Family, Photography and other misc news
A few years ago Fuji discontinued Fuji Velvia, for many photographers this is there favourite landscape film. Well due to photographer pressure they brought it back.
Now they have announced it will be discontinued again for some formats. For me I don’t mind if then end it for 35mm as I only use Black & White film for 35mm and mainly digital. But for medium format and large format I am a heavy Velvia user and hope they keep it for us larger format users.
Most people now use auto focus cameras. My old medium format Hasselblad is a V series so is manual focus as is my large format camera.
Also one of my favourite 35mm wide angles is manual focus, but thanks to Nikon keeping there F mount it still works even on the latest modern Autofocus cameras.
What I have found surprising is that sales of classic manual focus lens is increasing. The reason is cameras like the micro four thirds system and the Sony Nex system. People are rediscovering some of these old classic lens and with converters and features like focus peaking they work well on a number of modern cameras.
It’s great to see these old lens being used again.
I had a number of personal photography projects planned this year involving shooting models outdoors.
I am now pretty glad I did not get round to organising anything, as the weather would have made it a bit of a wash out, but it’s now time to risk it.
So if your a Lincolnshire Model who fancies an outdoor shoot and is willing to risk the weather then get in contact.
Its a little sad but it amused me. I was building a number of UNIX and LINUX servers the other day and this message amused me:
“With great power comes great responsibility”
Thought I would share.
With the week on the motorcycle and now this last week back at work, its been a while since we hit the gym or went running. Before we went on our bike tour we did manage to go to Yoga and again last Wednesday, but its been less fitness and more cooked breakfasts, coffee and cake being the order of the day.
Well this has to end so on Saturday’s nice warm sunny afternoon we pulled on our running gear and went for a run. We only did 2.5 miles, not a lot and it was difficult at first but towards the end as the soft rain started to come down, and it still being warm, it was rather pleasant and satisfying.
The BMW Motorrad Rallye 2 Pro is the best textile suit I have had, while it can be a little hot in the summer if it’s raining due to the inner warm lining also being the Goretex layer, it truly is a great all year round suit.
Because the outer layer that gets all the road muck and the inner waterproof layer are separate it does make it easier to wash. In fact the jacket is made up of three pieces, the outer layer which is mildly water resistant and very abrasion resistant. This layer has lots of vents to help keep you cool even in the heat of summer. The middle layer which is very light and holds all the armour which zips into the outer. Then the optional inner lining for extra warmth and is also fleece lined Goretex so 100% waterproof.
With all the heavy use it’s been getting it was time for a full wash.
I stripped out the armoured layer from the jacket and also the Gortex layer from the jacket and trousers. Then removing the armour from the trousers, a little tricker as its not in a layer like the jacket it was all ready for the wash.
Let’s hope it’s dry by Monday!
Its very common when photographing children to find yourself shooting down on them. Its something I find myself doing far to often.
Try getting low down and either shooting from their llevel or even lower and shooting up at them. It really helps and improves the shot.
For Film users a blog can be a odd affair.
Before digital took off, I used to shoot a lot of Black & White. Sometimes I would shoot in the morning, develop and produce a set of contact prints in the afternoon, then print my final selects that evening. Having my own darkroom was great and I could easily lose hours in there.
This was as close to instant film photography as I ever got.
Now I still shoot film but the great majority of my work is digital. Now digital is truly instant. I can go on a shoot that day, post process the images, blog and publish them the same day.
The other month I have had the privilege of spending just over a whole week doing nothing but either location scouting or taking pictures. The purpose of this photography trip was to get some Large Format Landscape Photography done.
By the end of the week I had shot 4 frames of film and 700 digits shots.
It’s likely to be at least a while before I get the film developed, so how do I blog about that. Do I publish the digital shots now and the scans of the film later. Post date my log entries? In this modern fast paced digital world we live it’s difficult to know how to present my film work as they are always shots from the past.
Well after a week of motorcycling and generally having fun, today was the day back a work.
After a week in the saddle enjoying the best roads the midlands and North Wales has to offer the morning commute felt very short and remarkably easy despite the rain.
It’s certainly one of the best ways to start a day.
Well the weather finally caught up with us. So far this week, we have had light showers and sunshine.
Today it was time to head home. The weather forecast was not good, weather warnings, and a forecast of a months rain in a day.
It was a slow steady ride home in none stop rain plus some mist and fog over high ground.
The rivers we saw were close to bursting their banks but the roads were passable with care.