'24th August (237/365)' by chrismartinez.co.uk

24th August (237/365), a photo by chrismartinez.co.uk on Flickr.

Did you all have a lovely weekend? I had a brilliant one full of good friends and family. This included a 4th birthday party and then a 40th birthday party on Saturday and a house full of relatives today! I must admit I am shattered. You'd have thought my children would have been too but apparently not so. It took ages for my daughter to get to sleep both nights this weekend. Although she was the last to get up this morning and that never usually happens!

I love the selective colour in this vibrant picture. The sunflower looks so striking when the wall behind is just in black and white. Hmmm, I bought some sunflower seeds a couple of months ago. I never got around to planting them though. I wonder where they are.

'First day of summer' by Soffia Gisladottir

First day of summer, a photo by Soffia Gisladottir on Flickr.

Here's a bright and happy photo for you to start the weekend with. I love the composition of this as it's a really intersting take on a picture of a sunflower. Normally you'd have the whole of the flower itself and not a great big chunk of leaf but this works really well. I never get tired of looking at sunflower images so it's nice to see something a little different.

Happy weekend everyone. Here's to a lovely couple of days!

'Sunflowers' by Me

Sunflowers, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

My husband bought me some sunflowers on Sunday. I'm sure he knew exactly what I was going to do with them when he bought them! They are impossible not to photograph. I love taking pictures of them against a bright blue sky but this time I wanted to try something a bit different. I really like this one. I love the close up detail but I'm also pleased I decided to have the other flower in the background. I think it makes the shot a bit more interesting. I hope you like it too.

'Sunflower HDR' by Sheephead_

Sunflower HDR, originally uploaded by Sheephead_.

I hope your week has started well. If not let's start it off again with a huge burst of colour! I always love photos of sunflowers because I love the bright cheerful colours so imagine how happy I was when I saw this one. It's just all about the colour. That bright pink, yellow and green just jump right off the screen at you don't they? An instant mood lifter if ever I saw one.

'colour me yellow' by Lulu & the Locket

colour me yellow, originally uploaded by Lulu & the Locket -------(*).

I'm going to have to be quick tonight as I appear to have sprained my hand. It's been agony all day but it seems to be easing a little tonight. I am therefore going to be sensible and get off the computer in a minute as typing really isn't helping my recovery.

My husband bought me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers earlier this week just to cheer me up as it'd been a bit of a stressful weekend. Annoyingly, I've not actually had the chance or any good light to take any photos using them which is a real shame. Fingers crossed they'll still look nice tomorrow.

Therefore, I'm going to post this wonderful flower photo instead as it would also really cheer me up if I was feeling blue. It's amazing how the tones in this photo are really soft but the yellow is still to bright and vibrant. I'm smiling right now you know!

'Sunflower' by Me

IMG_8665F, originally uploaded by PhotoPuddle.

It's still snowy here but I'm still not totally pleased with the few snow pictures I have taken. Therefore I have decided to post a very bright and summery photo as a perfect contrast to what's outside at the moment.

I had so much fun taking this picture. I'll admit I went out and bought a bunch of sunflowers just so I could take pictures of them. Just holding one up against the blue sky gives such a fantastic effect.

I love the colour combination of yellow and blue. They just work so well together, especially when they are bright shades. I have collated a Flickr gallery of yellow and blue photos which you can have a look at here.