Category: photography

Grass Cutting and Water Drops – 24 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Not me, Scamp was doing the grass cutting today.

I was the hired help who moved the plant pots for the gardener to cut right to the edge of the path. Then once the cutting had been done, I moved them all back again. It wasn’t an onerous task and I’m much rather do the lifting than the cutting.

Today’s prompt was A Water Drop. It seemed such a simple task, but even with a few photos in front of me, I just couldn’t get anything like a drip to grace the paper. After three attempts, I gave up and had a “Piece ’n’ Sausage” for my lunch. I really needed to clear my head of water drops, so I drove up to Fannyside Moor and went for a walk with the A7. I’d two lenses with me. One wide angle and one macro. I reckoned I could use both today and I did. I took a few landscapes with the wide angle, the best of which is on Flickr. It’s a view from my parking place, across the moor to the Campsie on a beautiful spring day. Changed to the macro and caught a little ladybird, a Striped Ladybird to be precise. Red with white spots and stripes. I also saw a strange beetle which Mr Google says is a Two Banded Longhorn Beetl, quite a mouthful, and a host of slow flying Hawthorn Flies.

The best of the wildlife was still to come and it was the PoD. It’s a Drinker Moth Caterpillar, about as long as my middle finger and it was walking along a barbed wire fence. It was walking because these caterpillars have feet, not all do. I remember seeing one before, but I can’t remember where. Will have a look through my records.

Back home Scamp was reading in the garden and I encouraged her to have a glass of wine while I had a beer. Well, it’s ‘hump day’ (the middle of the week) so we were allowed. Scamp made stir-fry for dinner and it was really good, better than mine. After dinner I returned to the painting of the water drop and went back to basics. No fancy backgrounds, just the water drop. It worked, but I’m still not happy with it. Could do better is the expression I’m thinking sums it up.

No real plans for tomorrow. It all depends on the weather.

Where did the sun go again! – 23 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Yesterday we sat in the garden in the sunshine.

To risk that today would have been foolhardy in extreme. Cold wind from the west, although Scamp said it was just cool, not cold. The furthest we got today was the Tuesday shopping run to Tesco.

In the morning I finished Jimi Hendrix Live In Lviv. I put a review of it in Goodreads and just in case you were thinking or reading it, I’ll warn you that my review has spoilers. Rated it at 3.5/5

Later in the afternoon I took the A7iii for a walk in St Mo’s and captured a photo of three snails climbing a dried up weed by the edge of the path. After a fair bit of post processing I came up with a mono version of it that looked better than the original colour one.

Dinner was my version of Amatriciana, perhaps with too much chilli flakes.

The prompt today asked for The Contents of a Drawer.
You don’t really want to see the contents of my drawers, do you? You certainly don’t want me to sketch them, because that could take until next week to accomplish. What I have given you instead is a sample of the contents of my acrylic paint drawer in my useful IKEA cabinet. I don’t know if the contents of any of these tubes is still liquid, because the last time I painted with acrylic must be pre-covid, maybe even pre-historic! Anyway, it fulfils the brief.

No plans for tomorrow.

Going Home – 21 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Like I said yesterday, today there was a sad wee hour long dance class. I’d much rather have joined the ones who left after breakfast.

But there was music and a much less crowded dance floor, so room to breathe and dance without getting elbowed off the floor, so we danced for that hour then said our goodbyes.

Paid our £16 odd for the parking and drove home on another sunny day. Not a lot you can say about heading south for an hour.

PoD was a shot of a pansy I took on a quick wander around the garden.

Today’s prompt was for a paper bag.  There is a movement for less plastic and more recyclable materials. I understand the need to re-use and recycle, but in a country with more than its fair share of rainy days, paper bags are impractical.
This is a sketch of a brown paper store bag made completely from paper, including the handles. On a wet day, would you rather carry your new suit or new dress home in it or in a plastic bag? I’m afraid I’d choose the plastic bag. Better protection, and it’s re-useable. There is a place for both, I believe, if used sensibly.

We had to make our own dinner tonight. No dining in the breakfast room or with the other dancers at their tables. Just us and a baked fish risotto.

Tomorrow I believe Scamp will want to do some gardening and I will be writing up these blogs!

On a Boat – 10 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Or maybe it was a ship, I’m not sure.

Waited half an hour for a bus that didn’t come. Apparently the previous one hadn’t come either. Thankfully Scamp gave me a lift to the train station and I got in to Glasgow almost on time to meet Alex. Today we were heading for the Riverside Museum out in the west end, but first coffee and a quick catch-up.

According to the First Bus app, we could catch the 100 bus at George Square and it would take us right to the museum. It didn’t, because it didn’t come either. We walked back to the bus station and got the 77 which did arrive on time and a helpful driver told us were to get off and also the quickest way to get from Partick to the museum. We followed his directions and found the strange looking museum building. Inside was disappointing. Racks of cars reaching up about five storeys with no chance to see inside them and not even a viewing gallery to get a better view. Also, everything was dusty and just manky looking. Interesting building, but not very practical. Thankfully the window wall that faces the Clyde made a brilliant mirror and we used it to our advantage. That’s where the PoD came from. The great cloud and its reflection looked like a gigantic bird. Even the red crane in the background looked good.

We walked round the big sailing ship, The Glenlee, that’s permanently moored next to the museum and is free to enter. I couldn’t imagine sailing on a three masted ship like that. Equally scary was reading the captain’s log. Written in 1919, it was testament to the abilities and courage of the sailors of the time.

As we left the museum, I thought “I won’t come back until they find a better way to display the contents.” Too much crammed in to a small space. There were two high points. Lunch, which was great and that window wall. Almost everything else need spruced up and some of the items removed to storage.

We walked back to Dumbarton Road and got the bus back to the bus station. Said cheerio and went to catch our buses home. Good company, some good photos taken and the lunch was worth paying for. The final problem was that the bus I was waiting for disappeared from the display with no explanation. Three different buses from three different companies and none of them arrived! As Alex’s wife said, “You could walk from the City Centre to Partick”. We could have and probably should have!

Today’s prompt asked for Cutlery.
A knife a fork and a spoon, what could be difficult in that? Metal, that’s the answer, shiny metal objects are incredibly difficult to draw. Knives aren’t too bad, but forks and especially spoons are the very devil to render. There is a whole book waiting to be written on rendering shiny metal objects, but it can be summed up in one word.
DON’T!

Tomorrow we may go dancing!

The gardens needed it – 8 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today was wet. It went from drizzle to full on downpour, but it was wet all day!

We weren’t going far today anyway. I might have gone in to Glasgow to get myself a new suit, a dark suit, both my other suits are light grey and a dark one would be a change. Also, only one of my suits actually fits me, the other one fits like a sugar bag. Not a good look. Anyway, that decision was taken away from me with one look at the weather. The furthest we were going today was Tesco.

Just a normal Monday shopping trip. Nothing exciting unless you class short dated tomatoes, carrots and onions as exciting. Three bags full it was today, all bundled into the boot and drove home.

What we did do was give our plants a bit of a soaking in the rainwater. My two chilli plants seemed to come to no harm in it and Scamp’s Cerinthe seedlings seemed to grow even taller after being in the downpours.

After lunch I gave in, put on my boots and my walking trousers and went out looking for a photo that would become PoD. It was really wet wherever I went and after about half an hour I was sure I could feel that squidgy sensation that you only get when you’ve got a leaky boot. But I was out in the middle of the park when it made itself known and I still hadn’t got that magic PoD. Then it appeared. It was a water droplet hanging from a larch needle. I took my time and eventually shot half a dozen frames of it. One of which I deemed sharp enough to become the PoD for today. Then, and only then, I squidged my way home. The sock on my right foot told the tale. There was a leak and it looks like there is a crack in the tread of my boot and that’s where the water is getting in. It might be a cut, not a crack, but the result is the same. I wouldn’t think it’s repairable, although someone on YouTube will know different, I’m sure. I might need to shell out for a new pair of boots now.

Today’s EDiM asked for An Ant. I originally thought of drawing a couple of Leaf Cutter Ants, but couldn’t find a clear enough photo to draw them from. I finally settled for a Flying Ant. There were a lot of these scary looking beasties flying around last year, I seem to remember. Apparently there is an actual Flying Ant Day. In the UK it seems to be around the 17th July. It all depends on the temperature and windspeed. There, I bet you didn’t know that!

Tomorrow we’re booked for lunch with Shona. Not sure yet where we’ll be going. Like the Flying Ants, it depends on the weather!

Driving the 40mph motorway – 6 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

That motorway is the M8. No sooner is one set of repairs finished than another set are announced. It seems that we drive more miles at 40mph than we drive at 70mph. PITA.

Yes, we were off to Brookfield this morning for the first dance class after a three week lie up. I thought the Charnwood Cha-Cha would be the end of me. It’s not good to spring things like that on us without warning, or access to a defibrillator. The only thing I can say is WOW, that was hard work. Thankfully we knew all of the steps and I had a rough idea of the order they should be danced in.

Next was a new one, a waltz this time and we both think we were guinea pigs here to see how quickly we’d pick it up. Not that easy was my answer. Thankfully we both filmed it so we could watch it at home and work out what was being described in the walk-through. The Charnwood was a workout for the body. Joy’s Waltz (named for a friend of Jane’s who died in January) was a workout for the brain. Eventually we got the hang of the first three sequences and after watching the videos this afternoon we’ve got an even better idea of the bits we’ve never done before.

The final workout was another quite fast one, a Jive routine this time. It had a few routines we have picked up along the way in the last few years from different teachers, so it wasn’t totally alien to us, and not so fast that we were too exhausted to fit in the final sequence dance of the hour and a half, a Mayfair Quickstep. Just a fairly easy dance to ease us down to drive through the 40mph zones again on the other side of the road.

Back home we had lunch and watched the pageantry unfold in London. I took myself off for most of it as I’d a sketch to complete for EDiM. I was doodling a sketch on a bit of backing paper and the picture came to me. It was a highland cow, but there was too much rubbish on the paper and I knew I’d need to redraw it, so I left the rough there and went to get a photo for today. As I was walking over towards Condorrat, I noticed a snail tucked into a corner of a fence and knew that was the PoD. Of the three photos I took, the one you see here is my favourite. I also got a shot of the inside of a dandelion puff ball. It’s like the highland cow in that it’s not the finished article, but it’s worth another try, possibly in an inside setting with a camera on a tripod. We’ll see.

When I got home, Scamp was whizzing through the recording of the actual Coronation. It is one mighty big and complex piece of organisation. How they worked out how to get all those people into the cathedral and how they covered the lawn of the palace with the thousands of army, navy, airforce personnel from almost every country was astounding. I wasn’t really all that interested in it, I was waiting for Zadok The Priest to be sung. When it was, it was a little disappointing. Scamp said it was too fast and I thought it was lacking in power. Had we been conducting, heads would have rolled.

Dinner was from Golden Bowl. Scamp had her usual Chicken Chop Suey with Fried Rice. I had a treat that I knew I’d suffer for later and had Sweet and Sour Pork Balls and Fried Rice. I did suffer for it, but it was worth it. Pure decadence.

I redrew the Highland Cow and it does look better than the original. I’m happy with it and Scamp laughed out loud when she saw it. That was enough of a stamp of approval for me.

We have no plans as yet for tomorrow and there have been no street parties in and around Cumbersheugh, I’m glad to say, so not many sore heads tomorrow morning. Well no more than usual!

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

Posted on by Zogman

For the parcel to appear.

The parcel was for Scamp and it was being delivered by Royal Mail. According to Royal Mail it would be delivered yesterday, and I quote: “Thursday 4th May 2023 by 3pm*” note the asterisk! The parcel didn’t appear. Today I got a message from Royal Mail to say: Your parcel will be delivered Today, Friday, 5 May 2023* Between 12:07pm and 2:07pm*. Again, note the asterisks. If you read the very small print on the email you discover a footnote that says: *Please be aware any time or date shown is not a guarantee. This is their Get Out Of Jail Free card. The parcel didn’t arrive until 3.15pm. Why bother to give an exact time slot when you can’t keep to it. This new time slot thing is something they’ve pinched from DPD and others, but the difference is that, at least in my experience, DPD stick to their time slots. For Royal Mail it’s just a fantasy.

Right, I’m glad I got that off my chest. At least the parcel did arrive. We’d decided on risotto for dinner, real risotto for a change, made in a pot with a lot of stirring with the fancy risotto paddle. Scamp plumped for Mushroom Risotto and we didn’t have any mushrooms, so I loaded a camera and a couple of lenses into the bag and walked down to the shops to get some. As usual I came back with more than I set out to get, but at least I did get mushrooms. I won’t list all the other things I got, because you’d only get jealous! On the way there I found a clump of daisies and grabbed some photos of them. On processing the shots, I wasn’t impressed, so went out again with the LensBaby Sweet 50 and a +1 diopter Close Up lens (Don’t worry Jamie – that information is for me in case I need it sometime). The resulting photos were much better with a lot of swirly distortion round a sharp central flower. In fact one of them became PoD.

It’s ages since I’ve had to hand make the risotto and it was a bit of a chore, but the finished article, while looking a bit like lumpy porridge, tasted fine.

Today’s prompt was for a Traffic Sign. Mine is one of those old signs that don’t get used much and therefore don’t get updated. It’s actually a warning sign (triangle) for a level crossing without a gate or barrier sign. It’s a bit confusing because it looks like warning, steam trains ahead.

I spoke to Val this morning.  He’s not in a very good way, physically and is considering getting a motorized wheelchair.  He’s having difficulty standing and can hardly walk unassisted.  Having said that, he’s cheerful enough and we had a good blether this morning.  I must go and see him soon.  He was asking after Alex because he’s still interested in radio and so is Alex. It’s just a reminder that we’re all getting older and less mobile than we used to be.

Well, it looks like the holiday is over. Tomorrow we may be heading for an hour and a half lesson on Charnwood Cha-Cha, a new Waltz and the Jive routine we started before the Teachers’ holiday. Back in the old routine as they say!

I have a cunning plan – 4 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

But first I have an appointment with the dentist.

No need to worry about it. I was only on the dentist’s chair for five minutes max. She recited all those mysterious letters and numbers that dentists shout to their assistants who record these codes. She seemed delighted with the state of my teeth and I was delighted that I got off so easily.

Back home Wordle was a bigger challenge than normal, but I did manage to complete it with a little help from Scamp at level 6. The Phew! level. Then it was time for lunch which was a pizza that had been languishing in the fridge for almost too long.

This is where my ‘plan’ comes into play. I usually leave my sketch and painting until the evening, but as artificial light is quite ‘warm’ and that affects the colour choices quite badly, so today I wanted to get the painting done in the afternoon when the light is more natural. Today was Star Wars Day, May the Fourth be with you. Usually the topic asks for something to do with Star Wars, but today there was an option to draw a Tea Bag! That was what I was painting. I had the composition in my head and it involved a cup and a wet, leaky tea bag. It turned out almost as I’d imagined it. It was scanned as soon as it was dry and posted right away. First part of the plan completed.

I went for a walk in the afternoon, partly to get some photos and partly to get a curry from M&S. The PoD is a young fern shot against the light in the woods at St Mo’s. I actually got a few flower photos today. Another sign that Spring has sprung. Photos now processed and posted on Flickr.  Part two of the plan completed.

Both curries were very good. Scamp’s was a Prawn Bhoona and mine was a Lamb Rogan Josh. Both large portions and both quite filling.

The blog is posted before 11pm.  The final part of the plan is complete.  How long it will continue is a matter for conjecture!

Tomorrow Scamp is Fit Stepping in the morning and the rest of the day, hopefully, is free.

 

Outside toilet – 1 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today the weather fairies got it wrong. They predicted a dull day and it turned out bright and sunny.

I have a lot to do on the first day of the month. Screensavers to be created, files and folders to be moved, folders of pictures to be backed up and then rejected photos to be deleted. Today was no different. Eventually, when all was running normally again, we decided we’d better go out and make the best of the day before it all slipped away.

Scamp wanted to go to Drumpellier for a walk through the woods, and so did an awful lot of folk on this surprisingly sunny May Day. All around us seemed to be dark and cloudy, but for once we were sitting in the sweet spot, at least we were when we finally found a parking place.

Off we trudged on the conveyer belt with all the other folk walking round this big pond. But we knew we could get off the travelator and into the woods. It’s good to see the colour returning to the trees after so many weeks of bare branches. There were a lot fewer folk on these paths through the woods and at times we seemed to be the only people walking these pathways. Eventually we found our way back to the main circuit at the far end of the loch. I had taken a few shots in the woods, but not very many. We walked round to the ice cream van and had a cone each. With raspberry, but without a flake. Scamp was quite firm about that. No 99s today, even if it is a bank holiday.

We sat on a bench, eating our cones and watching an asian bloke with two little girls in tow, in tow, but not under control. Poor man was run ragged chasing one then the other to keep them from falling into the loch while the girls just seemed to ignore him, so that they could throw stones in the water. Just weans having fun and taking more than a little leeway with their dad.

As we were walking back to the car I saw a photo opportunity with three gulls on the big Whale’s Tail sculpture that sits out in the water. I climbed over a couple of rocks and sat down on one to get a nice low viewpoint for the shot across the water, when I heard a woman’s voice behind me saying “What’s he doing?” Another woman answered, “I think he’s doing the toilet!” Then a man’s voice said “He’s taking photographs!” Oh, the ignominy of it. To be thought to be performing your bodily functions outside in Coatbridge. I’d never live it down! However, it did make me smile. “Doing the toilet”, indeed! No wonder photogs get a bad reputation.

We drove home before the polis came. After a late lunch and after checking that I did indeed have a PoD, I set to work on the first sketch for a long while for Every Day in May, or EDiM for short. The first one is complete and can be seen on Flickr and Facebook. It was tough going. This was the best of three attempts.

Today’s prompt was A Waffle.
I don’t eat waffles as a rule, although I can be enticed into having one when we’re on holiday.
Today’s sketch was of what I would have if I did eat waffles. My toppings would be blueberries and strawberries, plus maybe some melted chocolate, just to make it little bit less healthy!

Some interesting topics this time round.

Hoping for some more bright sunny weather tomorrow to get out and about in.

A decision made – 14 April 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was going out for coffee with her friend from work. I was driving to Larky after I’d had my PSA test done at the health centre.

I’d already made the decision to buy a new lens from a company I’ve used many times in the past, MPB in Brighton. Not a brand new lens, second hand. I’d made the decision the day before, but the day before was the 13th and I thought it would be unlucky to buy it on the 13th, so had left the actual purchase until today.

I’d put the lens in my ‘basket’ on the website, filled in my details and had just completed my two part verification when I got a message to say that the lens had gone! Someone had beaten me to it. I admit, I panicked, thinking I’d been the subject of a scam. How could two people have put the same lens into the basket at the same time? I’d never heard of such a thing. Scamp reminded me that time was ticking away and I’d miss my appointment if I wasn’t careful. Before I went, I checked with the bank to make sure my payment hadn’t gone through. It hadn’t. Slightly relieved, I drove to the health centre.

The nurse who did the blood letting was careful and quick, even better, later when I removed the plaster she’d put on the tiny wee scratch the needle made there was almost nothing to see. Probably the best experience I’ve had, getting my bloods taken, and maybe that calmed me down as much as anything.

When I got back I tried to phone MPB, but the help line wasn’t open on Fridays! I did get through to a European site and the girl I spoke to confirmed that the lens had indeed gone, but seemed as surprised as I was that two people could be trying to buy an article at the same time. Scamp left me to it and went to meet her friend. I checked the website one more time and that particular lens had gone, however there was an almost exactly the same one for a few quid less. With fingers crossed I went through the entire procedure again and it all worked perfectly, just as it had in the past. I was relieved when I got an email from the carrier saying the lens would be delivered the next day. However, I think that may be my last purchase from MPB.

After all that I drove to Larky and picked up my new reading glasses, then drove back home again after buying a four cheeses loaf for Scamp at the Co-op. A 50 mile round trip might seem a long way for a pair of glasses, but we both trust Simpson to look after our eyes, and Scamp will be next to get an appointment.

Scamp was home by the time I came back and I explained what I’d done and that it was all resolved.

A walk in St Mo’s to stretch my legs and calm my nerves and PoD went to a bunch of Cowslips. Another sign that Spring is here.

A wee glass of wine later to celebrate? Maybe that’s not the correct word for drawing a line under a difficult day.

Tomorrow I’ll be waiting for the email from DPD to say when the lens will come.