The Last Week

This last set of images heralds the end of the summer holidays and another completed holiday project. Five weeks of sunshine and lazy days doing very little. Although for me, like so many others, it has been five weeks of work as usual, I have nevertheless enjoyed the freely available empty seats in the train and the balmy summer evenings. It has been mainly during these evenings that I’ve been out and about with the camera. The light is steadily becoming more golden and  shadows longer and longer.

Found in a car park – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Found in a car park – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Landscape – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Landscape – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Evening Landscape – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Evening Landscape – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Evening Landscape 2 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Evening Landscape 2 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Making hay while the sun shines – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Making hay while the sun shines – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Nightfall – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Nightfall – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP

New Camera

Having spent many months, even years, studying, evaluating and comparing the current camera trends I actually reached a decision last week!  Last Friday evening I trotted home clutching a shiny new DSLR. You can imagine how I spent this week, the fourth in the five part 5picsaweek project, I’ve been playing with all the buttons and plodding my way eagerly through the maze of settings, but it’ll probably take a while before I feel completely at home with all those features. Here are just five pics taken whilst experimenting in the evening.

After the Thunderstorm – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
After the Thunderstorm – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Fading Summer – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Fading Summer – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Village Crane – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Village Crane – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Evening Sunshine – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Evening Sunshine – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Rain at last – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Rain at last – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP

Half Way

Today is a national holiday in this neck of the woods, and with the temperature easing its way over 30, I decided to spend an hour or two in the coolness of my ‘office’. Last weekend I shot a photo subject which had long been on my “eager to capture” list. The building must once have had some sort of purpose, but now projects a fascinating, orderly derelict appearance.

The final image in this weeks offering was taken yesterday evening. Unfortunately I miss-timed the shooting by several minutes and the sun had already plopped silently into the river. A good reason to go back and try again perhaps?

Empty building – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
On holiday perhaps? – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
On the veranda – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Closed shutters – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Goodnight – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP

Sunshine

It’s now the end of week two of my 5picsaweek project, and what a week it’s been! Pure Summer!  It’s now Saturday afternoon and I’m sitting in a shady place in the garden enjoying the hot weather and the tranquillity – strange how during the hot summer afternoons a certain stillness reigns over the village. Perhaps most people are on holiday or dozing quietly under shady trees.

The first three of this weeks photos were taken just before sunset, shadows were long and temperatures were still hot but quite bearable. The remaining four were taken this morning between about 7 and 8 o’clock, not as early as I had planned , but after all I was tucking into grilled sausages well into the wee small hours. The sun was well up but the light still had character.

Evening Sunflower – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Evening Sunflower – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Evening grass – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Evening Grass – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Cornfield just before Sunset – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Cornfield just before Sunset – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Corn in the morning – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Corn in the Morning – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Morning Meadow – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Morning Meadow – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Sun(flower)rise – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Sun(flower)rise – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Sunflower – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Sunflower – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP

Three More

The first week of my 5picsaweek project has already slipped by and I’m delighted to say that I managed to capture 5 images!  Admittedly I did have to make a conscious effort not to simply repeat the photo subjects covered by last years ’37 Days’ project, and therefore avoided the half empty train scenes, the commuter scenes and the bustling railway station scenes…… at least for the moment.

Kicking off the project last weekend with a few pipes, I thought it would be nice to round up the week with three images of the great, summery outdoors.

5picsaweek_1_3
Something small and green – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Cornfield with flowers – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Cornfield with flowers – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Cornfield without flowers – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Cornfield without flowers – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP

5picsaweek

Today is the start of the summer holidays in these parts, and once again I have decided to give myself something to do. The project is similar to last summers ’37 Days’ holiday project, but instead of taking at least one photograph each day, I will make my life a great deal easier and set out to take at least 5 pictures per week for the next five weeks. Thus the term ‘5picsaweek’. Quite probably I’ll end up posting several more images than the five I’ve set myself – we’ll see. The advantage is, I won’t be under any self inflicted pressure to update the blog on a daily basis and can, depending on the weather, spend an evening or two indulging in summery pursuits.

Incidentally, as was the case last year, I will be working normally during the five weeks school holiday, enjoying the half empty commuter trains and the long evenings in the garden, and with a bit of luck we may even manage an excursion or two.

To ring in the new project I am posting just a couple of photos of our new water pipes. The whole road is being treated to a new water mains and many, myself included, are having very old, crumbly pipes replaced with shiny new plastic ones – exciting stuff!  While the road is currently one long building site, the opportunity was seized to replace the old gloomy street lights with super bright LEDs, one of which can just be seen on the picture below.

Pipes waiting for a hole – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Pipes waiting for a hole – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
New pipes in the cellar – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
New pipes in the cellar – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP