Reminiscing

It's my birthday! Yep, another year older.

I'll return to the photos from Kenya in my next post, but to mark this occasion I would like to look back and show you some of my favourite photos from before 2003 - these are some of the shots that made me realise how much I enjoyed photography.

So, here they are, in no particular order apart from how I discovered them while browsing my collection. As always, click a photo for a larger version.

August 1997, Gloucestershire, UK

The best sunset shot I've ever taken.

I think everyone has a favourite sunset photo, because everyone takes photos of nice sunsets and they are relatively hard to mess up if you leave the camera to itself. However, this picture reflects the sky that evening exactly - it amazed me then and it amazes me every time I look at the photo now, and, although I've lost touch with them since, I wonder if the people with me there remember it too.

2001, Zakynthos, Greece

Smugglers Cove.

This shot, taken from a viewpoint on the cliff-top, shows the ship that washed up on the beach in 1980.

The real name of this beach is Navagio, but it is called Sugglers Cove by many as the ship, the MV Panagiotis, was allegedly carrying cigarettes illegally between Turkey and Italy.

August 1999, Cornwall, UK

A view over Land's End.

This shot was taken looking directly down over the edge of England's most westerly point.

I've been back since, and never been allowed to get anywhere near this close to the cliff.

Late 1997, Norfolk, UK

Wells-Next-the-Sea

It's not perfect (the prints are unevenly spaced and broken by another set in the mid-distance) but I always liked this one. I don't remember it being particularly early in the day, but the time of year meant the beach wasn't used much.

The scanning process has also added quite a lot of vignetting to the bottom of the photo - I don't think it was there in the original, but it adds to the atmosphere of the shot.

2002, Austria

The view from Zwölferkogel

During a walking holiday staying in Saalbach-Hinterglemm we attempted and achieved the top of Zwölferkogel.

The view on a clear day such as this is amazing - overlooking Hinterglemm, Wiesenegg and finally Saalbach where we started the journey.

Spring 1997, British Columbia

Bridal Veil Falls Provincial Park

This park is a couple of hours east of Vancouver. Park up and walk along forest paths to get to the falls themselves.

Even though this photo is so simple it has always been amongst my favourites - the way it splits the scene into three both vertically and horizontally just appealed for some reason. This was taken long before I knew about the rule of thirds, but now I do I can see why the photo is successful.

In case you're wondering why I picked 2003 - this was when I got my first digital camera, so all my photos from before then have to be scanned in before I can upload them, so it seemed a good cut-off point.

The photos from before 2001 were taken with a simple point-and-shoot zoom camera, which goes to show you don't need to spend thousands on equipment.

I hope you enjoyed me wondering through the past for a while.

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.

State of the nation (2)

It's not often I read a newspaper. This week though I've had a couple of free copies of The Times and a particular story in Thursday's edition, about proposed changes to the driving test, caught my eye.

The on-line version of the story has been re-worded for some reason - maybe to give a work experience kid something to do - but the gist is the same. The sentence that caught my eye in the print version says 'The DfT consultation paper, entitled Learning to Drive, also proposes to stop publishing the questions for the theory test, meaning that candidates would no longer be able to memorise the answers without understanding the principles.'

For anyone who is unaware, the driving theory test for cars and bikes consists of a set of multiple choice questions, of which 43 from a selection of 50 must be answered correctly, followed by a hazard perception test in which only about 60% of potential hazards need to be spotted. The multiple choice questions can be downloaded, bought or practised on-line, while mock tests for the second part are also available in numerous places, such as here.

The proposal sounds reasonable then doesn't it? After all, the questions are derived from the Highway Code and multiple choice quizzes are never the hardest in the world, often relying more on common sense than knowledge. Almost everyone who pays their £28.50 (!) must pass easily with minutes to spare right?

Wrong. The actual pass rate for the driving theory test in the UK is less than two thirds.

<sigh>

BBC iPlayer Without the Downloads

Time for a tangent ...

Back in July the BBC launched the iPlayer, a piece of software that would allow you to download and view programmes from the last seven days.

There were two problems: the player was only available for Windows, shutting out anyone with a Mac or Linux and a lot of people (myself included) are put off these days by having to install yet another client to watch/listen to locked content - most of the major channels seem to have their own versions of these things (e.g. Sky, Channel4), yet we're supposed to moving into a Video on Demand world in which we can watch anything at any time through our set top boxes.

Today, the BBC has launched a new version of the iPlayer. This time it's online. No downloads (apart from upgrading Flash if you still have an old version) - the videos just play in your web browser, like YouTube. This is great for me as I often find myself forgetting about things I meant to watch until shortly after they have ended.

OK, so it's nowhere near HD quality, but its good enough. If you have a web-enabled gaming console, you might even be able to get the service working through that, onto your TV, rather than watching on a monitor.

Content is only available if you live in the UK, but if you meet that criteria give it a go - I just discovered a show I'd never heard of before, The History of the World Backwards. Only the final episode is still available, so we're at the end (beginning) of history, featuring a henge design review meeting and talk of the hunting of a pre(post)-historic car wash. I'll now be watching out for earlier episodes when they are repeated.

Right, I'm off to watch last week's Top Gear...

The Great Fire of (East) London

I've been really bad lately - only one post in November, and now here we are almost a third of the way through December! I have some catching up to do.

Well actually that's not really true - for some reason I haven't been taking many photos recently so there's not much to catch up on. Various things have been getting in the way - busy at work, busy at home, it's dark now when I leave the house in the morning and when I get back at night, I've been doing some extra curricular work designing a website and when I have had some free time I've been playing Crysis.

Even the photos I did take last month went untouched until today when I finally got around to downloading them onto my PC and playing around with them ... Back in the middle of November there was a large fire in the East of London on the site of a future Olympics venue. From our office we had an amazing view of the huge plume of smoke and could see the flames when they were at their highest.

So, even though they are four weeks late and this isn't news any more, here are a couple of those photos. In the first one I like the way the smoke takes the shape of a dolphin jumping from the ground, and the fact there is a plane that seems to be flying straight for it. The second has been messed with a little to make the plume more ominous.

 

Sony DSC-T200

Autumn Morning

We went for a walk in our local park on Saturday morning and saw some of the colours that will be around for the next few weeks.

Last year the trees all seemed to change overnight - almost like they had all been waiting for each other and then started a great race. This year they are taking their time, changing one at a time, which means the colours last for much longer.

The photo below is my favourite from the morning (yeah OK, I mucked around with the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop a bit, but it looks good). This is from the same stand of trees that I shot last November. Last year all the trees were at the same stage, whereas this year you can still see green in the background.

Nikon D200, AF-S 18-200mm VR
1/320sec, f/7.1

Autumnal Eye

It's good to see that Autumn is back where it's meant to be - last year the season started very late, but this year the leaves had started falling and mornings had become cold and misty by the start of this month. I do like a good Autumn.

Last week on one of the aforementioned misty morns London remained shrouded even after I arrived at the office. Working on the 25th floor of one of the highest buildings in the area makes for some fantastic views. I took this photo of the London Eye and it came out a bit noisy and blurry - so I converted it to black and white and added a bit more noise for effect.

Sony DSC-T200

No Parking

This appeared sometime in the last week and I spotted it the following day on my walk to the train station on the way to work.

It is perhaps most pointless set of double yellow lines I have ever seen. OK, so it is next to a driveway and it is opposite the (footpath) entrance to a church, but this is a tiny road and here is the only stretch with any form of road markings.

Either a resident has taken it on themselves to police highway code item 243 or our local council doesn't have enough to worry about.

Made me chuckle anyway.

Nokia N73

Splash

What with all the rain we've been having in the UK recently there hasn't been the opportunity for rambles outdoors to capture nice summer images. So, instead, one day last week while the rain was hammering down on the conservatory roof I sat just inside the door for a while and attempted to get a shot of the raindrops splashing onto the patio outside.

This really is just pot-luck - its very difficult to time a shot like this: by the time you register a moment it's gone. It's simply a case of firing off a load of shots and reviewing them later.

So, how did I do? Not great - this image was the best of over one hundred clicks, and the drop is just out of focus. Next time will be better - and maybe I'll remember to use a flash.

Nikon 18-200mm VR at 200mm, 1/90sec, f/5.6

Boat Jumble

While walking along the beach/harbour front in St. Ives, Cornwall I spotted this pile of upturned boats and the mixture of colours and weathered textures caught my eye.

Nikon 12-24mm at 16mm, 1/400sec, f/8

Shipwreck

A shipwreck, seen from Land's End in Cornwall. I could be wrong, but I think this is the RMS Mulheim, which ran aground in March 2003.

This is the only decent shot I got at Land's End from our recent visit due to bad weather (the only outdoors shot anyway - some from the Doctor Who exhibition coming soon). A shame as we quite fancied a stroll along the cliff side path.

Nikon 18-200mm at 170mm, f/9, 1/125sec

The Lizard Lifeboat Station

A couple of shots of the lifeboat station at Lizard head - built in 1914 according to the sign above the door.

With it's lighthouse, famous pasties and at least two tea rooms claiming to serve the most southerly afternoon tea in the UK, this spot is a magnet for the tourists. Even when the weather is bad it is fairly busy here. This particular day was very windy and overcast, but we were fortunate that it was still clear enough for a fantastic view.

 

Nikon 12-24mm
14mm, f/18, 1/125sec                                      22mm, f/13, 1/125sec

Inhospitable

A shot of the cliffs at The Lizard. Converted to black and white it really gives a sense of how overcast and windy the weather was that day - there weren't many other walkers about to enjoy the views with us.

Nikon 12-24mm at 12mm, f14, 1/500sec

Isolation

A bench sits alone, facing out to sea at The Lizard, the most southerly point in the UK.

Nikon 18-200mm VR at 105mm, f10, 1/250sec

Eden Project - Outside

The Eden Project in Cornwall is on the site of an old quarry. Back in 1998 it really was just the remnants of the quarry - an open pit devoid of anything but mud and stagnant water. By 2001 the pit had been transformed into a lush valley full of plants and two odd looking structures called the biomes.

The biomes are huge, bubble-looking things that are fully climate controlled in order to create an environment suitable for the plants inside. One biome is full of Mediterranean flora, and the other is much hotter and more humid, containing what could literally be called a jungle.

Below are some photos of the biomes, showing their construction and just how large they are.

Kitesurfing

The stretch of coast between Hayle and Gwithian in Cornwall is popular for water sports, especially when its a little windy. The day I was there two weeks ago it was more than a little windy and the kitesurfers were out in force, with the view over to Godrevy lighthouse full of power kites.

Towans and dynamite

In the late 19th Century an explosives factory (the National Explosives Works) was built in the stretch of dune land - called the Towans - near Hayle in Cornwall. The factory survived until 1919, but explosives were still stored in the area until 1960, in various 'huts' dotted throughout the dunes.

Now those huts are ruins, and when walking the Towans between Hayle and Gwithian it is quite common to spot a few roofless concrete structures poking up between the dune grass.

Both pictures taken with the Nikon 12-24mm wide angle lens.

Bluebells

I said yesterday that I went to Ashridge at the weekend to see if there were any bluebells about. The deer were just a lucky coincidence so I guess I better post some photos of the flowers themselves for good measure.

Nikon 105mm VR micro, 1/60sec at f/8

 

Nikon 105mm VR micro
1/400sec at f/5                                     1/180sec at f/4

The Grand Union

A few weekends ago (before this unseasonably warm and sunny weather began) the Jiffler suggested a pub crawl down the Grand Union canal. The starting point was set as Tring station, and the end point Hemel Hempstead - a total distance of about eight miles, and six pubs. OK, there are actually seven pubs on the way, but the three in Berkhamstead were unexpectedly close together so we skipped one.

The two shots below were both taken between Northchurch and Berkhampstead, before too many pints of Guinness were consumed.

 

Nikon 18-200mm VR
70mm, f7.1, 1/80sec                  40mm, f4.5, 1/160sec

Under Lambeth Bridge

The underside of Lambeth Bridge. Another photo taken with the Nokia - the only changes being brightness and contrast, a vertical flip and cropping - the weird effect was created by the camera itself trying to compensate for the low light, but it kinda works.