Up at 5 this morning. Taxi booked for 06:30. A chilly morning. Caught the 06.49 from Bishops Stortford to Tottenham Hale.
Bloody silly ticket doesn’t work. This happens so much these days with the automatic barriers. I got told off by a rail man for just using my body weight to force through one of the barriers.
07:40 and sitting in St Pancras station at a Pret having coffee. Still got nearly 2 hours before we depart.
St Pancras International
12:40 and just arriving in Paris. Reading the news it seems the French rail workers are on strike in some areas. Just hoping it doesn’t affect our journey through Paris to Gare de Lyon for our onward journey.
Paris Gare du nord.Paris gare du nord
Disembarked Eurostar and found our way to line D metro in the direction of Melun. It would seem that the strikes have hit this line as there is a 44 minute wait for the next train.
Line D metro direction sud
We eventually get to gare du Lyon after a 7 minute metro ride. Our tickets still don’t let us out through the barriers. I’m wondering if we should have validated them somewhere. Haven’t seen a machine though. Liz panicked us by looking at the out of date information which had us departing at 14:19 which only gave us a couple of minutes. Panic over though when we looked at the actual tickets which show we still have an hour and half before we depart.
Waiting in Hall A for our departure.
It turns out that was the wrong location. We had to go upstairs to Hall 2 for the departure.
Hall 2 at gare de Lyon waiting for the TGV train.
19:30 and we’ve arrived at the Best Western Galice. We tried looking for the bus stop at the station but could only see a bus to the airport and not one for the Aix old town in the dark. It had been a long day and we decided to splash out €40 on a cab to the hotel.
That’s it. Were settled in. Time for a beer or two!
So, after spending all my pocket money in one hit (£15) over Christmas at an antiques centre I was eager to see the results of said film camera. I wanted to see if all was working with the little Voigtlander Vito C so on a trip around St Albans I put a roll of Ilford HP5+ through the little camera.
Here are some of the results. Developed in Ilford Ilfotec DDX:
St Albans cathedral.I tried some interiors too which was pushing the boundaries of the 400 ASA film and the f2.8 lens.
All appears well with the shutter speeds and I was pleased with the results. The Vito C doesn’t have a rangefinder. You can try to estimate distance to the subject but that can be a bit hit and miss and is OK when using the large depth of field that a small aperture can give you. It’s a bit more difficult at f2.8 though.
Another excuse to purchase another gadget? Of course. I thought I’d keep to quality West German engineering of the same era as the Voigtlander and bid on a couple of rangefinders on Ebay.
I ended up winning two bids and was the then the proud owner of two rangefinders. One for £2.20 and the other for £19. The £19 Watameter one was the better of the two. It was made in West Germany somewhere around the 1940s to 50s. It’s a split image rangefinder with the scale in feet also visible through the eyepiece.
The eyepiece end of the rangefinder. You look through the left hand aperture and turn the right hand wheel until the split image aligns. The distance scale is also visible in the viewfinder.The object lens of the Watameter.
The little rangefinder looks good mounted on the flash shoe of the Voigtlander. I don’t think it’ll be very good in low light conditions though. I’ll have to wait and see.
The Voigtlander with the Watameter mounted on the flash shoe.The rangefinder even came in a leather case which doesn’t look out of place alongside the Voigtlander case.Had to drag out the old Weston Master V for the exposure too!
So, what’s next for the Voigtlander? having just read an article over on the Emulsive web site about pushing EI of Ilford HP5+ to 3200 I’ve decided to load it up with this film and try doing some night shots around the town at this uprated film speed. It could be tricky but I like a challenge. Who knows, I might even attempt some Street photography with this setup!
A walk with members of Bishops Stortford Camera Club.
As we were planning on starting our walk just before lunchtime we started with some of us meeting at a local establishment where we had a brunch to set us up for the day. Following this we caught the train into Liverpool Street.
The group arriving at Liverpool Street.
Following on from this we caught the Cental Line tube to Bank then on to the Docklands Light Railway to end up at Royal Victoria DLR station where we met up with another two of our group who had caught a different train down to London.
On the tube.Changing trains at Westferry.The group photographing around Royal Victoria Docks. The old dock cranes alongside Royal Victoria Docks.
We had to go over the high level walkway across the dock to continue our walk along the south side back to where the Emirates cable car. Some of our group didn’t particularly like heights but we all seemed to manage OK. The lift up to the walkway wasn’t operating so it was a bit of a climb up the steps.
Good advice! The ruins of the old Millennium Mills building from the elevated walkway.
Once we were on the south side of the docks we walked back toward the western end where we could get on to the Emirates cable car. Before getting on the cable car we found a nice cafe for some refreshments.
There is some interesting architecture on the western end of Royal Victoria Docks.
For those that didn’t fancy the high level crossing to Greenwich on the cable car thay went back to the tube to connect with the rest of us at London Bridge.
Into the cable car and ready to set off.
We went into a couple of cars so we didn’t feel too squashed up!
The first group disappear into the distant gloom!Greenwich Peninsular and the O2 in the distance. The sloping cable at the end.
When you get to the end the cable does drop at quite an alarming rate. At this point I was hoping the maintenance people had screwed up tightly the car connections onto the cable !
Walking to Greenwich station to catch the tube to London Bridge.Didn’t quite know what these things are meant to be? Reflecting on our photography! North Greenwich tube. Movement on the escalator.
Arriving at London Bridge we met up wit those who had decided to forgo the cable car to then proceed along the Southbank taking in the Thames as night fell.
Dusk along Queen’s Walk on the Southbank.I managed to get a few photos for my series ‘Through a Window’.
We finished the photography in the area in Lambeth called Roupell Street Conservation area, an area of Victorian Terraces which have been used for filming for quite a few TV series.
Victorian terraces along Theed Street in the Conservation area.
We finished the walk around 6pm and we searched out a pub in Roupell that I’d found out about called the King’s Head. It has a Thai restaurant at the back which turned out to be very good and an ideal way to end the day before we set off home.
Elsecar Heritage Centre is a collection of buildings in Barnsley which are now of listed building status of historical architectural heritage. Now a collection of shops and craft workshops, they were originally built to support the adjacent mine workings, ironworks and railway. Built in 1850, they were reopened in 1987 in their present guise.
The clock shop in the centre. The clock repairer. The crossing for the steam railway. The Newcomen Beam engine.
The mine workings in this area were some of the deepest in the area. To access the deep workings required the installation of this beam engine to extract the water. It ran from 1795 to 1923 and is now the oldest example of a beam engine in the country that is still situated in it’s original position. It can now only be operated with the assistance of a hydraulic pump due to the dilapidated state of its steam powered engine.
The busy antiques centre. I did consider getting a new phone but thought I probably wouldn’t be able to get social media on this one 😅I saw this box pushed up the corner of one of the areas of the antique shop and with some excitement opened it up and found a very nice little film camera in almost perfect condition, complete with its manual. Voigtlander Vito C. Hardly any marks on it and the case looked like it hadn’t been used. Not a bad buy for £15. Can’t wait to try it out!
Day 5. Today we are leaving Karatu and heading to the Serengeti National Park.
Skirting the edge of the Ngorongoro crater we were able to stop at a vantage point to look back to the landscape we had visited.
We started to drive down from the high ground around the crater and descended to the flat lands of the Serengeti plains. On the way we passed some more Maasai villages.
Maasai along the routeMaasai villages along the route.Small, medium and large!The monument called ‘The Cradle of Man’ which commemorates the work done by Louis and Mary Leakey in discovering fossils of early mankind in this area. Keith posing by the entrance to the Serengeti.A Topi.The plains seem to go on forever.Our tented camp for the next three nights.
We arrived at our next accommodation which is a tent on the Serengeti plains. A very luxurious tent though with an en-suite toilet and shower. The shower though was a bag hoisted up a pole behind the tent. You had to ask for the water to be delivered as it had to be heated over the fire first. We also had to have a shower whilst it was still light as no one was allowed to wander through the camp after dark as there were many wild animals around.
Our tent.Having a welcome beer after a dusty day driving to the camp.
Day 6. Start of our early morning game drives.
Sunrise at 06:00 am the next morning.Lions guarding a wildebeest kill.
We stopped at this point to watch a pride of lions. They had a wildebeest kill and they were guarding it from the prowling hyenas in the background that wanted to steal it from them.
The lions would get up and move around but always leave two lions guarding their kill.
To get some shade they would even wander over and flop down under the Toyota.These small deer would stand high up on the kopjes for a good vantage point.Cheetah
Our next sighting was these two cheetahs which had obviously just fed.
Cheetah’s head covered in blood from where it had been feeding.
The cheetah fare very well in these large open plains which suits their high speed hunting style.
Further along we came upon this group of lions spread out amongst the rocks.Hippo
We came upon a rather shallow pond and was amazed to see a hippo had taken up residence. He was even so obliging that he gave us a yawn.
More cheetah on the prowl in the grass.Some more lions relaxing on some rocks.The zebra loved to roll in the dust!Evening and storm clouds rolling in on the Serengeti.Wart Hog.
Blakenham Woodland Garden is situated in Suffolk near Ipswich. We went on a visit with our U3A Garden Group yesterday. A great time of year for flowers.
The morning started with coffee and tea with home made cakes in the barn followed by a walk round the woodland then on to the kitchen garden.
After the visit to the house a few of us went off to the Butt and Oyster pub in Pin Mill for a very nice lunch which was followed by a walk along the river Orwell foreshore.
John Hare, MP for Sudbury and Woodbridge bought the wooded hill next to his house in 1951. Unusually for the area, which is surrounded by old chalk pits, the soil in the wood is green sand which allowed him to plant all kinds of acid loving plants like azaleas,rhododendrons and magnolias.
When he left politics in 1982 John Hare became Viscount Blakenham and Treasurer of the R.H.S.
When John Blakenham died in 1982 the garden was made into a charitable trust in order to ensure the survival of his remarkable collection.
This was a walk planned to visit the recently opened rooftop garden at No 120 Fenchurch Street, London with members of Bishops Stortford Camera Club.
I had been notified of this new venue by a blog called ‘Look up London’ back in February but thought I’d wait until the weather improved. The day before the planned outing almost proved me wrong with storms and torrential rain However, I’m not put off easily by a bit of good old British inclement weather so went ahead with the trip anyway.
I love the way that in London you often get the contrasts of architectural styles. You have the stonework of St Andrew Undershaft Church here contrasting with the steel and glass of the Willis Towers building, then Lloyds
Just as we arrived at No 120 it started to rain but we did manage to get some lunch at Pret in Fen Court. Under cover and with everyone walking through with umbrellas up it proved to be a good opportunity for some street photography. I’d set a couple of assignments for the group, one of them being ‘Gestures in Street Photography’ so this proved to be an ideal time to get some shots.
Diane trying to blend i with the surroundings!Stephanie waiting for that perfect shot!
After a while we did manage to get to the 15th floor and take some photographs before another black cloud came over and it rained again.
Around the rooftop garden at 120 Fenchurch Street.Around the rooftop garden at 120 Fenchurch Street.
After around 20 minutes we decided to get some refreshment in the pub across the road and wait for the rain to stop.
One drink later we continued on down to London Bridge. Along the way we went into St Olave’s Church, founded in the 11th century it is one of the few medieval churches that survived the Great Fire of London.
Walking down Old Billingsgate Walk we went along the footpath on the north shore of the Thames and just before London Bridge there is a very good spot to photograph the Shard across the river with a triangular piece of art work in the foreground.
On the North side of London Bridge looking toward the Shard.
Crossing London Bridge we went for coffee before proceeding along the Southbank to the area surrounding City Hall. There are great views across the river and back to the Shard as well as City Hall itself.
South side of the Thames.Shad Thames
On past Tower Bridge is an area known as Shad Thames, one of the Victorian era’s largest warehouse complexes. Here were tea, coffee, dried fruit and spice warehouses which are now apartments. It was known as the ‘larder of London’ and you can still see the overhead gantries which connected the warehouses today.
Shad Thames.
Turning back on ourselves we then went over Tower Bridge to end our walk at The Minories pub which is built in one of the old railway tunnels. You can sit having a drink whilst listening to the rumble of the trains going overhead.
Walking through the local town recently I took some night time shots with my Sony RX100 MkIII. I had got the camera set to a high ISO setting as I was taking hand held shots. When viewing the photos on the computer I was pleasantly pleased with the results from this little compact camera. This seemed to be lacking in the digital noise that I was expecting to see so I decided on a revisit to test out the camera further.
It was raining slightly so there was a sheen on the road surface. I set the exposure compensation to minus 1 so that I could register some deep blacks which should show up any digital noise in the photos. I took all the photos with the Rich Tome Mono setting which takes three images and stitches them together. I started off with this shot with the ISO set to 3200, which looks pretty good.
This is the same image cropped to 1600 x 1200 pixels.
I then pushed up the ISO to 8000 which again, isn’t bad. I would expect to see more noise within the black areas.
This time I started off at and ISO level of 8000.
The image above cropped to 1600 x 1200.
I then increased the ISO to it’s maximum of 12800.
The image above cropped to 1600 x 1200.
The RX100 seems to be an ideal small camera for night time shooting when you want to carry a compact and not want to carry round a tripod.
I’ll be going out again soon to do some more photos using a couple of my micro four thirds cameras as a comparison.
Some years ago all you would see would be humorous or socio-political scribblings on walls of someone trying to make a point. In America it probably all started by being applied to the side of trains in the 1920s and 1930s. Over a number of years however the original graphical scribblings on the walls have been transformed to a more colourful and artistic form.
Initially illegal with a constant battle going on between the artist and the authorities it has now in some cases been given the seal of approval. In some areas, walling been given for the artist to create their works of art on a more permanent basis.
These are some of my photos taken around Europe.
Cyprus
Abandoned Hotel Bellangaria, Trudos Mountains, Cyprus.Abandoned Hotel Bellangaria, Trudos Mountains, Cyprus.Abandoned Hotel Bellangaria, Trudos Mountains, Cyprus.
Germany
Graffiti on the walls of the Student Prison, Heidelberg, Germany.
France
St Nazaire, France.St Nazaire, France.France.
Getting close to home now with some wall art taken in Camden, London.
In more recent years too the work has moved from the public domain and has been seen more in galleries. I’m not sure if that is a good or bad move though. I leave the reader to form their own opinion.
I’ve been trying out some small tripods recently. I do have a conventional carbon fibre tripod which isn’t very heavy but I just needed a very compact tripod for use in churches and the like when I’m going for those low level shots using my fisheye lens. Some places also don’t like you using a full size tripod but you can often get away with using a small one.
Gorillapod SLR-Zoom Tripod for SLR Cameras with Ball head.
I’ve had a Gorillapod for a couple of years and have been able to try it out in various ways including winding it round the framework on the back of a Jeep on safari. It is very versatile and is great for attaching to things like lamp posts and bridge railings. It’s not the most compact but does fit into my camera sling back that I mostly use.
I did though replace the ball head which had a tripod mount specific to the Gorillapod. I use the Arca Swiss type plates for all my tripods so I purchased the Vanguard TBH-50 Ball Head to replace the one supplied. this comes with an Arca Swiss compatible QS-60S Quick Release Plate and that is the head that is shown on the picture of the Gorillapod.
The ability to be very versatile has resulted in the Gorillapod having many plastic cup and ball joints in its leg construction. This though can result in some of them working lose over time. This has certainly happened in mine after a couple of years. After some searching I found a solution on You Tube which is to pull the lose cup and ball joint apart and insert a piece of tinfoil which then tightens the joint.
Joby GorillaPod SLR-Zoom Tripod for SLR Cameras with Ball head Price: £47.99 now £63.77
Vanguard TBH-50 Ball Head currently priced at £49.95.
Conclusion.
The Gorillapod is lightweight, fairly compact and probably the most versatile of all mini tripods. It is probably not going to put up with a lot of use due to the joints working lose. The price at £48 was pretty good but is now being sold for around £64 and with having to change the head for something that is a bit more versatile in it’s attachment that works out at around £114 which pricey for a small and compact tripod.
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Platypod Ultra flat tripod for DSLR and Mirrorless cameras.
I also tried out a friends Platypod which is basically a flat aluminium plate with 4 screws, one at each corner and a threaded stud in the middle. It is supplied with a short strap which can be used to attach the Platypod plate to a lamp post etc. It doesn’t however come supplied with the tripod head. It is fairly versatile due to the way the plate is machined to take the strap in various configurations but not as versatile as the Gorillapod. It takes a while to set up as you have to screw in the four corner screws every time you want to use it unless you are prepared to carry the plate around with the 4 screws attached. This though kind of ruins one of its advantages of being just a flat plate that you can slip into a side pocket of your bag. Its also not practical to carry the camera around with the Platypod attached to the camera.
Platypod Ultra cost £55.00
Platypod Accessory pack which is another £30
Typical tripod head. Add on at least £50
Conclusion
Very compact as it consists of a flat plate for the tripod head. Slow to set up. Not the most versatile. You can’t carry the camera around with it attached.
At around £135.00 complete with a head it is expensive.
Manfrotto MP3-BK Large Pocket Support.
This very small attachment is the most compact of the tripods mentioned here. It is however also probably the least versatile. It’s strength though lies in the fact that it is the most compact and can be left in place on the camera and hardly noticed that it is there. The three rubberised feet can be used to just support the camera on a flat surface and can also be used on a curved surface such as the top of a handrail. It is nicely made and has three small feet that are tensioned by springs. As long as the springs maintain tension on the feet it should last well. I must admit that due to the low price I was expecting less in the way of quality but I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the engineering and finish.
Manfrotto MP3-BK Large Pocket Support: £15.99
Conclusion.
Very compact and can be left in place on the camera. Not very versatile. Cheap but quality engineered.
Sirui 3T-35K Table Top Tripod
This is the latest of the small tripods that I have purchased. It has three small feet fitted with rubberised covers which keep the tripod from slipping, The three feet can swing up to lay flat against the main column of the tripod and the column itself can be extended slightly. When the feet are swung up the column assembly makes for a very compact and comfortable hand grip. The tripod with the feet out can also be used against the chest to provide additional support for thos low speed shutter hand held shots. The tripod is supplied complete with a ball head which has an Arca Swiss plate included and will take my other plates. The ball head can be mounted directly to the feet assembly to make for a very compact setup although in the configuration the feet can’t be swung up to create a hand hold. The quality of engineering and finish is very good.
This is a very nice compact little tripod and comes in a bag with an additional non-extending column and the necessary allen keys for dissassembling the columns and head.
As far as versatility goes it’s only negative point compared with the Gorillapod and the Platypod is that it can’t be attached to a lamp post or railing.
Price; £80.
Conclusion.
Very compact and can be left in place on the camera and provides a hand grip. Not the most versatile in comparison with the Gorillapod and Platypod. Reasonably priced for the quality of the engineering.
Nicks Pics 