Walk to work

I have been trying to keep my eyes open for interesting bits and pieces to photograph on my walk to work.

There has been some beauty,

some poignancy,

some oddness,


Recently I have started cycling in again, and now I am in Borough and my route takes me past some of London's wonderful sights:



I hope to keep adding to this image set:

Rush of blood the head

...and money from my wallet.

When I bought my camera bag, the man in Calumet asked about my needs, what equipment I had etc. I told him I only needed a small bag, and that it would stop me buying any more kit. He said "Good luck with that".

Damn him.
I have just invested (!) in another three lenses:
a micro replacement for my 14-42mm kit lens;
a 45-175mm tele-zoom (also very mini);
a delicious 8mm fish-eye (a real indulgence).

So, why?
Weeeell...

I don't use my kit lens. The quality of my other (mostly prime) lenses is so much better, that whilst the zoom range is really useful, I don't like the quality, hence the new 14-42mm. Also, this lens is tiny, made for video (which I'm starting to try more and more), and looks really cute on the G2's body.

I love using my big zoom (100-300mm), but it really needs big spaces and time to use. Great for birds and the moon. But, to be honest, there are many occasions where it is just to much, and the kit lens (aside from it's other issues), doesn't have the reach.
45-175mm Sir? That will do nicely, thank you.
This is also a video lens (power zoom, very quiet), and also delightfully compact.

See. Very rational.

What? The fish eye? Oh yes.
Rather exotic, and embarrassingly expensive.
I had a fish eye extension for my LX3, which I loved. When I saw there was one for the G2 I thought "that's for me". Until I saw the price. Too much for a bit of fun.
Then I saw a video made with it. Wow. I started saving.

So, now I need a bigger bag.
Photos to follow.

UPDATE (1.2.12)
Video taken with 45-175mm:

Noah's First Birthday

Okay. So this is a very late post. I have forgiven myself. Please do the same.

We decided that Noah wouldn't really appreciate presents on his first birthday so (except for a Stephen Einhorn pendant which he can have when he's older), we didn't get him a present this year, but I took the day off work and we had a wonderful family day together.

Nadine and I had some champagne (of course), the weather was delightful, we opened family gifts in bed, Noah made beautiful music on his xylophone, we ate drop-scones for breakfast, crepes for lunch, then went for a walk in the amazing Camley Street Natural Park, which is nestled in behind King's Cross Station.

Delightful day. Lovely space to walk in, which Noah had just started to hesitatingly do (that was a birthday present).

We finished the day with a wee cake complete with candle.
Perfect.

Here are some piccies:

Burry Man

About 20 years ago, whilst I was studying theatre and ancient performance traditions, I found a postcard that really caught my eye and imagination. It shows a rather odd trio: two men in formal dress at a bar, holding up a third man between them, dressed head-to-foot in a green costume, made of some kind of organic matter.
The title on the back of the card said "Burry Man, South Queensferry".

I have carried this card with me as a treasured possession since.

I happened to mention this to my brother-in-law, Steven, a while ago, and he said "Yeah. The Burry Man. He's my mate".
My jaw must have hit the floor.
Turns out, Steven had been one of the Burry Man's two official helpers for the last few years.
Could he arrange for me to meet this Burry Man?
"Aye."

So this August, thanks to Steven and John Nicol (the Burrry Man himself), I traveled up to South Queensferry to witness the procession and take a few photos.
For John, the Burry Man is clearly a great responsibility, but also a burden. 11,000 burrs make the costume into which John would be sewn for over 10 hours, as he walked (unable to lower his arms) miles around the town. After 13 years of taking the role, this would be John's final year.

In the end I took several hundred shots, which I have finally edited down to 35 which I think give a flavor of the day.

Let me know what you think.

View on Flickr

Slimbridge Wetland Trust

We recently went to Slimbridge Wetland Trust in Gloucestershire to show Noah some ducks.
He loves ducks!

We saw plenty of ducks, geese, lots of flamingos, and even otters.

I took a few photos which I would like to share...

Foggy walk in Richmond Park

With the fog encasing London over the weekend, we went down to Richmond Park to try and find some stags rutting in the gloom.

No deer (except through the car window), but we loved wandering through the white-out landscape, and I found some beautiful water drops suspended on cobwebs and in the grass.

A perfect day.

A photographer's ethos

Chris Packham, of Nature Watch etc., is also a photographer, and he has an Ethos which whilst I don't totally agree with, I do admire.
I like that he clearly thinks and cares passionately about what he is doing.
This is inspiring.
His absolutism, "can reach levels which promote real depression" is not for me.
I will take an easier path, but I think he is a useful guiding light.

http://www.chrispackhamphotos.com/concepts/Ideas.htm

Graffiti or Art?

I recently uploaded some images of SHOK-1s work, fully credited, to Flickr,
including his latest stuff which I was pleased to capture.

I was suprised to get a message from him the following day asking me to take down those latest photos. He said he wasn't ready for the work to be seen, and that anyway he would like to show it first. This seemed reasonable, so I took the photos down and let him know.
All very nice and polite.

Afterwards, however, I started to think...
This is work painted on a wall in clear site of a public road. I hadn't sneaked into his private gallery and stolen images of a secret work.
So, what right of control does a graffiti artist have over the public taking and sharing photos of their work?
Speaking to graffiti artists on the Parkland Walk, it seems their attitude is that they paint for themselves and are perfectly accepting that the work is captured or over-painted by others.
This seems right to me.
It would feel different if it was a private space, but it isn't.

I will not be putting the images back on Flickr as that would feel petty, but I may not bother putting any more SHOK-1 stuff up at all.
Wouldn't want to offend him again...

So artist rights, or public images. What do you think about graffiti?

HDR Test

I was intrigued when I first heard about High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography, in part by the rich images, but also by the controversy it raises.
HDR images are composites from multiple exposures that draw out high- and low- lights in a single image. This produces a result that is nearer to what the human eye can perceive (as opposed to film or a camera sensor), but the result can look a little odd because we are not used to seeing this range in a photo.

So, I had to test this with my new camera...
...but Photoshop, my editing tool of choice, didn't support my Panasonic camera's RAW format! Dull.
However,  I knew a solution would present itself so I took some exposure bracketed images to use when I could.
A recent update to Adobe's Camera RAW software has answered my need, and I have finally managed to make my first HDR image:

HDR result 

Here you can see the three exposures that were merged:

Over exposed - bring out foreground / dark detail

Standard exposure

Under exposed - bring out highlights / sky detail

I am really pleased with the result.
This view from our holiday cottage in the Scottish Highlands was beautiful, but the light contrasts were so great that a single standard exposure just didn't do it justice.
I think this HDR image does a much better job.
What is your opinion?

You can find a good technical wiki article here, and some beautiful HDR images here.

Fungus the photo-man

I have been annoying Nadine for a few years now by spoiling walks in the country by turning them into opportunities to regularly stop and admire / photograph any fungus that happens to be minding its own business within the sphere of my eye's beady gaze.
To make it all worthwhile (at least from my perspective), I am going to pop a selection of these photos up onto Flickr, where other fungus obsessed snappers can find them and thence bore their partners / lovers / friends.

I made a start today, uploading a few fungus from our front yard, Hampstead Heath, and from the woods near Shin Falls in the Scottish highlands.

Don't forget to keep checking for updates!

Walk To Work

I have really been enjoying the light on my walk to work this week - beautiful shadows in the air.

This is a nasty patch of grass where too many dog owners don't bother with those little bags. It felt transformed, but I still wouldn't walk across it.

Bit different from my usual finds:

Somewhere silent tears fall at the loss of this scruffy fellow.

 

Matryoshka bins.
I thought this most odd, but thinking about it, how else do you throw a bin away?

(Slowly) building a flickr set here.

Welsh Toilet Graffiti

spotted an article in the paper this morning about a toilet block on the Welsh island Skokholm that was being pulled down. perhaps not the most attention grabbing headline, but the workers found these artworks inside:
http://on.fb.me/kGChSP

as the block has been demolished, there is an appeal for any high quality photos that people might have and are willing to share and help preserve a record of this mini-wonder.
join in here: http://bit.ly/jLmIxv

Lilies

Working at learning how to use my new Macro lens.
Some wonderful lilies for Nadine proved a great subject.
Play full-screen and let me know your thoughts...

learning how to see

Since my new camera arrived I have been learning how to use it. This has involved some Lynda training which has increased my knowledge of the technical aspects of lenses, apertures, exposures, etc.
More important, and fun, has been a daily practice - going out with the camera, taking shots, and trying to understand what works, what doesn't, and why.
I'm not going to trouble anyone outside my immediate family with my stumbling steps, but I feel the need to share my excitement with a few images, captured with a couple of the accessories I have invested in...

Telephoto lens...
I am interested in trying to capture details, both close and at a distance.
Last night was a full moon.
Here is the shot:

I love seeing the craters and channels, captured at full 300mm (600mm 35mm equivalent), and drawn out with a little post-processing using Lightroom software.
I have tried to photograph the moon for years.
I think I got a little closer with this image.

Infrared filter...
I was also interested to try infrared photography. This needs a IR filter and a long exposure.
Here are a couple of images of some yellow tulips in our front room.
The first is a straight IR image, and the second is the same image with the red and blue colour channels swapped for a false colour effect.

The long exposure gave a very grainy image. Lightroom used again to smooth things out.
The first image could just be some pink flowers, but the second has an ethereal quality I am really happy with.
Looking forward to trying this out further.

Camera Museum notes

I had intended to write some notes for my slideshow of cameras, but it slipped my schedule.

However, i have a reason to revisit the museum, so here are the notes...

Up front is my first good camera, an Olympus XA3 clamshell advertised, if memory serves, with David Bailey. I loved the compact design and flick open action.

Next is another Olympus, and my first digital camera, the C-400 Camedia. This came free with the first PC i bought (a Tiny). I was thrilled. This little beauty also had the slide open action and took 12 high resolution images (36 low res). With a picture save time of just over 3 seconds, i made a short series of 12 frame animations using the fully glory of the 640x480 frame!

A brief flirtation with Canon next. 

The IXUS came out and i fell in love with the style. This gorgeous tiny silver brick looked wonderful, and when i could afford one, it felt great too. But not for long. I went for the APS version and almost instantly regretted it. The C-400, despite it's low highest resolution, had shown me the opportunities digital offered and i didn't like being back with developing costs. So, about six months later i bought this one. A Digital IXUS V, with 2.1 mega pixels. It took great pictures and even now i love the solid feel.

But just around the corner of time, maybe my first true brand love affair was lurking...

I was doing some online / inbox gaming with a group of friends, and a photography game was sent around. Being a little competitive, i had to beat my friend's scores, and got quite good. On reaching some (not that high) level i was rewarded with a 10% discount voucher for the new Lumix cameras by Panasonic. Intrigued, i checked out their microsite. 

Armed with 10% discount i also checked this wonderful DMC-FX01 out at their online store then watched the doormat for the postie to deliver it.

A 3.6 zoom and 5 mega pixels, this camera boasts the world famous Leica lens. (It doesn't. If Leica made the lens, it would cost as much as a Leica, but Panasonic use the Leica standard, and the camera wears a little "L" badge as proof.)  Even more comfortable in the hand than the IXUS, a clear intuitive interface, and takes really good photos.

So happy with my new camera.

But i wanted more. I wanted ZOOOOOM. So i thought i would order Panasonic's compact zoom. Except i didn't. A new batch of cameras came out, and i bought the wrong one. Confused by all the model numbers i bought a DMC LX3 my mistake...

...10 mega pixels, yes, but no zooooom. Only a 2.2x

However, after picking myself off the floor, and whilst checking my order to see why they had sent the wrong camera, i discovered i had gem. A better sensor, a 28mm native wide angle lens, and i could accessorize with filters and a super wide angle add-on lens.

This is a brilliant camera. There is no photo because it isn't in the museum. Yet.

The museum ends with a zoom camera.

Another Panasonic Lumix, the FS30 (i tried to change and bought a FujiFilm, but this was traded in within a week). A simple slip in your pocket, take anywhere, point-and-shoot, 14 mega pixel, 8x zooooming joy. I carry it everywhere. It was cheap enough to not worry if i kill it in a bag after six months, or condensation gets in when photographing Noah's swimming lessons. This is a fun camera which takes fair photos and video, but also reminds me of the real quality you can get from a better camera. i feel slightly dirty if i use it for more that snaps, so the LX3 comes off the shelf now more and more.

I have loved my LX3, and taken some great photos, but those Panasonic folk know their marketing. This is a bridge camera. More control and better quality than a compact, but not so much / so good as a DSLR.

And there is the rub. I want more again. And they offer it with open arms.

The micro four thirds entry level DSLR, Lumix G2.

A proper camera body with interchangeable lenses, and all the rest of it.

It's smaller and cuter than a standard DSLR.

And it comes in red.

Mine arrived this morning.

LX3 joins the museum....

Camera Museum

Clearing out some cupboards over the weekend and found my old (mostly) digital cameras, all of them still working.

[Update: added some notes]