Category: photography

Dull Day – 16 March 2017

Posted on by Zogman

Macros, that’s what saved the day.  Macros.  Macros, technically, are extreme close-ups where the subject is recorded life size or larger on the film.  At least, that was the definition when everyone used film.  Now that so few photogs use film and the ones that don’t, use a recording element that varies from less than the size of your little finger nail to about 65mm by 45mm, the old definition is worthless.  Let’s just say that it’s an ultra-closeup.  That’s what I went out to photograph today with my trusty D7000 and a Sigma 105mm Macro lens.  The results are above and constitute about 45 minutes of shooting. I was quite pleased with them.

Earlier, Scamp was out singing with Gems and, as predicted yesterday, I slipped the leash for a couple of hours to sketch for a while before going in search of ice cream for pudding tonight.  Other than that, it was the dull day of today’s title.

After dinner (paella, since you’ve asked) I started preparing for tomorrow’s main which is venison casserole with roast root vegetables.  Thank you JIC for giving me the method and timings for that.  They’ve been in for an hour now at gas 5 and are beginning to smell nice.  In fact, I’m just going to check ……… Ok, back now and yes they are done.  Nice and tasty, even the celeriac.  I recommend it to you.  And that’s about all I can say about today.  I should have gone to the gym with a swim afterwards, but I didn’t.  I enjoyed the sketching and so the gym can wait for another day.

I imagine we’ll be busy all day tomorrow preparing the feast and it’s unlikely that the blog will be done on time, so Saturday may be catch-up day DV.

No Dough – 20 February 2017

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Scamp was at the physio this morning. I started a wee watercolour of the hills at the back, because the light was wonderful with wee floating cloud shadows drifting across them. It turned out better than I anticipated.

I’d taken a frozen chunk of dough out of the freezer last night and left it to defrost and rise overnight.  It did defrost, but it didn’t rise.  I tried to encourage the yeast to start working again by warming the loaf tin in some warm water, but it resisted my attentions. I eventually turned on the heating and put the embryonic bread on the radiator to warm up.

By then, Scamp had returned with her ankle strapped up and we had lunch before she went out to get Gems.  I was swithering whether to go out on my bike, go to the gym or go for a walk.  I’d a pain in my back and any of these would help.  However, as the sun was still shining, I decided that the gym was out, and as there was a gusty wind, maybe cycling would be a bit difficult.  So, by a process of elimination, a walk was the winner.  I was looking for somewhere that would produce a photo and also a sketch.  I finally settled on the railway again, because it’s near the hills and I quite fancied a photo of those cloud shapes on the land.

I got the photo, but saw nothing that encouraged the sketchbook out of my bag, then I saw the old house that I’d sketched before and that became my SoD (Sketch of the Day).  It’s a strange house, with dormer windows, extensions and an old, old wall round it.  There’s ivy too clinging to the gable end.  The sketch is quite representative, but I think the chimney is a bit out of scale.

Salsa tonight was hard work.  Hard work remembering the moves and hard work keeping going for a full hour after three weeks of lazing around.  Still very enjoyable and although we only stayed for an hour tonight, we may go for two hours on Wednesday, all being well.  Surprisingly, all the moves had names tonight!

No real plans for tomorrow, but we’re probably going food shopping.  Oh what fun.

The bread?  Oh, it rose perfectly, then it stuck to the loaf tin and just wouldn’t come out.  I should have realised it had its own plans for the day when it took so long to rise.

Lunch at Crews Inn – 12 February 2017

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12 Feb

 

It’s Sunday and Scamp was going to church with Madeleine and Jaime and I thought I should get up and do something IMG_3769_3769too.  So, after they’d left leaving Ori and I in charge, well, really it was Ori who was in charge and I was just getting in the way of his morning nap.  With Ori concentrating on his sleep pattern,I started a sketch of the house from a viewpoint at the front gate.  I gave myself a time limit of one hour and managed to get it completed in just over that time.  I’m quite happy with it apart from one little mistake.  By the time I was finished, I just had enough time for a shower before the others came home.  Ori was still sleeping.

We had a light breakfast because we were booked for lunch at the Crews Inn at the place that begins with a C and I can never remember its name.  I’m going to look it up now.  Ok, it was Chaguaramas.  Bing had the answer.  I hate Bing – It’s like most things Microsoft.  It’s crap.  I did say ‘most’ things.  Excel is brilliantly powerful and Live Writer is the best blogging prog I’ve used, but Bing is just painful to use. Why is it called Bing?  Apparently because it was short and memorable(?), but we all know it’s Because It’s Not Google, and in my opinion, it never will be.  Anyway, we were going to Chaguaramas for lunch at the Crews Inn.  In the mean time I managed to capture a couple of shots of the Monarch butterfly that’s been annoying me all holiday.  It thought it was out of reach, high in a tree, but it reckoned without the power of the 200mm lens on the Oly 10.  It was snapped!  As was the wee bit of bright pink blossom.

The Crews Inn is a lovely place, especially if you are a sailor.  I’m not, but it’s still a great location, right on the seafront with a vista that takes in fishing boats, skiffs, real yachts and big mega pretend yachts owned, no doubt, by millionaires.  We weren’t coming to see the boats, we were coming for lunch and I was going to have a glass of their very alcoholic Sangria.  It turned out to be not as good as the last one the others had, but it was still very rich and tasty.  I think we were all a bit disappointed when we were told that it was a buffet on a Sunday, but hey ho, it’s still food.  Indeed it was food and food a plenty.  We started with a salad and then went for the meat and fish option.  Then there was the dessert menu to investigate.  Really, I think Jaime and I did overdo it a little bit, well, a lot really.  It’s hard not to when there is this much food on offer.  That’s what I love and hate about buffets.  I love the selection, I hate the fact that I just pig out.  One day I’ll learn, maybe!

When we got home, I had to go for a snooze.  The food and the heat just got to me.  It was lights out for a while.

Later, we started the inevitable packing.  I’m about half packed just now.  I’ve now got to decide exactly what to wear on the plane and the train as we move from 25o to 5o.

Listened to some ‘pan’ from the semifinals at Savannah.  It’s nothing like the real thing.  Jaime is still listening to it on TV now.  Despite my wee snooze this afternoon, I’m beat and beddy byes is calling.  Good NIght.

Is this your minky? – 11 February 2017

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11 FebToday we set off after breakfast for Chaguaramas to walk into the Bamboo Cathedral.

I don’t know what I expected, but I wasn’t ready for the sign warning us to

  • Walk in groups
  • Don’t display cell phones or jewellery
  • Stay in well lit areas

I thought we were going for a leisurely walk.  I forgot to pack the AK47 and stab proof vest.  Bummer.  However, once we walked past the entrance gate, I forgot all about that.  This was jungle!  Well, jungle with a wide tarmac road through it.  The trees round us were enormous and there was some bamboo too, but nothing ‘cathedral-like’.  Then we turned a corner and there was the bamboo.  Not one or two clumps, but hundreds  – everywhere.  Now I could see the ‘cathedral’ reference.  The bamboo arched over our heads from both sides and met in the middle making it look and feel as if we were walking through a green tunnel.  We walked the length of the bamboo tunnel and then started climbing the hill at the end.  As far as we could see, the bamboo was finished.  We turned to go back and Madeleine stopped to ‘rescue’ a piece of vine from the depredations of some weeds.  Jaime managed to wrap some banana leaf round it and tie it off with a bit of creeper to keep the roots damp until we got it home and could replant it.  It was a rescue vine.  We walked back through the Bamboo Cathedral and just before we got to the high trees, Madeleine notices movement in the bushes at the side of the road.  I started mentally ticking off the warnings on that sign, then we all saw the monkeys.

Madeleine said they were Capuchin monkeys.  I was too busy trying to get a decent shot of them in the low light that filtered through the canopy.  Eventually, I gave up, switched on fast continuous shooting and fired off seven or eight shots at a time, gave the camera time to deal with them then fired off another seven or eight.  I tried a video, but the Oly 10 isn’t really up to that kind of task, and when I checked later, there was nothing useable on either video.  Everyone had a great time looking for new groups who seemed to appear from nowhere, climb high into the branches above our heads and jump the gap across to the other side  Adult and babies all made the journey without injury although some were better at jumping than they were at catching the branches on the other side and there were a few almost tumbles.  Once they were all over, they started feeding and it was time for us to move on.  Great fun for all.  All the time we were watching the monkeys, people were passing by, all saying “Good Morning” and none really batting an eyelid at the monkey gymnastics.  I’m guessing this is a normal occurrence here.

When we got back to the car, we drove on to Macqueripe Bay where we descended the stairs, under the screaming people on the Zip Wire above us, down to the beach.  Lovely little beach with what might have been a harbour at one end and a sort of short promenade above the sand.  The water looked lovely and clear and I wished I’d brought swimming stuff.  The whole place had a strange 1950s look to it and reminded me of the Lido at Bothwell Bridge near Hamilton.  Lots of folk swimming and just enjoying the sun, but then it was Saturday after all.  I got photos of some crabs before they dived down their holes.  They were well back from the sea and I wondered if they sneaked down the steps onto the beach at night.  From the promenade you could look out past an island to just see Venezuela in the distance.

After the short visit to the beach, we walked back up to the car and Madeleine drove us home via the supermarket which seemed to stock a lot of Waitrose goods. Which made me wonder if it’s an offshoot of that business.  We saw all the usual supermarket stuff and then some things you don’t get back home, like Chicken’s Feet again.  Scamp even took a photo of the aforementioned delicacy to show to the disbelieving ones back home.  On that subject, I did spot a cafe on the road advertising Cow Heel Soup.  Apparently it’s a local delicacy and the soup is really good.  I just hope they wash the cow’s heels well before making the soup, having seen the stuff that cows walk through!

Lunch was stewed chicken with fried plantain and salad, followed by coconut ice cream.  Maybe a notch down from the ice cream we got in Karawak, but still better than anything we get at home.

IMG_3767_3768Today’s sketch is of the house across the street with a bit of M&J’s house added in to set the scene.  Actually, after I was finished, I preferred the lightness of M&J’s house to the lumpy looking other house.  The perspective is much more pronounced with the viewpoint closer to the small house.  Worth another go, I think.  Maybe tomorrow.

A Dull Day – 8 January 2017

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The dull day was probably what gave me the incentive to get the new sewing machine out and finally attempt to fix the pocket on a pair of jeans.

I’d ‘had a go’ at fixing it a week or so ago, but after researching the problem on the ‘net, I felt more confident that the method I’d seen would solve the problem.  Actually I’d seen two different methods, and I was going to attempt the easier and less complicated one.  That tutorial didn’t have that confidence destroying phrase “This is the tricky bit”.  I liked that.  After half an hour or so of sewing, re-threading the needle and more sewing, but without swearing, I now have a fair degree of confidence in the longevity of my repair, or Alteration as I described it recently in FB.  Hope you don’t read this Joyce.  I’d hate to disabuse you of the notion that I’ve taken up dressmaking in a professional capacity.  I’m hoping to fix a couple of pairs of jeans and also make myself a bow tie.  Little Black Dresses for Scamp may take a bit more time.  So, one down, another three to go!

I was going stir crazy, so in the afternoon I drove down to Auchinstarry and walked along the canal, through the plantation to the railway walk, then back along a different railway walk to the carpark again.  It really was a dull day.  I’d set my Nikon to a Manual exposure of 1/500th sec @ f9 and a floating ISO the other day.  That meant the D7000 calculated it would require an ISO of 25600 today.  That’s in the ‘WTF let’s have a go’ range.  You’ll get a picture, but you may not be able to see it in all the digital noise.  It produced the picture at the top and the one at the bottom right in the mosaic.  I’ve deliberately converted the top one to mono because it disguises the grain/digital-noise that the high ISO produces.  The other pic, my favourite and therefore PoD was at a much lower ISO of 4000 and taken with the Oly 5.  It was resting on the stonework of an old bridge and also had a much shorter lens, so could be relied upon to give a sharp image at a low shutter speed.  Sorry JIC, edging into technospeak again.  Sim will understand.

The bridge itself was interesting from another point of view.  All along the top edge are what I’d describe as lens shaped cuts which look like the shapes you’d get if you were sharpening a knife or a scythe.  Could that be what caused them?  I’ll photograph them the next time I’m crossing the bridge on a sunny day.  Also inscribed on the top of a stone near the middle of the bridge are the initials  ‘IW’.  They have been carved with care into the stone and both letters have serifs on them.  Often, old graffiti has these serifs and shows that care has been taken when carving them.  Intriguing.

First Sunday Social of 2017 today and I was really rusty.  Thank goodness classes start tomorrow.  We both need the exercise and the practise.

No idea what the weather is to be tomorrow.  Hopefully kinder to photographers than it’s been today.

The day the tree came down – 4 January 2017

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Today Scamp decided that the Christmas tree must come down along with all the rest of the decorations.  I left her to it. She’s so much better at putting the tree up and taking it down again.  I just load it back into the loft again once the boxes are packed and more parcel tape is applied to the Christmas tree box.  There is very little cardboard to be seen on the box now.  The entire box is almost encased in tape.

While she did that, I was joined in a verbal battle with a representative of John Lewis in the JL War.  It soon became a war of attrition with me doing all the clever verbal fencing and JL’s rep parrying my thrusts with clumsy “Sorry, but ..” and “I’m disappointed but …”.  Eventually it seems to have been escalated to a more senior fencer who I will skirmish with tomorrow.  It’s all playing out on FB.

In the afternoon I drove to Auchinstarry and got some interesting shots varying from landscapes to macros.  The macro shots of the moss was taken on top of a manhole cover.  It was only when I was crouched over the cover that I realised it was a sewer that was under it.  It was a wee bit smelly.  Just one of the sacrifices we make for our art.

Tomorrow morning looks like being cold so I might go out early to get some frosty shots … or I may just stay in bed.  I’m pretty sure the sewing machine will not come tomorrow.  I’m guessing the JL Embra crowd now know who’s been causing all the bother and will make sure it’s not delivered until the very last minute.  Well, that’s what I would do if I were them!!

First sketch of 2017 – 3 January 2017

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Ordered a sewing machine last week to progress my dressmaking skills. Ordered it from John Lewis in Emba because the Glasgow shop didn’t have it.  I thought it could be delivered to the Glasgow store and I could pick it up from there.  No, they couldn’t do that because the machine was in the Embra shop, not in a warehouse (?)  Maybe that’s a logical reason to JL, but it made no sense to me.  Anyway I wasn’t in a rush to get it and there was no way I was going to drive through Embra to pick it up.  I was told it would be delivered within five working days.  I phoned the Embra shop this morning to find out which day it would be delivered.  Here is a synopsis of the conversation after I’d explained that I wanted to know which day it would arrive:

“It will be delivered within five working days”
“Could you be more precise” I asked?
“Eh no.  We don’t actually deliver it.  Because it’s a small article, it will be delivered by a carrier.” *
“So will I get a phone call or an email to tell me which day it will be delivered?”
*“No, but it will be delivered either today, tomorrow or the next day”
Now surprising as it might seem, I can count to five and then add on the extra days for weekends and holidays.
“So you’re telling me that in a company as large as John Lewis, and in this day and age, you can’t tell me the DAY that my sewing machine will be delivered?”
”Yes, that’s correct.”
“Well, that wasn’t very helpful at all.”

Now, remind me.  This is the 21st century, isn’t it?  Imagine if I was working and had to take five days off my work on the off chance that my sewing machine was going to be delivered that day.  I’ve bought a lot of stuff from JL in  the past, but I’m afraid those days are now in the past.  I had thought of buying an iMac from them because they offer an extra year’s warranty, but as their delivery methods are so archaic, I think I’ll shop elsewhere.

Out at lunchtime for coffee with Fred.  No Val today as he was otherwise engaged.  Good natter with lots of laughter.

Walked over to St Mo’s when I came back and got the first sketch of 2017 completed in about 15 minutes.  I keep meaning to time my sketches.  Must do it with the next one.  Two wee boys were passing St Mo’s when I was sketching.  I heard them laughing and looked up to see one of them posing for me.  I laughed and so did they.  Just wee boys.  An old man passed behind me soon after and he seemed to be struggling along with a stick.  He seemed bemused and looked as if he was wondering what I’d found to draw in this urban landscape.  But that’s it.  It’s Urban Sketching.

I got some sunset shots with the Oly 5 and processed them according to Laura Shoe’s video  and was quite impressed with the effect.  I’ll use that method of combining basic adjustments with an overlay of graduated filter.

June came over for dinner tonight and she and Scamp had a good gossip about everything and anything.

Tomorrow?  Don’t know.  Haven’t seen the weather.

Troon – 2 January 2017

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Out before 10.30 this morning because although it was two degrees below zero, the sun was shining and the sky was fairly clear, so it would have been a shame to waste such a beautiful morning.

We pointed the car towards the west and drove down to Troon.  Probably Scamp’s favourite place in all the world or at least very nearly the favourite.  The drive down was great and I saw some beautiful photos just waiting to be taken.  Unfortunately, when you’re on a dual carriageway travelling at just under 70mph, you can’t just stop instantly, jump out and grab the shot then jump back in the car.  You have to give some consideration to other road users and the laws of physics.  What you can do is record them on your inner camera and remember the place, time and weather conditions, then hope you can replicate them when you have more time to stop and look.  If not, you’ve always got that inner record to look at in your mind’s eye.  The best thing about the inner image is, it’s perfect.  No intrusive grain, no camera shake, not photobombers.  Everything is just perfect.

When we got to Troon, I think we got the last space in the carpark.  Temperature was now on the positive side of zero, but not by much.  We took a walk along the front, heading south, wrapped up for the cold, but wearing sunglasses to avoid the bright sun. About halfway along we bumped into my old boss with his wife and son.  ‘Old’ as in the sense of ‘from some years ago’, because he is much younger than me.  Almost the same age as you JIC!  We talked for a while before his son wanted to be getting away on his scooter.  We had to scoot too, because it was cold just standing.  At the end of the path we walked onto the sand and continued out past where the kite surfers are usually to be found.  There were none today, I suppose because there wasn’t enough wind for them. After a while we turned round and although the sun was now at our backs, the wind was in our faces.  You can’t win sometimes.

We walked back into town and thought about going to the Lido for lunch, but it looked quite busy, so Scamp suggested we have a coffee in a wee cafe round the corner.  The Venice cafe was busy too, but we managed to grab a booth while another family were dithering about deciding if they was enough space for them.  He who hesitates is lost.  We won.  Lunch was a roll ’n’ scrambled egg for Scamp and a roll ’n’ flat sausage for me and two of the best coffees I’ve had outside of our house.  I’ve a good mind to get a business card from the Venice and hand it to the owner of the cafe in Callander and say “That’s how you make coffee mate!”

After that, it was back up the road with a stop to get tomorrow’s dinner from Morrison’s.

Tomorrow?  Scamp’s sister’s coming for dinner and before that it’s coffee with Fred for me.  Sorted.

An Old Friend Returns – 28 December 2016

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Today we drove in to Glasgow, but not for shopping.  We went down Glasgow Green for a walk.  A walk down The Green is usually a Sunday pursuit, but today was dry and open, so we chose to do our Sunday walk on a Wednesday – just for a change.

There were a few folk out walking off the Xmas excesses.  Some folk had even taken to the water to do some serious rowing.  There were even some like me who were out taking photos.  It was a fine day for it with low sun and some clouds to make the sky that bit more interesting.  A most enjoyable walk, but the best was yet to come.

We always use to complete our walk with a coffee and a roll ’n’ sausage (for me) and a peppermint tea and toast (Scamp) in the Wintergarden of the People’s Palace.  Until, that is, the day when a glass panel fell from the roof of the Wintergarden some time in July.  Since then the Wintergarden has been closed.  Today it was open again and it was quite full of families too.  Even better, they had fresh rolls, fresh bread and fresh sausages.  The coffee was real.  Not like yesterday’s brown water, this was coffee.  Brilliant!

After my Sunday lunch I usually go for a walk round the plants because these are plants you only get to see in a large, enormous glasshouse like this.  Today was no exception.  It looks like the gardens section of Glasgow Council has taken the opportunity to remodel the gardens while it was closed and the difference is quite dramatic.  It take it all back Glasgow Council.  You’ve done a great job here.

We needed some milk when we got back, so rather than drive to Tesco, Scamp decided to walk to the local M&S to get some and I came along for the walk.  On the way back, I carried on with my walk round St Mo’s while Scamp went home.  I managed to get my first decent shots of a couple of deer in a long while.  I could see the animals grazing quite contentedly upwind from me through the cover of some pine trees and I was able to get the camera set, focused and ready before I quietly broke cover and got the first few shots.  Then they sensed something and their heads came up.  I stayed stock still for a few minutes still taking a few more shots before they went back to grazing.  My next step broke a twig and that was all the warning they needed.  They were off, running and jumping.  I hammered off about 10 shots in motor-wind mode before they were lost in the bushes.  That was it for photography today.  Happy, I went home.

Tomorrow is booked solid for Scamp, so I’m free to do as I please.  I may get my hair cut, ‘cos it’s a ‘Pure Afro’ as we say in this house!

A wild night – 26 December 2016

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Howling wind and rain battering against the window all night it seemed.  Wildly high temperature too.  Almost too hot to sleep.  There really is something wrong with the weather this year.  I’m not a firm believer in Climate Change, but I’m willing to admit that this just is not the weather we are used to having in Scotland in December.  Whether it’s El Niño or the Jet Stream or melting polar ice caps, I don’t know.  I taught Woodwork and Graphics, not Geography, but I know when something isn’t working properly.  Maybe Theresa May will fix it.  There’s as much chance of that as there is of her arguing a profitable exit from the EU, but that’s enough of politics.

The wild winds and heavy rain persisted through the morning, but by afternoon the dry spells were outlasting the wet ones and the temperature was returning to the seasonal normal, so I got my boots on and headed for St Mo’s to get some photos … and some exercise.  Much needed exercise.  I had to shelter for a while under a tree form some heavy rain, but I didn’t mind that because I could see that it was only a shower and there was blue sky behind it.

Other than the swans and some ducks, I saw no other wildlife, and very few of the human variety.  I could hear a motorbike engine coming from the old BMX track, so I presume some wean got a mini scrambler bike for Xmas.

Most of todays photos were taken with the old 105mm macro lens on the Nikon.  I forgot to grab my Oly M5 and stick it in my pocket which meant no real landscape shots, but I did like the B&W shot of the runner, just visible bottom right of the frame.  Much better on Flickr.  Speaking of pocket, I DID put one of my Chrissy Prezzies in my pocket.  Scamp got me a pair of Thinsulate gloves and I’d forgotten just how windproof they are.  Great things to stick in your pocket.

Just like I intended, Scamp suggested pasta for dinner, so it was tomato and bacon pasta.  Nicely low cal.  I did have some of the killer pudding from yesterday, but only a couple of spoonfuls and even they were mainly the biscuit and sherry mix with some fruit.

The wind has dropped considerably tonight and it looks like a fairly decent day tomorrow.  If we manage it, we’ll be up and out early and somewhere nice for a walk.  That would be good, and would probably do us the world of good.