The biter bit?

but takes revenge . . .

wild in the country

Here with a camera and two lenses, interchangeable.  And usually the wrong lens in place.  An arm, could be steadier.  Today I offer two tolerably pretty pics of flowers, two distant shots of birds, and one of a hare.  They’d be better used as quiz questions than as tools for education.

note that one flower is beautifully focussed – the second artily blurred

Ooh – it’s a . . . ch . . . . . .
.

I think it’s a yellow wagtail
l

spot the hare

Nearly time

I was walking through the Pocket Park, camera slung round my neck, switched off, when this heron flew up from the pond, really close.  By the time I'd reacted it was making its way into the distance.
But hey, blue sky!

Heron Moment

Morning sunlight tempts me out 

with neither thickest fleece,

nor leggings next my skin.

The sky shines blue as crystal lake.

With the wind behind me, I sally forth.

I wander into the muddy pocket park

and flush a heron from its fishing spot.

Caught between two thoughts

Stay still and watch, it may return,

or Go for it! Grab the photo now 

I hesitate too long. 

The auto-focus wobbles and acts dumb.

The darn bird’s no more than a speck.

I insist, hope it’s focused and click

on the shrinking heron flying north.

High water in Stamford

The Welland flows fast and just makes it under the bridge

The swans have taken to the quieter arm of the river 

Day in Leicester

I

Yesterday, we hit the nearby city.  After the ritual of coffee and blueberry muffin, and the essential purchase of shoes and trousers, I wandered around, amusing myself by playing with (a few) of the camera settings.

I only wish I could understand the blog settings and get things to sit on the page where I want them!

Still and all, I more or less find my way round Leicester city centre these days - it hasn't played that disorienting street swivel trick on me for a while.

And finally, lunch in the museum cafe and a browse around the dinosaur fossils exhibition.

Silliness

I'm not entirely sure why, but there's something about the sky and the colours that makes me think of tall ships, instead of . . .

. . .

In the space between 
perception and reality
lies imagination

sea or sky
canvas or steel
escape or everyday

Depth of field . . .

My son-in-law would be proud of me?  All photos taken with 75-300mm lens.

The first one fully automatic settings - Shutter speed  1/200; Aperture 5.6. Foreground with mini-crab apples in focus, the rest blurry.

For the second picture I used the Av (aperture priority) setting at 8. Shutter speed set by camera at 1/125.

Giving greater depth of field, though foreground slightly blurred.

For the third one I set the aperture at 10, the shutter speed was 1/100.  Even more depth of field.


Not entirely comparable, since I changed the shot slightly each time, but maybe I'm beginning to learn something.  I like the third one best here, because you can see the whole height of the wall in the bottom left corner.


And - I should probably carry the smaller lens with me.  

Photos and walks

I used to carry my mini-digital-Fujifilm A303 everywhere. I loved it. It was tiny, and went into pockets, handbags, bumbags without protest. It got me into the habit of snapping wildly.  It slowed down - the zoom lens wouldn't move.  I forced it - it lived on for a few more months. Then it stopped altogether, and neither tenderness nor violence would bring it back to life.  For several months I was cameraless in the world.


Now I take my Canon dslr most places, but I tend to carry only one lens with me when out walking.  Too much baggage otherwise.  But I always wish I had the lens I left behind.  Sod's law, and self-delusion, I suppose, along with the desire to do two things at once.

Yesterday I tried to catch a hovering tern with the telephoto. The result was, frankly, rubbish.  I think it was a combination of lack of time/patience, probable need for a tripod, and not very good light.  I'll post when/if I get a good result.

Clutter - and what to do about slides?

Why is it so hard to throw things out? Once I'm in the mood, it's easier - been going through old photographic slides from my father's stuff!  I've chucked everything except for the ones with people on. Now how do I make slides visible without a viewer?

Jack in South of France from a slide - attempt 1.

Jack, my dad, in the 1970s, I think  - in which case,  he was in his (early?) fifties.
I did this on an improvised lightbox, with plain white paper as base - slide placed on top.  You can see the texture through the slide. I used my 'normal' lens, not macro.  I shall try tracing paper for my next experiment.

Then I pruned some packs of photos of my mother's - I reckon that when the person who took the photos is dead, the scenery is meaningless.  And if any of the photos are works of art - if the photographer doesn't do something with them, no one else will.
Simplicity before all? In fits and starts.

The curious case of the photos that don't print

Funny.  When I copy blog entries to word the photos come out fine. When I print the page, photos from digital camera appear, but not the ones I've posted via Picasa taken from my phone. Ho hum.

Further note - they print ok straight from blog.

Snip-snap

Near Office Lock, Leeds-Liverpool Canal
hedge-osaurus with lights, Charnwood Hotel, Blyth.

hedge-osaurus.

Back to nature?

Marta and I go for a walk once a week, at quite a pace, and put the world to rights, air our problems and commune with nature - then go and replace the calories we've used, and, possibly, ward off dementia by drinking coffee.

Yesterday took us to Thrapston, and the old gravel pits and then round the Titchmarsh lake. Probably about 5 miles in all. Our walk rewarded us with sights such as a lone heron waiting patiently for fish, and later, two swans, posing for a Valentine's Day card, as their heads and necks formed a perfect 'love heart' shape. Too far away to photograph, of course and the pose didn't last long.

Then a daytime fox walked close below the bird hide and ran off to hunt water birds. Again I was too busy watching to think of the camera.

Bright sunshine, a chill wind, muddy paths - exhilarating stuff.

I shoulda taken my tripod with me.

Another inside view of outside. I should get over being self-conscious about these shots and play the part.
And again - this would have been better as a closer mirror shot.
I quite like the fuzzy reflections here.
Harry
Through another cafe window
Harry disappears into the distance pursued by multi-coloured tadpoles.

Four pm at Leicester market.

A few snippets from the last few months

Sam on the track.
'Atmospheric' shot of Harry with the sun low in the sky.
On the ice at Nottingham, in the market place, with a German Christmas market in the background. Much better than Leicester.
Rambling types approaching Neville Holt. Dec 1st.
Ice rink in Leicester in November - not a great site, too much traffic, not near the action. And look at their ice-smoothers.
Isaac around the end of October.

The big and the small Harringwrth Lodge & back by road

A walk across fields and tracks above the Welland Valley - around an old ironstone quarry, where the flowers and plants are miniature versions of those you find in more fertile soils, spotted orchids again, lots of them, birds'foot trefoil (eggs-and-bacon, when I was young), and brambles promising a rich harvest this autumn.

Masses of butterflies - gatekeepers or ringlets, I think, and moths such as the one in the picture. A gall on a wild rose bush - memo to self. Look this up. Then we were faced with some ferocious looking cattle with horns like highland cattle. They were so interested in us that we climbed the fence, only to discover that there was an open gate. Slowly does it, and they soon lost interest. My one regret - this picture was as good as I could get. So the beasts didn't get very near. Even when I zoom in it looks like a sub-impressionist pastel drawing. Shall I risk the same walk again for a better picture?
I'm afraid on the way back we decided it could be easier to brave the traffic on the country roads. Hmm. Well it was a shorter route, though probably more dangerous.

No kingfisher today, no visible fish in the river, but two fine swans.

some textured birch bark

and a picture which needs taking again, with white balance adjusting? It's a bird table with a roof like a gothic church.