An occasional Photo Blog
Taking a stroll around a local wine growing area last weekend I was struck not only by how Spring seems to be upon us already, but also how bare and bleak the vines look at this time of the year. It’s hard to imagine that in a good six months or so all those twigs will be laden with fat juicy grapes – well worth a return visit.
Although looking a bit delapidated, there’s no doubt these old shutters do have plenty of character.
We’re well into February and no sign of snow in our neck of the woods. To be honest it doesn’t bother me one iota. Snow in the lowlands is usually quite a miserable affair. It hampers the daily commute and turns grey and slushy after only a day or two. But in the mountains it’s fine and as far as I’m concerned there can be lots of it. Today we decided to go looking for some, not just because I wanted to make a few pictures but also because the dog loves rolling about in it.
It was very windy up the mountain and I was constantly covered in white powder. I had a bit of trouble capturing the wind and driven snow, but it is just visible on the picture below.
Today’s weather was not bad. Being a bit damp underfoot in places the light was particularly interesting when the sun came out.
After a brisk walk with the dog, the dark clouds dispersed and provided ideal conditions to visit a town that, during the summer months, is crawling with tourists. At just after one o’clock the small, picturesque town centre was deserted.
A Saturday afternoon in January. A definite chill in the air, no snow, no sun and slightly misty. There was almost an Autumnal feeling as I, wife and dog plodded along the very muddy paths through the woods. Suddenly a splash of colour made me reach for my camera. The bright green moss on the old weathered sign pointing the way to the lake was the most colourful thing I’d seen all afternoon… apart from my blue Pentax of course:-)
Strictly speaking the ‘lake’ is really not much bigger than a large pond. During the summer a picnicker or two may grace its shores and a handful of bathers can be seen bobbing about in its waters. At certain times of the year a solitary angler may be seen trying to net the catch of a lifetime. But today was quiet, deathly still and quite deserted. Somehow the following two images just had to be reproduced in black and white, and I increased the contrast a little too.
There was a slight covering of ice around the waters edge. Certainly not thick enough to skate on, but a forgotten bottle of some fizzy drink rested idly on the icy surface.
On a stroll through a surprisingly snowless landscape yesterday I took surprisingly few photographs. None of those I did take was of particular merit. The sun stayed obstinately behind high cloud. The light was flat, boring and without any sort of contrast. The colours were far from saturated. But the sun, the light and the colourless colours are all excuses of course. The real culprit for average photographs was of course the photographer. At the end of the day I chose the image below for today’s post. Not because it was the best of a mediocre bunch, but perhaps because it reminds me how easy it is to forget to twiddle some of those dials on the camera. Why did I stick to f6.3 instead of opening up the aperture a bit to improve the depth of field impact? Why didn’t I change the angle a bit to make the background more visible and show off some of those mountains. Perhaps if I had stood up instead of getting wet trousers kneeling in the damp grass. Perhaps next time.
It’s that time of the year again, an office party here, an informal get together there, a quick glass of something before plodding home through the night. There’s no doubt in my mind, the choice of camera has an enormous influence on the choice of subject. If I’d have had my DSLR with me on the way home from the office do, I would quite possibly not even have taken the lens cap off. If I’d have had the compact Lumix with me I’d most likely have sought perfection and spent far too much time trying to create nice sharp, well framed images. But as luck would have it I was simply carrying my mobile phone in my duffel coat pocket. The phone has quite a reasonable camera but I don’t expect wonders. So, not worrying about all those reflections in the tram window or whether an f stop more or less may be better, I simply pointed and shot. Total freedom.
As is often the case at this time of the year, I’m in search of that perfect festive image. But although I’ve captured many images of Christmas lights, Christmas markets and mystical alleys all oozing atmosphere, somehow all the images have been a bit disappointing. This evening I took the usual street photos of illuminated things, and they were OK. But it wasn’t until I was sitting with a warming glass of wine in our favourite piano bar, peering out through the leaded windows that I saw this somewhat abstract image. I realise it won’t be heralded as a milestone in Christmas photography, but somehow it stirs certain festive feelings…. pity there’s no snow. More festive photos are sure to follow.
This week has been ideal photo weather with cold, frosty and quite sunny mornings. Today I decided to take my camera with me to work, so obviously the sun remained well hidden until after lunch.
There are many things I particularly like about Autumn. Foggy mornings certainly rate very highly, and the other things are mostly related to eating and drinking.
Below is some sort of flower dripping with dew. The other two images show a local wine grower selling his wares. The fat glass bottles contain very young wine (Swiss German: Suuser, pronounced Sousa as in Sousaphone). It’s basically a slightly sparkling grape juice with a very low, almost negligible alcohol content. It’s usually only on sale for about three weeks, and has to be consumed quite quickly after purchase.
Vic’s Blog posts have become somewhat scare recently the last entry being almost a month ago. Despite the motivation gained from the new camera there have been many reasons for not posting; bad weather, dark mornings and uninspiring evenings. Aha! what I need is a new project!
Being one of my favourite seasons and for want of a better idea the very original title ‘Autumn 2013’ sprang to mind. So, during the next month or so I hope to bring a few autumnal scenes.
