Category: photography

More Repairs – 9 July 2016

Posted on by Zogman

8 july bThe Megane was due in at the garage for 8am, so it was another early rise, this time for both of us.  Got it down there on the dot at 8am.  Back for breakfast then just after that, decided to set the garden back the way it was before the fence went up.  Almost the way it was.  Scamp wanted the compost bin put in a new position, so clearing a space for it and levelling it was the first order of the day.  With that sorted, we could procede to refill it from the six black bin bags we’d filled with the compost.  Then plants in their pots had to be relocated round the periphery of the garden.  Some trimming next.  Two branches of the Rowan Tree were encroaching in the neighbour’s garden, so I lopped them off.  Dead headed the Schoolgirl rose at the front and that’s where I found the caterpillar.  It ended up in the front grass to fend for itself.

Just before lunch, the garage phoned to say that the Megane was ready and for once the bill was slightly smaller than we had estimated.  Every little helps.  Picked up the car and came home for a well earned lunch.  After that, I drove us in the Megane with its new CV joint boot to Bishopbriggs to get a lightweight Manfrotto tripod I fancied.  It will probably be a ‘car tripod’ as the big Manfrotto is a bit of a tight squeeze in the boot.  It really is a neat little thing and is much less cumbersome than the big 055CL.  However, I will keep the 055 to hold the D7000 because it feels much more secure on the big Tri.

Went for a walk over St Mo’s and got the shot of the damselfly.  The Pana lens wouldn’t focus on the damsel because it found the daisies in the background more attractive, so I used manual focus and focus peaking on the ’10 to get accurate focus on the insect and it worked perfectly.  The butterfly is a Ringlet and this is the first time I can recall seeing this name.

One wee sad thing today, but a happy thing too.  Val wanted a DSLR.  He’d been given one by one of his friends, but that person asked for it back.  He’s been looking for a cheap second hand one for a while with no success.  I had a D70 that’s been redundant since I got the D7000, so I stuck on the Nikkor 70-200mm and gave them to him.  I think he liked them.  I hope he enjoys using them as much as I did.  A wee bit sad for me parting with them, because they’ve both been great tools for me, but hopefully a happy day for Val, who’s going through a bad patch just now.

More problems uploading to Flickr tonight.  That’s the second time this week.  I finally got the images uploaded, but I think I may be looking for a new repository for my images soon, along with a few other people according to the forums on the net.

It’s not been a bad day at all weatherwise.  A little rain in the morning, but lots of blue skies and a lovely sunset tonight.  Let’s hope for more of the same tomorrow.

Perf – 30 June 2016

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30 June bWe were off to Perf today, mainly to get some coffee and tea, but also to take our colds out for a run in the country and possibly to share them with the posh Perf people (intentional alliteration).  It turned out a pleasant day.  Not totally dry.  It rained for a while during our journey and also just for a short time while we were in the Fair City.

We used to go to Perf (ok, it’s real name is Perth, but I prefer Perf and it’s my blog, so live with it).  We used to go to Perf to eat in Cafe Tabou which was a really innovative and slightly expensive French restaurant.  Not its become a quite expensive and slightly innovative restaurant that still produces French food, but cooked by a very good Polish chef.  The big failure for us is that the menu, which used to change every month, now stays the same and the intention seems to be to change it only four times a year.  Admittedly they still have a Plat de Jour and a Poisson de Jour, but the choice isn’t there anymore, so that is why we didn’t dine there today.

I did get my coffee and tea in The Bean Shop.  I’ve been going to this shop for years and the quality and taste of their coffee and tea never changes.  I always buy beans now as JIC gave me a grinder last year and it produces the same grind time after time.

On the way home I took a side road to grab a shot of the corn field and the big daisies probably Marguerites, but always called Big Daisies by my mum.  After I took the shots, I wished I’d brought a tripod to get some movement in the flowers and corn stalks.  Maybe next time.

Extra! Extra! – 6 June 2016

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6 june bI got the train in to Glasgow today.  The fast train, but also a bit of mystery tour.  What should have been a 15 min journey took just over half an hour.  The reason was the closure of the tunnel at Queen Street Station.  They are electrifying the line and are using that as a chance to repair the tunnel that hasn’t had any decent work done in it for over forty years.  I knew it would be a long journey, but I wanted to experience the trip through stations I hadn’t been to in ages.  Ashfield, Dawsholm Park, Maryhill.  All names from the past.  I quite enjoyed it.

I’d gone in to Glasgow to get a 37mm UV filter for my new toy, the 12-32mm lens.  This 37mm diameter piece of glass cost me £18 in Merchant City Cameras in Parnie Street.  That’s almost 50p per millimeter.  Ok, pedants, I know it’s not really 50p per mm, but 3.4p per mm² doesn’t have the same gravitas!

While I was coming to terms with the hole this filter had made in my finances, I noticed the crowd outside the Trans Europe Cafe in Parnie Street.  It looked like a Lights, Camera, Action thing and after talking to one of the extras, well, I think he was an extra, it wasn’t Johnny Depp.  I’m sure I’d have notice him if he was there.  Anyway, the extra told me that it was a comedy being made for Netflix.  I don’t think I’ll ever see it, because we don’t have a Netflix, just a ‘cooncil telly’.

Got the rattliest bus ever home and sat in the garden to soak up as much of the sun as possible while Gems went through their paces.  Thunder storms and heavy rain forecast for tomorrow.  Coming home from salsa tonight, even the CITRAC signs were forecasting heavy rain and they are never wrong (sarcasm).

Tidying up – 25 May 2016

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25 May bA day to get things sorted out.  Not actual tidying up, no, this was tidying up loose ends in my life

This morning I had my test results from the doc, well, the sister actually.  All was good.  In particular she was impressed with my weight loss.  After that I got some financial stuff sorted out.  It should have been done in February, but today it was sorted.  In the afternoon, I had my checkup with the dentist and that also went well.

In between, we had lunch which was a duck egg each, courtesy of one of JIC’s friends.  I’d forgotten just how good duck eggs are and these ones were really, really good.  Thanks Ali and thank you ducks!

I didn’t have any PoD, so I went out for a drive later, but couldn’t settle on anything in particular, so I did what I usually do and took some flower shots in the wild.  That’s the one on the left.  I wasn’t all that happy with that, so managed to get some shots of the garden aquilegia then cropped four wee sharp pieces from them and then assembled the four in Potatoshop.  I’m better pleased with that, but it was a fair bit of work.

Dinner was some of the meat from Baldock, but no dinosaur bone yet, I’m keeping that for the weekend.

A lot done today, but still a lot to do.  Hopefully tonight will see the blog up to date.  Another loose end tidied.

An EARLY start – 24 May 2016

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May 24 bDrove in to Glasgow just for a walk and to get some stuff for the hols.  Didn’t even go to the art shop!

Actually, that’s only half the story.  I woke about 4.20am and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I think it was all that sitting around on one train, then on another train, then on one more train.  Hardly walked anything at all, so I just wasn’t tired, so I got up and dressed and went over to St Mo’s to grab some of that early morning light.  It was a good decision.  Got some nice captures of closeups with that lovely light.  There was a bit of mist on the pond, but if I’d been just a little bit earlier, it would have been better – never happy.  Used the macro lens for the closeups and as usual was impressed with the sharpness.  See if you can spot the reflection.  You might have to go to the Flickr feed to spot it.

In the town I was listening to the bloke playing the sax.  When a photog started taking his picture he began to ham it up and I decided I’d have a piece of that too.  I liked the close cropped shot.  When we walked through the St Enoch’s centre there was a boxing promotion with a ring set up.  Ricky Burns did a bit of shadow boxing and I managed about 6 shots of him.  The mono was the best.  I liked the gritty feel of it.  I felt he looked like a boxer.

So that was a long day, but even now I don’t feel tired.  It was a great start to the day and the rest wasn’t all that bad either.
Repairs day tomorrow.  Doctor and Dentist – a glutton for punishment!

View from the other side – 8 May 2016

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combo2Well, today was supposed to be 18ºc and I think we met that temperature and probably exceeded it, but when we woke it didn’t look that likely. It was a slow burner.

Because the weather didn’t look as good as we had hoped, we waited before deciding that it really was going to improve. I’d intended going east, possibly to Cramond or if that was too busy, Portobello. However, our late start made a more local resort more practical. Scamp thought Glasgow Green fitted the bill, and I thought ok. Not what I’d choose, because how many other families would be thinking the exact same and there isn’t a lot of parking there. To add another factor to the mix, Celtic were playing some final or other at home at Parkhead which is on the route to The Green. After driving round the diversions to avoid the green and white crowds, I saw the last parking space at The Green disappear in front of me as the grey Astra in front of me nabbed it. Just managed to park on the roadside outside the West bar. Not perfect, but we were parked and I was beilin’. Whose idea was it to drive into Glasgow? I’ve been driving all weekend! Why do I have to do all the driving? Forgetting for the minute that Scamp had suggested The Green because I wouldn’t have to drive too far and after our walk I’d still have time to go cycling afterwards. No, the Red Mist obscures everything.

After I’d calmed down a bit, I had to admit I really enjoyed walking in the sunshine. We walked onto the suspension bridge and watched some rowers sculling with training wheels on the boat. Ok, really training floats, but that doesn’t sound so good. We had watched a white cabin cruiser heading up to the moveable weir at the Albert Bridge and when we walked down past the Western Boathouse the boat crossed the line of the weir and sailed merrily upstream. I was so taken back by this sight, my camera remained in the bag. I’ll remember it though because I’ve never seen any boat bigger than a eight man rowing scull on the river. To dispel the remainder of the red mist, I got us two Mr Whippy ice creams which were brilliant!

Just for a change, we walked across the Albert Bridge which is undergoing a fairly extensive refurbishment and not before time because this has been a rusting eyesore for a long time. That’s where the Glasgow coat of arms shot came from. I thought it was a good idea to get a photo of it before the graffiti artists got to work on it. Actually there’s more to this than meets the eye. Because I was shooting through the security barrier, I couldn’t get the whole thing in with the 20mm lens I had on, so I took two shots, one of the top and one of the bottom. Later I combined them in AutoPano. It’s not just for panoramas! After that we walked along the riverside walkway on the other side of the Clyde. Scamp and I have walked around Glasgow Green in all sorts of weather for years, probably about twenty years, we think. In all that time we have never walked along the path on the far side, the other side. It’s not as pretty a walk as the one on the green, but it gives a totally different view of the riverside. I’d never realised just how pretty the Western Boathouse was.

After the walk, it was time for lunch in the wintergarden of the People’s Palace. Roll ‘n’ Sausage for me, toast for Scamp. Then we drove back passing through the droves of ‘Sellic’ supporters.

When we got home I ‘dumped’ the photos I’d taken earlier at Glasgow Green and then got ready for cycling. Grabbed my cameras in their new sling bag and hadn’t realised that I’d left one of the SD cards on the table. Found out when I tried to take the mono shot. No card. Luckily I’d grabbed both cards, so I took the shot with the ‘5 which had the 9mm lens on and the shot from it was so much better than the one I missed with the ’10 and it’s 45mm lens. Just a short cycle today with a tail wind to start with – never a good scenario, fighting a headwind on the way back when you’re knackered. Got a photo of the ladybird in a group of aspen saplings. Actually there were two ladybirds, but when they saw one another, the both ran in opposite directions. Possibly two males or two females. The shot of the sprouting ‘baby corn’ was on the road home. I thought the perspective was interesting.

More sun forecast for tomorrow. Let’s see if it appears.

Noilly Prat – 7 May 2016

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comboNoilly Prat is a brand of vermouth from France. “White” Noilly Prat is the archetype of dry, straw-coloured French vermouth.  It’s also the words I woke up to today.  I don’t know why.  Maybe it was precognition or just a word that I saw somewhere and got trapped in my cerebral cortex.  It happens a lot to me.

Woke later than normal and felt as if I hadn’t rested at all.  Only myself to blame.  That’s what happens when you get home at 2am after a long day, coupled with a late night the day before.  Dragged myself out of bed, then a shower and a cup of strong coffee helped put the world back on its axis.

Today we were driving down to Kilmarnock to visit Dorothy B.  We spent a good hour there with her and Colin.  Enjoyed the company and I’m sure she did too.  Got her up to date with what’s been going on in our life and our prospective plans for the next few months.

It was a dull kind of day with very little direct sun, so although I took my cameras as usual, nothing inspired me enough to haul one of them out of the bag.  We drove back up the M77 and dropped in at Waitrose for ‘the messages’ and a light lunch.  While Scamp was deciding on a bottle of wine for tonight, I turned around and what caught my eye?  Why a bottle of Noilly Prat!  Just coincidence.

When we got home, and after finishing yesterday’s (extremely) Hard Sudoku with a little help from my tablet, I went for a walk to St Mo’s.  Again, nothing was tempting me to get my camera out, then I saw the moss fruiting bodies.  Difficult to see with the naked eye, but amazing detail shows up when you use a couple of extension tubes on the Oly with the Panasonic 45-200 zoom.  The green larch needles were taken contre-jour (against the light) and I just liked the little pink flower.  Three shots survived out of 37 taken.  Not bad really.

TV was crap as usual on a Saturday night so we watched a recorded episode of Rick Stein.  He was in Berlin, and what wine was he celebrating?  Why Noilly Prat!  Once is coincidence, twice gets scary, especially since if you’d asked me yesterday what Noilly Prat was, I couldn’t have told you.

Earlier in the week we were promised 24ºc for Sunday (tomorrow), but the weatherman’s revised estimate tonight is nearer 18ºc.  Oh dear, let’s hope it doesn’t go any lower.

Another wet one – 2 May 2016

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comboToday was similar to yesterday with intermittent rain showers, but today’s showers were heavier and blown along by a stiff westerly wind. That’s the weather report done. Tomorrow looks much the same.

Got fed up sitting in the house and since we needed some shopping, I took the opportunity to go and get some photos – two birds, one stone, you get the idea. Actually two birds were involved in the photos. Two mallards sprang from a pathside puddle on the old railway and walked quite happily along in front of me. I had my camera ready, focus and exposure set, ready for them to fly off, but they just kept waddling along keeping a weather eye on me to make sure I didn’t get too close. When I did speed up, they did too, but they eventually tired of the game and flew off. It was either that or they were deliberately leading me away from their nesting site. That could have been the answer to their strange behaviour. After that the rain came down in torrents and there was nowhere to shelter, so it was just a case of grin and bear it. By the time I got to Dumbreck marshes the rain had passed and the sun was shining on the Campsies. Had a quick scout around to see if any deer would show themselves, but as I was upwind of them, there was little chance of me surprising them. Then the next shower hit and this time I did get a bit of shelter under some pine trees. By then it was time to head back and that’s where I saw the textures on the Broom seed pods. I liked the twisted pods which for some reason remained dry in spite of these showers.

Driving back home I got caught in a long and heavy hail shower. I’m glad I was in the car when that came. Wouldn’t have liked that stuff stinging my face.

Like I said, more of the same forecast for tomorrow. Oh what fun!

A couple of lucky ones – 1 May 2016

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Combo bToday was wet from first thing this morning.  Not heavy rain, but persistent.  We took advantage of this to a certain extent by planting our potatoes in their bags.  At least we didn’t need to water them once they had been planted.  Scamp potted up her sweet peas and they are outside for their first overnight.  She also planted out my rocket which I kept meaning to do, but just never got round to.  Anyway, they are planted now.  It doesn’t matter who did it.

Photographically, there wasn’t very much decent light with grey overcast skies, but I went for a walk along the railway to see what was worth taking.  I liked the little branch with the blossom on it and I did see the fly, but I was impressed with the sharpness and the clarity and the fact that it was a colourful little hoverfly.  The second shot was another lucky with another little fly hanging below the white flower (it’s a common mouse ear by the way – the flower, not the fly).  Not as sharp as the blossom or the hoverfly, but still a decent shot.  Check them out on my Flickr page.  To think I drove about 10 miles and walked about 3 miles in the rain to get these shots.  That’s what a 365 makes you do.

Today’s word was ANTISEMITISM.  It has been bandied about on radio and tv since Ken Livingstone made his ill timed or cleverly calculated remark.  It was while Scamp and I were watching the Andrew Marr program this morning that I thought is there such a thing as SEMITISM or is there only a negative version of the noun?  It seems that everybody seems to have an opinion on this topic and everyone is desperate to have their opinion heard.  It’s probably true that those who speak loudest have the least to say.  I will say no more.

Friday, Fridges, Coots and a Coy Crow – 29 April 2016

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combo bFriday used to be the beginning of the weekend, especially on a long weekend.  Friday is the only day I regret being retired because you don’t get that TGIF (or TFIF for the atheists).  My dad was right when he told me “you don’t get weekends when you’re retired.”  Not to worry, the rest of the week makes up for Fridays!

Scamp wanted the drain in the fridge unblocked.  It’s a messy, awkward job that means the fridge has to be angled out from the wall so I can clean the drip tray at the back after unblocking the drain hole in the fridge itself, then drag it back in.  Only, this time when I dragged it back, one of the little wheels at the back came unstuck.  The axle had come loose from the wheel and in an attempt to fix it, I tried to drive out the axle using the screwdriver as a drift (<Technospeak> a DRIFT is a bar used to push another into or out of place </Technospeak>).  It didn’t work.  The axle got jammed in part of the chassis of the fridge.  Oh well, I’d just have to forget the wheel and use a packer to sit that corner of the fridge on.  Switched it on and … the light came on, but the compressor didn’t.  Shit!
Left it for about 10 minutes to settle but still no go.  Switched it off and made a cup of coffee while Scamp priced a new fridge.  I imagine I had rattled the compressor too much by hammering the drift.  After the coffee and the shock that the most expensive fridge she found was £9900, I switched on the fridge and Lo and Behold, it sprang into life.  Obviously my analysis of the situation was correct and the refrigerant just needed to stabilise itself.  Phew!

Went for lunch at Cotton House, then had Scamp’s tyres checked at Jim Dickson’s and finally booked her car in for MOT next week.  Lunch and housekeeping dealt with.

Walked over to St Mo’s and took the “Big Dog” AKA Nikon for a change.  The batteries in the Nikons last forever compared to the Olys.  About 750 shots at present with the battery on category 2 out of 4, 1 being New.  Got some shots of mummy coot sitting on a nest with at least one wee red chick in it.  Further on I actually framed my shot to include the round out of focus light.  The rest of the shots were too poor to bother with.

On the way home, I saw a crow having a bath in a puddle.  I thought it would make a good shot, so I brought out my camera.  The crow took one look at me and walked away.  Ok, camera back in bag and walk away.  Took a few steps and watched the same crow walk back to the puddle again with its towel over its shoulder.  It saw me watching again and did an abrupt about turn.  I didn’t want to delay it’s bath time any longer and turned my back on it before its bath water got cold.