Lanzarote

I knew I would regret not taking my DSLR or even my film SLR with me on holiday. It's very hard to force an automatic compact to do what you want it to do when it's not already a function of the camera.

However, I did my best to achieve a bokeh shot of Correlejo, Fuerteventura and also to get the lovely colours of the volcanos of the island, showing in amazing layers under the pink sky.

I also attempted some sunset shots, which didn't work out as good as I would have liked.

I also have specs of sand on the lens that I can't seem to remove and they show up in a lot of the photos that I took (meaning it was probably a good thing I didn't take my DSLR).

I had bought an underwater camera for the trip away but I didn't really get an opportunity to use it. When I did use it there were people in it who don't wish the photos to be published so I will leave you with my rubbish first attempts at using it.

I had tried an image of half-in-half-out the sea but the swell was moving too fast for the camera so it either took the photo in or out of the sea. I then tried the camera having the waves splash up to the lens, as you can see.

The flash could either be on auto or off and, for some reason, even though it was a bit murky under the water the flash would not go off.

I felt a bit bad because the fish kept swimming around me no problem but as soon as I put the camera in the water they swam away. I could put my hand in and they didn't mind, put the snorkel mask in and they wouldn't mind but they didn't like the camera.

And lastly, my poor attempt at some aerial photography. I could see the Forth Rail Bridge but the plane was juddering and turning fast and my camera couldn't cope with how dark it was outside the plane window and light inside. Hugest sighs. However, as it was probably the only time I will get to photograph the bridge from above, here it is for you to see.

Lomography

I was doing a bit of photography research today and I happened across a German Lomography site.

Some of the images are excellent and it just goes to show that if you are really a good photographer then it doesn't matter what kind of equipment you use.

But don't take my word for it, have a look at these sample links for yourself.

Alison Scarpulla - very evocative, just as the site says.

Frank Machalowski - wonderful collection of black and white images.

And just for something extra, here is a fairly famous 'lomographer' from Brighton Lomokev - aka Kevin Meridith

Enjoy!

Heron or Cormorant

It was a very grey and rainy day on my visit to North Kessock and very near to the end of daylight hours.

I was determined to get a few photos regardless and I spotted a heron in the water (the Beauly Firth) that was making a good silhouette and reflection.

Or WAS it a heron?

There has been some debate over the bird but I'm fairly sure it's a heron in the photograph. The argument was based upon the legs being shorter and that herons are not normally out in such an open space to do their fishing. Plus, cormorants stretch their neck out when they are about to grab their meal.

However, I say that the legs look shorter because it is in the water and it's neck is long because....well, because it is a heron.

A silhouette photo from a distance is not much to go on but what do you think?

Scottish Reptiles

During a trip to Culloden I almost trod on a lizard whilst walking around the battlefield. Yes, a Scottish lizard, about 3 inches long.

In my Scottish Wildlife challenge (that failed and fell by the wayside) I had obtained a list of all Scotland's indigenous species from Visit Scotland but after finding the lizard I couldn't remember any reptiles being on the list.

However, here is a site with information on Scotland's 3 reptile species - Scottish National Heritage

Here are a couple of photos of the little creature.

The red stone is a bit unfortunate as it looks like a giant tongue. The lizard would not move, though, and I didn't want to frighten him any more. A couple of quick shots taken then I moved on to give him time to recover and hide before anyone else came along.

A quick half hour with the macro lens

The sun was shining outside so I thought I would put my macro lens on the camera and see what I could find in the garden.
It was windier than I would have liked, the sun kept disappearing behind clouds and using continuous autofocus made things harder rather than easier.
However, I did get a couple of photos taken. I tried out some multi-frame shots and I quite liked the result.

150 years since American Civil War Battle of Antietam

(Photo taken from BBC History: The Scot who shot the American Civil War


Paisley.Org: Alexander Gardner (1821-1882)
N.B. The 1st line should read "...born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland...". I will have to let them know.

South Queensferry

On a whim, we stopped off at South Queensferry and walked along to Hopetoun House. We didn't go to the House because it was late evening by the time we go there but we did walk along the coastline. (Someone I know will be very interested to know that there was a multitude of White Foxgloves along the roadside.)

I only had my Lumix compact with me and the weather wasn't great so I didn't take any great photos. However, I found a terrific spot, on-route, for taking some photos of Forth Rail bridge and I hope to get back out there at night to take some photos if they still light the bridge.

Here is a slightly 'posterised' view of the Forth Road and the Rail bridge from where we were. They look like one single bridge from this angle.

Clydebank Titan Crane

I actually used my DSLR yesterday. It's been too long. I was in Clydebank at night so I thought I would try out some of the 'circles of confusions' style images that I love. The Titan Crane was lovely with it's coat of many colours. If it hadn't been such horrible weather I might have been able to get a reflection of it in the Clyde. (I am unable to insert a 'carriage return' or a new line for some reason - sigh)

Pinhole Photography Festival.

Back in early March my dad kindly sent me an email containing a link for the Pinhole Photography Festival in Edinburgh.

His timing was perfect as I was free to pop along on the following Sunday afternoon to have a look at the gallery and perhaps attend the workshop if there was space. As fortune would have it, I was able to join in the fun and games.

The workshop was held by photographer Kenny Bean who talked us through the art of making a pinhole photograph. He showed us images taken from a tiny camera, where a cartridge was held inside the photographer's mouth, to larger scale photographs taken from Kenny's outstanding Wheelie Bin collection.

The staff were really friendly, the workshop was definitely worthwhile (they even provided free use of the cameras, photographic paper and developing chemicals, which was very kind) and the gallery was very impressive.

I did have a go myself but my prints turned out to be very disappointing (what's new?) as I didn't really have a full grasp of just how 'wide' the pinhole range was going to be. Even when I was standing 10ft away from my subject of a tree it appeared as a tiny twig within my frame. Timing for exposure and developing is also something I need to experiment with but now that I've tried it I need to get making my own little cameras.

All I need now is to find the time.....

I've cropped out the subject so you can get a hint of what I was trying to photograph!!!

Traffic Trails

It's been a while and I have a few draft blogs in the pipeline but I've been so busy working that I've hardly had a chance to take any photos let alone blog about them.

However, I did manage to get out onto the bridge over the M8 one evening and try out some long exposure shots of the traffic below.

It's a learning process but here is one of the images I took....