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A couple of days in Milan

Back in August 2012 we visited Milan ( siehe Blog entry and Travel section ) and vowed to visit again one day. On Sunday morning wife & I sat ourselves in a ‘Euro City’ for a second visit. This trip was never intended to be a photo expedition, but nevertheless it was with enormous self disciplin that I left the Pentax at home. As luck would have it I had succumbed to the allure of a smartphone just the weekend before, so I wasn’t completely without a camera should the urge to take a photo prove too strong…. which of course it did.

Apart from several very interesting buildings and some sort of art in Sempione Park, we found ourselves in the middle of a fashion photo shoot whilst tucking into some delicious pasta in Ristorante Papà Francesco in Via Tommaso Marino…. quite fascinating

I need a bit more practice with the smartphone’s camera, and next time I’ll most likely be taking the Pentax… and I’m sure there will be a next time.

A high rise building with lots of greenery - Sony Xperia Z3 Compact smartphone. Developed with Gimp
A high rise building with lots of greenery – Sony Xperia Z3 Compact smartphone. Developed with Gimp
City offices - Sony Xperia Z3 Compact smartphone. Developed with Gimp
City offices – Sony Xperia Z3 Compact smartphone. Developed with Gimp
Old and New - Sony Xperia Z3 Compact smartphone. Developed with Gimp
Old and New – Sony Xperia Z3 Compact smartphone. Developed with Gimp
Art in 'Parco Sempione' - Sony Xperia Z3 Compact smartphone. Developed with Gimp
Art in ‘Parco Sempione’ – Sony Xperia Z3 Compact smartphone. Developed with Gimp
Photo shoot - Sony Xperia Z3 Compact smartphone. Developed with Gimp
Photo shoot, Ristorante Papa Francesco – Sony Xperia Z3 Compact smartphone. Developed with Gimp
Photo shoot, Ristorante Papa Francesco - Sony Xperia Z3 Compact smartphone. Developed with Gimp
Photo shoot, Ristorante Papa Francesco – Sony Xperia Z3 Compact smartphone. Developed with Gimp
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On my way home

Enjoying a beer or two this evening I made my way home a little later than usual. There is a very special atmosphere later in the evening.

View from a tram – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
View from a tram – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
All alone with a hamburger – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
All alone with a hamburger – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
Waiting for the train – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
Waiting for the train – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
View from a train seat – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
View from a train seat – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
No Comment – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
No Comment – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
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Another walk around a lake

At the beginning of November last year I posted a few images taken during a walk around a nearby lake. This morning we visited the lake again. Not particularly newsworthy really, but it underlined to me the very noticeable differences between autumn and spring light.

Boathouse – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Boathouse – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Landing stage – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Landing stage – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Cows – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Cows – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Landscape – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Landscape – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Landscape – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Landscape – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Landscape – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Landscape – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Cloud

Whilst tending the barbecue on Sunday afternoon I read an interesting article in “Black+White Photography” about skies. The images printed in the magazine are, without a doubt, very dramatic and moody. Cooking is very hard work, so whilst reclining in my deckchair with a cool beer and a very fetching sun hat (hehehe) I took a moment off to look skywards. It looks as if I will have to wait for stormy weather to achieve dramatic skyscapes, but I was quite pleased with my cloud.

Cloudy Sky 1 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Cloudy Sky 1 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Cloudy Sky 2– Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Cloudy Sky 2– Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Sunset – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Sunset – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Shower

Stopping to buy a lottery ticket on the way home a couple of nights ago, I was fortunate enough to miss my regular train. This gave me time to stroll around within the shelter of the main station and watch people run about in the heavy shower outside.

Shower – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
Shower – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
Shower – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
Shower – Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with Gimp
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Rainy Day

Recently I’ve been mentioning the weather quite often on this blog, perhaps because weather does have a significant influence on the mood of a picture. This weekend I had hoped to capture a typical May image of a bright sunlit field of yellow rapeseed with a backdrop of dark rain clouds. Not to be I’m afraid. No shortage of rain clouds, but sunshine was in short supply, giving the clouds a dreary grey appearance instead of the dramatic darkness I had hoped for. Not to be put off by a drop or two of rain I ventured out this morning with wellies, hat and Barbour jacket and came home with the following images. Shooting both RAW and JPG, I tried to reproduce the desired dark skies in the first image by applying a graduated filter with RawTherapee before doing the usual adjustments in Gimp…. I think I need a bit of practice.

Rainy Landscape-1 – Pentax K-30; Developed with RawTherapee and GIMP
Rainy Landscape-1 – Pentax K-30; Developed with RawTherapee and GIMP
Rainy Rapeseed – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Rainy Rapeseed – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Rainy Road – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Rainy Road – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Rainy Landscape-2 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Rainy Landscape-2 – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Clean sensor and old filters

I’m delighted to say that the K30’s sensor is now nice and clean once again. No more post processing to remove that annoying little blob that seemed to smile back at me whenever I viewed a photo.

When I picked the freshly cleaned camera up, I had a good look around the photo shop, I couldn’t help noticing all those interesting accessories lining the walls. A neutral density filter or perhaps a graduated filter would be nice. That made me think about those old filters at home. This afternoon, before cutting the lawn, I rummaged through my old gadget bag to see what goodies I could find.  (see  http://www.harding.ch/photo-stuff/camera-info/)  I experimented with a haze filter and a graduated colour filter…. just like old times.

Wisteria with filter – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Wisteria with filter – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Stormy sky – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Stormy sky – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Dirty Sensor

With the last post’s print hardly dry, in which I praised the weather lady’s forecasting abilities, I’m afraid her crystal ball got it all wrong for today. On Thursday evening she told me, with a large portion of meteorological authority, that the weekend would not be very nice. A high percentage chance of rain! So here I sit in the sun, covered in 50+ sun cream playing with my Panasonic DMC-LX2.
Panasonic LX2? – What’s happened to the Pentax? you may ask. Well, taking advantage of the predicted ‘bad weather’ I took it to the shop to have it’s sensor cleaned. Hopefully that annoying blob will have disappeared when I pick it up on Wednesday.
The moral of this story:  always have a spare camera… just in case the weather lady gets it wrong 🙂

Wisteria – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Wisteria – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Wisteria – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Wisteria – Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
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Day Off

One thing that really does seem to have improved over the last few years is the accuracy of weather forecasts. On Monday evening the weather lady told me that this week would be good and that today would be fantastic – and indeed it was. Putting my trust in the weather lady’s forecasting abilities I took today off. The temptation to go out and about with the camera, capturing all manner of beautiful Spring images was very strong, but discipline ruled the day, and I did what a man has to do in the garden. When the work was done I rewarded myself with a cold beer and a rest. I couldn’t let the day pass without at least a couple of photos – a beer and a selfie.

Natural goodness – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Natural goodness – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
That's me, under the hat – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
That’s me, under the hat – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
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Lazy Sunday

After a busy Saturday working over a hot spade in the garden, I decided I would take today a lot easier. Relaxing was very high on the agenda and the most athletic movement was bending down to capture these images of Spring.

Daffodil with bee – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Daffodil with bee – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Daffodils without bee – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Daffodils without bee – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Flowers that appear every year on the lawn – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Flowers that appear every year on the lawn – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Young Hazel leaves – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP
Young Hazel leaves – Pentax K-30; Developed with GIMP