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Running late

As usual I achieved the almost impossible this morning and arrived on the dot at the local railway station. Imagine then my delight to find the train was running late, giving me a full 27 seconds* to pull out my mobile phone and snap this sunrise. – *may have perhaps been half a minute 😉

During the journey the day looked bright and friendly on the left hand side of the train, and as black as night on the right.  Not wanting to disturb my fellow travelers, and in fear of losing my seat, I decided against clumsily wading through the jungle of legs, newspapers and laptops to snap the absolutely fantastic rainbow through the opposite window.

Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone: Sunrise - enhanced a little with Gimp

 

 

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Autumn Lights

Yesterday afternoon my desk was bathed in cool autumnal sunlight and my eyes strayed from time to time to the golden trees standing idly in the office car park. But back home in the village, after a couple of Friday evening beers, I was greeted with fog.

Not thick fog, but that fascinating misty fog that provides the sinister backdrop to so many detective stories.

Unfortunately I couldn’t capture the atmosphere of gas lamps and narrow, cobbled streets, but I did manage to take this photo of the new village filling station.

New Filling Station: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/2.8; 1/5s; ISO 400; Developed with GIMP
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Waiting for Christmas

Despite the impressive golds and browns that are now making trees such a particularly attractive photo subject, I just couldn’t seem to get it right at the weekend. Having played for far too long with a bit of brightness here and some contrast there I decided to convert the photos to monochrome. “Sunny Woods” seems to have gained a little something and “Waiting for Christmas” hasn’t really lost anything…. perhaps.

Sunny Trees: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/5.6; 1/320s; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP
Waiting for Christmas: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/2.8; 1/80s; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP
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Sunday afternoon

I’m by no means what you would call a ‘Horsey’ person, but thoroughly enjoyed being pulled through the countryside this afternoon by a couple of very large majestic animals. It was a beautiful, warm and sunny autumnal afternoon, and I was glad to experiment a bit with back lighting. All three of todays photos are straight out of the camera, and have simply been resized and reduced in quality by Gimp.

clipclop: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/4; 1/200s; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP
Wagon Train: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/5.6; 1/400s; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP
Lens Flare: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/5.6; 1/320s; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP
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Misty

Photographically speaking I’ve not been too active this week. Today, Saturday, is in fact the the first time that the camera has seen the light of day since last weekend. Apart from the Autumnal mist the morning was dry, but colours were subdued and the light was diffuse to say the least. This afternoon cast a beautiful golden hue on all things ‘treelike’, but of course I’d got other things to do. My photos were all taken this morning.

Misty Trees: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/6.3; 1/400s; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP
Into the Mist: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/4.9; 1/200s; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP
Misty Barn: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/4.9 1/200s; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP

The original ‘Misty Barn’ pic was in colour, but it seemed to scream out for a B&W makeover.

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New Hardware

In the last posting I mentioned something about heaving this blog back on the photographic track. Concentrating on all things picturesque. Today therefore, I will keep nice and quiet about when I got up, what I had for lunch and where I went etc.etc. and let art speak for me – hehehe

Pity really: Because today was a rather special day. Wife was out and about, so I had a day with the dog AND the new laptop 🙂

Oh, did I just let slip something about new laptop? Oh dear, but to be honest, in this very digital age I suppose one could say that a laptop is just as much part of photo kit as an SD card or a tripod.

So to cut a very long story short, I spent the day chatting to the dog about all things technical, eating my favorite cheese and (lots of) onion sandwiches for lunch and quenching the arising thirst with a very refreshing beer. Apart from ambling through the countryside for a few hours with dog and camera, the whole day was spent installing, configuring and generally getting acquainted with my new purchase and the latest version of Ubuntu Linux. I know, it really has nothing to do with photos at all, but not to worry.

Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/5.6; 1/50; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP
Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/5.6; 1/200; ISO 400; Developed with GIMP
Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/2,8; 1/50; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP

 

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The Weather: again

Somewhere on my blog it’s written quite plainly that “Vic’s Blog is, broadly speaking, a photo blog.”

Well, that was certainly the original intention, and from time to time I do find myself writing about photographic things and discussing B&W stuff etc. etc.

However, more often than not, I seem to drift totally off topic and waffle on about what I did at the weekend or how the day progressed weather wise. Not very interesting for the vast majority I’ll grant you, but somehow it just easier to write.

Now, in an effort to heave the blog back on track, I’ve decided to at least try to write about more photo related stuff during the next few postings. That could well be quite difficult though, because let’s face it, who am I to discuss photography? Well, I enjoy taking pictures, but is that really enough?

We’ll have to wait and see how long this new phase will last, but for the moment I must write a line or two about the weather: The Indian summer has passed and has now turned wonderfully autumnal presenting damp, leafy pictures everywhere. Oh, and it’s quite chilly too, so it was decided that a fire be lit to enable us to hear the TV over the sound of chattering teeth.

Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/2,8; 1/50; ISO 400; Developed with GIMP
Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/2,8; 1/30; ISO 160; Developed with GIMP
Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/3.6; 1/5; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP
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Autumnal Light

Sitting here in front of my computer, my eyes just strayed out of the window.
It’s quite dark. Dark at a quarter to nine in the evening!
Gone are the long summer evenings, the cool beer outside at 10 o’clock,  in daylight.
Autumn is upon us, and with it the long shadows and golden light that only this time of the year can produce.
Quite exciting really, all those fantastic autumnal goodies to look forward to, such as apple crumble and strudel, and all that interesting light.
The following photos were taken a couple of evenings ago at about 19:35ish, and apart from being reduced in size, are straight out of the camera.

Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/4.9; 1/125; ISO 100
Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/4.9; 1/125; ISO 100
Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/4.0; 1/250; ISO 100
Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/4.9; 1/200; ISO 100
Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/4.9; 1/160; ISO 100
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Rosé

This evening’s rush hour train had some sort of engine defect. This meant that all the hot, sweaty commuters who would normally spread themselves over a very long double decker train, had to squeeze themselves into a very old relief train.

Despite the discomfort I arrived home on time, and after a stroll through the balmy evening with the dog I was soon tucking in to plate of cold lamb, various cheeses and a glass or two of Tuscan Rosé.

Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/6.3; 1/500; ISO 100; Developed with GIMP

 

 

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Just parked

Yesterday evening saw me strolling along the field paths around the village with the dog. A leisurely stretch of the old legs on a balmy summer evening.

Of course I hadn’t got my ‘proper’ camera with me, but stumbling across this old Bucher D4000 tractor I reached quickly for my trusty mobile phone. Probably built in the 50s or early 60’s it just stood there, freshly polished and all alone, on the edge of a field.

Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed and fiddled with by Gimp