Okay, I tell a lie. It’s not a larch. This is a shot I took on my recent trip to the Parque Natural Sierras De Tejeda. I didn’t think this fitted in with any of the individual blogs I did but I really like this image and wanted to show it off a little!

• Why Creativity Needs Shorter Copyright Terms – The subject line says it all. The “creative” industries have done a good job of convincing politicians that longer copyrights are better, but they’re only better for those middle-men…
• Giant ring detected around Saturn – “The scale of the new ring feature is astonishing. Nothing like it has been seen elsewhere in the Solar System.”
• I don’t go to restaurants to tell the truth – “Tips are embarrassing and stupid – they’re vestigial haggling in a society that has otherwise moved on. If you’re going to a restaurant to be served and eat a meal, why is the price of the delivery open to negotiation but not that of the food itself, the ambience, music, heating or use of the furniture? All of these things can disappoint or delight. It’s illogical to fix the price of one element but not the others.”

As anyone who knows me can attest, “Dawn” is not a time that you’re likely to see me awake, much less running around with a camera. That made this weeks PhotoFriday a bit of a challenge.

In the end I picked this shot from the top of Mount Sinai. It perhaps represents “sunrise” better than “dawn” but it was certainly taken at dawn!

I spent a week walking around the Sierra Tejeda Natural Park, staying in Canillas de Albaida which is about an hours drive from Malaga in the south of Spain.

Over the following few posts I’ll be talking about and showing pictures of the tiny, white-washed villages, the diverse and beautiful mountains and, as a contrast, the buildings and culture in Granada.

• Canillas de Albaida — the town that I stayed in
• Walking in Andalucía — what I went to Spain to do
• Granada — what I did on my “rest” day

Stay tuned for any future travels of mine by subscribing to the RSS feed or by email.

When I think of “Fast Food” — this weeks PhotoFriday theme — I think of burgers and pizzas and, generally, stuff that I don’t cook myself! The ultimate in fast food is a dish that takes none of my time! This steak sandwich was photographed and consumed at the Royal Exchange in San Francisco.

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “The Face.” I’m entry number 300.

• A Sense of Entitlement: Tweetie 2 – I think Apple needs to do more here — to allow for paid upgrades — but I also congratulate the author of Tweetie for having the nerve to charge for a significant update. He’ll come across a lot of resistance but it’s absolutely the right thing to do and it, potentially, paves the way for smaller developers to do the same thing.
• Peep Show ‘won’t change’ for anyone – Looking forward to this. Slightly worried that it might overstay its welcome — how can you top eating a family pet in terms of gross out? — but then I thought that for the last couple of series too…
• Fail Yet Succeed? – Nice discussion of the kind of things that all software projects go through. Really this is about half of my job!

Last week I complained that my iPhone’s camera was no substitute for my 50D.

The next day I was lucky enough to have my DSLR with me at sunset, and it looked a bit like this.

[](<http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephendarlington/3962039016/[/flickr]

The following day I was in the neighbouring town of Competa and managed to capture these beautiful colours.

[flickr]http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephendarlington/3961264013/[/flickr]

The church also looked fantastic bathed in the evening light.

[flickr]http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephendarlington/3961264081/[/flickr]

I’ll be posting some more pictures taken earlier in the day over the next week or two. Stay tuned!

I’m not sure how well this image fits the theme of “The Face.” It’s certainly a face, but the face? Still, it’s one of my better early portraits that was not of my family.

He looked after a temple in Tibet. We were expected to tip him on the way out and I didn’t have any change so I ended up having to give a reasonably large denomination note. I decided to get value for money by taking a few pictures.

At times like these I wish that my 50D was small enough to have with me at all times. Still, my iPhone did an okay job.

I did hesitate to use this image of a tea leaf for this weeks PhotoFriday theme, “Plants.” Surprisingly, this is the single most popular picture on ZX81 (according to Google at least) and I have also used it on a previous PhotoFriday. Then again, I thought, it does fit the theme…

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Fear.” I’m entry number