Lost in the mist..

Sheep in the mist...


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Trees in the mist...
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Geese in the mist.


..and if I win the lottery this weekend I will post "gorillas in the mist" next week!

London calling..

Spotlit graffiti covered skate park. Plenty of hoodies and skaters abound, but none of their blurred movement was particularly pleasing and this turned out to be my best shot. Nice lighting, plenty of detail, great colours and pleased with my composition.


One of a sequence of hand held, long(ish) exposures I took trying to get something a bit different in a popular tourist spot. It was going to be of a Japanese tourist taking a photo with a point and click camera, but they pointed, clicked and were off in a blur! I still like the tones and movement in the shot though.

Metal underground. Again taken by accident almost, I spotted the great flooring lit really nicely and waited for a gap in the commuters to take a clean shot of the floor, when it dawned on me that the people passing by and their shadows and reflections actually add to the shot.

Fresh roasted chestnuts and toffee apples. Night-time market seller, again nicely lit and plenty of detail.

Dappled light on a grey squirrel in Hyde park. They are practically tame and I got several close up shots, but I like the light on this one (Sunlight wasn't exactly common place on this wintery day).

It also shows the bokeh (background lens blur) of my 100-400 lens on the new 50D sensor, a 1000% nicer than when using it on my old 350D! Hoorah!

All day Bath

Rusty old petrol pump, found at the entrance to a mechanics' workshop, looks older than most of the Roman remains!


Grave of William Fry of the infamous light brigade charge at Balaclava. He died several years after the battle, but I cannot find how. From books I've read I know, unfortunately, that the unwanted fame, horrific memories, guilt of surviving and poverty of the survivors caused many to take their own lives.

Grey squirrel keeping a tight hold on his nuts.

Opportunity Knocks..

In a happy twist of fate I find myself driving to work half an hour earlier than I need to be, with my camera on the passenger seat and passing flooded fields below an amazing pre-Sunrise sky. With the car parked in a layby, I breathe in the freezing air as I hop a farmers gate (no-one around to ask - looked like a common path though). Mist hovers over the distant flood waters as the Sun warms the air, fences submerge and trees wade up to their trunks in swirling water. I spot a lone Oak tree looking particularly photogenic and head over frosted grass and iced puddles to isolate it from power lines and more visually challenged trees. Holding my breath and bracing my cold hands I take the shot, then head off to work, some days I love commuting ..

Steam Driven

With my previous steam engine attempt foiled by a combination of fading sunlight, creeping shadows and a slight mis-judgement in just how fast the train would be thundering past, a change in plan was taken for this attempt..

With a half day off work, a print of the time-table and a bit of a scout of the area on google maps, I was on my way to spot, Bittern, a 72 year old A4 steam locomotive of the same design as the famous Mallard (holder of the world speed record for a steam locomotive). My choice of location this time: a nice head on, sweeping bend with no over-shadowing trees or embankment, lit by the sun from slightly behind, with a footpath crossing to get trackside, but with plenty of view to see it coming. As it turns out the view was nice and clean of obstructions, telegraph wires and general modern clutter. The track was also on a slight incline , so the engine would be producing more steam, bonus!

Still a couple of meters away from the track - partially because of a fence and partially due to nervous paranoia after the ground shaking Tangmere experience - I chose a fairly wide shot (29mm) to encompass some of the nice surroundings, the lines holding one corner in place. The dim light forced some less than ideal settings: ISO 1600, a fairly shallow aperture of f/6.3 and -1 stop exposure compensation (using center weighted metering) to keep my shutter speed up (1/400s). I've used Neat Image to reduce the noise and did some brightening of the RAW image to bring out the details...

On holy ground

Another pic from the derelict St Johns church in Slebech.  Not entirely sure this counts as holy ground!  Built in the mid 19th century to replace an old Knights Templar church, it was constructed facing the wrong direction and the architect, Thomas Rowlands, hung himself in the tower.

Old gravestone of a young girl, entwined beneath a gnarly tree.

 
Candles in a leaded window.
A moment in time. (but what time?!)

The Fisher King

In a surprise early start to a challenge I have set myself for next year, I managed to take my first Kingfisher photo!  (Hopefully more and better photos of Kingfishers next year).   I spotted this little guy fishing the nearby stream, with the heavy rain swelling the stream he (looks like a male with all black beak) stopped to fish a small wier pool about 20m away.  Heavily cropped, but my 100-400 lens and new sensor just about provide a blurry yet bloggable shot...

Snap snap snap snap snap..

I've gotten a bit trigger happy again, while I get used to my new camera, not helped by the much faster shooting speed which manages to rattle off 2-3 shots before I know it!  I will try and filter out a lot of the practice snaps, but here are a few left overs from the last couple of weekends rare daylight...

A family of Shaggy Ink Caps amongst autumn leaves.

Church on Sunday

St Andrews church, Castle Combe.  Founded in the 13th century and expanded over the years.
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The bell tower.

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A rusty old tap on a rain collection tank, proof that church graveyards have been eco friendly for decades!
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My favourite from this batch, subtle light, tones and nice strong geometrical forms.

Cotswold Falconry

3 shots taken on a visit to the Cotswold Falconry center, a fantastic place for photos of captive birds, had a brilliant time.  Howwever weather and light conspired against taking too many shots...

Photo Flurry

With my PC finally installed and working with my new camera, here are the photos from the last couple of weeks.  The first 5 being the final images on my 350D and the bottom 3 taken on my 50D (not that you'll get to see too much difference with them re-sized down!

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Rainbow, taken through circular polariser really makes it pop

Old and New

Some of the almost last (not quite the last that I'll post) shots taken with my 350D..  a misty telegraph line and a European Wolf (I think she is Latea) from a trip to the UK Wolf Conservation Trust.

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Lastly one of the first shots from my new camera, taken in less than ideal conditions (dismal rainy morning) using ISO 800.  I've left it full size if anyone is interested in taking a close look...  (only photoshop processes were a 1 degree straighten, a slight crop and desaturate the colour).

Hmmm, so much for full size.. I guess blogger must restrict photo sizes then.  Oh well, it's as big as it's going to get on here.

Website tidy up

Just a quick note that I've finally updated my webpage Marks-Wasted-Time.co.uk, removing some old photos, adding some new photos and tweaking the code to work a bit better with a wider variety of browsers (tested with Chrome and Firefox - which at least now display things in roughly the correct place!).

Now I just have to go back and re-edit the kit page with my new camera ...

Goodbye to an old friend..

After nearly 25,000 photos, the time has come for me to wave farewell to my trusty 350D camera.  It's been my trusty companion for three and a half years, as illustrated throughout this blog.  Carried everywhere, from my first ever digital snaps onwards it's been there with me to see winter sunrises, wild animals, far away shores and many, many moments in time, captured forever.  It survived freezing mornings, pouring rain, the odd knock, mists of sea-spray, condensation and endless dust and dirt, to which I salute it and wish it many more happy years of use.

With great thanks to my mum, I have a new toy to play with!  An all new Canon EOS 50D.  With several years development and a whole level of advancement over the 350D it's quality, functions, ergonomics and performance has impressed me a lot, even in the few days I've owned it. 

I am going to be upgrading to Windows 7 this week, so it may be a little while until I have some sample photos posted, but once they're processed they will start appearing here soon.

Dark Days

Some shots of Canada Geese on a stop-over in their migration.  

With the planet leaning away from the Sun, daylight hours shortening and the clocks changing, things are going to get a bit leaner on the photo front for a while..
Was taking this subway shopping trolley when a passer by appeared in the shot, with the red lighting I like the way it's added a sinister edge to the photo.  The hand rail instantly transformed into a handy leading line straight to the dark figure..

Misty morning

Lacock Abbey in the morning mist

The old wagon collection at Dyrham Park

Deerfest

It's that time of year again, when male deers decide that they better put their big, spikey antlers to some use and have a good old fashioned scrap to impress the ladies.  So a visit to the Fallow deers at Dyrham Park was in order.  Here are 7 shots (selected from a trigger happy 200 taken throughout the day - note to self, work on shot selection!)  chosen to show a variety of moods and characters.

Stag dozing, sheltering from the breeze under a drystone wall.
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Adolesent males practicing their head bashing skills.
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Two large males going 110% at each other with debris flying.  A fantastic spectacle!  

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Nice mood in this grassy, setting sun shot.
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Young male in dappled sunlight
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Nice subtle lighting highlighting the textures of this stags horns and coat.