Sundial

Another photo from the Peak District for you.

This photo shows part of the vertical sundial above the doorway at All Saints Church in Bakewell (a nice spot for a good view of the town).

When I originally downloaded this photo from my camera and compared the time shown to the date recorded against the picture I thought the dial was wrong - the time shown is 11-ish, while the time I had was 12:15. However, I then realised that it was my camera that was wrong as it hadn't been adjusted correctly for the clocks going back the previous autumn.

The markings on a sundial's face have to be designed specifically for the latitude at which it will be used. If a sundial is moved north or south it will no longer be correct, unless it is tilted by the same number of degrees as it has been moved. If you'd like to know more about sundials, this site is a good read.

Where's Dave?

Here I am!

It's been over two months since my last post, and over three since my last photo. I could blame it all on my home PC having blown a gasket (or whetever it is inside these things) or on being too busy achieving my New Year's resolutions, but one of those is a cop-out and the other is a lie. I'll leave it to you to decide which is which (although I had the boiler fixed so I haven't been completely idle).

My PC has really broken though. I think it was partially my fault. Before it went I started building a new one, and got far enough along to not want to go out and buy a completely pre-built new one that will work straight away, but not far enough to have finished it yet. This leaves me with no PC on which I can download and edit photos.

The new PC won't be done until at least the start of April, so my current plan is to go back over some of my favourite old snaps and start posting those - the blog heading does state 'past and present' after all.

While my thoughts meander around what to choose, here's something you should definitely watch if any of the following are true: you quite like Star Wars; you think Lego is one of the best inventions ever; Eddie Izzard has ever made you giggle. Enjoy.

EDIT: Removed video as is caused IE to crash! You can see it here

Rope Light

I have a rope light strung up along the handrail of the stairs in my house. It looks pretty cool when it is switched on, but that tends to be only for parties - most of the time it just sits there not doing much but collecting dust.

The other night I had the lights on while taking photos of moths - seen in the background of the first picture in last week's Creatures Of The Night post - and wondered what the rope might look like on its own. Here are a couple of shots from my experiment.

 

Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR
1/200sec, f/7.1                                               1/80 sec, f/8

Crane Skyline

Cranes dominate the skyline over Somerset House - I liked the pattern and the colours at sunset.

Doctor Who - The (Robotic) Companion

The last couple of posts have both included only Doctor Who baddies. This is because there weren't really many series good guys at the exhibition.

This is probably unsurprising - they tend to be played by real people (and I doubt David Tennant would be willing to stand still at the exhibition for eight hours a day), whereas the baddies are generally large alien costumes (which might have people in them in the shows, but exist on their own after the cameras are switched off).

There was one 'good guy' there though - K9 - the Doctor's faithful robotic companion.

Nikon 12-24mm at 12mm, 1/60sec, f/11, flash

Doctor Who - The Bad Guys

Yesterday I posted my first picture from the previously mentioned Doctor Who Exhibition at Land's End.

I'm not one hundred percent sure why there would be a Doctor Who exhibition at Land's End, but due to the rain (and the fact that Doctor Who is just plain great) we decided to take a look.

It doesn't take long to wander around - and there is a bit of a gap towards the end, where they are obviously waiting for some Series 3 paraphernalia to arrive - but it's good fun none-the-less. You can get really close to the exhibits, and although probably against the rules you can even touch things like a Slitheen and the Cyberman.

Below are some of the baddies the Doctor has encountered - a Clockwork Droid (from The Girl in the Fireplace), a Cyberman and a better view of the Dalek from my last post.

  

Nikon 12-24mm

Do Not Touch The Dalek

I don't think this photo really needs an explanation - hopefully everyone knows what a Dalek is and shouldn't need the warning.

Nikon 12-24mm at 24mm, 1/60sec, f/11, flash

Can you tell what it is yet?

Another item seen during my trip to Sweden this week. It's probably not too hard to tell what it is, but I'm going to keep schtum anyway. A small bit of intrigue for a sunny May weekend. I probably would never have taken a picture of this, but I was a little tipsy and I noticed the shadow, which interested me enough to get this close.

Some Fun With Language

I've had a quick jaunt over to Sweden this week - spent most of one day travelling to get there and what felt like most of the next day travelling to get back (strikes and an apparent shortage of air traffic controllers causing delays aplenty). We stayed in Bromma for the night, so didn't even get to see the city. I'm glad it was only a one night stay - the room I got at the hotel had a curtain, which, when drawn back revealed only a wall. Not even a view out of a window of a wall outside - just a curtain to make it seem like there might be a window there.

The high point of the trip was with words. I'm definitely with Crazy Dave in finding fun in foreign languages sometimes. This photo is of the sign over a fire extinguisher.

Pixel Peeping

Some people like to analyse pictures a bit too far, expanding the image beyond 100% so that they can look at individual pixels and complain about some small problem. I prefer to see the whole picture, rather than zoom in on a small part of it though.

For those who do like looking at pixels, here are some - a shot of some text on a white background on my monitor using a macro lens. Each pixel on the screen is made up of a red, a green and a blue element, and this shot shows that pretty well.

Nikon 105mm Micro at f9, 1/160sec, ISO1000

Chito Chito

Day 13, and as predicted yesterday I have a lie-in this morning. Its not that I don't want to get up at six a.m., honest, but my legs are a little shaky after the long walk yesterday and I have no energy - it seems Snickers can only keep a guy going for so long before real food is needed. So, after the 'wake up tea' another three hours sleep is in order, followed by a leisurely breakfast while we wait for those who did manage to pull themselves out of their sleeping bags to return from the climb.

Once we do set off, we're heading steadily downwards - the high altitude is still a problem so the speed isn't high, but the climb down the hill into Duglha is great, especially when passing groups struggling upwards. That's what we looked like just two days ago!

We finally learn the phrase 'chito chito' - Nepalese for 'quickly quickly' - as we begin to pick up speed and we reach our next stop, Pheriche, mid-afternoon.

On day 14 we arrive back in Tengboche after a tortuous walk through the snow (the weather has finally changed: its snowing and the paths have become extremely slippery). Each day the monks at the monastery gather twice to chant - once in the morning and once in the afternoon - and we make our way over to the monastery for three o'clock to sit and listen.

 

Later on, back at the lodge, it appears that the appetite is back to normal. Just in time too as this is the place to try the local specialities of Snickers and Mars Pies. They are both pretty good, but I'd have to go with the Mars variation as my favourite - like a cross between a profiterole and a deep fried Mars bar. Mmmmmm.

Mani Stones & Prayer Flags

Mani stones are rocks, boulders or stones that have been inscribed with mantras. They are associated with Tibetan Buddhism.

The stones can be huge, standing on their own, or small and made into walls or piles.

We're seeing a lot of these stones on the walk - especially at the lower altitudes where the more permanent settlements are located - dotted along the path, sometimes to one side and sometimes in the middle of the trail.

It is important to remember to always walk around the stones clockwise if possible.

 

Prayer flags are also often seen, wrapped around Mani stone piles or walls, strung between walls or stupas or between trees or hilltops.

Each flag is one of five colours and is printed with mantras and symbols, and each colour represents a different thing: red for fire, green for water, blue for sky or space, yellow for earth and white for wind or air.

Monasteries often have thousands of flags outside.

 

Lost

If you followed the directions on this road sign you'd end up as lost as it is. Probably the result of some drunken shenanigans at the weekend.

Nikon 60mm, f6.3, 1/1250sec, ISO-800 (by mistake)

Light graffiti

Graffiti on a light in a footpath tunnel on one of Milton Keynes' Redways

Nikon 60mm, f6.3, 1/350sec, ISO-800

The Light

A photo of the light above my desk. Edited a little to darken the shade, bring out the elements of the bulb and convert to black and white.

Sigma 30mm, f8, 1/320sec

Night Light

Here's another photo taken on my trip between work and home - this one in the opposite direction to those I posted a couple of weeks ago, so its already well and truly dark.

I thought I'd try to get an image showing how the street light illuminated the tree that had grown around it - quite difficult to focus due to not having a tripod and also to capture correctly because of the huge contrast between the light and the dark surroundings. Most of the photos I took didn't look great, but this one works in B&W I think.

Sigma 30mm at f1.4, 1/25 sec

This could be the last post for a while - I'm off to Cambodia til Christmas. I'll have my little P&S camera with me so will try and post if anything comes of it.