Old tricks...

I don't know why I have left it until the heat is at the levels it is in the south west - 27º C, today - but when the urge strikes there is not much point in fighting it, and I'm back to the river for another shoot. A favourite location for many years now, Throop Mill on the Dorset Stour can be both peaceful and photogenic. The mill itself has been out of action since the early 1970s - although all the milling gear apparently is still in situ - but the millpond is still there; host to any number of waterfowl at any time of year.

Unfortunately, the only thing of interest - a grey heron - is some forty yards off and feeding behind a bank of reeds in the late afternoon sunshine - so I have to make do with a couple of mute swans as a subject. To make things more interesting, I want to use the reflection of the mill's red brick walls to add colour to the shot, and simply wait until one floats into the right spot. This trick of using reflections that are not necessarily to be found in nature has been part of my technique for some years now. Simple, yet effective, and had I not given the game away the viewer would have been none the wiser.

300mm f/2.8 AF-S VR Nikkor with TC-14EII converter. 1/800 second at f/6.3.  - 0.67 EV compensation. Monopod

© 2014

Down by the river side...

I've not done much in the way of photography over the past few months, as this blog will testify. Similar, I guess, to writers block, I simply haven't had the creative itch to get out there with my camera. I've been through this sort of thing before, and know from experience that given enough time it does pass. The trouble is you don't know how long it will last.

So out of the blue, this afternoon, I decided to pack my bag and get out there to see what summer has to offer. Not my favourite time of year for shooting, but good images can be found if I put the effort in. It is very warm in parts of the UK at the moment, and the inside temperature touched 27º C today, so I thought a trip to the local river would suit me both subject and temperature wise.

There is usually something of interest along the river bank at any time of year, and although the rough open ground near the water's edge is a riot of summer-flower colour at the moment, I choose the poppies for a subject.



300mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor with TC-14EII converter. 1/2000 second at f/5.6. ISO 400. Monopod



© 2014

The twin towers of Reculver...

An imposing landmark on the north Kent coast, the 12th century towers of St Mary's church at Reculver stand on the site of a Roman fort. It is somewhere I had wanted to visit for a long time, although I had no idea about the ruins until the morning that Nic and I decided it would be a good place to visit. My interests were for the connections with the Second World War, and the various tests of the prototype bouncing bomb.

After a stroll along the beach we repaired to the local cafe for coffee and ice cream. An excellent day out as the temperature begins to rise...



24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor. 1/400 second at f/11. ISO 320



© 2014

Sea Wall, Folkestone...

I think I can put down part of my current photography drought to the fact that for some time now I have been visiting the same places. Theoretically there is an inexhaustible variety of images to be had from a given location, what with different lighting at different times of the day, as well as the different seasons, but there is nothing better than visiting a different part of the country to stir things up a little.

I didn't take that many shots as Nic and I strolled the seafront at Folkestone, Kent, this afternoon, but the ideas did begin to flow again as I made a few exposures of the colourful beach huts and details of the sea defences. I had every intention to keep the former colourful, but with the latter (above), I was thinking monochrome before I fired the shutter.

24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor. 1/250 second at f/11. ISO 400

© 2014

Doughnut leaves...

The characteristic doughnut-shaped out-of-focus highlights of the catadioptric lens are the elements that make up today's image. Also know to photographers as a mirror lens, the design enables long focal length lenses to be built that are very small and light, and were popular as a cheap alternative during the 1980s. The main drawback was the slow, fixed aperture, and the almost inevitable poor performance in most cases of the optics themselves.

The one I used is no exception: a budget model to start with, I bought it for next to nothing - and second-hand - from a local camera shop many years ago just to experiment with. It had little use since then and I had considered condemning the lens due to the advancement of a fungal growth that was taking hold on the glass, but before I did I decided to see if I could dismantle the basic design and have a go at cleaning it. Much to my surprise I managed to do just that (and got it back together), so on went the T-Mount and I started pointing it at various subjects. 

The lens is basically a piece of junk by modern standards, but I think it might still have a bit of life left in it for some creative shooting, as with the photo of sunlight bouncing off of the leaves of a tree at the bottom of my garden.

Centon 500mm f/8 Catadioptric lens. Manual exposure and defocused to create the effect.

© 2014