Once again I've tried to stay indoors as much as possible today while my cold improves. Changes of temperature send me into paroxysms of violent coughs which, as well as being painful thanks to pulled stomach muscles, are liable to send any passersby running for the hills in fear of Aussie Flu! I've caught up on a few admin jobs around the house but also took the opportunity to do a spot of reading. My current book, The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor, is a murder mystery set in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London in 1666 and a bit of a page turner. Settling down this afternoon I grabbed a coffee and couple of welshcakes to go with it and was inspired to shoot the scene as my offering for this week's 'words' theme over on the Photoblog forum. If you fancy participating in the theme do pop over to the weekly theme thread and see what it's all about.
21 January 2018 - Waiting patiently
We were supposed to have lots of rain today but apparently no one told the weather that, so we had snow instead! I've been keeping indoors as I've got a hacking cough and cold so I spent some time watching the birds at our feeding station. The blackbirds have well and truly got the knack of feeding from the fat balls now but they do have to queue up as there's only one perch from which they can reach them. This young female blackbird was looking particular puffed up as she waited patiently and the falling snow just adds that winter wonderland finishing touch!
20 January 2018 - Me and my hamster
Much of the time Lucy ignores the many toys we've bought for her over the years but from time to time she suddenly finds the impulse to hunt. Today's favourite was this hamster and I found her sitting on the living room floor this afternoon contemplating it!
19 January 2018 - In search of speed
Since I took delivery of my new camera a couple of weeks ago I've been looking an opportunity to properly test its ability to track moving subjects accurately. What I needed was a ready supply of subjects who would obligingly keep speeding past my camera. The local birdlife hasn't been cooperative enough so I decided to seek out speed of a mechanical variety instead. Snetterton race circuit provided the source I needed, with a track day taking place today, so I drove up to Norfolk this morning. An eclectic mix of cars continuously sped around the track all day so I was able to try out lots of different settings. As I suspected the camera's bespoke tracking mode isn't very good, although I had the odd success.
I had much more success using a single focus point but with the camera set to continuous focus and I moved that focus point to where I wanted it with my thumb on the touchscreen. The other useful option was to activate all 225 focus points and tell the camera which group of points I wanted it to start with. Having locked onto the lead car the camera then tracked it across the viewfinder pretty well, although I suspect this would work less well with a large field of cars in a race.
Someone's facing the wrong way here! I caught a long chain of 28 shots of this incident and the camera focused precisely for the vast majority of them.
Normally I would spend some time doing some slow speed panning work to create a sense of speed in my pictures. I did a little of that today, but most of the time I stuck to a shutter speed of around a thousandth of a second. That meant I was unlikely to have any problems with camera shake and any failures were going to largely down to the camera rather than me!
One of my successful slow shutter panning shots from today. This gives a much greater sense of speed but results in a much lower success rate on any camera, mirrorless or otherwise.
Some seven hundred frames later I headed home, happy that I'd give my camera a really good test. It achieved a much better success rate than my little GX8 and I think the G9 now matches the abilities of the Canon DSLR I've just sold so I'm happy with my choice. All I need now is for the weather to warm up so I can get out to photograph more motorsport and aviation events and hone my skills!
18 January 2018 - Aviators and acrobats
The birds who visit our garden are an endless source of entertainment and I keep some binoculars beside the kitchen window at all times to aid identification. Today we had the usual range of aviators in the garden - lots of goldfinches plus the odd greenfinch, half a dozen blackbirds and a solitary robin. Shooting through the kitchen window I was able to catch them all on camera, although it was a bit of a challenge as yesterday's bright sunshine had long since gone.
This afternoon, staring aimlessly out of the window, I noticed we had an additional visitor - more of an acrobat than an aviator. Most days this squirrel scoots along the back fence (the theme from Mission Impossible always passes through my mind when I see this!) but it rarely ventures further than that. Today though he or she whizzed up the bird feeder tree to nab some tasty morsels from the fatballs. I know technically grey squirrels are vermin but I couldn't help admire this one's grace as it scaled the tree and I don't mind too much, as long as it only makes the occasional raid on the bird food!
17 January 2018 - In search of subjects that fly
When I awoke this morning the sky was a beautiful shade of blue and featured an unusual golden orb. Of course, what I was seeing was the sun, but it's been so long since we had a sunny day I'd almost forgotten what that looked like! I certainly wasn't going to waste this opportunity so I headed in out in search of some flying subjects, with which to test the focus tracking on my new camera.
I headed first for the Fowlmere RSPB nature reserve, not far from here. My hopes were high that I might find some bird life to photograph among the chalk streams and reed beds. Sadly I was mightily disappointed. With the exception of a lone swan, who remained stubbornly in the water, I barely saw a single bird. The walk did me good though and it was wonderful to be out in the sunshine, even if there was a cutting wind which was, of course, the probable reason why the birds were in hiding.
After a couple of hours I gave up and drove the short distance to Duxford in the hope that I might find the odd metallic bird to photograph. Here my luck was in - as I walked out of the visitor centre a Spitfire was revving up its engines, ready for take off. I dug my camera and long lens out of my bag, legged it over to the flight line and snapped away. After spot of lunch I emerged back into the sunshine and found, to my delight, that the Spitfire was going out again - my luck really was in. I'd been hoping to shoot the odd mundane private plane so this thoroughbred was a huge bonus!
The resulting photos were something of a mixed bag. That said, I was shooting into the light a lot of the time and my panning technique is horribly out of practice after a winter with no aircraft to aim at. However, there were some successes. With some more practice and greater familiarity with the camera's controls no doubt things will improve- I just need to find more suitable subjects to photograph!
16 January 2018 - Random meanderings
After a morning spent thoroughly refreshing the portfolio over on my website (you can see if here if you'd like to take a look) I wanted to get out of the house for a short walk while there was some light. I ended up in Saffron Walden where I simply followed my nose. In one of the shopping streets I found a dog tied to a post while his owner was inside one of the shops. He was shivering in the cold wind so I went over to say hello and tried to offer some warmth and a good fuss. He seemed very grateful and obligingly posed for a photo, with one paw raised in a very cute manner. Fortunately, when I passed by again half hour later he'd gone so I hope his owner had taken him somewhere warmer.
I used a daguerreotype preset for this picture - it seemed appropriate for the nostalgic look
I continued my meanderings, heading past Oliver Cromwell's former headquarters towards the church. By this stage the low winter sun was throwing some beautiful shafts of light towards the high altar. The way it was falling across the steps and ornately carved wooden gates was simply beautiful and I figured there was a photo to be found there for this week's 'shape and form' theme over on the Photoblog forum.
Finally, having checked my canine friend had been reunited with his owner I walked back towards my car. On the way I passed a new chocolate shop so I stopped off for a warming hot chocolate which was absolutely delicious!
15 January 2018 - Lateral thinking
I've noticed over the years that blackbirds don't generally take food from bird feeders, unlike the bluetits and goldfinches who frequent our garden. Instead they scuttle around the earth below, picking up the crumbs dropped by those feeding overhead. In recent weeks I've often seen as many as six blackbirds, bickering over the leftovers and chasing each other around the flowerbed.
Since we replanted our birdfeeder tree into a more upright position and reorganised the feeders though, a few of these intelligent birds have used some lateral thinking. They realised they can stand on one of the branches to reach the fatball feeder, from where they can scoff much tastier and larger morsels of food. This particular branch is now frequented by a steady stream of blackbirds, all stuffing their beaks with high energy food, to keep them fuelled through the tough winter months.
14 January 2018 - Reaching a crossroads
It's strange how you can visit a place many times and not notice a landmark right under your nose. Every month I park up in the village of Knowl Hill to eat lunch before my rehearsal. The spot where I park is right next to a long footbridge, crossing the A4, yet I've never thought to walk across it. Today I put that right, walking up the steps to see what the view looked like. Staring across the fields I saw this chap walking his dog in the distance. I could see he was heading in my direction, towards a cross roads in the grass, where decades of dog walkers have followed the same path. I composed my shot and waited for man and dog to reach the spot where I wanted to freeze frame their journey. It may not be the most dynamic piece of street photography (or should that be field photography?!) I've ever created but it taught me to take more notice of the places I visit month in, month out.
Mr & Mrs Greylag Goose having a good preen
13 January 2018 - Oh, for some sunshine!
I'm beginning to wonder whether my recent camera and lens purchases have put a curse on the weather. Since I bought the lens in mid-December we've barely seen the sun, and when it has deigned to appear I've been at work! Today was similarly gloomy but that wasn't going to put me off going for a stroll after my shift at Hatfield Forest.
Feathers tidied up, so it's time for a swim
Yesterday I attended the SWPP photography trade show in London. I had no intention of spending any more money but it did offer me the opportunity to meet up with sports photographer Ian Cook to ask his advice on action shooting with my new G9. He was incredibly helpful, suggesting tweaks I could make to the settings, including using back button focus. I've been aware of this technique (which separates focusing from the shutter button) but had never tried it until this afternoon. After a few minutes all at sea I managed to get my brain into gear and spent some time photographing the birds.
Coming in to land
Thanks to the apocalyptically dull light I struggled with birds in flight today but had more success with the geese on the lake. Of course, one of the forest robins was ever present, always hopeful of some crumbs, so I couldn't resist a quick picture, especially when he chose to land on a post just a couple of yards from me!
I think I can safely say my back button focus technique needs more practice but at least I came away with a few pictures. All I need now is for some sunshine when I have a few days off next week - fingers crossed!