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An historical stroll

A few days ago I posted a picture on my 365 Project concerning Winterthur’s historical past. On that project it’s usual to post only one image, so I thought I’d pictorially expand the subject here.

An historical stroll.

Back in 1834, the Sulzer brothers built a foundry in Winterthur, which formed the beginning of a worldwide heavy industrial concern. Adjacent to the Sulzer factory was the Swiss Locomotive and Machine factory (Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik – SLM) which can trace it’s history back to 1871. I believe the two fused together in the early 1960s.
Now the quite fascinating area is home to trendy apartments, offices and restaurants and of course a shopping centre or two, comprising a mixture of both renovated brick built industrial buildings and tastefully integrated new builds.
Taking advantage of the good weather, Pentax and I took a stroll through history this morning and stumbled across this rather interesting wall painting.

This large factory hall has now become a car park

Old factory – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Old factory – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Old factory – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Old factory – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP

Railway lines everywhere
SulzerAreal-IMGP0524

Several of the old buildings have been enhanced

Art work – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Art work – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
At work – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
At work – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP

Some old buildings are now home to small new companies

Old buildings – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Old buildings – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP

Others combine old and new architecture to create trendy apartments

Old and new – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Old and new – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP

Once a locomotive factory, now a shopping centre

Shopping centre – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Shopping centre – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Black & White landscapes?

I have been neglecting Vic’s Blog recently, but I have had rather a lot on.
The 365Project (one picture per day) has been taking up just a bit more time than I thought. But despite that, I have had several moments to ponder, and of course browse through my favourite “Black+White Photography” magazine.
I was always under the impression that a landscape should be colourful. Bold blue skies, green fields, colourful flowers etc, etc. But having studied several examples of B&W landscapes recently, and indeed having tried to create my own B&W landscape photographs, I have found a whole new challenge awaits. During the next few months I might try to develop my B&W skills – but then again I’ll more than likely find that I have no time for such luxuries. Who cares, it’s the enjoyment of clicking the shutter that counts 🙂

Landscape – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Landscape – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Logs – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Logs – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Fence – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Fence – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Rainy Nights

I’ve been quite lucky with the weather recently (OK, some may disagree). The heavens have opened on several occasions and it’s provided me with what I consider to be beautiful wet roads. The images below were all made with my smartphone which, I’m pleased to say, is water resistant. Nothing more invigorating than standing in a rain shower taking photos. – It takes all sorts 🙂

Rainy station – Sony Xperia Z3 compact smartphone. Developed with Snapseed
Rainy station – Sony Xperia Z3 compact smartphone. Developed with Snapseed
Rainy tram – Sony Xperia Z3 compact smartphone. Developed with Snapseed
Rainy tram – Sony Xperia Z3 compact smartphone. Developed with Snapseed
Rainy crossroads – Sony Xperia Z3 compact smartphone. Developed with Snapseed
Rainy crossroads – Sony Xperia Z3 compact smartphone. Developed with Snapseed
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One picture per day

After much consideration I decided to join the so called 365project last Friday, 29th January. (My page is here)
It was by no means an easy decision. Vic’s blog enables me to post when I feel like it, and on a good day I can include several images if the mood takes me. The 365project has a completely different philosophy and motivates to post one picture every day for a year! Quite a task really, but today I posted my 6th image and am feeling quite proud of myself. Obviously not every Photo will be a masterpiece, in fact I very much doubt whether any of mine will be, but that’s not the point! The point is simply taking pictures, enjoying them and sharing them with others!

Carrying the dslr around for a whole year would perhaps not be very practical, but I’m beginning to rediscovered the LX2, and of course the mobile phone is worth it’s weight in gold!   You can view my project here

Here are a couple of Photographs taken on Day 2 – but of course I only posted one on 365project 🙂

Saturday shopping – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Saturday shopping – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Saturday shopping – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Saturday shopping – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
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So much for dark days

Today seemed particularly bright, no
doubt due to the sprinkling of snow.

Snowy Woodland – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Snowy Woodland – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Down by the river – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Down by the river – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
On the edge of the woods – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
On the edge of the woods – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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The Dark Days of Winter

In a good couple of months time it will be Easter. If it’s not snowing, the first warm days of Spring should be making their presence felt. But until then lets enjoy the dark, dismal days. Gone are the Christmas festivities, the sparkling lights and all those smiling faces in the shops. The days have become decidedly bleak. What better way to enjoy a bleak day than a nice Black & White, intentionally average quality picture 🙂

Early morning snow – Sony Xperia Z3 compact smartphone. Developed with Snapseed
Early morning snow – Sony Xperia Z3 compact smartphone. Developed with Snapseed
Tram and Bus – Sony Xperia Z3 compact smartphone. Developed with Snapseed
Tram and Bus – Sony Xperia Z3 compact smartphone. Developed with Snapseed
Bikes – Sony Xperia Z3 compact smartphone. Developed with Snapseed
Bikes – Sony Xperia Z3 compact smartphone. Developed with Snapseed
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A breath of fresh air

A Sunday afternoon stroll and a breath of fresh air, and I was undecided whether or not to take the camera with me or not.
But venturing out without a camera is always a bit risky, you never know if that once in a lifetime picture is just waiting to be taken. Well, this afternoon’s images are by no means once in a lifetime quality, but I was still pleased I took the camera.

Horses – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Horses – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Pond – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Pond – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Woodland – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Woodland – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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…and a Happy New Year

During the traditional New Year celebrations with friends the conversation inevitably covered a wide range of fascinating topics. For some inexplicable reason the subject of model railways came up more than once – what a coincidence 😉     Today it was clear to me that somehow a railway would have to feature in the first blog posting of 2016.

Strolling around a neighbouring village I stumbled across a vacant bench and a somewhat dilapidated poster, then off to a local railway station for a bit of motivation; Will 2016 actually see the start of my model railway project?

NewYear – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
NewYear Bench – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
NewYear – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
NewYear Old Posters– Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP

 

NewYear – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
NewYear Buffer– Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
NewYear – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
NewYear Rails– Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Merry Christmas

Having a few minutes to myself before tucking in to the next meal, it occured to me that I was a bit behind with writing cards this year…. so a very merry Christmas to those who are still celebrating, and a happy new year!

Merry Christmas – Sony Xperia Z3 compact smartphone.

    Merry Christmas – Sony Xperia Z3 compact smartphone.
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A new lens and a little repair job

It must be about a month since I last posted anything on the blog, and I must say I’m delighted to be back! This time of the year normally motivates me to visit Christmas markets, capture all those festive lights and perhaps even photograph a snowflake or two.

Well, this year is different. Oh, don’t worry, I’ve been sampling mulled wine and getting into the spirit of Christmas along with the best of them, but the K30 developed a very nerving problem! It seemed the shutter motor.. or whatever it’s called, was not doing as it should do. This resulted in the first few images being very under exposed, almost black in fact. Switching to continuous shooting would produce a good image after about ten to twenty shots, but that proved very tedious so I decided to get it fixed.

I took a day off work towards the end of November to take the K30 to the Pentax service centre, about an hours drive from home. I was very positively surprised to receive a mail from them after just a couple of days to say the camera had been repaired, but as I didn’t want them to return it by post, so I decided to wait a couple of weeks and pick it up during my holiday.

The long awaited Monday morning arrived and off I went to collect my camera. I was quite excited because I had been given a nice new 35mm lens for my birthday (while the camera was being repaired) and was just itching to put it through its paces. Unfortunately both the Monday and Tuesday were very foggy, Wednesday rained (at long last!) and Thursday, Friday and Saturday seemed to go by in a flash. Today though, the fourth Sunday in Advent, I was determined to try the new lens out, even if it meant travelling to high ground to get above the fog. (the last three images were taken using the new lens – smc Pentax 35mm F2.4 AL) I’ll be back to work tomorrow, but I hope to be out and about over the festive season.

Above the fog – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Above the fog – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Quite misty - Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Quite misty – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Misty village – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Misty village – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Old trailer – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Old trailer – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP