I never realised what fun I could have with some cheap and nasty religious iconography! This headless angel, made from moulded resin, dug from the dirt and washed up for last night’s shot has delivered me a shot that I am extremely pleased with tonight. You can still see the redness of the remnants of the soil still clinging in the grooves.

A discussion with DM about whether there was any more mileage in the angel (especially as last night I’d noted its heart-shaped wings and tried to find myself a lensbaby shot but failed), revealed some interesting information for me.

He believes (and I must say, this has been true of a number of my own lensbaby efforts) that use of the lensbaby on small sensor dslrs is so tricky that most (not just me) are happy immediately on getting an in-focus shot so composition and lighting go out of the window. I have certainly fallen into that trap, as for others, I couldn’t say. I have already reported how difficult focusing the little blighter is through the 10d's viewfinder.

I knew the composition I wanted tonight and he came to the studio, a place he rarely ventures into of late, to help me to get good lighting. Once again, I was nearly suckered into the false sense of security that comes with an in-focus, soft focus shot, regardless of lighting sensitivities.

He made me try again with the lights placed differently and he was, of course, right. I like this a lot. The difference is the texture in the wings – I’d lit it straight on and they looked ‘flat’.

Yesterday’s shot was a strange one in pbase terms – I had more ‘private’ comments on it than public ones. Seems I touched a few nerves.

Today’s is more hopeful. I think I may have squashed those demons down into their box and sealed them in……for a while at least. I do think I am missing my red satin heart though!

Last year - oh boy was it hot.....shame this year's weather has been torrid!