We all want to remember our memorable moments, and what better way than with our camera which these days is literally in your pocket!

You don’t have to be an expert photographer, as we now have the technology at our finger tips, and you can improve your skills much quicker by just using a phone. Who would have thought 200 years ago that this would be possible?

The team at Granny Mouse wanted to share how those picture perfect moments came about, and just how they capture the beauty of this iconic Midlands destination every day.

The first cameras were used not to create images but to study optics, and the first recorded image was an Arab scholar, Ibn Al-Haytham (945–1040) when he invented the camera obscura to demonstrate how light can be used to project an image onto a flat surface.

By the mid-1600s, with the invention of finely crafted lenses, artists began using the camera obscura to help them draw and paint elaborate real-world images. Using the same optical principles as the camera obscura, the magic lantern allowed people to project images, usually painted on glass slides, onto large surfaces. Then, German scientist Johann Heinrich Schulze conducted the first experiments with photo-sensitive chemicals in 1727.

In 1827, French scientist Joseph Nicephore Niepce developed the first photographic image with a camera obscura but the process took eight hours of light exposure to create an image that would soon fade away. Fellow Frenchman Louis Daguerre took another dozen years before he was able to reduce exposure time to less than 30 minutes and keep the image from disappearing afterward, this being the first practical process of photography.

The ability to create multiple prints came about thanks to the work of Henry Fox Talbot, an English botanist, mathematician, who sensitized paper to light using a silver-salt solution. He then exposed the paper to light and by 1841 perfected the paper negative and called it a calotype, Greek meaning Beautiful.

By the mid-1800s, scientists and photographers were experimenting with new ways to take and process pictures that were more efficient, which led to negatives being printed on glass. The process, patented in 1856 by the American scientist Hamilton Smith, used iron instead of copper to yield a positive image, but both processes had to be developed quickly before the emulsion dried. In the field, this meant carrying along a portable darkroom full of toxic chemicals in fragile glass bottles. Photography was not for the faint of heart or those who traveled lightly!

From the need for portable darkrooms and technicians, and waiting days or month for images the early 1940s ushered in commercially viable colour films by Kodak, Agfa, and other film companies.

Instant photography was invented by Edwin Herbert Land, and in 1948, he unveiled his first instant-film camera, the Land Camera 95. Over the next several decades, Land’s Polaroid Corporation would refine black-and-white film and cameras that were fast, cheap, and remarkably sophisticated, but colour film was only introduced in 1963!

Over the next several decades, major manufacturers such as Kodak in the U.S., Leica in Germany, and Canon and Nikon in Japan, would all introduce or develop the major camera formats still in use today.

The first digital camera sold in the U.S, appeared in 1990 and by 2004 they were outselling film cameras in a big way. Obviously all mobile phones as we know them today all have cameras, with Samsung having introduced the first smartphone camera in 2000.

Apple later went on to introduce its smartphone camera in 2007, and other companies went on to follow. By 2013, smartphones with camera capabilities were outselling digital cameras more than 10-to-1.

In 2019, more than 1.5 billion smartphones (most of which have camera capabilities) were sold to consumers, compared with about 550,000 digital cameras over roughly the same period.

So, next time you’re at the “picture perfect” Granny Mouse Country House & Spa with your camera/phone at the ready, here is to looking back and thanking the folks who afforded you the opportunity in capturing all your memorable moments!

Reference

• “A Complete History of the Camera Phone.”

https://legacybox.com/blogs/analog/the-history-of-cameras

Planting vegetables and fruits when you have a tiny or nonexistent garden is not impossible, and a great way of getting around this is to grow your bounty in hanging baskets.

There are lots of different designs of hanging baskets, and some more costly than others. However, many are made of plastic-coated wire suspended from chains and used with a liner. You can, however, make your own hanging baskets from household objects that could have ended up in landfill – there are so many containers you can use i.e. colanders, leaky buckets, old ice cream tins, boots, or even food cans!

Some good spots for the baskets can be placed by your front door, fences, balconies, gazebos and even trees. Perfect places for blossom or crop-filled baskets are by the front door, under house eaves, from fences, balconies, arbors, gazebos, and in trees. Visitors will comment on the basket’s beauty, but almost never realize that it’s loaded with vegetables!

Wherever you choose to hang them, they will bring about natural beauty to your environment, improving air quality, relieving stress and boosting your health.

Hanging eggplants, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, green beans, chilies, or mix up some herbs with your veggies, which provides you with easy picking of organic produce when creating near complete meals. And for the sweet tooth, another favourite is the ever popular strawberry plant!

If you are determined to grow food in baskets, but also love flowers, don’t combine flowers and the veggie plants together as it doesn’t tend to work.

Keep in mind the light exposure where you will be hanging the planter. Tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers need high heat and levels of sunlight, while lettuce and spinach do better in lower light.

If you’re confident, you can even have upside down hanging planters that are designed for some tomatoes, peppers, and even green beans. They allow the plants to grow straight out of the bottom of the planter and prevent gravity from bending stems and minimizing the moisture and nutrients available to the fruit producing ends.

Growing food treats in hanging baskets have the same needs as those in the ground. The container needs excellent drainage, a stout hanging chain, nutrient rich clean soil, consistent moisture, protection from strong winds, and the correct lighting situation. As with any plant that is productive, more flowering and fruiting will occur with regular feeding. Hanging vegetable plants perform well with a liquid fertilizer, applied once a week, at watering.

Lastly, remember “plant spacing” – the general rule of thumb when planting a hanging basket is to use one plant per inch of basket diameter – so 12 plants per 30cm (12″) hanging basket.

So, get cracking and start growing as September is the best time to plant, and if you want to see successful hanging baskets, head “up the hill” to Granny Mouse Country House & Spa and take in the beautiful cheerful  gardens.

Inspired by: Basket https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/special/containers/vegetables-for-hanging-baskets.htm