Category: Uncategorized

I was late getting up this morning and when I did wake, it was to the sound of chainsaws.  It looks like the council has decided that one of the locals has allowed their leylandii to grow too tall, so it is time for a trim.  I must admit they did the job in double quick time.  Two blokes with chainsaws and another feeding the cut down pieces into a chipper.  Superb entertainment.  I tried to film it on my iPhone, but it chose that time to tell me I had insufficient space to record it.  Aren’t Apple products wonderful?  One thing is good on a Mac and that is Apple Script.  I can’t believe the ease with which difficult tasks can be accomplished with this.  Another brilliant piece of software is Hazel.  It cuts through complicated tasks with ease.  Nothing on a PC comes close.  Did nothing for the rest of the day.  Must get out tomorrow.

It looks like a really dangerous occupation, but this bloke made it look easy. I’ve seen others make quite a hash of much smaller trees and take a whole afternoon.

I thought it was time to do some monochrome still life shots. Well, I was too lazy to go out and get anything more interesting. This one fitted the bill for both reasons.

365/041

Must have gotten the bug yesterday because I went out again today on the bone shaker (my fault for inflating the tyres too hard).  Not as cold out as yesterday, but still not summer.  Not as much sunshine either.  Tried the land of the green blobs, but although there were green shoots on the moss, there were no blobs to be seen.  Just too early I think.  No animals (wild or otherwise) to photograph.  Managed to startle a partridge, but that was it.

I liked the way the seedheads were lit up by the backlight.  The colour added to the overall feel of the image.

365/040

This is one of those photos that looked better than it finally appeared.  Through the viewfinder it looked quite startling, but even after a bit of post processing it didn’t quite live up to its potential.  Still a contender on a dull day.

For the second time this year I got my bike out and went for a run, hoping for a shot or two of some wildlife.  No such luck, the deer and rabbits were hiding.  They were probably hiding from the cutting westerly wind that chilled me to the bone.  I was thankful I’d brought my cheapo buff.  It took some of the sting out of my ears.  The low afternoon light gave the opportunity to get some texture into the land as the snow has now nearly gone although there is still a lot of ice about.

The lighting conditions were changing really fast and I knew I didn’t have time to change lenses so I just hammered away a 10 shot panorama and hoped I’d got everything.  Then the battery died in the Oly, so it was game over anyway.  Glad I got it.
Processing was in Photoshop for a change and for once it did a better job than Autopano.  Just one slight hitch in Photoshop, but a big exposure difference in Autopano.  Usual post processing in Lightroom.

365/039

These wee fungi really brighten up the forest floor. A sign that spring is on the way usually.

Just a lazy Saturday.  Going to a 40th birthday party at night and Scamp had “Nothing to wear”, so we went in to Glasgow to find something she could sport tonight.  Nothing worth a shot in ‘the toon’ so I managed an hour at St Mo’s in the late afternoon.  Still some ice around and a little bit of snow.  Lots of ducks and swans flitting between the holes in the ice.  So …

A Moonwalking Duck.  Actually he was just coming in for landing with gear down and full flaps.

Gorse bush caught in the afternoon light through the trees.  I liked the way the thorns were silhouetted against the out of focus highlights.  Don’t try to tell me they are bokeh, they are OOF-eries, that’s a term I remember from a Practical Photography article many, many years ago called Shooting an Oofery.  They will always be Ooferies to me.

365/038

The one thing I miss about being retired is Friday.  When you are working, you look forward to Fridays.  That feeling of two days without having to get up early for work.  Even better is mid-term when you have not two, but four days off and the prospect of a short week when you go back.  Today would have been the start of mid-term, and the toughest term to boot, but today was just another day.  I remember my dad telling me that when you were retired, you didn’t have weekends.  Like so much my dad told me, it’s very true.
We went in to Glasgow this afternoon to scope out the parking for a party tomorrow and had lunch at the Glad Cafe.  Great burger, but sharp, bitter coffee.  Don’t like African coffee.

I was looking for something to make photo of the day and came upon this little succulent.  It looks a bit like a chainsaw blade and is almost as sharp!

365/037

Up fairly early and out today to get some photos at Dumbreck Marshes.  Disappointing in terms of wildlife.  I heard a pheasant, but it was way across the burn and couldn’t be seen.  I saw only one deer and it too was miles away, but in the opposite direction.  I did manage a shot of a wee robin, and an interesting shot of the tree and gate at the entrance to the marshes.  On the way back, I saw a woman in full hi-vis gear riding a horse, also in hi-vis gear.  Even its ears and tail were lumy yellow.  I’d never thought about it before, but I suppose a horse’s ears might suffer from the cold.  It’s amazing the things you find out!

He sat for ages waiting patiently to get his photo taken. How could I resist?

365/036

It may look pretty, but it was murder to walk on. Compacted snow covered with a layer of ice. Still, it made a good high key picture IMO.

Most of the useful photographic time today was spent fitting a new lock to my niece’s kitchen door .  Admittedly I could have gone out earlier, but it was too cold and I made excuses and stayed in.

A little dropper from a spider plant looking for its own plot of land to grow on.

365/035

Went for a walk around St Mo’s today.  Saw a couple of deer but they were miles away.  Got one good shot of a swan, some ice crystals, a sparrow and made a really dodgy shot in Photoshop.

The sparrow has been talking to the robin who constantly evades me when he sees the camera.  However, I managed to catch him today when his back was turned.

One of a pair of swans that live on the pond.  Looking good in the morning sun.

365/034

Ice crystals on the boardwalk.  Sometimes ice is nice, as long as you don’t slip on it.

Isn’t this the most awful piece of ‘shopping you’ve ever seen?  Strangely it got an instant fave on Flickr.  I should have given it some fancy title and told a long story of camping out all night in sub zero temperatures waiting for the dawn to break to get this exact shot.  Maybe it would have got into Explore.  Maybe I’ll try it.  Anyway, this wee hawthorn bush has seen its fair share of wild winds in the past, judging by the number of twists in its branches.  The creator of this artwork is a bit twisted too.

No, there wasn’t actually any snow today, I was driving around in the chance of getting some snow pictures.  I’d recently downloaded The Photographer’s Ephemeris and wanted to see how accurate it was.  TPE is a neat little prog that works out where and when the sun and moon rises and sets for any given location, and date.  It does an awful lot more than that too, and according to my test today, it is extremely accurate.  I set out with the stated intention of getting the first shot with the sun just shining through the trees.  It was spot-on accurate.  Just what I wanted.  I would recommend it to anyone who needs to know this information.

THE PINES OF ROME
No, not really, more  The Beeches of Moodiesburn, but this avenue of trees always makes me think of Respighi’s symphonic poem (yes, I had to Google it to find out exactly what it was).  Listen to it. Like these trees it’s really gloomy.

365/033

I had hoped to get some shots of pheasants here as there are usually a few of these stupid, but colourful birds in the woods on the left. No birds, but a pretty winter scene, so switched lenses and snapped this instead.  Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, even if you hoped for pheasants!

After checking yesterday’s robin picture, I was sure the Tamron lens was back focusing.  I’d seen focusing tools advertised on the net for exorbitant prices, so I did what anyone would do.  I made my own.  Having Autodesk Inventor on my PC, I spent yesterday evening drawing up the plans for my focus checker.  The prototype, like most prototypes was stuck together with pritt stick and mapping pins.  However, it worked.  It would appear that the Tamron was back focusing by 14 points (out of 20).  The D7000 allows you to change the apparent focus point by 20 arbitrary points in either direction, so I did the adjustment and re-checked.  It appeared that the problem was solved for the price of a couple of pieces of foamboard, a couple of printouts and a lot of swearing.  Testing was set for this morning and off we drove to Glasgow Green.  It worked!!  Results below:

Goose in Glasgow Green near the river. Allegedly they came from Bowling where they protected a whisky bond.

365/032

These are fluffy balls.  “Fluffy Balls” is a technical term for these, eh, fluffy balls :-/
Seen in the People’s Palace Wintergarden this morning.

The remainder of the photos are from further testing in the afternoon at the now legendary St Mo’s.

I liked the way the setting sun had caught the leaves.  I also liked the letterbox format.

Tree and Leaf
Leaf still hanging on a twig.  Title stolen from a JRR Tolkien book of short stories.

Late afternoon sun through the trees. St Mo’s again.