Luminarium

Click image to view a bigger version I went to Luminarium:Timisien at @lakesidearts this evening.
A fascinating, otherworldly installation. Well worth a wander round, I'd say, I really enjoyed it.

A few more after the jump.

Memory Lane

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I went on a little trip to Palma Nova today, where I stayed with Lucy back in 2018.
It brought back some good memories, we really enjoyed ourselves on that trip.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to pop back here while I was in Mallorca. Sentimental old oaf I may be, but so be it.

One more from our 2018 trip after the jump.

At The Toybox

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This is my submission for this week's 52Frames' "Show us your toys" challenge.

I recently improved my equipment storage setup with a new cabinet, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to show it off.
It's nice to be able to grab the right lens without wrestling it out of the tiny cabinet I was using before, and my flash and grip gear now has a proper home rather than in boxes on the floor.
It's also been a while since I took a self-portrait, so you get to have my ugly mush foisted upon you today too.

Many lighting sins were atoned for with Lightroom...

Playback Time

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I spent some time this evening reviewing the recording from the gig I did sound for the other night.
In hindsight, there wasn't enough bass guitar in the mix.
In my defence, I am "musically challenged", so while I'm very comfortable driving the technology side of things, I barely know a G sharp from a treble clef.
Most of my sound experience has been in recording spoken word and sound for video rather than live music PA.
More practice is required!

My camera has also started throwing errors again. How perverse of it. It must have heard the warranty expiring.

2025-03-25

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Green For Go

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This is my submission for this week's 52frames challenge "Motion Blur"
I've been planning this shot for a few days, and got round to doing it this evening.

I was initially caught out by the R5's IBIS (internal image stabiliser) on this setup. I set the camera up on a tripod in the back of the car, but didn't turn the IBIS off. As a result, the IBIS was desperately trying to compensate for the car's motion, which resulted in the inside of the car becoming extremely blurred. Once I disabled it, the sensor was locked to the movement of the car, and the pictures sharpened up nicely!

Electromagnetic Ballet

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I was lucky enough to catch another absolutely stunning auroral display tonight.
I think this one was, in parts, brighter than the one back in May. It also seemed to be larger, almost completely filling the visible sky for much of the time.

Consider me a happy (if rather chilly) bunny tonight!

A couple more after the jump.

Mystery among the trees

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Late posting this one!

Whopping Daisies

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I’ve got Bailey for a few days, and we went to the local park this afternoon.
There were some enormous daisies in flower today. They must have been about 40 or 50mm across (1.5 – 2”).
Probably an ox-eye daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare.
I thought it was an optical illusion when I caught sight of the first one, so went over and had a better look at it!

A few more after the jump.

Pic 4 is the dog tax, as is customary.

Celestial bombardment

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I was hoping the forecasts of more auroral activity for this evening would pan out, but it seems that it's not going to. Oh well, yesterday was an evening I won't forget in a hurry.
Yesterday's aurora must have been the most photographed in history. It's been great to see the widespread international enthusiasm online today.
While it's not a technically good photo, I like the memory captured in the selfie after the jump - cameras on phones have certainly come a long way in the last few years!

Realisation of a long-held dream

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Ever since I first read about the aurora as a child, I longed to see it for myself.
Tonight that dream came true, in more spectactular detail than I had ever imagined possible in this country.

Such a special moment.

Several more after the jump

Cheers!

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We went on a trip to the Beefeater gin distillery today. A very interesting tour and tasting.
Didn't take many photos today, but did get this one that I was reasonably happy with.

This was the first time I'd been on the tube since 2019. Bit of an odd experience, and I was quite uncomfortable being so close to so many people.

It was a fun day though.

One Third

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One hundred and twenty-two days.
Yes, it's an unconventional way of measuring the year, but I am something of a non-conformist, and I feel like it - so I'm going with thirds.
Also being a leap year, it divides nicely into three.

So, some stats.
47.5% of the photos were taken with the 6D Mk II, with the 80D coming in at 26%, the M6 Mk II at 22%, and the rest being the drone, phone, and Sony RX100V.
My most used lens was my Sigma 105mm f/2.8 Macro, followed by the 70-200 f/2.8. All the other lenses were under 10% each.
I posted 9 backup images (where I didn't shoot anything, or anything good enough or publicly shareable on the day), meaning that over 92% of days so far this year, I've managed to take at least one photo that I'm happy enough with to share on a public platform.

Some days have been tough, but on the whole, I'm enjoying this project so far.

Reflective On Soar

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An impromptu trip out after catching a glimpse of some potentially interesting light (which I missed, obviously - as Joe Cornish said, if you've seen it, you've missed it) ended up bringing me to a side road near Ratcliffe on Soar power station.

As it happened, I bumped into another photographer who happens to be working on an article about the power station for a national newspaper. I shall be interested to read what they have to say about it when it's published.
I am very jealous that they are getting a tour of the plant tomorrow.

One more after the jump.

Sleeping Vineyard

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Continuing the theme from yesterday, Three Choirs Vineyard under the full moon.
A trio of extras of the dew this morning after the jump.

Pizza!

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I love this bit of kit. I reckon it's probably about half paid for itself vs takeaways, and I've only had it a couple of months 😂.

Reflection upheld

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7 Days. Wasn't sure I'd even make it this far.

01-03-11: Back in the Darkroom again!

I think unique on here to date, a self portrait of sorts. My sister's doing a black and white photo project for school, and I've been showing her the ropes in the darkroom.
As she needs photos of the process for documenting the project, I took the opportunity to shoot this one too.
I'm sure it's about 2 years since I did any serious darkroom work, and I really enjoyed refreshing my acquaintance with it.
The enlarger is a Durst Modular 70, capable of handling up to 6x7 medium format negs. It's fitted with a colour head, which is handy for printing on variable contrast paper, as well as giving me the capability of printing colour, should I ever get my act together and order some colour chemistry.
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24-02-11: Job Market

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14-02-11: Inverted tree shadow

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