Category: photography

Friday The Thirteenth. Ooh Scary – 13 April 2018

Posted on by Zogman

Today we took the train in to Glasgow.

Scamp offered to drive us to the station, partly because it was easy to park and partly because we are hoping to go to Kilmarnock tomorrow to visit an old friend and I will be driving. Parked, walked smartly to the station and the train drove in just as we reached the platform. That was nice.

We walked down through George Square and that’s where I saw the seagulls (aka Shitehawks) having a food fight. Too good an opportunity to miss, so I grabbed a few shots. The Teazer excels in low grey light, low contrast light. It’s not so good now in bright contrasty conditions. That’s because it’s always in my jacket pocket with all the lint and oos (Remember oos? It’s a gran word for dust and wool fibres. It’s got a hard ’S’ at the end not like ooze more like the ’S’ in keys.). Oos. Try to find some today and say the word. Remember the word. Some words shouldn’t be left to die. But I digress. The oos gets into the lens and causes flare in the photos. Today the Teazer had no problem with the soft, flat, grey light.

As we walked down the same streets as we walk on a Wednesday I realised that we hadn’t practised our ballroom steps as we should have. Must get some practise done at the weekend. I refuse to have another disaster Wednesday. Scamp was heading for M&S and we went in through the side door. I told her I’d go to Millers in Stockwell Street and meet her in ten minutes. When I went to leave by the front door, Wow! There were hundreds of people milling around on Argyle Street. No, not a hyperbole, there must have been at least 200 people there and they were walking en mass up Stockwell Street, something was up. Then I noticed that one building and a shop were being evacuated across the street. There were people with clipboards, people with coloured paddles organising other folk into manageable groups and checking off names. I went back in and phoned Scamp to tell her, just in case M&S were going to follow suit when all the folk started to walk back to the building they’d recently exited. No fire engine, no police cars or ambulances. No sirens. Either it was a false alarm or today, Friday 13th, had been chosen as a safety drill by someone with a sense of humour. By the time Scamp appeared, none of the two hundred odd folk were to be seen. Weird.

Went along to Paesano and had a pizza lunch. We both had the customised pizzas we’d discussed the last time we were in Paesano and both agreed the customising is the way to go in future.

While Scamp was in a shop in Bucky Street I grabbed the shot of the bloke on the phone, talking to his Boss!!

Walked through to Cass Art and on the way grabbed my PoD outside the GOMA.  I think looks quite smart in mono.

Back home I found a parcel waiting for me. This was the second of my birthday parcels from JIC. I won’t say what it is, just that it’s very personalised and really quite funny. Photo coming soon when I get a chance to take time over the capture.

Tomorrow we are hoping to visit an old friend we haven’t seen for a long time. Looking forward to it.

Two left feet – 4 April 2018

Posted on by Zogman

A case of on, off, on, why did I bother.

Scamp got a text this morning from the dance teacher to say that the class was cancelled today. She texted back “Disappointed, but OK.” Next text that came in was “Sorry, class back on again.” So we wrapped up warm and headed out into the blizzard that was blowing from the dreaded east again. Not snow this time, but more like sleet. Visibility was poor on the M80 and traffic was taking it nice and easy. Got down to the dance class in time though.

Started with Waltz and it wasn’t going well. I got half way through the routine and then started making it up! Eagle-eyed Michael (the teacher) saw it and pointed out what I was doing wrong and also how to fix it. Tried again and again and again and every time it was wrong. Eventually I think he gave up and said that I had most of it right. Then he showed me the next move which for some reason clicked right away. We’re still not sure exactly what it was called, but it was a turn of some sort and it felt quite natural, but it may not be the Natural Turn. With the mess I made of the routine up to there, it was probably the Unnatural Turn!

Anyway, now it was time for the Jive and that’s where things started to go downhill. Downhill and accelerating. Up to now we’ve been doing Ballroom Jive, but today we were doing the easier Glasgow Jive. Ballroom Jive is done to a count of eight and Glasgow Jive is done to a count of six … apparently. The waltz was just a case of me getting my steps mixed up. The jive was where the two left feet started taking over. It was bad enough trying to step through the routine, but when we came to dance it, it was impossible. I just had to stand there and laugh. This was going to take a long time and a lot of swearing!

I’d mixed up what’s called a Production Batch of sourdough before we left the house.  (The Production Batch is an extra strong version of the starter which you use in place of active yeast when making a sourdough loaf) It turned out far to claggy and thick and was impossible to stir, far less beat, so I added some more water to get a reasonable consistency. When we got home from the ballroom torture I discovered that it was quite a lively Production Batch. It was fizzing away nicely, so I stirred it up again and left it to sit until we came back from the next bit of dancing.

Salsa was good and although I like the idea of being able to waltz, salsa is so much more fun. However after an hour in the afternoon and then two and a half hours in the evening I was beginning to lag a bit when we finished our dancing day.

Back home the wild yeasts had been hard at work and the ‘head’ of the Production was up at the top of the jar. When I beat it back, there was a definite ‘boozy’ smell coming from it. Apparently a sign that it’s ready to go to work proper. Long story short, I’ve kneaded the dough and it’s now doing an overnight ‘prove’ (a first rise) and should be baked into a loaf tomorrow, all being well.

Today’s PoD was taken when we came out of the dance class. It has been a dull, wet, sleety day, but when we were driving in to salsa tonight, about 7pm there was beautiful light on the Campsie Fells. I would have stopped to take a few shots, but apparently the traffic police take a dim view of people who stop on the hard shoulder of the M80 with the excuse “But ah wis jist takin’ a few foties!”

Scamp is going singing with Gems tomorrow afternoon. I may be baking, or I may be going out looking for laptops and photos, but not necessarily in that order. I might even say bye bye to about six years of Windows 10 misery when I kill off my school Toshiba laptop and reinstall Win 10 before I sell it.

Dancing, dancing, all the day – 28 March 2018

Posted on by Zogman

“Shoes to set my feet a dancing” definitely help too.

Wet start to the day, but there was little chance of us having any free time anyway, so weather took a back seat. After feeding my sourdough starter we fed ourselves and it was time for the first dance classes of the day. Have I mentioned the sourdough starter? I’ll try to write a bit about it tomorrow. Today is about dancing.

First class is waltz. Very demanding for me, but I feel I’m getting there now. A practise session with Scamp yesterday helped greatly. The biggest help was the lesson last week with Michael’s second-in-command. Today the boss was back and I think we both did well under his eagle eye. I really believe it’s easier dancing with proper dance shoes rather than ordinary street shoes or trainers. I’ve been dancing salsa wearing trainers for years and never bothered with ballroom shoes, but for some reason, waltz especially is much easier (or less difficult) when I’m wearing those uncomfortable dance shoes.

I was on dinner duty tonight and as Scamp reminded me that we hadn’t had our dose of pasta this week, decided to make another attempt at Spaghetti dello Chef. This time I used spaghetti, garlic, chilli flakes, capers, tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes. Served with parmesan shavings. Not as good as last week in my opinion, but Scamp said it just tasted different.

The change of plan tonight was to go to the 7.30 and 8.30 classes. Ooh, staying up late! That is much better than having to face Shannon’s boringly repetitive routines and trying to keep a smile on my face. It’s dull, dull, dull, dear. Salsa should be fun, exciting and vibrant, all the things your classes aren’t. We got there earlier than I’d anticipated, so Scamp got to dance for about ten minutes at the end of Jamie’s 6.30 class which was oversubscribed by men as usual. I just stayed in the class and typed up the first half of this blog post on my phone. The 8.30 class was a revelation. For a level 3 class they were brilliant. I think we may make this a regular occurrence.

Today’s PoD was a grab shot of a fat pigeon sitting on the fence at the back garden. I liked the shadows cast by the tree on its plumage. Just a grab shot through the kitchen window.

Tomorrow it’s coffee with Fred and Colin because Val has shingles. Poor guy.

The Fit Family – 27 March 2018

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Today was gym day.

I avoided it yesterday by going cycling instead, but today I had to bite the bullet and go, because Scamp too had decided it was time to revisit the machines of torture. That said, we did take it easy in the morning and had our coffee before we grabbed the bags and went out in the rain.

It was harder than I anticipated. I did my 12 minutes on the recumbent cycle and then frittered away some more time on some of the weight machines and the treadmill before finishing up on the leg press. Scamp worked the treadmill for 15 minutes or so then competed for a place in next year’s Boat Race with a sparkling performance on the rowing machine. Next it was time for a relaxing swim and it may have been something we said or maybe the excessive sweat from my exertions was overpowering, but everyone left the pool when we went in. A few lengths of the minuscule pool and ten minutes in the sauna and we were out. That’s it for another week. Scamp thinks we might go earlier next time. She mentioned 8am, but I think (hope) that was a joke. If not, it was wishful thinking.

In the afternoon I went for a walk around St Mo’s to see if there was anything wanting its photo taken. Couldn’t see much at first, but then I spotted the little green shoots of sycamore seedlings sprouting through the leaf litter (PoD). Don’t know if many of them will survive, but it was a hopeful start seeing all the green shoots. One final shot of what may become a Larch flower (https://flic.kr/p/RZNASn). They look really remarkable when they burst into colour. Never knew pine trees had such beautiful blooms. It’s amazing what you see when you take the time. Just because there were no deer or foxes in the woods doesn’t mean there’s nothing to see. You just have to look a little more carefully. It’s even better if you have a macro facility or lens for your camera. Once you’ve seen the world from 20mm in front of your nose, you’ll understand the fascination of this kind of photography.

It had been dry for most of the afternoon, but the rain came on when I was walking home, but it wasn’t such a dull day after all.

Tomorrow is Dancing Day with the possibility of a slightly different plan. Who knows?

Summer starts here – 25 March 2018

Posted on by Zogman

The start of British Summer Time and Fred and I are off to get some art inspiration and perhaps even some art if the price is right.

The clocks had jumped forward by an hour this morning. Well some of them had, the new, hooked-up, on-line ones were up to date and time, but the rest had to be pushed on an hour by hand, or more likely by finger. With that done it was time to sit down and watch the first F1 GP of the year. Felt sorry for Hamilton as he was cheated out of first place by a clever bit of rule twisting by Vettel. I don’t like Hamilton, but I detest Vettel.

Got ready to go in to Glasgow with Fred. We were going to an artist’s sale in the WASP studio. Nothing to do with White or Anglo-Saxon or Protestant, thankfully. WASPS in Glasgow are Workshop & Artists Studio Provision, and that’s where we were heading this morning to an Artist’s Clear Out Sale. Lots of stuff for sale. Ceramics, Glass, Paintings and some fabric work. Most of the prices were realistic, but a few were imaginative to say the least. I bought three ceramic bowls, small, medium and large. Fred got a brooch for his granddaughter. On the way back we passed an old school and with the sun shining on it, it looked worth a few photos. That’s what you see above. PoD was the old schoolhouse in the frame on the right. I tried a sketch of it when we got home, from the photo. It may or may not see the light of day. In fact, I may wait for the light of day to finish the washes on it.

Dancing this evening was at La Rambla in Paisley. Really enjoyable, probably because it’s weeks since we’ve been out dancing in public. No tapas today because of the length of time it took on our last couple of visits for our food to arrive, and of course, today it had been much quicker. That may have been because of a new ordering procedure suggested by Shannon, or it could have been because of the fewer numbers who were ordering food. Only time will tell.  Beautiful sunset as we were driving home after a really sunny day.

Tomorrow is Monday. That means the likelihood of gym or swim. I’ll decide which tomorrow.

Fire! – 22 March 2018

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I decided to have some ‘me time’ today in Glasgow.

The plan was for me to take the bus in to Glasgow and then go to the West End on the subway for some sketching in the Botanic Gardens, then grab that shot from yesterday when I returned to the City Centre. It didn’t exactly work out that way.

On the way in there was an enormous pall of smoke on the horizon. A really mucky looking pall of smoke. Then I noticed Scamp had sent me a text to say that there was a big fire on Sauchiehall Street (AKA Sausage Roll Street). As we got near Glasgow I could see that it was indeed a big fire. Came out of the bus station and wandered round the side of the Concert Hall to see if there were any photos to be taken. There were, and hundreds of people were taking them with every conceivable photographic device, from old clunky SVGA point ’n’ shoot cameras to professional full-frame DSLRs and everything in between. And then there were the phones. This was a big incident. I took some right away with the Teazer.
First rule of photography: Take the shot, then think about it. You might not get another chance.

After that I started looking for a decent angle and a way to isolate some of the action. I took about 15 – 20 shots before the police came and ordered us across the road, behind a newly erected safety cordon. Really, it was like herding cats. Some folk moved away as directed while others, new on the scene said “Oh, what’s happening there?” and slipped under the cordon (because it wasn’t applicable to them, obviously) and calmly started shooting with their shiny new smartphones. I sometimes feel that the police can be a bit overpowering and heavy handed, but today they deserved medals, each and every one of them for not losing their cool and just huckling some of the numpties off to Stewart Street (polis station). By that time I had all the shots I wanted and walked down Bucky Street to get the subway to Kelvinbridge.

Walked up Great Western Road to the Botanics and after a walk round the Kibble Palace, I went back out and started sketching the Victorian glasshouse in all its wrought iron glory. Not the best sketch I’ve done, but it got the gist of the building. Also, although the temperature was almost 10ºc, it was still cool. Maybe too cool to be sitting on a park bench for the half hour it took for the sketch.

Back down Byres Road and got the subway back to Glasgow. Took it to St Enoch’s to the Nero for a spot of light and late lunch. Nice wee alliteration there! Walked up Bucky Street to the new even more extreme cordon, this time cutting off Jessops and the other Cafe Nero (glad I hadn’t banked on getting my lunch in there!) The polis had craftily blocked off one of the entrances to Buchanan Galleries and just extended the cordon across the road there. Everyone was behaving themselves now because the flames were almost out and there wasn’t much to see. Out through JL and was just crossing over to the road when I saw the shot on the right at the top. It looked like a film set. Now if that had been London or Birmingham or Manchester, the words on everyone’s lips would have been “Terrorist Incident”. In Glasgow it was “So is Lauders Bar open?” (Lauders is the pub on the corner next to the fire.)

PoD was the firefighters on the extended platform, top left. Whatever these blokes get paid, it’s not enough.

Don’t know what we’re doing tomorrow. Scamp’s meeting Shona for a catch-up. I might paint.

Wednesday is Dancing day – 21 March 2018

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I struggled with the Toshiba Windows 10 laptop for an hour or so in the morning, by which time it had loaded windows, but not so far that it would actually do anything. The desktop wallpaper had loaded and the ‘quick start’ icons were there, but the trackpad didn’t respond and neither did the keyboard. I eventually gave up and switched on the Mac. Ten seconds later I was in business. Same processor. Same memory. Different planet. I don’t actually use the laptop any more and am beginning to think that I’ll securely wipe the drive, reinstall Win10 and trade it in for a new Linx 12×64 to use as a holiday laptop. Windows 10 is a disaster for me.

After lunch we drove in to town for the first two dance classes. The first one was Waltz and we did quite well at it, which was especially satisfying because we hadn’t practised in the three weeks since our last lesson. Next class was Jive and although we were just reprising the routine we’ve been learning, it began to flow much more smoothly than it had. Heavens, we even managed the Boston Hitch … without a hitch. Cup of coffee and then home, but not before I grabbed my one shot of the day. Except, when I got it home and into the computer, I found that the camera had chosen a shutter speed of 1/8sec when it should really have been about 1/40th. Why it did that, I do not know, but I have now reset the camera to factory settings and then re-programmed all my previous settings. Unfortunately, by the time I did all that, it was dark outside, so I couldn’t test it to see if my drastic measure had cured the problem or not. It’s still under warranty, so worst case, I can send it for repair.

Dinner was the same as yesterday for both of us which was good because it was quick to prepare and of course Rats or Chilli always tastes better on the second day. Salsa was ok, but I could happily do without the Wednesday beginners classes. Yes, we’re helping the beginners, but we get very little out of it. I know Scamp likes to help, so for the time being I’m happy to go along.

Tomorrow I’m planning a sketching day in Glasgow if the rain stays away. If it rains I’ll still go in and hopefully get today’s aborted shot. Today’s PoD is tomatoes on the draining board!

Too Cold?? – 9 March 2018

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The last full day in Fuerteventura already!

After breakfast we walked down to the island to have a jug of sangria and pose in the sunshine. It wasn’t until we were on the bridge, watching the spotted or striped fish, it was hard to tell which, swimming beneath us, it wasn’t until then we realised that the wind was the killer today. The sun was warm and the sky was fairly clear of cloud, but the wind was cooling us down very quickly. When you hear the term ‘wind chill’ you think of snow and ice, not twenty something degrees in the sun, but the chill effect is still there and I was feeling it. Scamp wasn’t so bothered, but when we got to the island cafe itself, there isn’t much shelter there, especially when the wind is from the south as it was today. We walked a circuit of the round cafe building, then regrettably left. Too cold in Fuerteventura in March, who’d have thought it.

To lift our spirits (no pun intended) we walked up to the Spar shop in the Atlantico centre and bought another bottle of gin and some tonic. We also bought some spicy pimenton for cooking when we got home and the cheapest saffron we’d ever seen. Again the intention is to leave it in the cupboard and then take it out some day to make paella and remember the day it was too cold to drink sangria in the Canaries!

Had lunch in the hotel and afterwards, Scamp wanted to do some more sunbathing in the shelter of the gardens in the hotel. I took the Troopies for a walk in the wilderness to get their photos taken. That’s them at the top of the page the PoD.  Have you ever tried to take a photo of three troopies and a Peppa Pig in a gale force wind?  It’s not easy.  Oh how we suffer for our art.

When we both returned from our last outing on the last day, we started packing, with a little gin ’n’ tonic, to lift our spirits (N.P.I.)

After dinner we went to the entertainment team show. It was dire. Not funny at all. Dancers who couldn’t dance. Singers who couldn’t sing. Jokes that simply weren’t funny. We didn’t stay to the end.

Sat on the balcony and drank too much gin again to, you’ve guessed it, lift our spirits, and that’s why the blog was late.

Tomorrow we go home.

No room in the Pool – 26 February 2018

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I’ll go to the gym he said and he did, well, almost.

It’s a Monday and Mondays have to be planned properly for them to work properly. This morning I was going to do my drawing / painting for 28 Drawings Later. That would leave me time in the afternoon, when Gems are here, to go to the gym as I’d said I’d do. The painting took a little longer than anticipated and it wasn’t until the second version of it was drying that I took its picture and then proceeded to completely annihilate it. However I’ve learned from my mistakes and I did remember to take a photo of it first. This is it:

The Hills

It was an attempt at colour mixing using Carol Marine’s ideas from her book ‘Daily Painting’. As an instruction on colour mixing it was good, but the landscape did have that unfinished look about it. By the time it was finished, Gems had arrived and it was time for me to make a move.

Checked the bag first and there were a pair of trunks and also a pair of trainers in it. Got to the changing room and found that the only thing missing was a tee shirt. So, it was to be a swim rather than a gym workout today. No problem. Then I saw that the pool was full. I mean FULL. It’s a small pool and with six people in it, it’s a bit cramped. There were TEN folk in the pool. I think only six of them were actually swimming, the other four were being moving traffic islands just to give the swimmers something to navigate round. Worse than that, the jacuzzi was covered up, obviously under maintenance. So was the ice machine, although, what you need an ice machine for in Scotland in February, I don’t know. Finally the loose tiles at one of the steps into the pool hadn’t been repaired and the elegant barrier of a half submerged metal framed office chair was still there in the same place it’s been for the last two weeks. I’m beginning to think it’s an art ‘installation’. I really thing its time for whoever now owns the leisure centre to throw some money at it to get it back being usable. Heavens, they must be making enough from the ‘spa’ community who seem to inhabit the pool every day. So, managed four lengths of the pool sandwiched between two sessions in the steam room, then came home, put on headphones and completed the annihilation of the painting while Gems sung their little hearts out below.

The ‘not got a name yet’ move tonight at Salsa was interesting although you had to be a contortionist to get the final section completed. I’m not sure it will survive to next week. There were a lot of confused looks and there was a lot of shaking of heads during the class.

Today’s PoD was taken out of the kitchen window and has little to recommend it, other than the pastel colours in the background and the minimal DOF (Depth of Field). Google it.

Tomorrow we are due the first flurries of snow. Nothing that desperately needs done and nowhere special we need to be, so we can just sit and watch the flakes fall.

Semi-Supermoon – 29 January 2018

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Well, the day started out well with bright sunshine, but it soon deteriorated into the norm. Grey skies. Later in the afternoon it cleared up nicely.

For weeks now I’ve been meaning to put the Christmas decorations up into the loft. Today I did it. Unfortunately, I made two discoveries.

  1. There’s a leak in the roof. I think it must have been a gradual process and occurred a week or so ago when all the snow was lying on it for some days. Need to get it looked at.
  2. There’s a bloody big spider in a beer bin I’ve got in the loft. It was easily as big as my hand. No, it was definitely bigger. In fact it was walking about in the loft with the beer bin on its head as a hat. Nah, it was big, but not enormous. I let it be.

Right, one problem solve and another created. We’ll need to get someone to look at the roof, specifically the ridge tiles, because that’s where the water I coming in, probably at the joints. With all the wild weather we’ve been having, I bet the roofers will be busy just now.

Went for a walk down the Luggie today to take my mind of giant spiders and leaking roofs. Got a couple of nice pictures of the moonrise above the pines. The bit thing just now is the Blue Blood Supermoon due to be seen across America on Wednesday night. A Blue moon is when there are two full moons in a month
A Blood moon is something to do with an lunar eclipse when the moon is at its nearest point.
So what I saw wasn’t a supermoon, it was a semi-supermoon! Still looked good.

Salsa tonight was a house full in both classes. Monkey has been re-worked again and emasculated even more until it’s no fun to dance at all. The new one from last week has been forgotten by the looks of things and we reprised La Cuadra but Jamie couldn’t remember the ending. A tiring night and not a very successful one. Maybe it was just me.

Tomorrow I think we may go in to Glasgow for a wander.