Leaving the subject of film for a moment, I thought I’d post a few pictures I made whilst walking along the banks of the River Thur this afternoon.

Normally I would have probably taken my gadget bag with me and mainly used the 18 – 55mm zoom, which offers a certain amount of flexibility. Today however, I simply used the Pentax K-70 with the DA 35mm F2.4 AL lens. The reason? –  Well, for a start it’s lighter, which does make a difference when walking for a couple of hours. But I also enjoy the idea of having to walk about a bit to get the picture I want.

Having spent the most part of January under a layer of cloud, it was very nice to see a bit of sunshine last Sunday. Assuming most would be heading for the mountains, we decided to visit the Rhine Falls. We were by no means alone, but the crowds didn’t bother us too much. Due to the exceptionally dry spell over the last couple of months, the waterfall didn’t have a lot of water and due to very icy conditions it wasn’t possible to reach the lowest viewing platform – but the views were nevertheless quite spectacular.

All shots were taken on my Pentax K-70 with the  HD PENTAX-DA 55-300mmF4.5-6.3ED PLM WR RE .

Last weekend we decided to go on a Sunday afternoon walk through the woods. The weather was ideal and the camera was just itching to get out into the fresh air.

A few days ago I posted a picture on my 365 Project concerning Winterthur’s historical past. On that project it’s usual to post only one image, so I thought I’d pictorially expand the subject here.

An historical stroll.

This large factory hall has now become a car park

Railway lines everywhere

Several of the old buildings have been enhanced

Some old buildings are now home to small new companies

Others combine old and new architecture to create trendy apartments

Once a locomotive factory, now a shopping centre

Today seemed particularly bright, no
doubt due to the sprinkling of snow.

A Sunday afternoon stroll and a breath of fresh air, and I was undecided whether or not to take the camera with me or not.
But venturing out without a camera is always a bit risky, you never know if that once in a lifetime picture is just waiting to be taken. Well, this afternoon’s images are by no means once in a lifetime quality, but I was still pleased I took the camera.

It must be about a month since I last posted anything on the blog, and I must say I’m delighted to be back! This time of the year normally motivates me to visit Christmas markets, capture all those festive lights and perhaps even photograph a snowflake or two.

Well, this year is different. Oh, don’t worry, I’ve been sampling mulled wine and getting into the spirit of Christmas along with the best of them, but the K30 developed a very nerving problem! It seemed the shutter motor.. or whatever it’s called, was not doing as it should do. This resulted in the first few images being very under exposed, almost black in fact. Switching to continuous shooting would produce a good image after about ten to twenty shots, but that proved very tedious so I decided to get it fixed.

I took a day off work towards the end of November to take the K30 to the Pentax service centre, about an hours drive from home. I was very positively surprised to receive a mail from them after just a couple of days to say the camera had been repaired, but as I didn’t want them to return it by post, so I decided to wait a couple of weeks and pick it up during my holiday.

The long awaited Monday morning arrived and off I went to collect my camera. I was quite excited because I had been given a nice new 35mm lens for my birthday (while the camera was being repaired) and was just itching to put it through its paces. Unfortunately both the Monday and Tuesday were very foggy, Wednesday rained (at long last!) and Thursday, Friday and Saturday seemed to go by in a flash. Today though, the fourth Sunday in Advent, I was determined to try the new lens out, even if it meant travelling to high ground to get above the fog. (the last three images were taken using the new lens – smc Pentax 35mm F2.4 AL) I’ll be back to work tomorrow, but I hope to be out and about over the festive season.