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The Festive Season

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.

Winter Window – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Winter Window – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Frosty Morning

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.

Frosty Cars – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Frosty Cars – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Frosty Street – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Frosty Street – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Frosty Car – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Frosty Car – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Frosty Road Works – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Frosty Road Works – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Broken Rules

The first blog entry in December, and I thought I’d begin the month by breaking a ‘rule’ or two. What are the rules? Well to start with, I suppose verticals should be nice and vertical, unless one happens to be looking at towers in Pisa. Horizons? Well, they really ought to be nice and horizontal. Somehow I like this picture despite, or perhaps because of the broken rules.

The Orchard – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
The Orchard – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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A sprinkling of snow

A bit of snow fell about a week ago, therefore today’s light sprinkling could be regarded as the second snowfall of the winter. The two sprinklings were not really worth talking about, and certainly not really worth counting, but snow does seem to generate enormous interest every year. The media will no doubt be very excited about this mornings snow, although it was gone without hardly a trace by this evening. When I first viewed the images on my laptop I found them, for want of a more artistic term, boring. I therefore spent a little time, a very little time, in adjusting contrast and brightness levels in an attempt to enhance the photos a bit.

Winter Landscape 1 – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Winter Landscape 1 – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Winter Landscape 2 – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Winter Landscape 2 – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Winter Landscape 3 – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Winter Landscape 3 – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
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Autumn 2013 – eight

This is it, the very last in the series Autumn 2013. Since last weekend I’ve noticed a dramatic increase in illuminated Father Christmases dangling from house facades. Coloured lights are brightening up gloomy gardens and of course the first Christmas markets are opening their stalls. But this evening it snowed, definitely time to slide into Winter.

Today’s images were taken late last Sunday afternoon and I feel they provide a perfect end to the Autumn 2013 project. The last sugar beet being lifted before the countryside is covered with snow.

Unloading – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Unloading – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Race against Time – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Race against Time – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Autumn 2013 – seven

Today’s post will therefore probably be the last in the series “Autumn 2013″……  with those words from the last posting I was ‘probably’ going to end this autumnal series. Well, as you see, Autumn 2013 hasn’t quite finished yet. Walking the dog late on Sunday afternoon I thought I would try to capture the cold, bleak atmosphere so typical of this time of the year. As it turned out that was quite a challenge. The scenes themselves were not exactly earth shattering, but that didn’t bother me too much because it was the ‘feeling’ I was trying to achieve. The original images were in colour and they appeared quite harmless. Not cold, not bleak and not at all mid November. After removing the colour and fiddling slightly with the brightness and contrast they approached the feeling I was after – but I’m certainly not there yet.

November Scene – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
November Scene – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
November Landscape – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
November Landscape – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Sunday Stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Sunday Stroll in November – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Autumn 2013 – six

Many trees have now lost their leaves almost entirely and around these parts the bulk of the sugar beet has been lifted and now waits on the side of fields for transport to the factory.  Autumn draws to an end. After a couple of weeks holiday I’ll be back to work on Monday and will most probably only be out and about with the camera at the weekends again. Today’s post will therefore probably be the last in the series “Autumn 2013”. ‘hope you enjoyed it.

Sugar beet heap – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Sugar beet heap – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Sugar beet harvest – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Sugar beet harvest – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Another heap – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Another heap – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Evening light – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Evening light – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Autumn 2013 – five

Although not a bright sunny day, the weather was certainly pleasant enough to do a bit of experimenting with light. To some extent I am still playing with the K-30’s settings but I like to think I am getting there.

Empty vines – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Empty vines – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A patch of light – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A patch of light – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A little sunshine – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
A little sunshine – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Autumn 2013 – four

A hint of autumnal mystique, last Saturday morning the local countryside was swathed in mist.

Foggy Trees 1 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Foggy Trees 1 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Foggy Trees 2 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Foggy Trees 2 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Foggy Fields – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Foggy Fields – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Autumn 2013 – three

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.

The Foggy Foggy Dew – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
The Foggy Foggy Dew – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Young wine – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Young wine – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Young wine – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP