Marks Wasted Time: July 2017

Monday, July 17, 2017

Little Owl

Had a bit of a potter about Sunday evening, seeing what was about. Plenty of rabbits, deers and hares, but no Barn Owls unfortunately. There was however, our local Little Owl once again perched photogenically in one of the old (medieval?) barn slit windows. As probably the same as previously, poor lighting and high ISO due to the orientation of the barn, but I can never resist this shot.

Hopefully, if all goes well, off to Wales this weekend for some hiking and photo opportunity grabbing. Half a mind on the lack of Moon-age and the potential dark-sky combo, leading to some late night sky photography, if the weather plays ball. We will see...

Little Owl in barn window
ISO1600, 400mm, f/6.3, 1/200s, -0.7ev, stabilised against a tree, noise reduction

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Garden Pics

Life is emerging at full speed ahead in the garden at the moment. Dragons are emerging from empty nymph shells, honey bees have taken up residence in a nuc hive (in preparation for a full on hive soon), frogs still frequent the pond and general colourful happiness prevails.

The honey bee hive project is likely going to hijack this blog somewhat, although I also hope it will push forward some more photography too. Having completed a beekeeping course and had quite a few invaluable practical sessions with the local beekeeping society, we are officially rookie beekeepers and potential saviours of the planet. Having learnt all the diseases and problems they have to contend with, I'm surprised we even still have honey bees at all!

Suffice to say .. stand by for more bee, hive, honey, honeycomb tagged posts fairly soon.

Honeybee on our lavender
ISO400, 105mm, f/4.5, 1/500s, -1ev, flash

Dragonfly nymph shell taken from the reeds in our pond
ISO400, 105mm, f/4, 1/100s, flash

Emerged dragonfly, drying its wings on a plant near the pond
ISO400, 105mm, f/4.5, 1/200s

Bumble bee on our alliums
ISO400, 105mm, f/7.1, 1/160s, flash

Periscope up! Funny how animals don't sense danger when you hide your face behind the camera.
ISO100, 105mm, f/3.2, 1/200s, flash

Just nice light and hippy bits.
ISO320, 400mm, f/5.6, 1/400s

Whos wasted time?

My name is Mark Coombes, I live in the South of England, near the City of Bath. I'm 42 and have a deep passion for all things photographic. I always had some artistic talent, but never had the patience for most art forms, so digital photography suits me down to the ground.

I was given a Canon 1000F for my 18th birthday with some old Sigma lenses, but really only got serious in 2006 when I bought a 350D. My equipment went from 17-85mm, 100-300mm IS and Sigma 105mm Macro, to a 16-35mm II L and 100-400mm L thanks to some serious saving and in 2010 I upgraded to a Canon 50D, before finally investing in a Canon 5D mark III in 2013. Since then I've added various flashes, flash modifiers, filters, polarisers, tripods and a Canon 135mm f/2 lens.

I tend to photograph anything and everything that I find photogenic, combined with my passion for adventure and exploration most of my photos are happy coincidences, rather than the odd planned or staged effort. If I was to pick one specific area to specialise in it would be wildlife photography, especially now I'm getting out for less sunrise landscapes. Only time will tell where it leads and if anything productive ever comes out of it, or if I am just wasting time..