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Cold Weekend

I phoned my garage early Saturday morning for an appointment to fit winter tyres on the car. I was both lucky and delighted that they could fit me in early afternoon because the weather lady had forecast snow, and most tyre centres were battling with very long queues!

The morning was then spent walking through the rain swept countryside with a very soggy dog. Being already soaked I decided to do a little something in the garden, and a bit of leaf sweeping put me in a particularly autumnal mood. In the afternoon the winter wheels were fitted and not a moment too soon it seems, because the rain turned quickly to snow and by Sunday the view from the window was really quite wintry.

Sweeping leaves: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/4; 1/20s; ISO 100; Developed with GIMP
View from a window: Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Snowy garden: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/4.5; 1/125s; ISO 100; Developed with GIMP
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Hot Weekend

Due to all sorts of meteorological factors we enjoyed, and apparently will continue to enjoy for a day or two, a truly fantastic weekend. Although resisting the temptation to flee to the mountains and join in the madding throngs of those queueing for a view, a bite to eat, a bit of elbow room in a cable car etc. etc. we did decide to go a bit farther afield than our own village.

Off we went to Glarus. In my opinion a somewhat underestimated neck of the tourist woods Glarus is the ‘county town’ of canton Glarus. Well that’s enough geography for now. Suffice to say we had the town to ourselves, we suffered no traffic jams and didn’t even have to wait for a coffee and a delicious speciality pastry type thing.

The first picture is of ‘Zaunplatz’, the place where the locals still gather once a year to exercise their democratic rights by voting on all sorts of things by a show of hands. (perhaps a little over simplified, but I didn’t wish to bore the reader too much)

Zaunplatz: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/8; 1/500s;
ISO 100 – Developed by Gimp

Below is exactly what it looks like… a mountain with an air of Autumn….

Autumnal Mountain: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/4.9; 1/200s;
ISO 100 – Developed by Gimp

and last but not least… in an effort to steer this article back to a more photographic theme, this image of a street. I can’t help but feel that the B&W development makes it look a bit fifties picture postcardish.

Ye Olde Picture Postcard? : Panasonic DMC-LX2 – Developed by Gimp
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Woodland Light

I was taking a stroll in the woods this morning as the sun was beginning to break through the early morning mist.

Woodland Light: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/4.9; 1/25s;
ISO 100 – Developed by Gimp
Woodland Light: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/4; 1/100s;
ISO 100 – Developed by Gimp
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Autumn scenes

Todays photos were taken last Saturday during one of my jaunts with the dog.

B&W or colour? Not an easy decision, but the leaves haven’t reached their golden peak yet so I decided to use B&W.

I chose to omit the usual exposure details on both pictures. Zooming in on the tractor to improve composition and fiddling considerably with the field scene to achieve a more pleasing exposure left the camera exposure details irrelevant.

Tractor scene: Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Field scene: Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
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Last Saturday

The weekend started off really pleasant. The weather was autumnal, but quite bright and sunny so I set off with the dog and managed to get a shot or two of sunny fields. But it didn’t last long, and Sunday saw me turning the heating on and slipping into my wellies before venturing outdoors.

Autumn sunshine1: Title: Panasonic DMC-LX2: f/4; 1/250s; ISO 100
Autumn sunshine2: Title: Panasonic DMC-LX2: f/4.9; 1/250s; ISO 100
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… to see a man about a rabbit – 2

If you read the posting from a couple of weeks ago you’ll know that we borrowed a rabbit. Today we returned the little fellow. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t very good, no peaks in sight at all, very low cloud and a bit of rain. Man’s best friend decided to avoid the rain and take lunch in the car, but he was happy enough retrieving sticks from the lake.

Lunch in the dry: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/3.6; 1/30s;
ISO 100 – Developed by Gimp
Lake Brienz: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/4; 1/125s;
ISO 100 – Developed by Gimp
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Holiday… again :-)

Having a weeks holiday and not going away means we are able to enjoy the local countryside, boldly walking where we seldom walk and tasting the delights of villages near at hand but often overlooked.

To be honest I ought to be doing a few jobs around the house… but I am on holiday after all!

Delapidated: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/3.2; 1/100s;
ISO 100 – Developed by Gimp
Poles: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/5.6; 1/500s;
ISO 100 – Straight out of the Camera
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… to see a man about a rabbit

Late Sunday afternoon saw us visiting Interlaken to pick up a rabbit. I’ll spare you all the fascinating details concerning the rabbit’s type, colouring and why we decided to drive two hours to borrow a rabbit. Suffice to say he’s a very attractive little bunny, and apparently has proved to be a real ladies man.

Not being much of a rabbit specialist, my eyes tended to drift from all those twitching little noses to the awe inspiring views from the breeders neighbourhood.

Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/5.6; 1/400s;
ISO 100 – Developed by Gimp
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Waiting for spuds

Following on from my last posting, I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that I didn’t have to play hunt the spider the next day… she was gone, packed her web and moved on no doubt to some part of the garden where grass hoppers abound.

Since then the mornings have been getting mistier, the shadows longer and carts with pumpkins have sprung up like mushrooms throughout the region. During this mornings jaunt with the dog I came across these boxes waiting to be filled with potatoes….. and whilst tending the barbecue this evening a noticed a tractor trundle past pulling a couple of trailers laden with boxes full of freshly lifted potatoes. If I remember rightly potatoes are not dug up, they are lifted…… a surprising light and airy term when I consider the aftermath of our gardens potato harvest resembles an open cast mine.

The following images were B&W straight out of the camera, and I used ISO 400 to achieve a more grainy look, I then tampered with the contrast a little using The Gimp.

Potato Boxes: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/8; 1/640s;
ISO 400 – Developed by Gimp
Potato Boxes: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/7.1; 1/500s;
ISO 400 – Developed by Gimp
Potato Boxes: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/6.3; 1/500s;
ISO 400 – Developed by Gimp
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Landscape foreground

Today I had actually planned a deep and interesting discussion on the advantages of landscape foreground. But having noticed this pretty little thing dangling over my head in the doorway this morning, I decided to put that off until another day.

All those arachnologists among you will immediately recognise this attractive creature as a female Argiope bruennichi (wasp spider). I’m not quite sure why she decided to spin her web above our front door because grasshoppers seldom hop that way… they tend to prefer grass. Perhaps if she’s still there in the morning I might move her to somewhere more green and pleasant.

Wasp spider: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/2.8; 1/25s;
ISO 100 – Enlarged and cropped by Gimp