ODd Hereford

We were in Hereford the other day, doing some shopping in the Newmarket. Whilst I was waiting for other people to sort their lives out, I made these images using my phone. As usual when I do this, I used Snapseed on my Chromebook to process them down.

A Priori II

An image of the Priory Church in Malvern, made as we emerged from the theatre just across the road, using my Pixel 2 smartphone and processed down in Snapseed.

A Priori

Some images made at the Priory Church in Malvern using my phone and processed in Snapseed.

The Moat In My Eye

 

So, here's the problem: to make this image using my DSLR, I would require the camera itself, a tripod and preferably a remote release, although guess I could make do without the latter and use the self-timer.

Anyway, this image was made during an evening out in Wells. Looking out of the restaurant window, I noticed that the moat was still and reflecting the palace gatehouse. Given that the day had been quite wild weather-wise, this would never have occurred to me as a possibility and even if it had, I wouldn't have considered taking all that gear with me to dinner.

So, given the above, the image should never have been made. As it was, I seized the opportunity and used my Pixel 2 smartphone, post-processed in Snapseed on my Chromebook, and here it is, along with the image below.

The only benefit of using all the kit would be that I would have a high resolution image in a lossless format - I use tiff in my workflow - which would be useful if someone contacted me, wanting to use the image in a print magazine.

But that's never happened. Sometimes, it does make you wonder why you bother with all that expensive, bulky equipment. Sometimes.

I Was Banking On It

 

This is one of those images that I sometimes make of objects (please use the French pronunciation, it sounds so much better).

This is an old money box that's been hanging round in my grandparent's, parent's and now my house for many years, and surfaces from time to time. There is some money in it, but the key - the keyhole is in the base - is long since lost.

The bank in question - not to be confused with the National & Provincial Building Society - ceased to exist as a separate entity in 1970, merging with the Nat West (which was not the best choice, with hindsight).

This is also one of those images shot using my Pixel 2 and processed in Snapseed on my Chromebook. I'm quite pleased with the result - some of my favourite images of the recent past have been produced using this workflow.

Maybe its the way of the future...

BTW: if anyone has any suggestions regarding how to open it, I'd be interested to hear them in the comments. 

Pulteney Weird

This post represents a first for this blog.

The original image was captured on my Pixel 2 phone, but this isn't the new bit. However, It was processed in Snapseed running on my Asus Chromebook, which I'm also using to write this post. And this is the first time that I've posted an image using that workflow.

Speaking of the original image, it was made around a year ago whilst on a day out in Bath. We went on a boat trip on the Avon and I made a few images of Pulteney Weir on our return. I processed it in Snapseed using the B&W conversion tool and the contrast filter. I also cropped it to a 3:2 aspect ratio.

Which is all a far cry from my usual, heavyweight process using RawTherapee and Gimp on a Windows PC. But, I have to say that I'm pleased with the results.

Bin Issues

During the summer, we went to Menorca and whilst there we visited Binissues (its pronounced Binithththth I think), which is like a cross between National Trust and a villa holiday, with the Menorcan natural history museum thrown in for good measure.

One of main differences from an English stately home is that the family who farmed the estate lived in one wing of the main house. I can't imagine our landed gentry allowing their peasants anywhere with sight.

I didn't take either of my cameras with me to Menorca because I wasn't planning to do any serious photography - it was supposed to be a family holiday, after all - so I used my Google Pixel 2 to make the images below.

The main house from the garden.

The main passage inside the main wing of the house.

The garden. Nice view.

A detail from the garden.

Another detail from the garden.

OM Nom Nom Nom Nom

My Olympus Pen F body with an Olympus OM Zuiko MC Auto-S 50mm 1:1.8 lens and a Beschoi OM - M4/3 adaptor. The Hoya Skylight filter seen in the images is contemporary with the lens.

The lens is one of a pair that I inherited from my father - he had an Olympus OM10 body. Neither will have had a photograph taken trough them in over thirty years, I suspect.

Both images were made using a Google Pixel 2, with some post-processing using GIMP. 

South Bank Show II

Another image from the London trip, this time of the Royal Festival Hall.

South Bank Show

Recently, I found myself in London for a couple of days, at a fairly dry conference. However, I did have an evening to myself and as I was staying south of the river, spent some time on the South Bank. As I hadn't bothered to take a camera with me, I ended up making some images with my camera phone.

In case you don't know, this is the front of the National Theatre. A few more images to follow.

London, Aye II

There must be hundreds of thousands, if not millions of images made on the London Eye every year. This is one of them. I had real trouble with the composition and I don't think that it quite works, but it quite like to anyway.

London, Aye

We were in London on Saturday. Having visited the London Eye, we walked up Victoria Street to the Apollo Theatre. On the way, I made a few images using my camera phone, having decided not to lug a DSLT around with me all day.

Struck by Lightning

Recently, I attended a conference at the RAF Museum at Cosford. The actual conference facilities aren't great, but you do get to wander around the museum during the breaks. One of the halls has aircraft hanging from the roof, like Airfix models from a bedroom ceiling.

There was lots of stuff to interest an aircraft geek, but the one exhibit that stood out for me was the English Electric Lightning pictured above.

The design of this aircraft is so simple. Its basically two jet engines - mounted vertically, rather than horizontally - with a cockpit at the front. The wings and tail are swept in such a way that the result resembles a flying fish, of all things. 

This arrangement was so successful that the Lightning was the main interdiction fighter of the RAF for thirty years, finally being replaced by the Tornado - an aircraft which has never been considered adequate in that role.

The Lightning had a party piece which was often to been at airshows during the sixties and seventies - this was a vertical climb from rotation, followed by a "tail stand" before transition to level flight. 

Someone that I worked with many years ago told me how he had witnessed this display go badly wrong. The story went that the aircraft in question took off and climbed vertically into low cloud, then re-emerged a few seconds later travelling tail first. The pilot ejected - too late - as the aircraft hit the ground and exploded, killing him outright. What made this incident particularly memorable for my colleague - who was in the RAF at the time - was the fact that he was standing next to the pilot's wife.

Anyway, the images here were made with my Nokia 1020, with some post-processing in GiMP.

Axbridge Afternoon

Another image from our afternoon in Axbridge, made with the Nokia 1020. The mono conversion was done in post using GIMP.

A Grave Mistake

More than two tears on, we're still trying to get rid of stuff from my father's house. This led, last Saturday to an unsuccessful attempt to attend a car boot sale. I won't bore you with the details, but the upshot was that, in the late afternoon, we found ourselves mooching round Axbridge.

This image was made with my camera phone, from a vantage point near the Sea Cadet centre which is in the old station. The body of water in the distance is Cheddar Reservoir and the feature on the horizon just to the right of centre is Nyland Hill.

Scrapheap Challenge

The holidays are over and I had to take my car in the get the water pump replaced. This image was made whilst I was waiting for my lift, having dropped the car off first thing in the morning.

I'm really pleased with the 1020 as a camera, somewhat less so as a phone. I'm having a bit of a hard time getting Tu GO working at the moment - I suspect that there will be a post about this in due course.

Harbouring Strange Desires

Another image from the Whitby trip and a further attempt at making images of people. This one was taken at Whitby harbour - the couple are sitting on the breakwater and I was on the beach behind, on the Old Town side of the river. That's the East Lighthouse beyond.

The place was absolutely heaving, so I was amazed that I managed to isolate them, although I have to admit to cloning out a woman who was sitting to the right of the lighthouse. Even so, I'm not sure that the image works as it stands - maybe if the couple had been looking at the lighthouse rather than the seagulls something.

Phoning Around

Another image made with my Nokia 1020. This one is of Scarborough Castle, taken from the promenade, near the Sea Life Centre. The mono conversion was done in post, with GIMP. Nice cloudscape.

For Arguments Sake

Another image from the Whitby trip. This one was made in the Old Town with my Nokia 1020 - the name appealed to me and it was easier to get my phone out in the dense crowd on Church Street than wrestle my DSLR out of my camera bag. Yet again, the phone made a good job of some difficult lighting conditions, in my view.

Broken Symmetry

Another image from the Margam Park visit. For reasons that are too boring and convoluted to go into, I didn't have a DSLR with me, so it seemed like a good opportunity to try out the Nokia 1020 that I've recently upgraded to.

I think that it coped rather well with the difficult lighting conditions. The main problem I find with it is trying to get the framing right whilst holding the thing at arms length - I haven't quite got it right here, the image could have done with being somewhat more symmetrical.