You are currently browsing the monthly archive for June, 2008.
Typical show off guy, this one seemed to be saying to the adjoining female,
‘ Sunbathe? Look honey, this is how you do it!’ Just as well the local cat
wasn’t lurking nearby. I’ve never seen a bird doing this before!
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Ever since I hired the scaffolding, it seems to have rained every day. But
on Monday the shone shone warmly for a couple of hours, and I spotted this
fledging female blackbird fluffing out her feathers. She was still looking
to someone to feed her too!
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Was up in the loft last week fixing a ballvalve on the water tank, when I
came across this. I had printed it out to 16′ x 20″ and mounted it on card.
It was taken decades ago, when I was 19 and on a college trip to Orkney,
using my Leica M2 and Ilford FP3 (RENamed FP4) 125ASA film. Just as vinyl
has got a warmth about it that CDs lack, so has film over digital. So how
did I reproduce this in 2 minutes flat? Just sat in a chair and shot it with
the 5D!
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For years I’ve been meaning to do some repairs to our house. renew fascias,
bargeboards…stuff like that. This morning Norman, a good friend from my
former office which I left almost 2 years ago, rang me to ask what I’d been
up to. I told him I’d just brought a load of hire scaffolding home in our
estate car. At lunchtime, he and another friend, Marc, turned up to say
hello. then decided to help me. When things like that happen, it gives me
such a good feeling!
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Last night we walked round the route we usually run behind Templand. You
walk past a smallholding, perhaps 400 yards from the track. For some reason
the dogs didn’t bark, but this pony came running up to fence to take a look
at us. It’s funny, I took perhaps 6 shots, all on autofocus, f/4, 1/250mm at
200mm with the image stabilisation switched on, but this was the only one
which was absolutely sharp. I suppose if I’d taken it with a film camera,
I’d be more pleased….like hitting the target with a rifle must be more
satisfying that with a machine gun. Anyway, I quite like it.
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Take a look at your present camera. Is it beautiful? Or just functional?
And will you still be using it in 5 years time, or will it be as desirable
as an old computer? Yeah, forgive the rhetorical questions, but my point is,
look at my Leica M2……it was built in 1964, and still functions
perfectly, and, apart from some scuffing of the baseplate, it looks and
works like it was just out the box. It’s beautiful to hold, and to use.
And it doesn’t die because the battery has, because it doesn’t need one!
And you can take photos of people so discreetly, because the shutter makes
a whisper quiet ‘click’. They used to be the absolute coolest thing to
have…..even Queenie had to have one, though she, of of course, opted for
the posher M3. And, the best thing of all? Nowadays you can own one for a
fairly modest amount, but best get one recently serviced from a pukka Leica
dealer. Then you’ll keep it forever!
P.S. The other camera is a Pentax 67 (as in 6×7cm negative size), with 300mm
Super Takumar . My professional photographer brother gave me 2 bodies plus a
bunch of chunky lenses. Well, it’s got a sort of brutish charm about it, if
you don’t mind getting a sore shoulder carrying it!
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After drinking the strong ale the little men gave me, (well, don’t you
remember the story?), I woke to find the nightmare was over, and I was no
longer working as an architect for the Council!
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I’ve alway loved this yellow rose. For a change I tried using the tripod in
combination with the 100mm macro. I’ve dispensed with the centre column and
pistol grip head to save weight for longer trips, though the lighter, 3-way
head takes a lot of fiddling with to set it up. One day will I be able to
afford a carbon fibre Gitzo Explorer? (And yes, Santa, with an Arca Swiss
ball head!)
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Last night I noticed some beautifully lit clouds from the kitchen window.
I grabbed the 5D (which happened to have the 70-200mm lens fitted), and
walked up the drive. I knew the gorgeous light would probably last only a
few minutes, so there was no time to find the tripod. About 40 metres from
our gate there is a defunct railway bridge which makes a good viewpoint. So
this is one of 10 or so quite interesting shots I took, ISO400, 70mm 1/250
sec. at F/10 (I suspect my 24-105mm has more depth of field at 70mm?).
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At the bottom of our garden. It’s not the most beautiful loch in the world,
but still it provides me with lots to photograph and birds to watch.
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Apparently this flower will only last a day or two, so I suppose that makes
it all the more precious. So last night, around midnight, I took a few shots
of it. Really I’d have been better with a tripod and better lighting, but
somehow that would taken away the fun.
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The reflection of the tree across the loch, cropped and inverted. Almost
like a painting? This could be my new thing, so remember, you saw it here
first!
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