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Day 1 from 37 – 14th July 2012

37 Days – Holiday project.

As mentioned on ‘page one’ of my homepage, I have now embarked on this one photo per day project. My aim is to take at least one photograph per day during the school summer holidays. No holidays for me unfortunately, I will be working as usual, but the good weather and half empty commuter trains are enough to put me in the holiday spirit.

I hope to take at least one picture per day, straight out of the camera, from Saturday 14th July until Sunday 19th August ( 37 days ) and publish on this blog from time to time.

Day 1: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/8 1/500s; ISO 100 -Straight Out Of The Camera
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Brass Bands

Last weekend The International Youth Music Festival took place in Zurich.  We joined the throngs of spectators for the march music competition on Sunday afternoon and managed to take in a couple of offerings in the concert competition too. Despite the somewhat meagre points “our” Stadtjugendmusik Winterthur marched splendidly and their concert was a joy to the ears!

Photographically speaking it wasn’t easy. The sun seemed to be generally in the wrong place and created strong shadows which made correct exposures a real challenge. All the youngsters kept marching and not one band stopped and smiled at my camera. In the concert hall the natural light was not quite enough to produce beautifully crisp pictures from a distance.

The three images reproduced here were taken during an evolution in the march music competition.

Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
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A Day in the Garden

Last weekend I noticed I had no neighbours. Gone. Vanished. It seemed as if I was living in a small clearing midst in some forgotten jungle, cut off from the outside world by dense trees and impenetrable undergrowth.

But then it dawned on me: It’s almost mid June and I’ve been avoiding the garden since the snow left. A party here, a wet Saturday there, an abundance of excuses not to grab a fork and get stuck in.

Well yesterday my luck ran out, the sun smiled upon me and there was absolutely no reason not to start work. So I donned my wellies and fought my way through the excess foliage.

In our garden the whole lettuce crop has to be consumed within two days, otherwise they suddenly change into six foot high flowers. Our strawberries, on the other hand, appear individually….. actually I’m getting quite excited because it’ll soon be my turn to eat one again.  But it’s the back of the garden, hidden from view area which poses the biggest challenge. Whereas other village gardens proudly show off their wonderful, lush flowering shrubs mine seem to sit there, inconspicuous under a thick blanket of thorny weeds and things unwanted.

It’s still by no means weed free, but at least I can see the neighbour’s house again and the hibiscus bushes can once again see the light of day.

Before: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f5.6; 1/320s; ISO 400
After: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f4; 1/60s; ISO 400
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Day Off

Ascension Day is a national holiday. It always falls on a Thursday, but is to all intents and purposes a Sunday. We had a lazy day, but did manage an excursion towards late afternoon and, oh wonder, a few pictures!

Old and very old: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f5.6; 1/400s; ISO 100; Developed with GIMP
Lamps: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f4.5; 1/200s; ISO 100; Developed with GIMP
Corridor: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f2.8; 1/5s; ISO 100; Developed with GIMP
Alps: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f6.3; 1/400s; ISO 100; Developed with GIMP
Similar Alps: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f5.6; 1/500s; ISO 100; Developed with GIMP
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It’s that time of the year again…

… when the sun shines directly into the local station’s pedestrian subway, casting fascinating shadows of hurried legs, laptop bags and rolled up newspapers.

Station: Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone.

In the evening, just opposite the village station, a refreshing pint and a browse through the newspaper under the shade of a horse chestnut tree.

Refreshing Pint: Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone.
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Clouds

The first week of May brought us some beautiful sunny evenings with typically dark clouds, rainbows and all sorts of interesting stuff. As usual the camera was idling at home while I had to make do with my mobile phone.

Lush meadow: Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone.
Evening 1: Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone.
Evening 2: Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone.
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Spring

A sunny day in the garden today…. not getting my hands dirty, but creeping through the undergrowth to capture a picture or two of some busy bees.

Apple Blssom: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f6.3; 1/500s; ISO 100; Developed with GIMP
Dandelions: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f7.1; 1/500s; ISO 100; Developed with GIMP
More Dandelions: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f5.6; 1/320s; ISO 100; Developed with GIMP
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Rainbow

The people who design light fittings have obviously never actually had to fit them to a ceiling. Or perhaps they have four child sized hands and the strength of superman.

There I was, up a ladder, holding the light fitting in one hand, a screwdriver in the other and trying to ease the wire into a hole plainly too small for the job with my spare hands, suffering with acute arm ache and sweating profusely. Suddenly a shout of delight resounded from below stairs…. “Oh!! Look out of the window! There’s a rainbow!”

I couldn’t even see a window from where I was perched.  Loosing concentration for a moment, the wire jumped out of it’s hole again, the screwdriver lost it’s screw and I shouted “Oh Super!“ and ran excitedly to the nearest window to feast my eyes upon one of nature’s wonders.

Luckily my camera wasn’t far away so I decided to capture the moment before it was all over.

Rainbow: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/8; 1/500s; ISO 400; Developed with GIMP
Rainbow: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/8; 1/500s; ISO 400; Developed with GIMP
Title: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/2.8; 1/5s; ISO 400; Developed with GIMP
Title: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/8; 1/500s; ISO 400; Developed with GIMP

Unfortunately I couldn’t get back far enough to do the rainbow full justice. On the right of the picture, well out of the picture’s frame,  the arc even continued through blue sky. I suppose posting a black and white image of a rainbow tends to defeat the whole reason for taking a photograph of a rainbow in the first place…. but enjoyed processing it.

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English Impressions – Two

Mentioning in the last posting the flat, for some perhaps uninteresting fenland landscape of south Lincolnshire, I thought I’d post a few examples of what I mean.

Ploughed Field: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/5.6; 1/400s; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP

Uninterrupted views and cloudless skies allow sunrises and sunsets like those at sea. But there are disadvantages. Wind has nothing to stop it and seems to blow continually… even on a calm day.

Daffodils: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/4.5; 1/200s; ISO 100; Developed with GIMP

Once a very common site indeed, daffodil crops now seem to have made way for onions, potatoes and other goodies.

Weeds?: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/6.3; 1/400s; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP

A wheat field shows traces of a previous crop. Where the horizon is as far as the eye can see, there is no hiding pylons and factories behind hills… it’s all there for the world to see.

Dyke: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/5.6; 1/250s; ISO 100; Developed with GIMP
Sheep: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/5.6; 1/500s; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP

Sheep, not often found in this very fertile area.

Spare House: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/5.6; 1/400s; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP

An abandoned house.

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English Impressions – One

A week has passed since I spent a really enjoyable short break in England. Two days in South Lincolnshire, and a further couple of days in London.

The wide, sky filled fen landscape never ceases to fascinate. But I’ll begin my blog coverage not with the vast, flat landscape but with three black & white impressions of where I stayed.

The Music Room: Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
The Walled Garden: Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
The Butter Churn: Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP