Strutting & Fretting

We had a lovely morning in Richmond Park. The twins really enjoyed the freedom to toddle at will and we loved the freedom, fresh air and joy of being together as a family.

It was very windy in West Bay in Dorset at the weekend. We took the twins for a walk there in the evening with my in-laws and the weather was biting cold. And as it was a walk out with the family I only took my walkaround lens (Sigma 18-200mm DC OS) and one ND Grad filter. But I reckon the following handheld landscapes still aren't too bad and capture some of the drama of the weather...

A few weeks ago I bough a Canon EOS 5 via Ebay. This is the first 35mm SLR I've ever owned. And this morning I got back my first roll of film.

While some of the pictures were very blown out due to my inexperience with slide film I did get some really great shots. Certainly I feel that the camera was £30 well spent.

You can view some more of my efforts on film in this Flickr set.

Not far from where we live is Rectory Park and Northala Fields. At Northala several dramatic mounds have been created as part of the park and one features a spiral path up to the top. From here some dramatic views of West London can be found.

You can see Wembley Stadium's arch, the buildings of the M4 Corridor, aircraft coming in to land at London Heathrow and the buildings at the heart of London.

You'll find the images over on my Flickr page.

I'm in mourning today. My beloved Canon EOS 40D is going in for repair. It's not a big repair. Truth be told I'm not entirely convinced that the little bit of foam that needs replacing even does anything. But if I'm going to sell the camera in the future when it's time to upgrade¹ I'll need to make sure it's got all its bits and pieces.

So this morning I removed the tripod mount, the memory card and the battery. I even removed the strap. She's all bare and unloved, stripped down to just the basics for her journey to Canon for some 2mm foam to be glued inside it.

Flickr has now redesigned its slideshow feature and enabled users to embed their show in other sites. So I thought I'd try it out...

I went for a walk along the canal a couple of days ago. It was a pleasant trip and I took some pictures I'm rather fond of, the above being the best.

But there was one aspect of the journey that wasn't so fun. That is the way that people looked at me for carrying a decent camera.

For those of you wondering, the Canon EOS 40D is not, I repeat not, a device for taking pictures of your children's genitalia through their clothes.

After months of noodling around, reading books and magazines and worrying about how things are supposed to work, rather than how I want them to...I've finally hit on a method of manual exposure photography that works for me.

So I thought I would share it with you.

But first a little lesson about the use of histograms on the current range of Canon DSLR cameras. I'm going to assume you are shooting in RAW because...well why wouldn't you?

Remember your camera doesn't store an equal amount of detail in its entire range. The bulk of the variations of tone are at the top lighter end. So while you may have 4096 shades at the highlight end, you may only have 128 at the shadow end. So it makes more sense to expose as much of your image towards the right of the histogram and bring back some of those shadows towards the left in post-processing.

I do believe I'm finally getting the hang of this photography lark.

I'm certainly happier with the pictures that I've taken over recent weeks than any I've taken before.

The big change I think is decided how I want to take pictures rather than worrying how my camera seems to want to take them, or how I should use it. The camera is just a tool rather than the arbiter of what makes a good photograph.

I love photography. It's been a hobby of mine for just over a year and I finally feel like I'm starting to get to grips with it. Give me half an hour on my own with a beautiful landscape and all my gear I reckon I can knock out some great images.

But that's not often how I take pictures. Normally I'm out for a walk with my beloved wife and children, hurriedly taking snaps of the scenery then running to catch up.

Hence my Flickr portfolio was full of mostly rubbish. I know a lot of my pictures aren't that great and it's because I wasn't being serious about my hobby. And of course the other side of the coin is that I'm not spending quality time with my family while out and about.

Several weeks ago I visit Paris for business. I took quite a few photos. But as is often the case I wasn't overly pleased with them initially. A few weeks distance and a little more editing and I've got some pictures I really like.

You can see the rest of this set over at my Flickr page.

The little ones are certainly growing up apace and although they aren't quite walking yet it is clearly a matter of days or weeks. Our poor little daughter has chicken pox at the moment, but even covered in spots, she doesn't seem ill at all.

Our boy continues to be his usual mad self, adventurous, silly and a bit of a pudding at times - everything we love about him. Those of you with friends/family status on our Flickr page can see more pictures from this set.

Our little boy, bless him, has developed a fear of a small plastic bath toy. He's getting better - the first evening he met the little green alligator it sent him into hysterics. His sister on the other hand rather likes the alligator.

The terrified lad will now approach the offending reptile, he'll even hold it, but there's one thing he won't do - look it in the eyes.

Still, as his mother told him in all seriousness, "don't worry, it's only an alligator." I just hope such advice doesn't come back to haunt us should our boy go backpacking in reptile infested climes in his college years.

You may have noticed the wedding photos have gone from the Flickr account. I wanted to keep my Flickr page for photographs I've taken myself - so the wedding pictures are now on Photobox instead.

So if you are a friend or family member who wants to see them then do get in touch and I'll send you the link.

I reckon I'm getting quite a handle on this photography lark. Over the last week I've been learning how to make judgements on manual exposures depending on the subject I'm trying to capture.

But something has defeated me. But to be honest it's also defeating the brain in my Canon 40D too. Even its advanced electronics can't cope with the subject I wish to photograph.

It's my new guitar. A Yamaha RGX A2. But unlike the one you can see by following that link - the model I bought is black.

Not just black. But the kind of black that sucks in light around it. There seems like some sort of gravitational lens effect around it that prevents photography. Certainly with an advanced DSLR.

Just a quick heads-up to those of your who are friends & family contacts on our Flickr account. Our rather brilliant wedding photographs are online there now.

We're in Dorset at the moment visiting Wifey's parents and watching gales batter the world outside. Today is our son and daughter's first birthday, a very special day indeed. Here are a couple of shots of the little ones as they celebrate their birthday.

You can find more of these over on our Flickr page, if you're set as a friend or family.

Jo and I took the twins for a walk in Weymouth yesterday. I hadn't planned to take many pictures, but the weather was so gorgeous I just had to take my camera along. And I'm glad I did, because I got some great pictures while I was there.

You can view the full size version of this picture and the rest of the set over on my Flickr page (open in a new window/tab).

Well the work CMS is on the fritz this morning so that gives me a little time to waffle here. I've got my mind on so many different, yet minor, things that I wonder where to start.

I've got to pack a few things as we're off to Dorset for a few days, a nice long break until Monday. There's a holiday feeling in our house probably due to going away for a bit longer than usual and because we're getting to run off for an evening of luxury away from the twins on Friday night.

The weekend also brings a chance for me to point my camera at some interesting things. I'm particularly looking forward to doing so because I've read and learned quite a few new techniques and lessons since I last had some attractive scenery to photograph. I've got all my camera gear packed up and ready to go.