Awards and citations:


1997: Le Prix du Champagne Lanson Noble Cuvée Award for investigations into Champagne for the Millennium investment scams

2001: Le Prix Champagne Lanson Ivory Award for investdrinks.org

2011: Vindic d'Or MMXI – 'Meilleur blog anti-1855'

2011: Robert M. Parker, Jnr: ‘This blogger...’:

2012: Born Digital Wine Awards: No Pay No Jay – best investigative wine story

2012: International Wine Challenge – Personality of the Year Award




Sunday 5 December 2010

Preparations for spring 2011

Sticky buds on a horse chestnut tree ready for spring 2011

With the sun shining brightly today there was time for a walk in the Horniman Gardens where despite the recent snowy weather there are already signs of nature preparing for Spring 2011 as this pic of a couple of sticky buds shows.

The photo was taken with a Canon G12. The quality of the macros is one of the most noticeable improvements in the more recent Canon compacts. Previous Canon cameras that I have had – the Powershot 1 and the Powershot A95 – have had poor macros. It was difficult to focus close up and all too often you would find that the camera had focused on something in the background rather than the intended object. This is no longer the case and this G12 as well as the remarkable little Powershot SX210IS are brilliant at producing, sharp close-up pics, which is essential when taking photos of vines and grapes.

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