New Year outlook.......

My brother departed back to Manchester today, but he will return in 2 weeks for another stay of a week here before travelling to Australia for his new life adventure, hopefully he will settle in Sydney. It's a nice place to visit - and he has an apartment in Manly [pictured right], which is a super place to relax and spend time in. It's a 30 minute ferry ride to central Sydney which can be seen in the background of the photo.

Not sure what 2009 will bring overall, I am sure the economic downturn will play it's part and if you listen to the scaremongering, harbingers of doom (the media), then the next 12-18 months are going to be tough.

New Year resolutions include - not listening to the scaremongering, harbingers of doom -particularly Breakfast News programmes. Take more photo's. Blog more. Get on my bike more. De-clutter the house.... I'm sure more will be added.

If I don't post beforehand.... Happy new year reader.

Festive outlook...

My brother arrived on Sunday from Manchester for what will probably be his last Christmas with whats left of the family as he moves out to Australia in January. Various visitations have been made whilst he is here by people that he wouldn't normally see for years at a stretch - cousins, uncles and friends etc., so I think it's been quite a good couple of days for him so far.

All shopping completed, including a mega find - Chambord Liqueur at of all places... Asda! So Champagne (Sainsbury's Vintage Cava) Cocktails made with sugar lump and a dash of Chambord topped with bubbly have been the order of the day for the last few....

My brother and I played the "spot the best looking checkout girl" in Asda & Sainsbury's today - we both swore blind that we had found the bestest looking one!

Glazed Gammon, Mince Pies and now Christmas Cake have all been homemade, ready for consumption over the next week or so. Oh, and work is all done and dusted, with numbers looking suprisingly good given the global credit issues.

Reality check......

Whilst eating breakfast, I have just seen piece on GMTV that has moved me to post this.....

I don't normally fall for the usual GMTV sob story, but this wasn't pitched as a sob story. Melissa Huggins is a 27 year old school teacher from Staines who is suffering from a brain tumor for the 2nd time in 3 years. She was very articulate and put across her plight calmly and concisely, and even made use of the airtime to explain that the UK doesn't have the £100 million equipment that can treat her and a growing number of children with this form of tumor. (yes you read it right! Come on Abramovich, Branson, Mittal, Green, Ecclestone, Rausing, Ratcliffe and Reuben - get your wallets out!)

Having read the more complete story on her website I have decided to contribute what I normally spend on frivolous bits of paper known as Christmas cards to her fighting fund for treatment in the USA. Not a great deal of money in the scheme of things, just £100, but if a couple of dozen of people in a similiar situation to me made the same commitment, it would make a world of difference to a worthwhile cause.

I wish her well.

20/12 UPDATE : I have heard from a source that the fund had tipped over the £100K mark, and that the US hospital had accepted her and given her a place as soon as the money was confirmed. All of which is excellent news and provides a path to the most suitable and effective treatment, on what is the continued long and arduous journey of recovery.

Prikka-Strip

Now installed on my fence, a good number of metre's of Prikka-Strip. A triple row of 15mm high solid polypropylene cones, and as I found out when installing them, they do really hurt when they get you! Luckily, I managed to get the more visually acceptable brown version.

Yet again, in the course of protecting my own property I am obliged by law to put up sign saying "WARNING : these premises are protected by an anti-intruder device. Personal injury may result from unauthorised access" The only exception to this covering of my own backside legally is if a kid decides to try and hop over my fence and injures themselves, I could end up in court for failing to provide a duty of care to the trespasser!? Well it beats shooting them and getting a criminal record! (that was a joke of course!)

Next in line is an upgrade of the security lights all round the property. Although still working well, they are now 10 years old, and probably in need of an replacement by now anyway. I have also ordered a load more Prikka-Strip from Screwfix to get my neighbours fence covered as well.

Unwanted visitors.....

Pictured right is Philip Murray of Wellesley Road, Andover.

This morning at 4am he decided to enter my back garden, luckily the security lights and CCTV worked well, I also heard him and his brother Andrew shouting.

Police were called and as soon as the dog was brought onto site and announced by the handler, the brothers Murray decided to give themselves up. By this time after me initially shouting at them and them running off, they had moved into my next door neighbours garden. It turns out that they were looking for a mobile phone that Philip had lost during his drunken shortcut home over the garage roof of the flats next doors to my neighbour. Clearly a coincidence that during the summer, a couple of youths were seen on the same garage roof, they then jumped onto a parked car below causing damage and hefty repair costs for the owner. I wonder if the Police will link the incidents?

On this occassion there was no damage, so Police let them off with a search and a word. I have subsequently recovered the phone and have found out that I am legally obliged to get it back to them. I have invited them round to apologise and get phone back on Sunday morning. Will wait and see if they have the balls to do so.

UPDATE : The brothers Murray did come round as agreed at 11am Sunday morning, and have apologised to me and my neighbours.

Wine Bargain III (emphatically!)

I have been searching around for a good quality Champagne style wine for cocktails at Christmas, a few years ago I found Heidsieck & Co. Monopole Blue Top on offer at Tesco's for a bargain of £11.00 a bottle, but this year, Sainsbury's has turned up trumps...... This one is a real bargain, on 50% discount at the moment at £4.99 - Sainbury's Vintage Cava 2006. Perfect for Champagne cocktails - add Angostura Bitters, sugar lump and optional dash of Cognac or Orange Bitters\Cointreau\Peach Schnapps, for an excellent festive celebration drink.

Wine bargain II (nearly)

Another trip to the Berry Brothers & Rudd outlet store at Basingstoke threw up some interesting wines.

Firstly a white Rioja, something I had never seen before. So after a quick discussion about grape variety, quality and tasting notes, a couple of bin ends of Allende Blanco were put into my basket. For some reason when I saw it's rich golden colour I assumed it was a dessert wine, but no, it's a clean crisp dry white wine made from the Viura grape which went very well with the chicken stir fry and then the fish pie I had it with the next day.

Then a case of my current favourite red [pictured right], La Montesa Crianza, Bodegas Palacios Remondo. A wonderful, rich and smooth Rioja.

And lastly a couple of Magnum's - one a bin end of lesser known Claret for £22 which went particularly well with a fore-rib of beef from Robinsons at Stockbridge, the other was a freebie Berrys' own Good Ordinary Claret, which went well with a Chilli Con Carne I made for after the Fireworks at Hursley Park - which were fantastic as usual.

Latest wine bargain....

An introduction to this by my neighbour as an aperitif was a pleasant suprise, even better when later we found it on offer at Sainsbury's.... at £4.50 a bottle - half price from it's normal £8.99 price tag.

Jacob's Creek Sparkling Rose is an Australian bottle fermented wine made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes. Strangley not dry, nor overly sweet, it has hints of fresh strawberries and is very drinkable. As with all mass produced Australian\Californian wine it is 100% consistent. I have yet to try the white version, but in reality, much like Perou - one has standards, so I'll stick to Taittinger.

Do you know what yours is and do you....

.... know what it is supposed to be?

Having gone through the last couple of weeks, looking at my general well-being and monitoring symptoms such as cholestorel, I have had to pay particular attention to my blood pressure.

I had already invested in a blood pressure monitor, but hadn't paid much attention to using it with any great regularity, or worse understanding exactly what the numbers meant.

So post stent procedure and the new regime of drug therapy I have paid much closer attention and it's with great pleasure I can report that acceptable and normal levels of blood pressure have been achieved.

A very useful chart and explanation of the mysterious numbers can be found here.

I have been a bit quiet of late.....

.... because I am now the permanent owner of one of these.... a coronary stent.

At the age of 41, I have been fitted with a device that opened a blocked artery in my heart. Not entirely unexpected as my father had a quadruple heart by-pass at the age of 45. But nonetheless a sobering and frankly shocking turn of events in a very short period of time.

Hats off to GP, insurance company, specialists and North Hampshire Hospital at Basingstoke, I went from GP visit on 19th September to stent fitting on 6th October, with various appointments and milestones inbetween.

I am now recovering at home by watching Harry Potter and too many episodes of QI to mention. But in the future a return to the gym and regular walks are on the cards, plus cutting out any crap food that I did occassionally partake of.

The mighty Gulls!

I knew at some stage in my intermitant interest in Brighton & Hove Albion FC there would be something worth celebrating - and today is the day with a win over Manchester City!

I think you should support the football team you were born closest to - so I got stuck with Brighton & Hove Albion FC.

I only glance at the results most of the time, crack a smile when they win, wince when they flog star players like Bobby Zamora and shout obcenities at the TV when they sell the stadium to Tesco's and end up playing in Kent for a couple of years!

But, you have to take the good with the bad... and today is a good day.

Ryder Cup

Sorry, couldn't resist posting a comment on this weekends sporting failure......

Ian Poulter - superstar! All of the pre-match banter about him getting a wild card over others was total crap, well done to him, let's hope he makes it in next time as well. It's the one descision Faldo got right in his captaincy. Sadly his appointment of DJ Spoony at team motivator defies belief!

My notes to the organising comittee for 2010... sack Faldo, never let him near the team or competition again. Bring back Ian Woosnam as team captain, appoint José Maria Olazábal and Colin Montgomerie as vice-captains (ready for Oli to be captain in 2012). Sack whinger Westwood and dull (but previously in form) Harrington, replace them with Paul McGinley and Darren Clarke - at least they've got some passion about winning!

Coffee.....

I like coffee, so much so I invested a couple of years ago on a DeLonghi Magnifica beans to coffee machine. Plug it in, fill with water & coffee beans of your choice (see later), press button, it whizzes, whurs & splutters, then moments later a fresh cup of coffee is deposited into your favourite mug. Expensive, but convenient.

I searched for ages to find a nice balanced coffee bean and finally arrived at.... bog standard Sainsbury's Medium Roast, couple of pounds per 500g & easily available in the 2 local stores.

Year's ago during my quest for the coffee of choice, I stumbled across "Jamaican Blue Mountain" coffee, said to be the finest in the world. I bought some at Fortnum & Mason in ground form for my Cafetiere, it was hugely expensive, but at the time I thought it was excellent. So during my time off last week, I undertook a retail therapy day in Knightsbridge and visited the Harrod's Food Hall and procured more of the "best coffee in the world" as you can see it wasn't cheap at more than £106 per 1Kg.

Sadly it dissapointed, bitter & sharp. Much like the Taittinger experience, I'll stick to what I know I like.

Garden life

Having spent a few weeks at home on holiday dossing about, I spent today in the garden tidying up and noted a Leaf Cutter Bee using the bamboo shelter I had installed in the spring, so out came various camera's, lenses, extension tubes, flashes and tripod to catch the fast moving thing.

Shot with a Canon EOS 5D body with a Canon EF180mm f3.5 Macro lens attached with Canon Extension Tube 25. ISO 200, 1/250th at f5

Holidays....

... are here again!

I've decided to take 2 weeks off and do a couple of things for me..... retail therapy, photography and relaxation are high on the agenda.

I combined all of these yesterday evening by going to Stockbridge to take some photo's of a barley field, popped into Orvis for some new shirts (I just have to comment on the girl who was at the checkout.... beautiful is the only word!) and then went to the 3 Cups pub for a couple of pints of draught Peroni in the garden.... fantastic.

A review of the food at the Three Cups is in the pipeline as I will be visiting to partake of their evening menu in the very near future.

UPDATE : went to the Three Cups for lunch on Friday 8th. Hugely complex menu with probably 60+ dishes available, every one had some twist of ingredient - e.g. Hake with Paella and Razor Clams or Salt March Lamb & Green Olive Wellington with Jerusalem Artichoke Cream. Gordon Ramsay would have a field day here, they need to cut the complexity and number of dishes down dramatically, it would save having 2 chefs on a lunchtime and the probable large amount of food wasted.

I went for the most simple dish I could find and had Roast Garlic Chicken Salad with tomato's, parmesan, capers and croutons, my companions had steak & chips and soft shell crab tempura. The best thing of all was.... the chips. Tough Chicken, tough steak (that came minus portabello mushroom & beef tomato as described) and crab was 50% edible.

Dessert however was spot on, Eton Mess with Shortbread and the Strawberry parfait with marinated Strawberries were both 100% perfect.

Rumour has it that Gordon Ramsay has bought the old filling station in Stockbridge High Street, if it's true, existing Stockbridge eateries with delusions of grandeur will have to watch out, a serious restauranteur with great idea's, a clear business head and a stack of cash to invest is on the way to your town.

Bird watching excursion.....

my first dedicated trip to a bird reserve at Titchfield Haven was interesting, but I did feel a bit of a nerd.

Nice weather was a bonus, sighting of a Kingfisher, Little Egret and various dippers, waders and gulls added to the day, but photographically it was a bit of a challenge from the hides as they are a new environment for me.

Lens envy was clearly in evident in hides, various Canon (500mm & 600mm) & Sigma (300-800mm) lenses on show. Noise etiquette and keeping still also clearly high on list of requirements of serious twitchers!

I have finished reading a book....

..... you may well think thats not very impressive, but in my mind it is.

I do read a lot, I mean A LOT, but almost exclusively online and nearly all for reference, whether it be online news, Teletext\Ceefax sport, information on helicopters or the latest magazine report on a bit of photographic equipment. The Sunday Times sections that interest me are picked out & the rest discarded almost blindfolded, add to that the copious amount of email I have at work and personally, it all stacks up to a lot of reading.

I have never really been a reader for pleasure, I only really realised why this week - in my O-level English literature exam we were told to read The Hobbit, the well known epic tale of Bilbo Baggins et al. Sadly I didn't like it, in fact I just couldn't get on with it, so I didn't read it past the first chapter on several occasions. This event probably turned me off reading for pleasure forever.

I have since read few books from cover to cover, (un-authorised biog's of Al Fayed and John Delorean are most noteworthy thus far) I now add another - "Bearded Tit - confessions of a birdwatcher" by Rory McGrath. I like the writer, his appearances on "They think it's all over...", "QI" and "Three men in a boat" demonstrate a fast wit (mostly directed at Jonathan Ross & his attire) and an irreverant attitude to anything "establishment". Add to that the books premise around bird-watching, drinking and womanising all make it really rather good.

Sign of the week.....

... saw this & it made me smile at least.

Shitty week, stress, stress & more stress. Chest pains (muscle strain after lifting 100+kg pot in garden [full of soil & plant!] not heart attack) all week have merely added to the pain.

All topped off by physio visit where the pain was enhanced with deep tissue massage - why didn't I show them this sign first!?

FYI - the sign is in the cockpit of a Westland Scout helicopter.

Sleeping Cygnet.....

This was taken a few weekends ago when it was dry! There were 2 Swan nests at Rooksbury Mill Lakes nature park, it appears that only one Cygnet has survived the hatch.

I have been messing about with a few settings on the cameras to try & get them right, with mild success, but mostly HUGE frustration!

Anyhow, pictured right is an edited RAW image, processed in DxO Optics Pro v5 and then modified in Paint Shop Pro v7. Taken with a Canon EOS 40D with my EF500mm f/4 & EF1.4x converter at 1/2000th sec at F5.6

Memories.....

This Camellia was given to me by my old Solicitor, now sadly passed away, it always reminds of her when I walk past it in the garden.

Pictured in the rain a few weeks ago, just beautiful.

All the flowers now gone, but the plant seems to have thrived in the recent warm & humid conditions.

When feeding smaller birds in the garden.....

..... always be aware that bigger birds are watching!

This male Sparrowhawk swooped in on the Goldfinches tonight, don't think he got anything, but I suppose it's only to be expected given the numbers of smaller birds around at the moment.

Sort of nice to see, but always hope they might get a Pidgeon or two versus a Goldfinch or Greenfinch.

Shot through a pane of glass in the Dining room, so not as great as it could have been, but needed to act quickly as it was gone as quickly as it arrived. Luckily the EOS 40D with EF500mm f/4 and EF1.4x was at hand already set up.

Garden visitors.... and departures

A welcome visitor has been the Goldfinch, a couple of them in fact, all feeding on the black thistle seed (also called Niger seed) feeder I put up about a month ago.

I was just about to take the feeder down as nothing had shown any interest - when they turn up and start feeding like crazy, taking it in turns to feed & then preen.

Also present in the garden have been Greenfinch, Dunnock, Starling and the usual Blue Tit's, Blackbird's, Thrushes and many Robin's. Haven't seen the Goldcrest for a while, but hope to get a good photo of it later in the Summer.

Grey Squirrel's continue to get shot upon entering my garden, I must have taken 30+ now!

Still trying out the new lenses....

...... the Canon EF 15mm Fisheye lens used in a slightly different way.

A much over done subject, the yellow sea of Rape Seed that is so beautiful (if pollen filled & smelly) in early May in the UK.

Dodged the April showers which are still hanging around for my birthday week to take this in a field close to home.

Took a couple in landscape, then a few more in portrait & decided I liked that orientation better with vivid colour of the field with shadow in foreground and large expanse of bright, but cloudy sky. Critics have said they don't like the tree in the top left corner as it distracts the eye, but I think it works.

Bad news......

..... the lady who owns the biggest plot on the road where I live has sold out to developers, sadly for me it means the view I have had for the 10 years will change.

As you can see from the photo taken from my neighbours loft conversion window just 2 weeks ago (left), it's a beautiful large open garden, but it's a crappy delapidated house, and if my 70 year old mother was in the same position I would have advised her to flog it for £1.2m as well.

Banner Homes Wessex Ltd. have applied for 8 houses to be built, having looked at the planning application I have made my objections known, so now it's in the hands of the Test Valley Planning committee to consider them.

12/06 UPDATE : well, well, well. I have now received letter from Banner Homes saying that they have modified their plans in accordance with my suggestion and deleted the 2 windows I said would overlook my property, they have said that they will also frost glaze the 2 remaining windows on the same elevation. They haven't mentioned any of my other suggestions, so assume that they were too much to ask. At least they listened to my main objection, only time will tell whether they are as keen to listen when they start work on the site....

Bad days.....

..... just when you think you are having a bad day because of something trivial like dropping a plate, burning the dinner or things just not going your way. Spare a thought for these two.....


BBC News website reports that a stunt driver delivering the ONLY Aston Martin DBS available for filming of the new James Bond Film - Quantum of Solace, crashes it on a wet road & it then plunges into Lake Garda! Oppps! Luckily he was OK.





Then, photo left shows a minor incident in Mexico to a Eurocopter AS365N3 Dauphin helicopter. It was being towed from the hangar when a part of the undercarriage gave way, I do hope that the proud customer wasn't there to witness it!

Photographers rights....

.... as I have been taking loads of photo's recently, this caught my eye on the BBC News website.

There have been many stories of late of photographers being challenged, and at some point if you take photo's in public places I suppose a stop & search is at some point inevitable, however if anyone (even a Police Officer) asks you to delete photo's or surrender Compact Flash cards etc. - YOU ARE NOT OBLIGED TO DO SO.

This link provides a very useful 2 page PDF file for reference.

You can sign up to the Downing Street petition to stop over zealous local authorities preventing us from doing what we have done for years & years.

Sadly, advertising like this from the Metropolitan Police doesn't help. It goes without saying (or advertising) that if anyone is taking any kind of interest in noting where things like CCTV camera's are in any location it should be reported.

Some of the more intelligent and enlightened forces have adopted some aircraft spotters as another set of eyes. Even the Metropolitan Police worked with Scotland Yard & BAA a few years ago with a scheme of registration for aircraft enthusiasts with LAAS International. The MoD have just started a similar scheme at RAF Coningsby.

They're back......

It may have something to do with my neighbours insistance to feed the birds in the garden with peanuts, or my feeders full of "Robin Bird Feed Mix" which they seem to like as well, but the little bastards a.k.a grey squirrels are back.

So, along with my trusty Theoben I have despatched 3 in the last 2 days (so I've probably got 20 or so in the past 6 months). Keep 'em coming as far as I'm concerned, I've got a couple of thousand pellets spare!

Lot's of coverage in the media about how the grey squirrel does so much damage to bird life and how it carries a virus that wipes out red squirrels, but people still think of them as little fluffy darlings - they're not, they are tree rats & vermin!

Royalty free picture by nvmdigital.com

Things could get a bit samey.....

.... if I over use this lens.

Just a close up of the car, weird how it cuts of the headlights, windscreen & roof.

I'm sure I'll take a load more just like this of many different things that I stumble across, but I'll probably spare you looking at my whimsical snaps.

Fisheye frolics.....

This is a shot I have wanted to try for a while, with the new 15mm Fisheye, I thought it would look a bit different.

Just a snap at the bottom of the garden at the moment, I will try & explore for some more densely populated woodland at the weekend.

A different perspective.....

.... through a newly acquired Canon EF 15mm f2.8 Fisheye lens.

I've always wanted a fisheye lens for my camera, so when one or two came up on ebay I decided to get one, saving s quite a bit on the list price for a new one from Canon.

I don't this it's going to be the most used lens in my camera bag(s), but a useful addition none the less.

As you can see from the quick snap taken earlier today at Rooksbury Mill lakes (home of the Kingfisher), landscapes are big with this lens. Closeups are also interesting as the distortion becomes more noticeable, particularly if the subject has straight lines.

New kit......

In my last post I eluded to the fact that I had successfully found all the elements of photographic kit I was spurred into getting by my chance meeting with a wildlife photography enthusiast a few weeks ago.

The photo left shows some of what I now lug around...

When I attach the EF500mm lens [the taller lens pictured left] to my EOS 1Ds Mk II with a 2 x Extender II and Manfrotto monopod it all weighs in at 7Kg (15½ pounds) which has meant further investment in lens\camera specific bags.

I'm hoping that once I get used to using the kit, I may even start to derive some earnings from photography for a change, maybe try & sell some stock photo's or even get a commission or two for some wildlife images.

Updated kit brings results... but could do better

I've found and procured all the elements of the camera kit I wanted, all 2nd hand, but still mad silly prices - I keep telling myself I can sell them for what I paid..... yeah right!

At least the equipment has proved capable of getting results, I think it's now a matter of me getting better at using it.

Simple things like covering up the dirty great big white lens with something green or even camoflauge would help, I don't think I'll be getting myself decked out in Realtree though.

Rent a stalker.....

... but it actually sounds like a great idea in the end.

London Photo Bloggers reported a few days ago about a new idea of taking candid shoots of a person going about their normal day & presenting them as gift portfolio.

"MethodIzaz is a unique photography experience. Using information provided earlier about their weekly routine, the photographer will arrive on the scene, and unseen, take shots of the subject. Subjects are unaware of the exact moment they will be photographed and of the photographer's identity. Instead, the subject is photographed completely naturally, living life as normal. "

Looks like it's only in New York at the moment, but I'm sure someone will start up in London soon enough.

The image [left] is of a bronze somewhere in Bratislava, I think it's a really good piece. It apparently is on the corner of a building housing a restaurant call The Paparazzi.

Just when you think you are making progress......

.... someone else comes along and pisses on your parade.

I'm talking photography, yet again. I was told a few weeks ago that at Rooksbury Mill Park lakes which is close to my home, there are a number of Kingfishers to be seen.

So, on Sunday morning with the sunshine making an unexpected appearance before the well forecasted approaching storms, off I went in search of said bird with Canon kit in hand - not an insubstantial setup of kit - EOS 5D, 70-200mm f2.8 L USM IS with 2 x Extender attached. Only to find that a local wildlife photographer had beaten me to it. He was fully decked out in Realtree camoflauge jacket with EOS 1DS Mk III and a Canon 500mm f4.0L USM IS in hand, similar to that as shown above.

To add insult to injury, no Kingfisher (wasn't expecting to get any shot's on first attempt, so I will try again) it pissed with rain, and of course I hadn't taken coat as the sun was shining when I left!

Having seen what can be done with the EOS 1DS Mk III & Canon 500mm, I have to confess that plans are afoot for an upgrade! Watch out Mr Mastercard, your about to get a short term beating!

If you really want to see what can be done with kit like this, check out this link... Ophrys Photography in Kent, UK. A wonderful array of amazing & beautiful wildlife photographs. I have to admit that I have half hinched the image of the Canon setup from their website, so I do hope they don't mind as long as I give them a plug here!? If you do have a problem with me doing this, please mail me.

I hadn't thought about this until today.....

.... who owns today? Leap year day, added to the working week without any mention by employers.

Except for the National Trust who have granted its whole full-time workforce the day off. Calling it the Great Green Leap Day, they are asking staff to use it for the environment. "We're giving them this opportunity to look at steps to green their own lives at home," explains Mike Holland of the Trust. "Anything from converting to greener energy to starting a compost heap."

Think I'll just be a bit greener, by turning off a computer or two....

A mine of useless information......

......I have been called many times.... about many things.

But I have been amazed at how little I really know about subjects that interest me, like photography. It was only when Carl Tyler made a comment about taking a photograph of the lunar eclipse & that he didn't have a fancy camera like his brother.. how he didn't understand f stop values etc that I realised I don't know them 100% either, I know how to use the equipment & what the values translate into when using the kit, but where they come from or how they are derived - no idea. Until now.....

Excellent easy to understand articles on lens apertures, focal length, lens speed and a whole host of other photography subjects can be found using these links from the Canon Professional Network Infobank website.

It's broken, one of two things should be in mind.....

..... either I should jump for joy at the thought of being freed from my continual reliance on email & Sametime (not self imposed!), or I should feel lost without it?

I think I feel more of the former.

Screen went blank today, sadly the IBM fix it squad can repair it in about a week & have kindly supplied a replacement.

I did go out for lunch in London today feeling a great release at being PC free for a couple of hours though.

Waddesdon, wine & poor weather....

Another Sunday spent visiting a National Trust property, this time Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire.

Very grey day weather wise, interesting place, will visit later in year when all the statues, gardens & grounds are looking a bit better.

Nice lunch in the main house, and yet again free entry included in National Trust membership. Interesting shop with a range of Rothschild wines.

Couldn't find corkscrew big enought for this bottle though!

I think Lacock Abbey could be next on the list of NT places to visit, it has photographic museum & the cloisters were used in the Harry Potter films, see if I can find myself a Dobby!

A brief history from Olympus to Canon.....

I've been taking photographs for 20+ years, I'm not particularly good at it, given the chance I put a camera into full auto mode & snap away. But given my interests in aviation, fully automatic\sports mode\landscape mode have suited my requirements.

I started out using some money left to me by my Grandfather to buy an Olympus OM30 kit from Dixons, it was over priced & totally shite, but I was hooked. I soon progressed into getting some after market lenses for it & then trading up to an OM2SP and I lusted after the OM4Ti, god knows why, not because the camera isn't great, it's just I would never have got any benefit from it's capabilities, they even made a gold plated OM2N! I had accessories like the Winder 2 which enabled me to waste film at a much faster rate of 2.5 frames per second and flash guns that would blind someone at 50 paces.

I then discovered that Olympus Zuiko lenses were clearly streets ahead of after market ones & set out to obtain one of these..... the Zuiko 85-250mm f5 [see above photo right]. What a revelation, the ability to zoom across such a wide range. Perfect for the work I was doing at airfields and events like the Epsom Derby.

Nowadays I use Canon kit, I think that the DSLR's they do are the best on the market. So an EOS 5D is now my main camera which gets attached to a wide variety of Canon lenses, the next of which will probably be one of these.... Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS USM, everyone I have spoken to who has seen & used one say it's the best Canon lens in the entire range.

At last a seat worthy of my patronage....

...... I am the King of the castle!

Went to Stowe today in the lovely sunshine & took a load of photo's which I will post on my pBase gallery later.

National Trust membership may be perceived as an old fart pastime, but I have discovered that it's a wonderful gateway to lot's of nice places to visit.

Stowe Landscape Gardens in the winter sunshine being one of them, fantastic day, not a cloud in the sky, just a load of plebs with kids screaming & shouting, even they couldn't spoil my day.

I hadn't quite realised the size of the problem......

..... yes, squirrels. I hate them! They are tree rats to me (as pidgeons are flying rats to me as well!).

I had over the winter thought that the numbers were high in my garden & surrounding area, but only when I saw 5 in the same space did I decide to take drastic action by culling them.

So I started to shoot the little furry sweet looking things [not my terminology, but my neighbour thinks that way - my view is a little different - disease ridden, bird nest raping, tree bark stripping little bastards!].

So I quickly and quietly got to 5 clean kills with my Theoben .20 Rapid air rifle, but there were clearly more to be had - 12 so far! More to follow, I'll give them a couple of days to feel more comfortable moving around & see how many there are to be had before they start breeding!

THE lens......

...... I want one, but the £17,000 (yes, seventeen thousand pounds!) price tag might put me off somewhat.

Sounds impressive specification though... f2.8 throughout the full 200-500mm zoom range, comes with a dedicated 2x converter that makes it a 400-1000mm f5.6 with autofocus working all the way. Sadly it has no Image Stabilizer and it weighs a hefty 15.7Kg. I also think the way it looks is more likely to get you arrested as a terrorist than a pap or bird watcher.

Take a look at this link to get the true scale of the lens.

It happens every year....

... at the first sign of good weather, I dust off the camera & go on a wander.

Lucky enough to catch this Heron stalking something in a meadow just off the River Test in Longparish today. Also saw a Kestrel & Buzzard circling about overhead.

1/500 f11 ISO 400 with an EOS 5 and Canon 100-400mm with 1.4x extender attached.

I've seen a new lens from Sigma I quite like the idea of, but not the costs involved.... more later.

Can you guess what it is yet?

Do you think (like me) that it looks like feathers?

Spotted this morning on a cold & frosty start to the day in the rising sun...... ice on top of my car roof.

[Click on the picture for full size]

Value for money from South West Trains.....

Everyone moans about how expensive train travel is nowadays, and most of the time with very good reason. I had a different experience that has been added to this week.

I buy a weekly season ticket for my journeys to & from London, it costs a good deal of money, currently £87.50 for 7 days. I don't use it every day, but if I travel into London twice in a 7 day period (which I invariably do) it saves my employer money - yes, I am lucky enough to be able to expense my travel costs, but I still watch what I am spending. If I were to buy a ticket on a daily basis, a standard day return would cost £44.50

Add to this a journey on Friday which I undertook from Andover to Reading (via Basingstoke) for a meeting with customer in the morning, then travel into London for meeting in afternoon, then travel home with the herds at 5.50pm Friday evening - all still covered by my weekly season ticket at no extra cost - bargain!

As football stadiums go.....

.... Arsenal's Emirates Stadium is quite nice. Large scale development, good conference facilities etc... Just a bit of a bastard to get to. Waterloo, Northern Line (3 stops), Piccadilly Line (7 stops) and a 5 minute walk in the sleet & rain.

Coffee was good, food was shite. Speaker at lunchtime was brilliant - Tim Smit. If you ever get the chance to hear him speak, go along, particularly if it's your third invitation.... (You will find out what I mean by this when you go!)

His irreverant tinted spectacles and ability to communicate are clear for all to see, well worth seeking out.

How many workmen......

....... does it take to change a speaker on Andover train station platform 1?

You might think the answer is 5. As in the 5 you can see in this picture [2 feet on the ladder shows workman number 5!] but I didn't photograph the 3 other pillocks stood on platform 2 watching from afar!

What a sorry state of affairs, no wonder the infrastructure provides such a shit service.

Cool plates.....

As a number plate fan & owner of what I think are some pretty nice vehicle registration plates, I saw two plates this week that made me smile and think how good they were - 81 RDY was seen on a VW Touareg in central London & WE57 HAM was on a Bentley GTC on the M3 heading northbound.

The BBC have just reported on the plate F1 which has been sold at auction for Essex County Council who had it since its first issue. It was apparently sold for a total of £440,625 to car designer Afzal Khan from Bradford, he runs the Project Khan business that does bespoke Range Rovers etc. The previous UK record for the most expensive plate was M1 which went for £331,000 in 2006 to a Cheshire businessman who bought it for his sons 6th birthday!?

The article gives some examples of who & how much has been spent on some amazing combinations such as the plate COM 1C which is owned by Jimmy Tarbuck (don't know why?), K1 NGS for which the Sultan of Brunei reportedly paid £231,000. In April 2006 a Sikh businessman paid £254,000 for the number plate 51 NGH.

All of the UK records pale into nothing when you consider that £3.5 million was paid last year at auction by Talal Ali Mohammad Khouri for single digit 5 plate in the UAE state of Abu Dhabi. This however might be trumped later in the year when the single digit 1 comes up for sale in Abu Dhabi.

UPDATE : Edited to appease local resident and ex-college class member. Respect? Remember the word "Germanic" Mr B? It's term I used at Cricklade one day in lecture with Mr Lees, you seemed to take the piss at my then superior wine knowledge. You have earn respect, if you start with a deficit, you have a longer journey...

UPDATE 28/06/08: MDB 64 is still for sale Mr B! NewReg want £8k for it.

Gate to nowhere.....

.... spotted this on way home from work today.

Seems a shame that such a nice gated entrance is now bricked up & forgotten. Logical if no longer is use, and an alternative entrance is in place, but still a bit weird.

I have plans (in my own mind) to have such a gated entrance to my house fairly soon, but with electric gates, rather than bricked up!