Saturday, June 24, 2006
Sailing
Dee, Izzy and I had a great day sailing with Andy, Hannah, Cleo and Max last Saturday. Beautiful weather with a nice breeze. Max and Cleo took Izzy out in the Topper and practised a capsize, while the 'grown ups' cruised on the Wayfarer.
More pics on Flickr if you click on the picture...
More pics on Flickr if you click on the picture...
Friday, June 16, 2006
Nigella Lawson
Elvis
How about this for a dog picture from my cousin Dave...? I think it's a cracking picture
Monday, June 12, 2006
Our garden...!!
Friday, June 09, 2006
Digital or Film...?
Well it's now about 5 months since I bought my digital camara and timely to reflect on how it's going....and how it compares with film.In short I definitely think it's been a success, in fact it has freed-up my photography in a way I really didn't expect...and also changed the way I think of photos - less as archive, more as raw material. But it's not all gain...I do miss the thrill of opening up a batch of photos...a week or so after the event, creating images in your mind of the trip in the intervening time. And I also miss the simplicity of taking a picture and then bagging it, so to speak, to be revealed at a later date. That makes you concentrate on the next photo rather than reflecting on and checking the last one...which I tend to do a lot with digital. I miss the lovely feel of my Minilux with it's reassuringly solid controls, and the puzzle of deciding which type of film to use next....
But in terms of end results...and that's largely what it's about, there's really no contest...and I think more than any on-camera gizmos, it's the post processing on the PC that the powerful advantage lies. As long as I don't overblow my highlights, I can tune the photo afterwards, and the ability to post process white balance to compensate for the inevitable variety of colour temperature is something that leaves film in the shade...!!
The other main scoring point for digital is the number of pictures you can take - I've taken so many pics of people on film, only to relish the photos coming back and finding that they were awful....you can whack away with digital and really guarantee some good results...and then delete the others.
Another suprise to me is that it takes the dilemmas out of photography, I just get on and take the picture rather than waiting for the moment and then missing it...in order to conserve your precious film. This is a big plus point and saves being snorted at by family members who are keen to keep moving.
And I haven't mentioned cost...which is rare for me! I still collate a batch of images and print them off for our album, which probably costs me about £5 per month at most...and enlargements for digital are much cheaper than from negs. So I'm more extravagent on image taking and spend much less.
So I'm definitely a convert....but in spite of all these gains there is something nagging in the back of my mind which makes me a little disatisfied...Is it too easy to get good pics? Will I look at the hundreds of pics per month I collect in a years time? Is the simply endless scope of picture taking and post processing a little daunting...? Is it that I don't feel the same pride in using a camera which I consider virtually disposable..? Am I getting fed up with more and more of my life being ruled by the PC...?
Only time will tell, but I certainly won't be selling my final 2 film cameras for a while...though I haven't used either for 3 months now...!!
Lake District
We had a really wonderful break in the lakes for 4 days over half term hols and the weather was stunning....clear and sunny and warm. It confirmed yet again that in terms of mountains and lakes the scenery is unsurpassable (if that's a word).
Click on picture to the right for more...
Monday, June 05, 2006
Bluebell woods
I love the vivid greens of the new growth mixed with the bluebells.
