Day Trips 2018

By shendyNo Comments
Rather than spread this out into a long series of blog posts, I've condensed the various day trips into a single entry. Abbey House GardensOf course there's a visit to Abbey House Gardens, isn't there always? May this time, and the gardens looked good. And yes, it was a clothes optional visit - I've only been once when it hasn't been! Bowdown Woods/ThatchamIn early July I met a former colleague (now good friend) for a catch up and we had a wander round the woods and surrounding area - the edge of the former airbase at Greenham Common, the Kennet and Avon Canal. Rather nice, if a bit warm!Not many photos as that wasn't the real purpose of the day - but the B&W ones were taken on my Fuji X-T20 and an IR filter, so these are genuine IR images not a fake IR effect. Caen Hill LocksThe flight of locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal at Caen Hill are well...
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Bristol 2018

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My most obvious subject! Working right in the centre of the city and very close to the Harbourside, I do take a lot of photos of Bristol. HarboursideGetting out of the office for a bit of fresh air naturally takes me to the Harbourside, so I've taken a lot of photos of this area this year. I've also found that it's possible to walk right round the harbour, up to Cumberland Basin and back to Prince Street Bridge, in my lunch hour. I've only done it with the phone so far but must try it with something a bit more serious at some point.So we have some shadows, a bit of the remaining industrial side of the harbourside - the steam crane is an absolute favourite of mine and I must get out and shoot it with the large format camera - and a shoot late in the year around the refurbished Metro Bus bridge and nearby. SS Great BritainI'm occasionally involved...
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France 2018

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We stayed in Bordeaux on the way down to our holiday in France - I had a Big Birthday shortly beforehand and fancied visiting some vineyards and doing a couple of tastings.We visited Chateaux Siran in Margaux, Chasse-Spleen in Moulis-en-Medoc and Bouscaut in Pessac-Leognan. The tours were interesting, particularly the Siran nuclear bunker... Once at the gite we actually did very little (which was lovely), but I still managed to take quite a lot of photos - we had the usual good sunsets, as well as one morning with a thick fog. There will be more images from the gite in the film update I'll be posting later. On the way home, we stopped off in the Loire for a Chateau visit - Azay-le-Rideau this time. And of course there was a decent selection of meals... As we'd been to this particular gite before, we knew that there would be plenty of opportunity for photographing the stars....
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Amsterdam

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In June I was given the opportunity to attend a conference in Amsterdam, at just a few days notice. Never having been before, I graciously accepted. As it happens, the conference itself was really interesting, and then I headed out every evening with my camera.Doing some research beforehand I found an Amsterdam photography blog (whose name I now shamefully forget) which pointed out the best places for photogenic bridges, churches and houses - very useful. Everything you've heard about cycling in Amsterdam is true, and then some - an amazing number of cyclists, and I saw about 3 people in lycra or on bike with anything more than basic gears. The bike park at the station is a sight to behold! The last photo is from the conference, where one of the keynote talks was from Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple. A lovely city that I barely scratched the surface of - I didn't get to any museums because of the conference - so...
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Going Back to Film, part 2

By shendy Comment Closed
A bit of a follow-up on the previous post, with some more on my adventures back into film photography. In February I upgraded the TLR, buying an MPP Microcord. Unfortunately it turned out that mine was faulty so it went back to the supplier. The first images on it were taken during the heavy snow we had - I wish I could claim that I was trying to emulate the soft look of some of the early photographers, but no - the shutter was slow and it also had issues with winding on. It did take some slightly sharper shots on a visit to Aust for the spring tides, and at the SS great Britain, but it wasn't good enough so back it went.   This left me with the dilemma about what to try next. In the end I went for a substantial upgrade and succumbed to a Hasselblad, having lusted after them for many years. I found one on Ebay at a...
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