to was about 5.3ish and the background wasn't that far behind me. I got the focus right - took about half an hour though! I'd like to get at least one shot with some as-serious-as-I-can-get-for-the-aperture bokeh this week . . . just have to wait and see if I make it any further than the back yard. I'm not going to deprive myself of Photoshop totally but for the time being I'm going to try and put some photo theory into practise. Uh, and the reason I was wearing a beanie in the bright, warm sunshine was because I'd only just finished watching Match of the Day and hadn't had time to get ready. I had bedhead OK?! That might also explain why I look so damn rough - taking photos early in the morning is not good for the looks ha ha! I'll finish talking about this shot by saying I'm really pleased how it's come out. I might even do a depth of field mini-series this week . . . if nothing else it'll be good practise. Real edgy stuff eh? Yeah, right . . . ummm . . . what did I do today? Well, it didn't start off too well, I had to suffer watching Man Utd lose 2-1 to Liverpool on Match of the Day, much to Joe's delight. By all accounts we were complete arse and deserved to lose - and this is against Liverpool with two of their big players missing. Gutted. Then I compouded my misery by tripping the electricity while making toast! It wasn't till about half an hour ago me and Lydia realised we hadn't turned the freezer back on so everything in it was slowly melting and/or going rotten. Bugger. We had a band rehearsal this afternoon. Things didn't go too well to start with, none of us had learnt all the songs and we had to work really hard to get anything done. The songs we ran through today were: Monkeywrench - Foo Fighters Slide Away - Oasis Wake Me Up When September Ends - Green Day (this one's for the punters, none of us are that into it) Bodysnatchers - Radiohead Enter Sandman - Metallica It's fair to say that Bodysnatchers was a total bust - it sounds quite simple but when you break it down it's so bloody complicated! And it treads a very fine line between sounding great and sounding shite. We sounded like the latter. The trouble with it is that the guitar sound (actually the three different guitar parts and their sounds) has to be just right to make it work or it ends up sounding like a dirge. We've put that one on the backburner for a while. Slide Away should've been easy, it's Oasis for god's sake, but I'd forgotten everything bar the main solo so it was a bit of a struggle. It was sounding better the last time we played it though so it might make it into the next set. Just needs tightening up. Monkeywrench sounded pretty good straight off, again a bit more tightening up is all that's needed and I think that'll make it into the set for the next gig. Wake Me Up . . . sounded pretty damn good from the outset. I had to learn it on the spot because I hadn't run through it before so when we figured out where the guitars drop in and out that actually sounded good. Enter Sandman . . . we've played this one before at a gig but it was only because a load of people were shouting

Stary Rynek (The Old Market) in Poznan . The central square of the city established in 1253 on the left bank of the Warta River was designed on the base of a square with four 141 - metre sides. In terms of size, the square is the third biggest in Poland, losing only to the squares in Krakow and Wroclaw. Each side of the square has three streets running out of it, dividing its sides into two sections with eight 35-43 metre long, 7-8 metre wide plots. Of the twelve streets starting at the square, four (Wroclawska, Wroniecka, Wielka and Wodna) used to lead to the city gates. The square was to be built up with administrative and commercial edifices. Soon after the creation of the city, the town hall, the Municipal Scales and market stalls were built. Originally the structures built both in and around the square were made of wood. However, as soon as in the end of the 13th century brick buildings began to appear: the Municipal Scales, the Gothic town hall, and in the 14th century the cloth hall. In the first half of the 16th century a complex of small houses, called the merchants' houses, was built by the merchants who owned the individual plots. In the 17th century, the bread market was moved next to the Municipal Scales and in their place the arsenal was built. Next came the guardhouse in the late 18th century. These buildings were repeatedly destroyed, rebuilt and modified and were finally restored to their original form (except for the arsenal and the cloth hall) after 1945. The speed with which the wooden structures were phased out increased after the great fire in 1471. The houses around the square were built with initially two and later three rows of rooms, with their gables facing the square. They were used as lodgings, but served also as workshops and stores. On the ground floor, as you entered the building from the square, there was the so - called "grand hall" used for commercial and representative purposes. In the back, separated from the house by a small yard, was a small building used as storehouse and workshop. With time there were more and more departures from this initially uniform arrangement, as in the case of the palaces built by the wealthy, noble families of the Dzialynskis and the Mielzynskis in the 18th century. There were more changes in the 19th century and in the early 20th century. Following the devastation wreaked during the liberation of Poznan in 1945, when 60% of all the buildings in the square were destroyed, including 80 buildings gutted by fire, reconstruction began in the very same year. The work, carried out in accordance with meticulously drawn up conservation plans, aimed to restore the square to its former splendour. In the 1950's the arsenal and the cloth halls made way for modern looking exhibition pavilions. After 1945 the Old Market Square lost its predominantly commercial character, becoming instead a residential area with many cultural institutions. Some of the shops on the ground floor were kept, often to sell souvenirs. In the 1970's many fashionable bars, cafes and restaurants were opened. After 1990 the square saw the arrival of offices of several banks and even more eateries. Between 1880 and 1955 there used to be trams running across the square. Traffic of all vehicles was gradually reduced and eventually in 1970 the square became closed to any traffic, with the exception of special permit holders. In the second half of the 19th century the square was equipped with water and gas installations and illuminated by gas lighting. Early in the next century an underground electrical network was constructed. In the late 19th century the surface of the square was replaced. The present paving is a result of a general renovation carried out in the late 1960's. Every June the square is home to a lively street fair (Jarmark Swietojanski), and throughout the summer it features many cultural events including some performances of Malta Theatre Festival. In the summer months many bars set up beer gardens in the square, where you can drink as much coffee or beer as you want and make yourself familiar with Polish cuisine! There is neverending party on the square!