Winter in Livingston!

Giant icicles hanging from the roofline, 1 foot of snow and lovely red skylines at night (which I sadly missed the opportunity to shoot).

The seasons have gone crazy as little buds have started growing on the trees while apples are still hanging onto others. It's very bizarre but also very beautiful.

View from the window [Icicles]

Moon

Silhouette

Lamplit Willow

Apples in winter

Night Shoot (Edinburgh)

My first attempt at a night-shoot and I found it quite hard.
I was thinking about it too much and taking too long to decide what to do and where to stand etcetera, whilst the weather was too cold and rainy. I was also faced with people - scary, arrogant, curious and more - hindering my progress.

Anyway, here are a few images from my digital collection.

Christmas light columns of "The Dome", George St, Edinburgh

The Big Wheel on Princes St [traffic and people passing by], Edinburgh

The Big Wheel and The Scott Monument, Princes Street, Edinburgh [bus passing by]

Depending on how they turn out, I may add some from my transparancies once they have been processed.

Aberfeldy

Over the rainy weekend I went to Aberfeldy for a little stayover and I am pleased to say that it was gorgeous.
The scenery on the route up was dark and misty giving an eerie, mysterious feel to the hills, glens and Lochs. Aberfeldy itself was very quaint and surrounded by much woodland and gorges where you could go for set walks.
We chose the Birks of Aberfeldy, renamed as such because Rabbie Burns allegedly found inspiration here to write 'The Birks of Aberfeldy'.
Thunderous waterfalls and plenty woodland makes for a pleasant journey on foot, even when it's raining (more-so if has been raining heavy), to see the largest of the waterfalls in full flow.

Here are some photos from the visit.
(Note, I didn't have my tripod with me so the slow shutter shots were, unfortunately, handheld - that would be pretty much all the shots as it was so dark).

The highest waterfall


Another waterfall


Very high drop


Rabbie Burns statue


View from hotel room window


Car lights on route home


Forth Road Bridge from Car

Tristesses de la lune [Charles Baudelaire]

Ugly Ducklings?

Not these cute little guys.

I took this image when I was at Butterfly and Insect World. There is an enclosure at the back of the hot-house where you can have a look inside wasp and bee-hives, bird watch or just cool down. These cute little ducklings were gathering close to their mother before she herded them away to a less 'busy' area of their enclosure.

As sunlight was minimal at this point, and I had no tripod, I put my ISO up quite high (800 maybe, I can't remember). I love the grainy quality that the high ISO has produced. The original was in colour but I think it looks better in black & white.

Hug grafitti!

A cute little hug for anyone who views my blog :)


I'm not sure, but I think Konijntje might be Dutch for bunny. I will check this.

(The image was taken on my phone camera so it, clearly, wasn't fully manual but I thought it was worth an entry).

Frustration

I'm getting really annoyed that I can't seem to achieve the art of 'panning'.
I've photographed moving cars, people, animals, leaves and so forth and I just cannot manage it. Sigh!!

Here is the best shot of a bad, bad bunch. In the original cool, blue form (accidental tungsten white balance) and also in black&white.


If anyone has any tips on panning they will be greatly received.

Lily rocked my world

I took my analogue SLR with me to Edinburgh last month, to finish off the film that had been left in it from over a year ago (tsk tsk).
I put my yellow filter on it and took my first shot of the day. I suddenly remembered (I don't know how I managed that since I have a terrible memory) that the film was for colour prints. Ooops.

I do like how the photo turned out, though.

Einstein's philosophy!

The photograph of the gas mask was taken near a Livingston underpass at night. The street lamps provided the red glow.

The quote is by Albert Einstein.

Pass me the fork 'n' knife!!

I've not really had much time to do anything lately as I've been toiling away with my college work. The type of prints I'm producing are a bit boring, I'd say, but hopefully they meet the brief (lighting, darkroom techniques, etc).

My neighbours must think I'm crazy as I'm usually hanging around the garden taking odd pictures. I had a funny moment when I was lying sprawled on my stomach on the front path, trying to get a contrast shot of the manhole cover in the drive. A neighbourly couple drove past and slowed down the car. I was about to wave until I realised they had looks of disgust and confusion on their face and had slowed down to try to figure out what I was doing.

Sigh!

The scan doesn't really show the print very well but here is an example of a 'full tonal range' print. I took this shot in the garden (as usual), placing a fork on a stack of slabs. It was originally intended to be my 'high contrast' print but my lecturer helped me to tone it down with a yellow filter on the enlarger. I will have to study the resultant prints to see the differences.



My 'high-contrast' print is of a frost-covered picnic bench on the college grounds. I got funny looks taking this picture also and my fingers were freezing. Such is the hard life of a photographer.



Anyway, I hope they'll be good enough to pass and that I'm forming the necessary knowledge and skill to improve my printing to a far superior standard than what I am currently at.

Receipt gone bad!

I was cleaning out a box of my belongings and I found an old receipt. It's gone oddly black and I think something must also have spilled onto it.
I think it looks quite funky now.

Today's local grafitti discoveries

I really like that there are many instances of stencil grafitti locally. Some people would complain but I find it brings a little interest to even the most mundane objects.




On my travels today I also found a little laminated card near the school. It must have been dropped in the excitement of leaving school on Friday for the weekend.

Lucky Plant?

On 1st October I followed the instructions for sprouting my Lucky Plant (a gift from my parents from their holiday in Cyprus). It is now 6th November and there are no sprouts. I don't think my plant is very lucky for me :(

Randoms!

Here are some random photographs I found while I was trawling through my folders.

The day after a lovely, candle-lit dinner I discovered a dead daddy-long-legs in one of the candles - all caught up in the hardened wax. The only way to get the beastie out was to melt the wax again. The poor blighter. This picture was taken on my little compact digital (Nikon).

During a midnight walk in my new local surroundings I found some graffiti stencilled on an underpass wall. As it was very late and dark I didn't take my DSLR with me so this photo was taken on my phone camera. I aim to go back and take a proper photo of it, although it will probably look very similar to this one.

On my way home to my flat in Paisley, after the last train home, I saw this little toy. It was outside a dodgy pub where several dodgy looking characters were having cigarettes outside the front door. I couldn't stop my desire to photograph the headless toy so I used my phone camera as quickly as possible. There came a silence outside the pub. I stood up and realised they were all looking at me to see what I was doing so I quickly moved on. I escaped unscathed and with a silly little photograph.

25mm Negative Film

During a DIY stint in my old flat I came across one slide of tiny 25mm negatives.

I would like to imagine the film came from the "Kiev-4AM Soviet Russian 25mm Film Camera Kiev-4" (or similar) but I will take the film in to college to let my lecturer have a squint.



I wonder where the pictures were taken and how long ago.

Enchanted Forest!

Although it was really dark and rainy, the woods of Pitlochry were beautifully haunting during the Autumn Festival!

One of quite a few pumpkins carved by Reke, a Polish artist residing in Pitlochry


Sporadically lit trees in the Enchanted Forest.


A mermaid found by local fishermen.


I would like to visit Pitlochry in daylight hours. I spotted many sculptures lurking about in the dark recesses of the high street. I imagine there must be many treasures to be found off the beaten track.

GFT!

I was meeting a friend in Glasgow recently and, as they were running late, I decided to have a hot chocolate in the GFT Cafe.

A few sips and a wee doodle later I realise I really miss the Glasgow Film Theatre :(

Digital Images

I seem to be less inclined to take my digital camera out with me these days. I imagine it must be that I'm loving being in the darkroom so much. However, I do still love the fact that I can see my images immediately after I have taken them with the Digital camera.

Here are some images that I have taken on my Sony Alpha 100 DSLR.

Finishing an old film!

After my first day of using the college cameras (35mm SLRs) I took the notion to dig out my old Centon camera. I discovered there was a half-used film inside (Ilford 125). As the day was lovely and sunny I decided to use the new technical knowledge from my class and finish the film with a view to some practise.

The Snakes and Ladders game was painted onto an outside, wooden table in Barshaw Park in Paisley. This image was taken over a year ago. Exactly how long, I cannot tell. The film fared well considering it wasn't kept in the best conditions.


The following photos were taken in September -

This Sage plant was thrown into the garden as I kept forgetting to water it. Sadly, due to my neglect, it was no longer suitable for consumption.


Chloe is very sneaky. She will pose for you right up until you press the shutter release. I got fed up with her last-minute, blur-action and took a photo from behind her instead.


This last one is probably boring to many, but I like it. This image is of a sleeper in the garden that must be many years old. It is a very strong piece of wood but it is slowly being withered away by the weather. It also acts as the cat's scratching post, beasties home, bird landing spot (when cat's not about) and my tea-drinking seat in the summer.

First Darkroom Print!

I've delayed adding to this blog long enough so now I'm going to inundate you with lots of images. I'll try to take it easy on you....

This first image is scanned from my first completed print in the darkroom at college. The image is of the stones by the water feature in the college courtyard, taken on the first film I was given to shoot with - Ilford 100 - on the college camera (details to follow as my memory is bad and I can't find my notes!!).
The paper is Ilford, resin-coated, multi-grade (glossy) and the magenta filter is up full (175 on the enlarger I was using).

Flicker Site

If you would like to see some of my photos my Flickr site is -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12255893@N07/