So predictable
June 27, 2008
Yes folks, yet more pics of clouds I’m afraid. Just a shame I didn’t have the GX10 with me instead of the point & shoot. Oh well.
Its a crane… and not the flying sort!
June 25, 2008
Countless are the times I’ve lined up a really super shot from somewhere in Bedford town centre… only to find there’s a damned crane lurking on the horizon!
Real irritating its been… and it seems to have been there for ages.
No doubt some super-duper construction project. But right in the town centre. Spoiling all sorts of what otherwise would have been really great pics. I ask you!
“So”, thinks I, “perhaps its just a cry for attention”. I’ll give it attention all right (grrr)!
And this little series is the result (I absolutely refuse to give them their own set!).
At long last!
June 24, 2008
Well, conscience has finally gotten the better of my innate laziness! Prompted, no doubt, by some little discussion recently on the state of my back garden.
So, having spent a day psyching myself up, I finally tackled the veritable forest with the intention of at least clearing a path through the first section.
Its been a sort of tradition in this household, for at least the past ten or twelve years, that the back garden has been thought of as comprising three sections. The first and closest to the house consists of, amongst other things, a space for the clothes line; the garden shed; and a lovely little clearing shaded by a couple of gnarled apple trees, ideal for meditation and suchlike.
The second section was converted into a vegetable garden a few years ago, and the third and furthest section has always been a bit of a wilderness… rarely frequented by anyone in the house (and, it is suspected, used as a bit of a waste-tipping ground by the neighbours!).
Well, this momentous occasion had to be marked in some way, so what better than to get out the cameras and record the progress so far. Mind you, the unaccustomed manual labour, bringing muscles into play I’d forgotten I had, didn’t do any favours for the old “holding the camera steady” business.
Of course, how long the effort will last is another matter entirely. Judging by past performance I fully expect to be back to my normal lazy self within a month or so!
Just read the following on the Big Knob Blog…
“Once an activity falls under the shadow of suspicion, it is inevitable that other officials will get in on the act. They are now empowered to bend the law. Jobsworths of every shade – from traffic wardens to PCSOs to Park Keepers - have attempted to prevent the public taking photographs, for all manner of thoroughly fictitious reasons.
Equally, those who wish to carry out what is a perfectly legal activity begin to feel intimidated. Not just by officials – but by the wider public as well. So they self-censor. They skulk. They begin to buy in to the view that there is something odd about wishing to take photographs…
…In theory, Police should be well aware that they have no powers to remove cameras or take film without a court order.
Campaigners on the other side are far blunter and increasingly bitter. They point out that Police who seize items are guilty of theft - a criminal offence. Where journalists and members of the public come into contact with the police, they are urged always to keep their cool. The bottom line, however, is that attempts to remove film or camera should always be resisted…
…If private individuals were as cavalier with their language and statements to the police as Humberside appear to have been, they would run the risk of being charged with perjury. At the very least, their statements would have been produced in court to demonstrate that they were unreliable witnesses…
…Any similarity between this incident and the remarkable confessions that used to take place in the back of police vans before suspects arrived at the station is purely coincidental…
…the accompanying quote is either very funny or chillingly accurate: “photography presents a unique problem for law enforcement”, mutters a non-existent spokesperson for the Met, “because it is not illegal”.”
Read the full article here
Messing with light and shadow
June 23, 2008
This just happens to be one of my favoured locations for a spot of meditation when indoors.
And on a particular day a coupla weeks or so ago the dappled early evening sunlight, filtered through a bamboo-slatted blind, reflecting off a wall, caught my eye. Along with the illumination of the electric light. And all the shadows produced thereby.
So, inevitably, out came the camera.
Well, I sat on the shot for a while, not really intending to do much with it but then, for some unfathomable reason, reluctant to bin it.
Until today, having completed pretty much all the chores that really needed doing, I found myself with a bit of spare time.
So decided to play.
And here, product of quite substantial post-processing to bring out the detail and sort of effect I wanted, is the result.
Hmm… so should I keep it in the Flickr photostream, or bin it?
My sky obsession!
June 22, 2008
I make no apology for the massive number of sky pics uploaded to Flickr this morning… and this is only a small (and reasonably representative) sample of the huge number of frames I shot within a space of something less than 20 minutes!
For the sky, or more accurately, the clouds, were awesome! Breathtaking! Almost feverish with excitement I couldn’t wait to grab the camera and start aiming upwards.
Had I not needed to be getting on with other things I could easily have spent the next few hours seeking vantage points for yet more shots.
And I have to say that, in terms of composition, the clouds seemed wonderfully co-operative (or perhaps its just the way I see things?).
So I’m left with the sneaking suspicion that maybe I have a bit of an obsession with the sky and all that floats therein (or, as was the case this morning, all that madly rushes by!).
Just for friends…
June 20, 2008
Certain persons who shall remain nameless (but their blogs are here and here) were aware that I was working last night. And being fascinated by the sky. And taking pics of it.
As I was in the early hours of this morning. Working (in theory). Sky fascination. Wielding camera.
And here’s the result. Enjoy!
