Category: Around the Country

Thinking about the title of this post, one could be forgiven for associating it with some sort of cheap science fiction film. However, the title actually alludes to those who were staying with us for a week, and have now returned from whence they came.

Having visitors is always enjoyable, and the seven days ‘they’ were with us was indeed no exception. Interesting, amusing discussions with folks not seen in years, and indeed one never seen before, enriched our evenings and ensured that there was absolutely no chance of getting an early night.

Both adults being enthusiastic http://365project.org/ contributors meant that laptops eagerly appeared when the children had gone to bed, and various chats about photo things began. The days were spent exploring the region and looking for the daily picture. I was able to accompany them on a few of these excursions, and the picture of Zürich was all that I could come up with having strolled round the city for quite a while.

Not having the discipline to take one photograph every day means that I will probably stick to this little blog. Having said that, the 365 project does have its own particular fascination… who knows, one day perhaps?

There’s nothing quite like a holiday to stimulate the creative senses when photo-motivation begins to wane. Although not actually going anywhere on holiday, we do currently have visitors who are out and about in search of that perfect picture. Having only about a week at their disposal it’s not easy to decide what to visit and what to leave out. I was lucky enough to accompany them on a visit to the Rheinfall earlier in the week.

 

Due to a 20^th birthday in the family (the last of four) we decided to rent a couple of Cadillacs from the early sixties. The screams of delight resounded throughout the village as it was clear the two large American cars parked across the road were indeed ours for the afternoon… and one of them was very pink!

Unfortunately the planned scenic drive through the countryside to the restaurant was cut short as the white Cadillac failed to start again after a photo stop. We therefore spent a couple of hours in what I believe the Americans call a ‘Parking Lot’ waiting for a replacement car to arrive.

Although we arrived at the restaurant almost two hours later than planned at least we were able to drive there in the pink car…. a very large, leisurely monster.

 

 

 

With the eyes of the world glued to the television for the last couple of days, and being quite overwhelmed by images of pomp and pageantry, I thought it quite unlikely that anyone would take the time to visit my humble blog.

But today, while our local media waits excitedly for the inevitable May 1^st skirmishes to begin (and last time I tuned in, they sounded quite disappointed that all was still quiet), we were busily celebrating Merlin’s birthday 🙂

As a special treat we decided to have a trip to a nearby alp.

Being Saturday, warm, sunny and very ‘Springy’, I spent most of yesterday in the garden. Admittedly there is not a great deal to show for it, but a couple of seasonal flowers were potted and proudly places for the world to see. It went through my mind to post a before and after photo of the patio, but the before was simply too embarrassing  and the after still shows signs of untidiness although the seats and table has been cleaned.

With the weather not being too brilliant today, I decided to spend an hour or so playing with Gimp this afternoon. Nothing very breathtaking I’m afraid, but a small beginning has been made.

There seems to be a bit more to this enhancement business than meets the eye. The crane and overhead wire removal went quite well. I did try inserting a few clouds in the otherwise boring sky, but that looked very cheap so decided upon the old photo look instead.  Now I’ve been sat in front of the PC far longer than intended so I’m off in the search of coffee and nourishment 🙂

This picture was taken on the way home on Friday evening. I’d seen these bikes parked outside the main railway station on several occasions and thought they may just make an interesting picture. For those railway enthusiasts among us, the carriage just visible on the right belongs to the 20:40 hrs. train to Vienna and Belgrade.

Being a keen Linux user (currently Ubuntu 10.10), I’ve been trying to get to grips with The Gimp (GNU Image Manipulation Program). An almost never ending maze of colour menus, enhancement tools and filter plug-ins.

I don’t think I’ll ever become an expert, but whether that’s due to a lack of time, patience or simply my IQ remains an open question.

Do I really want to explore all those fascinating settings? Do I want to spend hours in front of the monitor trying to create the perfect picture? Might it not be more prudent to learn how to use the camera properly in the first place?

My answer to all three questions is “No, not really”.

There’s no doubt, whatever camera one uses, a bit of ‘developing’ can sometimes work wonders. However, practice makes perfect, and requires hours of experimentation (well it does with me anyway). So I’ll just stick to using the software to adjust contrast here and there, turn colour into black and white now and again, and if I’ve got time on my hands I’ll perhaps play around with a few Gimp features a bit and who knows… one day, purely by chance, I may even create that perfect picture?

From time to time the office canteen runs a competition. I don’t normally enter, but last month I was busy writing my name on the back of various receipts and dropping them in a big red box. There were 15 x Samsung ES30 cameras to be won. To cut a long story short I was one of the lucky winners. This morning I decided to stroll around town and test it.

Well, to be honest I was pleasantly surprised. Here are three of my test pics.

The Blog is back, up and running and raring to go! But what on earth shall I photograph? What has become of all these fantastic, original photographic ideas? This is after all a sort of photo blog, and it should be bulging with pictures!

As far as I can glean from other blogs, the lack of motivation, the failing urge to do, seems to impede even the most perspicacious projects and place them lazily onto some virtual shelf.

It’s nice to know that a remedy for the missing ‘oomph’ is near at hand! Take a look at Wouter Brandsma Photography for example. He posts not only loads of really good photos, but writes an abundance of useful tips and advice on photo related subjects.

Recently I’ve been introduced to http://365project.org too.  A very lively ‘picture a day’ project and although I’m not a member, I seem to be spending considerable time soaking up the pictures and getting inspired.

This set of evening shots was taken yesterday evening on the way home – you see, I’ve been inspired!