Another good reason for using Firefox
June 19, 2008
Firefox 3 supports color management
Essential info for everyone involved in posting pics to the Web!
Read the blogpost at yOOrek’s Rants’n Raves
Bearditz!
June 19, 2008
Well well well… it would appear that some folk in the building adjacent the Bear’s back yard (um… “beer garden”) have recently complained of incidents of a dubious nature occurring in their car park. Things like auto break-ins and suchlike, I believe.
And they’re alleging that Bear customers are responsible!
Or at least, people climbing over the wall from the Bear into their car park.
Consequently, they’ve erected masses of barbed wire to keep us unsavoury lot out!
Hmm… more in this than meets the eye methinks.
(Its not even as if barbed wire is an especially effective deterrent… as some of my activist friends could testify!)
(Note: for those unfamiliar with my wanderings, The Bear is the most favoured haunt of yours truly when in Bedford)
The Water Man Cometh…
June 18, 2008
With water rates beginning to rocket skywards, decided it might be a good idea to get a water meter fitted.
Relevant application being made, I’m informed that a guy from Anglian Water will be turning up to survey the premises to determine what work needs to be done.
The appointment’s fixed for Tuesday… sometime between eight in the morning and one in the afternoon. Typically precise timing of course!
Hmm… that’s a fair lump of my day eaten into, particularly if he doesn’t arrive until the far end of that window. Dammit.
Well, ok, I can use the time in the morning to (perhaps!) do some much-needed housework… wonder if I can remember how the vacuum cleaner works? And where the hell did I put the mop-bucket?
But what about the afternoon?
Well, a while ago I had a photo session out at Wilstead Wood (see this post), during which I met a guy who told me about another access thereto, going under the name of “Dragons Wood”. Sounded right up my street so promised myself I’d try to seek it out one day.
Well, here’s the opportunity!
However (isn’t there always a “however”?), weather doesn’t look too promising.
Quite sunny for most of the time, but there’s some fairly nasty-looking heavy clouds rolling around the sky promising rain at any moment.
But, thinks I, if the trek to the Wood doesn’t quite work out at least I can make my way to Wilstead village and maybe grab a few pics there before getting soaked. So the entire day won’t be completely wasted (photo-wise, that is. And after all, could anything else be equally as absorbing?).
Matey turns up about eleven… and is gone again within 15 minutes or so (really friendly sort of chap he was too. Incredibly helpful!).
And promptly thereafter (well, promptly after a cup or three of coffee, in my usual “making haste slowly” mode) I scurry out toward the planned location.
Fortune smiled upon me for although there were one or two moments when a downpour seemed imminent the rain in fact held off, and I managed to get to both the village and the woods. Result!
Dunno quite how far I travelled but I was out for about five hours… and walking most of the time. Bloody knackered I was, and in dire need of refreshment when I got back!
The first batch of shots, of Wilstead village, are now in a new set here.
Batch #2 - Wilstead Wood
If you like green, and like trees, and don’t mind a few experiments with light and shade, these are for you. Otherwise, forget it!
Well, I’d trekked all the way to the far end of Wilstead village in search of the access to this mysterious “Dragons Wood”. Dunno if I found it or not, but the pathway I did discover certainly seemed to match the description.
So along it I trot, firing off shots at whatever caught my fancy until, rather sooner than I’d anticipated, found myself back on the main drag through Wilstead Wood proper.
As there are many pathways through this rather lovely location, I chose one I hadn’t explored during my earlier visit.
Now here’s the odd thing… despite wandering off the beaten track a few times I seldom seemed (unlike almost all my escapades in virtually any urban environment) to get lost. Something to do, maybe, with my real liking for woodlands and forests.
And in between periods of absolutely brilliant sunshine the sky continued to threaten a huge downpour, so the light seemed to be constantly changing. Thus I ended up with quite a collection of “shade & light pics” (with a few “cloud” ones thrown in for good measure) with which I think I’m moderately pleased, and which have now been added to the existing Wilstead Wood set.
Thus, contrary to expectations, it was a day not entirely wasted. In fact, the day had a hidden bonus…
At the end of my jaunt, putting my cameras away, started rummaging through my pockets for the lens caps and, lo and behold, found the one I thought I’d lost at Cambridge!
That’s the problem with having so many pockets of course. Damn. Means I bought a replacement lens cap quite unnecessarily.
In the ‘papers again
June 13, 2008
Yep. Once more I’m in the newspapers. Well, not me exactly. One of my pics. On the front page. And with a credit.
Hmm. Trying to sound blasé about it, but not really convincing myself.
Ok, maybe its not a well-known national. And maybe it doesn’t have a huge circulation. But it is a newspaper. And its distributed nationally. And my pic’s on the front page.
That’ll do for me. At least for starters.
Pity that when they posted me a copy they had to go and fold it right across the photo though. Ah well, can’t have everything I suppose.
Odd thing is, its not one of my more recent efforts, but one of those I’d taken a couple of years or so ago when I was first getting into the photography lark. From the Sack Parliament protest in London, 2006, as I recollect.
Oh, and I almost forgot… also had a coupla pics published in SchNEWS, the Brighton-based weekly newsletter for the activist community.
But I don’t tinker with pics, do I?
June 12, 2008
Its not normally my practise to tinker overmuch with photos, preferring to use them as close to straight off-camera as possible.
In fact, I’ve got the whole process virtually down to a set routine now…
Check exposure, check colour balance, sharpen a tad, straighten if needed, occasionally crop out unwanted elements that may have crept into the edge of the frame. And wham… convert to JPEG and upload to Flickr.
The longest part of the process is actually importing a batch into Lightroom in the first place!
But sometimes I’m tempted to depart from the norm. And such was the case with the above pic.
It all started with a Flickr contact suggesting that one of the pics I’d recently uploaded as part of the Cambridge set might look good in sepia.
Well, the suggestion quite appealed to me at the time so I gave it a try.
Hmm. Not too bad, but not especially inspiring either. But the exercise set me to thinking. So I looked through the rest of the Cambridge pics I hadn’t uploaded and came across a couple that looked as though they could gain something from the treatment.
Tried a couple of different techniques, one of which was pretty dismal but the other holding some sort of promise (although initially I went a bit over the top on a couple of the tweaks).
So revisted it, tweaked a bit more (by which time numerous different processes had been involved, including a minor adjustment using the freebie version of Picnik in Flickr cos the brightness didn’t look quite right on Flickr’s white background), and ended up with the above pic. With which I’m actually quite satisfied.
Don’t think I’ll be doing it again for a while though. Gets pretty boring after a time!
(And, before anyone makes any comment to the contrary - yes, you know who you are! - there’s no artistry involved. Its all down to simple manipulation of a few settings applied to a digital file! Heh heh.)
Not meant to be!
June 12, 2008
It may have appeared that I’ve been a bit busy the past coupla weeks or so, and that impression’s not wrong… but not half as busy as I should have been, or planned to be!
For last Monday what I really meant to do, and wanted to do, was wander up to Doncaster for a noise demo there in connection with the proposed open cast mine that I blogged about at the end of last month.
But Doncaster’s miles an’ miles from where I am, and getting there’s no easy task. Basically, although its north of me the train journey entails travelling down to London (St Pancras station), then quickly skipping across to Kings Cross station, and back up to Doncaster.
And cos of the bizarre railway system we have here, a number of different companies operate trains… and there’s the rub. For the cheapest ticket meant travelling solely on one particular company’s trains, which would have proven to be extremely restrictive. But getting a ticket enabling me to travel on any train cost a small fortune, running literally into three figures.
Which, stupidly and not totally untypically, I didn’t find out about until just a few days beforehand, and basically I simply couldn’t afford it. Particularly as I’d only just splashed out (the week before) on the Brighton jaunt.
Damn! That’ll warn me about adopting causes so many miles from home ground!
So went to Cambridge instead (see last post).
But all was not lost! For a mate was there (Doncaster, that is) and shot some pics, and has done a write-up here.
If the environment’s your thing, be sure to check it out.
A day out
June 11, 2008
Seeming to have had a hectic few weeks dashing hither and yon to various events I decided to have a relaxing day out with a couple of friends at Cambridge… about an hour’s journey by bus from where I am.
We (mate and I) had been talking about a photo-trip to Cambridge for quite some time, so with an unexpected break in my schedule of activities, and with him and his girlfriend both having a week off work, this seemed like the ideal opportunity.
But at the very last minute girlfriend was afflicted with some nasty lurgy and decided to stay at home.
Without wishing to be too unkind it actually worked out rather nicely, for few things detract from the joys of a photo session quite as much as one or more of the party not being into photography. They tend to get bored rather quickly, and the photo enthusiasts (if they have the least bit of sensitivity) rapidly find that the pleasures of snapping pics gives way to guilt and an inability to relax.
Thus, after the required commiserations, I don’t think either mate or I were unduly disheartened.
Early morning weather was bright and sunny but, on the verge of our departing, began to turn rather grey and overcast. “Oh well, providing the rain holds off”, we agree, “the light should give us some good shots anyway”.
But during the journey it began to brighten again, and by the time we’d reached our destination it was once more brilliantly sunny.
And hot!
Such that once again I got sunburnt… on the sunburn I’d got last week at Brighton. Great!
My mate being rather more familiar with the area than I, we headed toward one of his old stomping grounds.
And having sated ourselves on photographing this that and the other for what seemed like ages we treated ourselves to a brief respite at a hostelry we’d stumbled across.
The Green Dragon pub. The name itself was inviting, bearing all sorts of symbolic connotations for us both (don’t ask!). But what really did the trick was our spotting their “beer garden”… a fenced-in patch of grassland, complete with tables, seats, and some wonderfully shady areas courtesy of a few well-placed trees, all fronting onto the river.
Well, with us all hot and weary, how could we resist?
So, divesting myself of weighty backpack, I leave mate to establish us at a pleasantly shaded table whilst I wander into the establishment to organise the refreshments (”Mine’s a whisky and ginger; he’ll have a rum and coke; thankyou very much!”)
And whilst longingly waiting for drinkies to be served I spot a legend painted across the top of the bar to the effect that it was at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge that the atom was first split in 1932 (not strictly accurate of course, but that’s how it used to be popularly described), causing me to wonder what links this particular establishment may have had with the pioneers of modern nuclear science (curse them!).
Yet even here the cameras don’t rest for very long, for whilst quaffing our beverages we’re joined by birds almost begging to be snapped. And who are we to refuse them?
Finally rousing ourselves though we re-commence our trek crossing the river at that point over the “Green Dragon Bridge”, and making our way back toward the city centre.
When we come across an utterly fascinating foot/cycle-bridge.
From a distance it had looked somewhat like Bedford’s Butterfly Bridge, but the closer we approached the more we began to realise just how different and much more magnificent it is.
An incredible, inspiring structure… mate’s convinced the designer must have been “on something” when he drew the plans for it.
So of course we spent ages there, photographing it from every conceivable angle…
…all made doubly interesting by the presence of the Cambridge Museum of Technology just across the road from it. A fascinating juxtapositioning of old and new.
And onward again when, crossing an open common we decide to take another break ‘neath the shade of a big tree.
Wondering why such an inviting spot has been totally ignored by the various folk leisurely sitting around, we rapidly discover the answer… in the presence of a hypodermic syringe rammed into the trunk of the tree.
Clearly, then, a favoured spot of druggies. I fire off a few shots of the offending object but they all turned out rubbish due to the damned thing wavering around in the breeze… hence very bad blurring. Mate may have had better luck with his close-ups/macros… have to wait and see.
Quick check of the cameras before setting off again. Dammit! A flaw in the glass of the long lens… as though the surface has been chipped, or flaked off!!!
Well. Not, actually. For what could have been some horrendously costly damage was avoided by virtue of the fact that the lens is protected (paranoid’s my middle name, remember) by a UV filter. Thankfully! Dunno quite how it happened, given that the lens is also protected by a hood, but sure enough right on the edge of the filter there’s a nasty little depression.
Well, having to replace the filter is no big deal, and fortunately I happen to have another one of the same size (not with me at the time though), but what really concerned me is the impact the flaw would have on the pics I’d shot. And of course not knowing precisely when the damage had occurred. But I fired off a few shots after this point and, on subsequent inspection, found no obvious additional blemish on the resulting pics attributable to the damage, so not as serious as I’d anticipated maybe. Nevertheless, a bit of a downer.
(Reminder to self: carry a set of spare filters in future!)
However, onward once more. By now mate’s feeling a bit peckish, not helped by me tucking into the sandwiches I’d been thoughtful enough to bring with me and, mates that we are, gleefully not letting him have one. Anyway, he doesn’t eat cheese. So there!
(His own fault though. Earlier in the day he’d gone into a shop to get himself some food-type stuff and came out with an ice cream apiece. Didn’t sell sandwiches there apparently. But they did in the shop opposite. Which, ever helpful, I pointed out to him. And then promptly distracted him by drawing his attention to some really grotty postcards on display in a stand outside the shop… next time they have a print run they should come to us for the pics, they were that bad. And so we started our photo journey licking away at those lovely mint ice creams and him having forgotten to get sandwiches. Heh heh!)
So, he’s feeling peckish and I’m beginning to feel in the need of a call of nature… and both of us could murder a coffee.
Which is how we end up back in the heart of the city, contemplating entering one of the shopping malls there.
Ever conscious of the pitfalls of encountering bossy security types in such places I suggest we pack our cameras away for the time being.
Which is when I discover I’ve lost a lens cap. After having rummaged through the multiple pockets with which my various bits of clothing seem to be endowed… repeatedly.
Damn! A minor irritation, but an irritation nevertheless, and the second glitch of the day.
(Reminder to self: carry a set of spare lens caps in future!)
Once attended to our respective calls of nature we find one of those fancy Italian-style coffee places where we top up the refreshment situation. Boy, are we looking forward to our first cups of coffee since leaving home.
And whilst gradually sipping away at the most disgusting coffee either of us have had in a long while, mate (brain no doubt enlivened by the sudden and massive intake of caffeine, compounded by the huge amounts of sugar he’d used to try to mask the bitterness) suggests we could take the elevator up to the rooftop carpark (he’d spotted the elevator diplay board indicating the existence of ten levels!) where we’d probably get some brilliant panoramic shots.
Great idea! So finally and thankfully finishing the horrendous witches’ brew, we jump aboard the elevator. And in next to no time we’re there, at the top (amazed at the speed with which we’d been catapaulted skyward… didn’t feel it was going that fast!???)
Dashing over to the safety barrier we’re greeted with the sight of… total disappointment. And the only vista that promised even the remotest bit of interest was in completely the wrong direction sun-wise. Oh pooh!
So down we go again. Very quickly again. When it dawns on us that the ten “levels” aren’t actually different “floors” as such, but refer to different levels split, so we sus out, between two towers. Hence we’d actually travelled only about four floors up, which explained the seeming speed of the journey, and the absence of any truly remarkable vistas.
At which point we think it probably best if we begin the trek homeward.
Just over an hour’s bus journey. Alighting at the homeward end we’d only walked some hundred yards or so from the bus when I realise I’ve left my hat on the vehicle! “Go back for it” mate suggests. But I resignedly shrug shoulders and mutter something about things always “going in threes”.
Quick as a flash, mate (remembering the lens filter and the lens cap) picks up on the implications and says something along the lines of “Yeah, you’re probably right. If you get that back you might lose a camera or something!” Not that either of us are superstitious or anything of course.
(Reminder to self: No! Buggered if I’m going to carry a spare hat with me!)
And here I am the day after, writing this. Filter replaced. New lens cap. New hat (bought dirt cheap at a local supermarket).
Despite the glitches it was a good fun day, and a few reasonable photographs as well. Looking forward now to checking out mate’s pics.
Check out the full photoset here
[Edit 15th June '08: My mate's photos are now here]
