John's Photos

Brecon Mountains

2009-04-27T22:08:00.010+01:00

Just back from Tel Aviv I left the next morning for Wales with two of my old (increasingly old) uni friends. We see each other reasonably often and used to go for drinking weekends once or twice a year but as we get older we have started to add a little activity into our drinking. This was slightly on the extreme side but it was a great weekend, in the end we walked over 20 miles (some 35km) and climbed well over 2000 feet (600m). The most painful part was the very uneven surface so our feet felt like we'd been run over by a large truck. The weather looks good in the photos but I didn't take a single photo for the first two hours, that was during the 45knt wind, sleet and hail.

Looking back over the ridge we'd walked along.

Simon Riggs (left) and Steve Miller stopping to admire the view during a brief spell of sunshine.

I think the question was "should we crack on or call it a day?"

Simon (left) and Steve (right) with a couple of crazy mountain bikers in the background, why they weren't freezing solid I don't know.

Brace yourself for another shower... On the way down, just 12 miles to go.

Tel Aviv

2009-04-20T17:16:00.014+01:00

Well I'm out in Tel Aviv doing a little bit of work but I had Saturday off (The Sabbath as it's known locally) and walked from my hotel down to Jaffa, the old part of the City. Of course there's a lot of history I'm missing out but suffice to say Jaffa and old Tel Aviv are like any old city, lots of small twisty/windy roads, quaint little restaurants, galleries and shops, not to mention the odd mosque, synagogue and several orthodox churches, what history!

Well, it was the Sabbeth! The beach was buzzing with people but this was the only chap I saw praying, I think he'd picked a good spot.

This was 125th at f5.6 (ISO 100), a polarizer at 24mm on my 16-35 f2.8L II (1Ds Mk III)

I'm not sure how old this is, most of the informative writing was in Hebrew and I can't even tell you the first letter of the alphabet, I liked the striking silhouette against the blue sky (which I subsequently converted to grey).

250th at f8 (ISO 100), a polarizer at 65mm on my 24-105 f4L (1Ds Mk III)

Just metres from the previous shot, this was a building site where they were obviously keeping the facade, again the beautiful blue sky seems to contrast the pale yellow walls.

125th at f8 (ISO 100), a polarizer at 45mm on the 24-105 f4L (1Ds Mk III)

Again just metres from the previous image, a view down one of the streets...

60th at f4.5 (ISO 200), a polarizer at 55mm on the 24-105 f4L (1Ds Mk III)

I couldn't resist this, the sun was just out of the shot but it stood out nicely.

640th at f11 (ISO 200), a polarizer at 105mm on the 24-105 f4L (1Ds Mk III)

One of the Minerette towers, below it a Kosher restaurant and a rather nice VW beetle in Israeli colours parked out side.

200th at f10 (ISO 100), a polarizer at 28mm on the 24-105 f4L (1Ds Mk III)

I love the texture of wood in B&W.

320th at f8 (ISO 400), a polarizer at 99mm on the 24-105 f4L (1Ds Mk III)

After a quick bite to eat I took this during the walk back to the hotel, the long white sandy beach front to Tel Aviv is full of people playing ball games, jogging and sun-bathing, there are not many cities in the world that have this sort of playground on their doorstep.

50th at f5 (ISO 100), at 24mm on the 24-105 f4L (1Ds Mk III)

Finally looking back at the port of Jaffa as I wondered back to my hotel in the twilight.

2.5 secs at f11 (ISO 100), at 70mm on the 24-105 f4L (1Ds Mk III)

A very warm Easter

2009-04-12T20:25:00.008+01:00

It's been one of the warmest Easters I can remember, admittedly I'm not in England but I'm not that far away in Alsace and it's been well into the mid 20Cs (high 70s F). I've got three photos below, the first was taken late on Thursday afternoon (9th April 2009), the exposure was 1 second at f22 on my 16-35mm 2.8L II at 23mm. I don't usually shoot at f22 as diffraction starts to degrade the quality of the image but I needed the one second exposure. All three were using a 1Ds MkIII.

The second was taken near to the top of Monte Ste Odile, we were walking in the forest very close to where an Airbus A320 crashed in January 1992, many of the 87 victims died of cold in the 4 hours it took to find them dense forest. We saw the site itself which is well marked with a monument to the victims, it's strange to stand on the site of a major plane crash. The area also has an ancient Roman wall some 10km long called the "Mur Paien".

Finally a local lake, the Helmbacher in Benfeld, we often take the children swimming here in the summer, I'm sure the ice only recently melted but my boys were up to their shorts in the freezing water. This was a one minute exposure at f5.6 in infrared (hoya 72R) about 30 minutes before sunset. This was with my 24-105 f4L at 32mm. I would have preferred my 16-35mm lens but I still can't find an 82mm IR filter for that lens.

I'm back!

2009-01-15T18:41:00.004Z

Here we go again, another one of these "I'm back" messages with a firm commitment to continuing the blob, which of course stops for another year or so until the next "I'm back" message. Well we'll see, for now I'm back and I'm going to try to keep this up. I've just got around to configuring my web site Light in Images (.com) so take a look there and you'll see I've not dropped my photography, just the updates on the blog.

Today's photo is of a lighthouse in Cancun of all places, I know it looks cold and windy but in fact it was, I was there on a spot of business and it was the coldest November day they'd had for years. This was 30 seconds at f10 with my 24-105mm and the Canon 1Ds Mk3, on a tripod obviously.

I'm still alive!

2007-09-26T18:38:00.000+01:00

I haven't updated this for a long time. I'm still taking photos and have now moved on to a 5D, hopefully soon on to the 1Ds MkIII

I'm in the process of setting up a new site, for the moment it's hosted on SmugMug and you can find it at http://johntdavies.smugmug.com/ but it's still in construction. Eventually that will be under the domain "Light in Images" which I've reserved but not pointed to SmugMug yet.

I've got absolutely loads of new photographs from all over the world so please drop back here in the next few days and I'll hopefully upload them and re-point the links.

-John-

Guernsey

2006-11-03T16:20:00.000Z

I'm stuck on this ship for a few days, I'm going a 45 minutes talk and getting a free cabin, food and drinks, not bad. I took this just before 5pm when the sun set over the edge of Guernsey. The sea is VERY calm, personally I would have preferred to have a rough sea but at least I got a good sunset.

New Hampshire, New England

2006-10-30T02:46:00.001Z

I took this last weekend, I had to hang out in the US for a meeting in Portland (Maine) on the Monday and decided to drive up the coastal route. Sadly the cloud came in a few hours before the sun set so this was one of the last photos I got. This is straight out of the camera, no adjustments or anything (re-sized and USM of course but no saturation changes). As I drove past I almost crashed the car, the colours were so stunning.

Greenland

2006-10-30T02:32:00.000Z

Last week I travelled from London to San Francisco, a trip I now seem to do about every month. On the way we fly over Greenland, it's usually covered in clouds but this time it was superbly clear. I took this and several others (here) from my window on Virgin Atlantic, about 38,000 feet over the south east of Greenland.

Since Marius asked so nicely here are a couple of the colour versions...

Infra-red

2006-10-09T00:17:00.000+01:00

A comment on one of my infrared photos lead me to buying a new IR filter, an 87C, until now I have been using a Hoya R72. Although the R72 is a true infrared filter it's at the very short end of the IR band and partly allows very deep red light through as well. In fact if you look through it and exclude all other light you can see a very dim deep red world. The 87C is further down the spectrum and you really can't see a thing thought he filter with the naked eye, you can just make out the sun, which of course is not wise but I'm just giving you an idea of how dark it is.

Here is an example of the results, these were taken with a Canon 20D, the exposures are very long due to the IR filter in front of the sensor, it's there to filter out IR so the filter on the front of the lens is doing the opposite.

This is the scene in "normal" light (no filters)

Details: Walpole Park, Ealing
24/10/04 16:15
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/250 sec @ f8
20-35mm 2.8L @ 29mm
Tripod

Infra-red through a 87C filter

Details: Walpole Park, Ealing
24/10/04 16:17
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
120 secs @ f2.8 with B+W 093 (87C) IR filter
20-35mm 2.8L @ 29mm
Tripod

Infra-red though a Hoya R72 filter in false colour (red channel replaced with blue and change to the hue)

Details: Walpole Park, Ealing
24/10/04 16:22
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
60 secs @ f2.8 with Hoya R72 filter (post processed see above)
20-35mm 2.8L @ 29mm
Tripod

Pewsey

2006-09-26T18:22:00.000+01:00

I spent the weekend in Pewsey for the annual Pewsey carnival. As you can see the weather was spectacular, we had a thunderstorm over night and it was just beautifully fresh, perfect for a long walk...

Details: Pewsey
24/09/06 12:40
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/200 sec @ f7.1 with polorising filter
20-35mm 2.8L @ 20mm
Handheld

Barns Wetlands

2006-09-11T12:00:00.000+01:00

I took my eldest son (Luc) to Barns Wetlands yesterday so that he could get a little practice with his new Camera (Canon A620) and binoculars that he got for his 8th birthday last Wednesday. It was my first time there but enjoyed it so much I got a season ticket on the way out. It's basically an old water-works turned into a nature reserve. They've done a spectacular job and it makes a perfect place for a weekend walk once you get away from the main entrance. It seemed a little dull taking photos of the somewhat captive birds but the dragonflies were a real challenge. I tried using Canon's AI-Servo focus which was great when the were flying but once they stopped it re-focused continuously while I re-framed the shot. By the time I turned off the AI-servo focusing the dragonfly had moved on and was flying again.

I was pleased with this shot but there were a lot of others that looked so much better on the camera but just weren't clear once I got them onto the computer.

Details: Barns Wetlands (West London)
10/09/06
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/200 sec @ f2.8
300mm 2.8L
Handheld

Last day of vacation

2006-08-05T02:39:00.000+01:00

Damn, it's over already, off on the train back to London tomorrow. Pretty much all the photos you see here, posted in the last two weeks were taken during my (short) two week vacation in Charmouth. They are definitely not my best photos but bare in mind that I had my three young boys running at the same time so virtually every photo was taken hand held with one eye on the viewfinder and the other on the boys, not easy I can assure you.

I'm off to Boston on Monday, New York on Wednesday, back to London on Thursday then off for a few days in France with the boys on Saturday. I get back from France on Tuesday evening and leave for San Francisco on Wednesday morning, Boston the following Monday, New York at the end of the week, back to Boston and then London. Business as usual!

Boy, I'm looking forward to leaving this place, I hate nice quiet holidays by the sea. :-)

A walk in the forest

2006-08-05T01:58:00.000+01:00

Well, that's it, two weeks just gone like that. Amongst other things we went for a late afternoon walk in a local forest. The boys loved it, we tried out our new bow and arrows (home made like Robin Hood) and searched for bugs, what more could 3 young boys want?

Rock Pipit

2006-08-02T16:33:00.000+01:00

There are a lot of Pipits here, this one is a rock pipit.

Bridport hill top

2006-08-02T16:31:00.000+01:00

This is a rather unusual hill top, you can see it form miles. The photo (below) is just the very top but it is really a rather steep hill with this little clump of trees on the top. If anyone's interested the Google map location is roughly here... Google maps

Jurassic coast

2006-08-02T16:23:00.000+01:00

The Jurrasic coast is a world heritage site, it's stunning. One of the reasons I chose this as a holiday spot for the boys was that come rain or shine they can go down to the beach and hunt for fossils. They have now collected so many stones and rocks I wonder if the beach is going to be there next year, most of it is in the garage of the cottage we're staying in.

Luc and James

James

Not one of my boys but it looked good, taken into the afternoon sun

Monks eat swans!

2006-08-02T16:16:00.000+01:00

The other day I took the boys off the Abbotsbury swannery. These swan were originally raised to feed the monks in the abbot some 600 years ago. Of course there's an abbot to see but we've got those all over the UK, today we went to see the swans.

Relaxing at the beach...

2006-08-02T16:14:00.000+01:00

This has got to be the town with the best name in the world (clean name at least). Beer! We took a long walk up and down the beach after our icecreams, it was a long day.

Another walk

2006-08-02T16:05:00.000+01:00

The weather here (Dorset/Devon, UK) has been amazing, especially for an English summer holiday. We've missed the heatwave in London and settled for high 20s (C) (mid 80s (F)). I saw this nature reserve on the map and took the boys for a morning walk...

Honeysuckle

My mother with the boys...

Check out the liken on these old trees

RAF Parachute display

2006-07-28T19:03:00.000+01:00

This afternoon I took the boys along to Lyme Regis, a place well know to most Brits as the UK's fossil Mecca. Today the RAF (Royal Air Force) put on a very impressive parachute display. Armed with a 200mm f2.8 and a 1.4X converter this are some of the shots I got...

Sea gulls

2006-07-26T10:11:00.000+01:00

Seagulls are not exactly rare and they're not difficult to photograph but of course it's only people who live near the coast that see them. We get them a lot in London but not as many as by the coast, these ones were pulling paper out of the bins looking for chips. They don't seem to mind people, you can often hold up chips and they'll snatch them out of your hands in mid-air. I caught this one (a Herring Gull) as it flew past (without baiting it with chips).

* A British chip by the way is like a "French fry" but much more chunky, they're usually larger than a man's thumb.

A Walk in the Woods

2006-07-26T01:04:00.000+01:00

Although Charmouth, where I am for the next week and a half is noticable cooler than London it's still too hot in the middle of the day to take my boys down to the beach. Yesterday we went for a walk in a nearby wood to cool off, an excellent idea, it's difficult to understand why more people didn't do the same, luckily they didn't, it was a fabulous walk.

Charmouth by night

2006-07-24T03:07:00.000+01:00

I'm in Charmouth for a two week holiday with my three boys. It's not easy keeping them happy and the weather is far too hot to be out during the middle of the day. I took these in the evening, long after sunset, most were all around 2 minutes exposures at f5.6 taken towards the south-west.

On this one you can see the "star" trail of Jupiter on the upper left

More Docklands

2006-07-15T02:00:00.000+01:00

Sometimes I just wonder through the hundreds of old photos and try the odd one out in PhotoShop, I think this one came out quite nicely, I took it at the same time as the Dockland photos. The ligh trails at the top of the river are from a river boat, this photo was a 2 minute exposure which gives a rather nice sheen on the river.

Details: A view from the Docklands up river to the City
14/04/06, 19:01
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
120 sec @ f2.8 with Hoya 72R infrared filter
70-200mm 2.8L @ 100mm
Tripod

Barcelona

2006-07-14T12:19:00.000+01:00

Life's hard, after visiting Rome I had to spend almost a week in Barcelona, I was there for a conference which meant hard work writing slides and long nights drinking until 6am but I did get time for a few photos on the Saturday before flying home.

This is the part of Barcelona where the photos were taken... Google Maps.

Details: Barcelona, Spain
24/06/06, 12:10
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/250 sec @ f8
20-35mm 2.8L @ 20mm
Handheld

Details: Barcelona, Spain
24/06/06, 12:25
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/200 sec @ f7.1
20-35mm 2.8L @ 28mm
Handheld

Roma (Rome)

2006-07-14T11:52:00.000+01:00

A few weeks ago I had to visit the beautiful city of Rome. Getting there was a bit of a nightmare, travel in economy so nothing viable to eat, I arrived 2 hours late to a completetly closed airport, shared a taxi to the centre only to find my hotel was near the airport, got to the reasonably nice hotel to find they couldn't even find me an apple or a bag of peanuts. Starving by this time I drank a few beers out of the minibar as my evening meal, did a bit of work and went to sleep.

The following evening after a relatively good day's work made up for it all, Rome is just stunning. I took the following while wondering around just before settling down to eat. I was with several others so really didn't have time to compose or use a tripod.

This is the area I was walking around, it's the old part of Rome, for any Americans reading this old means "REALLY OLD". Google Maps

Details: Rome
29/05/06, 19:15
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/25 sec @ f2.8
20-35mm 2.8L @ 35mm
Handheld

Details: Rome
29/05/06, 19:24
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/160 sec @ f5.6 curves modified with Photoshop CS2
20-35mm 2.8L @ 32mm
Handheld

Details: Rome
29/05/06, 19:37
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/60 sec @ f3.5 curves modified with Photoshop CS2
20-35mm 2.8L @ 32mm
Handheld

Face painting

2006-07-14T11:16:00.000+01:00

Shame on me, I intended to write to this blog roughly weekly and it's been several months since I list posted anything. It's not as if I've stopped taking photos it's just that I've either not had the time to process them for web consumption or just simply not been connected to the internet with enough time to spare to post the photos.

These photos aren't necessarily in chronological order but you're hardly going to know the difference, the important thing is to get some photos up here again and wake this blog up from it's sleepy state.

These photos were taken a few weeks ago, my boy's school held a fate one rather hot evening in late June. I had the three boys to watch on my own so didn't really get much change to take photographs. I was pleased with these results though, the sun was getting lower in the sky and the light starting to get that nice warm evening glow.

Finally James, this was before England lost. Since my boys are half French it was pretty easy for them to switch alegence to France, that got them just a little further.

A new trampoline

2006-04-17T01:22:00.000+01:00

These aren't really here for their photographic qualities just for personal reasons. My mother got a new trampoline just before Easter. These were taken on Easter Sunday on the trampoline.

Luc (7 1/2)

James (5)

Pierre (3)

The London Docklands

2006-04-15T14:10:00.000+01:00

Two posts in one day. Yesterday I went for a nice walk around the Docklands, I started in North Greenwich next to the London Dome. It's actually the first time I've seen the Dome so close up, they're working on it again with a view to opening it in a year or so. Sadly it's all closed off so not easy to get any photos.

The first photo is of Canary Wharf in the Dockland with the sun behind it, this one was taken in infrared.

Details: Carary Wharf in the London Docklands from North Greenwich
14/04/06, 19:11
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
30 sec @ f4.0 with Hoya 72R infrared filter
28-70mm 2.8L @ 34mm
Tripod

The second, obviously the same, was taken in "normal" light, i.e. full colour.

Details: Carary Wharf in the London Docklands from North Greenwich
14/04/06, 19:14
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/200th sec @ f7.1
28-70mm 2.8L @ 28mm
Tripod

A little later I got the tube (underground) over to Canery Wharf, under the towers. Taking photographs there is now a serious problem. Every time I got the tripod out security guards came running over asking all sorts of questions and wanting to see ID etc. A good ten years ago there was a half tonne bomb that the IRA kindly exploded in Carary Wharf and of course there was 9/11 but if someone wanted to get photos of the place for terrorist reasons they're hardly likely to turn up with tripod after sunset are they?

I managed to lose the first guard and get this one of the CitiGroup building in the setting sunlight.

Details: Citigroup building in Carary Wharf
14/04/06, 19:46
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/60th sec @ f4.0
28-70mm 2.8L @ 34mm
Hand held

The next shot was taken after escaping from the guards, in fact this was taken some way outside of the docklands complex looking back towards the City of London from the East side.

Details: London City from the Docklands
14/04/06, 19:54
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/160th sec @ f3.5
70-200mm 2.8L @ 93mm
Hand held

The same as above but a little closer in, I braved the use of the tripod for this one.

Details: The Swiss Re building (the Girkin) from the Docklands
14/04/06, 19:57
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
0.6 sec @ f16.0
70-200mm 2.8L @ 165mm
Tripod

Now, while I'm taking this shot (with a tripod again) a new security guard has spotted me and is radioing his mates.

Details: Canary Wharf
14/04/06, 20:13
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
4.0 sec @ f11.0
28-70mm 2.8L @ 44mm
Tripod

I managed to get this shot just before being ushered away but security guards. The were in fact really nice about it, as were the others. A much nicer version than the ones in the US. These ones had a brain and after showing them my photos (off the camera) they decided to let me go. It was rather like a game of cat and mouse. Having said that these guys were doing a good job and were nice about it. I packed up the camera and went to the cinema.

Details: Canary Wharf
14/04/06, 20:25
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
4.0 sec @ f8.0
20-35mm 2.8L @ 23mm
Tripod

A walk along the River Thames

2006-04-15T13:06:00.001+01:00

Oh, it's terrible, I really should update this site more regularly. I'm still taking photos but just not getting them up here enough. I managed to get a local shop (Farm W5 in Ealing) to display a range of my photos which has kept me a little busy recently. Anyway, here are a few more for you.
Last weekend the weather finally cleared up and I took a nice long walk along the Thames from Sloane Square, down to Battersea then Embankment via Waterloo and the London Eye. It was later afternoon, early evening so I got the best light of the day, low, setting sun light.

The first is, as I'm sure you know, Battersea Power Station taken from the end of Sloane St. between Victoria and Battersea Bridge. It was taken in infrared which explains the dark sky.

Details: Battersea Power Station
08/04/06, 18:16
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
40 sec @ f4.0 with Hoya 72R infrared filter
28-70mm 2.8L @ 58mm
Tripod

The next, still Battersea Power Station was taken from just across the river, again this is in infrared. Although it was later afternoon the sun was very bright and still too contrasty for "normal" shots. I think a polorizing filter would have created an interesting effect but I'd forgotten it on this occasion.

Details: Battersea Power Station
08/04/06, 18:41
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
60 sec @ f4.0 with Hoya 72R infrared filter
28-70mm 2.8L @ 28mm
Tripod

Leaving Battersea Power Station behind now walking down river...

Details: Battersea Power Station
08/04/06, 18:55
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
45 sec @ f4.0 with Hoya 72R infrared filter
28-70mm 2.8L @ 28mm
Tripod

I'm not sure what this building is, it's right next to the MI5 building, I'll have to Google around and see if I can find out. Anyway, this was about the last shot I got in sunlight, again in infrared.

Details: Battersea Power Station
08/04/06, 19:17
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
90 sec @ f4.0 with Hoya 72R infrared filter
28-70mm 2.8L @ 36mm
Tripod

Right, you'll recognise this, the London Eye taken from Lambeth Bridge. The sun's gone down so there's no more infrared to play with.

Details: London Eye from Lambeth Bridge
08/04/06, 19:34
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/2 sec @ f11.0
28-70mm 2.8L @ 40mm
Tripod

This was taken almost under the London Eye, I really wanted to get the Victoria lamp posts, Dali and the more modern London Eye, I tihnk I did it.

Details: Victorian Lamp post, London Eye and Dali statue
08/04/06, 19:56
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/2 sec @ f11.0
20-35mm 2.8L @ 20mm
Tripod

Another attemt to show the beauty of the Victorian Lamp posts

Details: Victorian Lamp post with Embankment station in the background
08/04/06, 20:02
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/4 sec @ f2.8
70-200mm 2.8L @ 70mm
Tripod

The final shot for this post is of the stairs next to the London Eye

08/04/06, 20:13
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/2 sec @ f5.6
70-200mm 2.8L @ 70mm
Tripod

Portland, Or

2006-03-05T05:54:00.000Z

I am completely knackered (that's English for tired to the extreme). I've been from London to New York, to Denver, to Portland Oregon and I'm now at the airport waiting for the "red-eye" to Chicago then to New York and finally to Boston where I stay for 2 days before flying back to London.

Anyway, I had the day "off" today and drove out to Mt. Hood about 50 miles east of Portland. It is stunning, the scenery is just increadable. I had a lot of photos in mind before I set out but nearly 3 metres (9 feet) of snow and the fact that I had only work shoes put pay to that. Instead I drove around the national park and stopped off to "snap" the odd photo.

I'm going to add the details of the photos later but I've only got 20 minutes before I head off to security for my flight.

Mt. Hood (11,239ft) in infrared

Mt. Adams (12,307ft)

Mt. Adams (as above) but in infrared

Infrared

2006-02-22T04:54:00.000Z

Firstly, appologies for the very long delay since my last post. I've had quite a lot of changes in my life over the last month or so and that's just kept me a little too busy.
I've kept up the photography but just not had time to upload them here, I will do over the next few days. I've also got a 10 day trip to the US (East and West coast) so that should generate a number of new images to be posted here. Please watch this space.

You can also get an RSS/ATOM feed by the way: http://john-davies.blogspot.com/atom.xml

It's late night and I want to get to bed so here are just a few of my infrared photos I too over the last week...

Lammas Park
Details for follow

Brighton (actually this wasn't infrared)
Detail to follow

Brighton
Details to follow

Benfeld, Alsace

2006-01-03T02:36:00.000Z

Benfeld is a small town about 35km (25 miles) south of Strasbourg, its history goes back over 6000 years but it was largely distroyed towards the end of the last war by the Germans as they pulled out. I took these while walking around the town.

Details: Benfeld, Alsace, Eastern France
29/12/05, 15:23
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/6 sec @ f22
20-35mm 2.8L @ 32mm
Tripod

Details: Benfeld, Alsace, Eastern France
31/12/05, 15:04
Canon 20D, ISO-1600, RAW
1/80th sec @ f5.6
20-35mm 2.8L @ 25mm
Hand held

Details: Benfeld, Alsace, Eastern France
31/12/05, 16:00
Canon 20D, ISO-1600, RAW
1/25th sec @ f2.8
20-35mm 2.8L @ 20mm
Hand held

Strasbourg by night

2006-01-03T00:59:00.000Z

Strasbourg by day or night is a beautiful city, one of the largest cities in France and the capital of the richest area after Paris. Strasbourg is on the French/German boarder by the Rhine which divides the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) to the east and the Vosges mountains to the west.
Strasbourg has changed "hands" between the Germans and the French several times over the last few hundred years, the people have always been French but many still speak Alsacien/Elsässisch, a German dialect. The French are on their fifth republic and that constitution states that the official language of France is French however Alsacien has finally been added to the official list of languages of France.

Alsace is famous for it's cooking and wine, bäckeoffe, tartes flambées (flammeküche) and choucroute are amongst the local specialities, usually washed down with an excellent glass of "Vin d'Alsace", the most famous of which is Gewürztraminer. Another produce I really shouldn't forget is the excellent beer, strasbourg is the home of two well known beers (Kronenbourg 1664 and Fischer) it is France's biggest beer producing area.

So, to the photos. I took these one evening between Christmas and New Year, it started snowing on boxing day (26th) and the temperature dropped to -11C (12F) at night. It snowed a little for several days leaving several inches of snow by the end of the week.

Details: Strasbourg, Alsace, Eastern France
27/12/05, 22:49
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1 sec @ f4.0
20-35mm 2.8L @ 25mm
Tripod

Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, the cathedral, is probably one of the most spectacular in the world, started in 1015, it took over 600 years to complete (probably down to the 35 hour week) and as you can see it's still missing a spire. It was the tallest building in the world for over 400 years. Sadly it's very difficult to get a clear shot of the front due to nearby buildings. The front façade is incredibly complex, it's not hard to imagine what they spent 600 years doing.

Details (both): Strasbourg, Alsace, Eastern France
27/12/05, 22:45
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
4 sec @ f5.6
20-35mm 2.8L @ 20mm
Tripod

Details: Strasbourg, Alsace, Eastern France
27/12/05, 23:12
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
10 secs @ f11
20-35mm 2.8L @ 35mm
Tripod

Kitten

2006-01-03T00:18:00.000Z

I spent Christmas and New Year in Alsace, one of the cats had had kittens a few weeks earlier, this is one of them, my youngest son Pierre (nearly 3) absolutely loved them.

Details: Benfeld, Alsace, Eastern France
25/12/05, 11:18
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/250 sec @ f2.8
70-200mm 2.8L @ 155mm
Hand held, built-in flash

No. 25 bus, a great place to sleep

2005-12-23T23:11:00.000Z

It's been quiet for a while, at least on my blog. Life didn't stop, it just got rather busy with Christmas parties in the City, if I wasn't out partying I was either nursing a hangover or looking after the kids. All in all rather a busy two weeks leading up to Christmas.
I left one do to dash off to get the last tube missing it by minutes. My logic at the time was to take the No. 25 bus to Oxford Circus where I would have probably got another bus or a taxi home. Being rather late and having had several beers I fell asleep on the bus waking up in Ilford (where ever the hell that is!). The logical way back into London is of course the No. 25 bus. This happened several times, the only reason I know is because the electronic travel passes in London record where you've been so I was able to display my travels once I came too (in Ilford again) at about 7am.
So, here it is, the No. 25 bus at Monument, guess where it's going. I took this a few days later on my way to a party at the top of the "Girkin" (the smaller photo below).

Details: Monument, City of London
21/12/05, 18:38
Canon 20D, ISO-400, RAW
1 sec @ f11
20-35mm 2.8L @ 20mm
Supported on a railing

The "Girkin" or Swiss Re building, built on the sight of the 1992 Baltic Exchange bomb. This is what Londoners were used to before the so called Al-Quaida terrorists, 100 pounds of Semtex flattened a large area of St Mary Axe were the Girkin now stands, thanks to Swiss Re we now have a worthy monument to replace the Exchange.

And this is part of the view you get from the top...

Details: View from the top of the Swiss Re building, City of London
21/12/05, 23:09
Canon 20D, ISO-1600, RAW
1/15 sec @ f2.8
20-35mm 2.8L @ 35mm
Handheld

Kew Bridge

2005-12-18T00:10:00.000Z

Today was my "day off", a day when I don't have to look after the boys all day, it was a cold day and I didn't really fancy spending all day wondering around with a heavy sack of lenses and a tripod so I left it until about 2:30 before setting off to try to get the sun setting behind Battersea Power Station. My plan was quickly thwarted by London Underground so I took the bus down to Kew Bridge and snapped off a few shots of the sunset.

Every time I make a conscious decision to leave my 300mm lens at home I find I need it. With my 70-200mm f2.8 zoom I can get 280mm at f4.0 with my 1.4X converter which is good but I could have got 420mm, f4.0 or 600mm, f5.6 (with 2X) if I'd bought it along. For those that don't know London, Kew is on the river in West London, just north of the Heathrow flight path when they land to the west.

Details: Kew Bridge, West London, UK
17/12/05, 15:51
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/500 secs @ f4.5
70-200mm 2.8L + 1.4X converter @ 280mm (Effective)
Tripod

I love sunsets, everyone is different and every minute of everyone is different from the last. This one is quite busy with airplane trails.

Details: Kew Bridge, West London, UK
17/12/05, 16:05
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/125 secs @ f5.6
20-35mm 2.8L @ 20mm
Tripod

This one is looking back at Kew Bridge where I had been minutes ealier (for the above).

Details: Kew Bridge, West London, UK
17/12/05, 16:32
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
8 secs @ f8.0
20-35mm 2.8L @ 33mm
Tripod

Finally, I thought I'd try my infrared filter. This is untouched, it is normally red because of the filter. I wasn't overly impressed with the black and white version so here's the original.

Details: Kew Bridge, West London, UK
17/12/05, 16:08
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
30 secs @ f2.8
20-35mm 2.8L @ 20mm + Hoya 72R Infrared filter
Tripod

Twilight in Lammas Park

2005-12-17T23:46:00.000Z

Not a huge about to say about this. The park is about 2 minutes walk form my house in South Ealing, I was working from home and hadn't taken a lunch break due to endless telephone conferences so I took a 20 minute break at sunset for a quick walk in the park.

Details: Lammas Park, Ealing, UK
16/12/05, 16:13
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/50 secs @ f3.5
20-35mm 2.8L @ 20mm
Hand held

Christmas Cards

2005-12-13T11:18:00.000Z

It's that time of year when we hand out Christmas cards, either that or be shunned for the next few months. As usual there's a choice, you go out and buy some generic crap with bells, reindeer, snow and cribs or you make them. Now, I have three boys in three different classes, that comes to about 70-80 cards for the children, say another 20 or so for friends and we get a round 100 Christmas cards. Hand made cards are out of the question, at lest not until I retire and the children leave school so I'm printing them again. Last night just before the boys went to bed I managed to get them to dress up in white sheets, this is what I made from the photos...

The Boys

2005-12-11T00:51:00.000Z

As you'll read from the previous post (below) I spent the afternoon trying to ware the boys out after a lunch of chocolate and cakes, these were all taken on Saturday...

Click here for earlier photos.

Luc (was 7 in Sept) climbing.

James (will be 5 in April) at the school concert

Pierre (will be 3 in Feb) in the late afternoon light

Late Autumn light

2005-12-10T23:48:00.000Z

On Saturdays my boys got to French school, today was the end of year party, a few songs and a hell of a lot of food bought in by the parents. Needless to say the boys somehow found the least healthy selection and stuffed their faces. To try to work off some of the excess chocolate I kept them in the park most of the afternoon. There are too many people Christmas shopping in central London to make it worth going to the museums so the park is the easy option. It was quite cold, just a few degrees above freezing most of the day so towards sunset the temperature plummeted towards zero.
Three photos today the first, an owl, was I'm sad to say not wild, It was in a small wild-life section of Walpole Park. I've never been in before but it appears the boys had. I was told the owl knew everything but asked how that could be. I told them it listened rather than chatter like the other birds, it seemed to work.

Details: Walpole park, Ealing, UK
10/12/05, 14:29
Canon 20D, ISO-400, RAW
1/50 secs @ f2.8
70-200 2.8L @ 200mm
Hand held (supported on the cage)

The last two photos were taken from the children's playground area, the light was fantastic in the frosty air. If was wasn't looking after three boys it would have been easier to get some better shots but I was pleased with these. One eye was on the view-finder, the other on the boys.

Details: Walpole park, Ealing, UK
10/12/05, 15:16
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/640 secs @ f7.1
70-200 2.8L @ 75mm
Hand held

Details: Walpole park, Ealing, UK
10/12/05, 15:22
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/200 secs @ f2.8
70-200 2.8L @ 75mm
Hand held

Richmond upon Thames

2005-12-10T02:31:00.000Z

I found myself in Richmond at the end of the day today and took a very pleasent twenty minute walk along the river. I've definately got to go back, I didn't have my tripod so these were all shot at 3200ASA which makes them a little grainy.

Details: Richmond, West London, UK
09/12/05, 16:29
Canon 20D, ISO-3200, RAW
1/50 secs @ f2.8
28-70 2.8L @ 28mm
Hand held

Details: Richmond, West London, UK
09/12/05, 16:30
Canon 20D, ISO-3200, RAW
1/60 secs @ f4.0
28-70 2.8L @ 28mm
Hand held

Details: Richmond, West London, UK
09/12/05, 16:31
Canon 20D, ISO-3200, RAW
1/40 secs @ f2.8
28-70 2.8L @ 28mm
Hand held

Another foggy morning

2005-12-10T02:07:00.000Z

I just couldn't resist taking my camera with me this morning. As usualy I took the children to school, I was amused by questions like "Daddy why does it look foggy but when you get there the fog's gone?". As usual I walked back through Walpole park, although it was foggy and therefore low contrast the leaves still have amazing colours. The first shot just caught my eye as I walked into the park.

Details: Walpole park, Ealing, UK
09/12/05, 09:31
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/60 secs @ f3.2
28-70 2.8L @ 42mm
Hand held

The second is the avenue of trees, one of several that cross the park. I've taken a lot of photos of this avenue, probably too many but it's nice to see how the leaves have changed since the photo I took just a month ago: The Start of Autumn.

Details: Walpole park, Ealing, UK
09/12/05, 09:50
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/60 secs @ f4.0
28-70 2.8L @ 28mm
Hand held

A black and white version...

Finally an "action" shot...

Details: Walpole park, Ealing, UK
09/12/05, 09:52
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/100 secs @ f4.0
28-70 2.8L @ 48mm
Hand held

Moon and Venus

2005-12-10T01:57:00.000Z

I had intended to take some fun photos of one of my boys (James) using a flash strobe but I couldn't resist this shot of the new Moon and Venus. The small line of light to the left of the tree in the centre-right is the trail of a plane landing at Heathrow Airport.

Details: Lammas Park, Ealing, West London
04/12/05, 16:49
Canon 20D, ISO-400, RAW
1 sec @ f11
20-35 2.8L @ 34mm
Tripod

James taken with a strobe flash

Tower Bridge

2005-12-09T23:13:00.000Z

I was at a conference on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (1st-3rd), not only did it take my days up the evenings too. I took this in the brief gap between the day event and the evening "discussions", over of course several beers and bottles of wine.

Details: Tower Bridge from London Bridge
03/12/05, 18:18
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/2 secs @ f2.8
20-35 2.8L @ 24mm
Steadied on the bridge

Ye Olde British Pub

2005-11-29T01:02:00.000Z

I went to the most wonderful old pub on Sunday, old is an understatement, its over 900 years old in fact, just imagine the Normans probably stopped off here for a quick pint after battle. King Charles II hid here in 1651 during the civil war, he was on his way to France where his mother came from. Being part French, he was into mistresses (literally), he acknowledged seven of them who bore fourteen children between them. Given his position I seriously doubt he stopped at seven though. It's interesting to note that both Princess Di and Camilla are direct decendents of Charles' illegitimate sons. For the American readers, Charles II was the king who kicked the Dutch our of New Amsterdam and renamed it New York after his brother.

Enough history, this is probably one of the most wonderful pubs I've ever been to, excellent beer, excellent food and wine, friendly staff and tucked deep in the country surrounded by walks.

Details: The Royal Standard of England, Beaconsfield, UK
27/11/05, 13:53
Canon 20D, ISO-1600, RAW
1/15 secs @ f4.0
20-35 2.8L @ 20mm
Hand held

Finally this was taken just after lunch, the sun sets shortly after 4pm so there was very little light, add to that the fact that I had two boys running around and third in a push-chair covered in mud and I think it was a remarkably good photo.

Details: Forty Green, Beaconsfield, UK
27/11/05, 15:56
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
0.8 secs @ f2.8
20-35 2.8L @ 25mm
Hand held against a tree

The light off the trees

2005-11-28T22:54:00.000Z

It's been a quiet week as far as photography goes, having taken Monday and Tuesday off I had a busy week fitting the usualy 5 days work into 3. I'm sure that's not the way vacation is supposed to work but it always appears that way, where did I go wrong?
Anyway, it's been a rather good week weather-wise, still cold but still dry. I took this one while walking back from having taken the children to school, the silver birch trees are exceptionally bright in the morning sun, in fact so bright it was pretty much impossible to correctly expose them with anything else in the shot so I decided to take a closer look. I use Ansel Adams zone system when I take photographs, I put the highlights into zone 8, leaving a little room for tone in the highlights.

Details: Wolepole park, Ealing, UK
25/11/05, 09:17
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/500 secs @ f8.0
28-70 2.8L @ 60mm
Hand held

The London Eye

2005-11-21T23:08:00.000Z

At long last I finally made it up the London Eye. Being a Londoner it's always easier to leave it to another day but today was the day. The boys are off school for two days while they move classrooms around (rebuilding work) so not being a weekend, less tourists around and reasonably good weather I decided to try it out. If I'd known my latent weekend cold would come on full force during the trip I probably wouldn't have made it but sniffing and sneezing aside, it was a great day and I highly recommend it.

The view from the eye wasn't perfect, rather misty, it's still rather cold in London and the morning fog takes time to clear so there wasn't a huge amount of photogenic subjects at the top, that being said it was a fantastic view all the same.

These photographs were taken within about 100m of the Eye...

Just walking up to the London Eye from the new Golden Jubilee bridge.

Details: South Bank, nr. The London Eye, UK
21/11/05, 14:23
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/250 secs @ f7.1
28-70 2.8L @ 39mm
Hand held

Part of the way up the London Eye, you can see the mist on the horizon.

Details: The London Eye, UK
21/11/05, 15:05
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/250 secs @ f8.0
28-70 2.8L @ 28mm
Hand held

Dali's "Melting Clock" statue, there's a Dali exhibition next door to the London Eye

Details: South Bank, nr. The London Eye, UK
21/11/05, 15:36
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/160 secs @ f6.3
28-70 2.8L @ 34mm
Hand held

The classic postcard shot of the Houses of Parliament, I have a few of these but I liked the jet trail on this one, the white trail contrasts the colours of the setting sun.

Details: South Bank, nr. The London Eye, UK
21/11/05, 15:39
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/160 secs @ f6.3
28-70 2.8L @ 34mm
Hand held

A frosty start to the day

2005-11-19T11:35:00.000Z

For about a week now we've woken up to frost, this isn't unusual in south east England in November but a week of frost is not so common especially this early in November. The meteorological office has forcast a harsh winter this year so this looks like the start of it.

I took these late in the morning after taking my boys to French school (they go on Saturday mornings).

Details: Walpole Park, Ealing, UK
19/11/05, 11:00
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/60 secs @ f3.2
28-70 2.8L @ 50mm
Hand held

Details: Walpole Park, Ealing, UK
19/11/05, 11:13
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/100 secs @ f4.0
28-70 2.8L @ 37mm
Hand held

Just in case you're interested these photographs are all taken at 8 mega-pixels, that's 3504 X 2336, this is the full size zoom of the above photograph. I can't upload the originals because they'd use up too much space, if anyone's interested though I can provide them in full glory.

Moon and Mars

2005-11-18T23:22:00.000Z

A whole week and nothing to post! I had to take one of my older "classic" 35mm cameras into Canon to repair this week and I decided to leave my new 20D for a spot of cleaning. I started this blog with the intention of posting from my new 20D and not "old" photographs from my earler 1n and 1nRS so I essentially had nothing to post without my trusty 20D.

This week has been fantastic weather, frosty at night and bright and sunny during the day, not the best weather to be without a camera. As soon as I got it back on Friday evening I nipped out go grab a shot of the moon and Mars, both very bright at the moment. So, today's post is just that, a shot of the moon and a shot of Mars, nothing by astonomical standards but not bad I thought for camera lenses. Both were taken with my 300mm 2.8L with a 2X tele-converter making the effective focal length 600mm (f5.6).

Details: Home, South Ealing, UK
18/11/05, 21:48
Canon 20D, ISO-3200, RAW
1/2000 sec @ f11
300 2.8L with 2X converter (effective 600mm f5.6)
Hand held

Mars at about magnitude -2.0 about 70m km (45m miles) from Earth

Details: Home, South Ealing, UK
18/11/05, 21:48
Canon 20D, ISO-3200, RAW
1/2000 sec @ f11
300 2.8L with 2X converter (effective 600mm f5.6)
Hand held

It's my birthday!

2005-11-13T11:55:00.000Z

Another year and I'm now 41, yicks! The boys woke me up at 8am and spent about an hour bouncing around on my bed telling me it was my birthday. It's lovely waking up with the boys but not at 8am on a Sunday, at least I didn't have a hangover.

Three photos for you today. The sun was out most of the day and I has seen a shot the previous day that I wanted to get in sunlight. This is a small memorial kept by the local scouts, being rememberence Sunday there are "fresh" poppies. I rather over exposed this which, with digital, is about the worse thing you can do. I didn't have a huge choice though, I took some test shots and then this one, the problem is that the sun suddenly came out about 5 seconds into the 30 second shot.

Details: Lammas Park, London, UK
13/11/05, 14:46
Canon 20D, ISO-400, RAW
30 seconds @ f2.8
20-35 2.8L @ 20mm + Hoya 72R (infrared filter)
Tripod

Same scene in "normal" light

As above but at 1/160th @ f6.3 and no filter

The next is a little strange. I moved to Ealing about 3 years ago, we live wonderfully close to two parks (Lammas and Walpole), for London it's nice to have so many birds, squirrels and foxes but there is one thing I did not expect. West London is slowly being over run by wild parrots, they are a ell of a lot prettier than pigeons for sure by they make a hell of a noise and when my children don't wake me up the parrots do, either way its a lot of squawking!
Over the years I've mentioned these parrots to many people and many simply don't believe we have parrots in Ealing. So, here they are, the first photo is a siluet of about half a dozen of them against the rising moon.

Details: Lammas Park, London, UK
13/11/05, 15:53
Canon 20D, ISO-400, RAW
1/1000 sec @ f5.6
300mm 2.8L
Hand held

The second is a "close up" of one in a tree. I say "close up" but it was a good 10-12m (30-35') away, I had a 300mm lens. I used a fill-in flash to pick him out from the background sky. They seem to like eating the seed pods of this tree, sadly I've no idea what it is but if I find out I'll edit this post.
For those that want to know more about this "parrot" in fact it's called a "ring-necked Parakeet", there's more on the RSPB web site.

Details: Lammas Park, London, UK
13/11/05, 15:59
Canon 20D, ISO-400, RAW
1/60 sec @ f5.6
300mm 2.8L
Hand held

Sunset on London Underground

2005-11-12T22:05:00.000Z

Sorry, the classic sunset. I took this at Parsons Green tube station on the way to a family birthday party at Wimbledon. It was the light on the rails that caught my eye rather than the sunset itself. I under exposed to reduce the detail in the shadows.

Details: Parsons Green, London, UK
12/11/05, 15:44
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/640th @ f9.0
20-35 2.8L @ 20mm
Hand held

Infrared photography - attempt 1

2005-11-11T17:04:00.000Z

I was hoping for a little sunshine this afternoon to try out my new infrared filter. The best we got today was about 10 minutes of sun spread into 10 second intervals over about 4 hours. Still determined I set out in the cool, blustery autumn weather to at least try a few shots. One huge advantage digital has over "classic" photography is that you get to see the results in seconds and can correct for exposure. Infrared photography is where this comes into its own, there is just no way to work out what the correct exposure should be. Firstly you see absolutely nothing through the view-finder with the filter on and then the camera tells you you should be using something totally different (usually about 5 stops to dark). With a bit of experimentation I managed to get the right setting, it was about 30-45 minutes before sunset and about 95% cloudy with a strong wind. I used 100ASA a 72R filter and 3 minutes at F2.8, this is what I got...

Details: Lammas Park, Ealing, UK
11/11/05, 15:37
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
100 secs @ f2.8 (1 minute, 40 seconds)
20-35 2.8L @ 20mm + Hoya 72R (infrared filter)
Tripod

Here's the above in "normal" light...

As above but 1/80th secs @ f4.5 (no filter)

Details: Lammas Park, Ealing, UK
11/11/05, 16:00
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
180 secs @ f2.8 (3 minutes!)
20-35 2.8L @ 24mm + Hoya 72R (infrared filter)
Tripod

Here's the above in "normal" light...

As above but 1/10th secs @ f2.8 (no filter)

Long time, no blog

2005-11-11T02:11:00.000Z

It seems like ages but in fact it's only been a few day. The weather's been on and off since the weekend and I've just been too busy with work to nip out and take photographs. Yesterday my infrared filter (Hoya R72) finally arrived from Hong Kong, I bought it on eBay for about $140, a 77mm filter costs nearly $300 in the shops. I was inspired by a number of postings from people who had tried infrared photography with digital cameras. Unfortunately I didn't have much time to try it out due to work but I did grab a quick snap out of my office window and I can tell you, it's definitely infrared and you're going to see some interesting posts on or after the weekend (assuming it's sunny).

So, just to add a few photos I've got two for you today, both of them a few weeks old now. The first was taken on holiday in Tuscany in August, like a few others here it's been adjusted.

The original...

The second I took a few weeks ago in the park with my boys, the youngest, Pierre, took a fancy to a sweet little girl (Eva) who was about the same age. Eventually we had to split them up and I caught this as they "said goodbye".

400 year old terrorism

2005-11-06T23:28:00.000Z

Four hundred years ago (5th Nov 1605) Guido Fawkes was caught trying to blow up the Houses of Parliament with dozens of barrels of gunpowder, who said terrorism was a new thing? He wasn’t alone, he was part of a group, the gunpowder plot and as with today’s acts of terrorism he too was considered a religious extremist, he was Christian, the English monarchy was and still is Protestant, good old Henry VIII saw to that. To this day though Guy Fawkes is known as "the only man ever to enter Parliament with honourable intentions."

In the lighter side Bonfire Night as it’s also known is a great evening for children, for weeks leading up to the 5th you can hear cracks and explosions all over the UK, Friday (4th), Saturday and even this evening (6th) I can hear rockets going off every few minutes and the curtains flash from behind. I was once lucky enough to fly into London from somewhere on a clear Bonfire Night, the view of millions of fireworks as far as the eye could see was only second the stunning aurora (Northern Lights).

These aren’t exactly note-worthy photographs but it’s my weekend’s work as far as photographs go. I took most of the shots at about 2 seconds hand-held, you don’t really need a tripod for this sort of thing. I hope you like them, I’ve made them slightly smaller because they’re not really what I call serious photographs, you can click on them for a slightly larger version.

Details: Ealing Cricket Ground, UK
05/11/05, 20:08
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
2 secs @ f5.6
20-35 2.8L @ 20mm
hand held

Details: Ealing Cricket Ground, UK
05/11/05, 20:09
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
2 secs @ f5.6
20-35 2.8L @ 20mm
hand held

Details: Ealing Cricket Ground, UK
05/11/05, 20:11
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
2 secs @ f5.6
20-35 2.8L @ 20mm
hand held

Late night in Time Square

2005-11-02T21:35:00.000Z

Another evening in New York, we started a little later this time and wondered down to Soho to find something good to eat. Sadly we found one of the most unauthentic Thai meals I've ever eaten (on Spring St.), it was OK but like the waiters, not very Thai.
I stopped off at Time Square to take a few photos before wondering back to my hotel. I know New York probably was well as London, I lived in the US for over a year and have been back and forth almost monthly for well over a decade.

New York is a special city and there are things that I think of as being uniquely New Yorkesque, one of my favourites is the steam rising out of the streets in the winter, it's not quite winter yet but there's steam all the same. This was on 45th St. and Broadway. I had to step up to 400 ASA again to avoid flash or camera shake.

Details: 45th and Broadway, NY, USA
01/11/05, 23:48
Canon 20D, ISO-400, RAW
1/30 secs @ f5.6
20-35 2.8L @ 20mm
hand held

New York - jetlagged

2005-11-01T04:52:00.000Z

So, a new week and I'm in New York for a spot of work. I had a great flight over with Virgin in Upper Class, the only way to fly. I checked in at about 1am on Monday morning and got a full 4 hours sleep. After an 11 hour day, a quick meal (at least 50% beer) I finally had a little time to use my trusty 20D. Given it was 9:30pm locally my body was somewhere between 2:30 and 3:30am (due to the recent clock change).
Sadly I didn't bring my tripod so I had to knock the ASA up to 400 to get these shots without camera-shake, something I don't really like doing having spent decades with PAN-F and Velvia (25 and 40 ASA).

My hotel is right next to Grand Central Station, one of the most spectacular buildings in this great city. I've messed around with this one using my new PhotoShop CS2, this should appeal to the American viewers.

Details: Grand Central Station, NY, USA
31/10/05, 21:24
Canon 20D, ISO-400, RAW
1/15 secs @ f2.8
20-35 2.8L @ 29mm
hand held

The original...

Out west

2005-10-29T10:12:00.000+01:00

A very quick post since I'm on someone else's computer and I believe breakfast is ready :-). I'm out west (Pewsey) with my three boys to visit an old friend. The weather is typically autumnal, with a mixture of warm, cold, sunny and rainy days. I took the day off work yesterday since it's half term for the boys (a weeks holiday), between showers we managed a short walk in the local woods. Between trying to stop them finding every little bit of mud and wollowing in it I managed a few photographs. I have two photos for you today, an "Ink Cap" todstool and some rather colourful leaves.

Details: Pewsey, UK
29/10/05, 17:08
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/60 secs @ f4.0
28-70 2.8L @ 70mm (macro setting)
hand held with fill-in flash at -1.0 EV

Details: Pewsey, UK
29/10/05, 16:59
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/80 secs @ f3.2
28-70 2.8L @ 70mm
hand held

Kit flying on the beach

2005-10-26T21:46:00.000+01:00

I took this photograph a month or so ago. I didn't really intend to post "old" photographs on this blog but I played around with this one on the tube this evening on the way home so it's not really old in that sense. The larger is the "new" version from PaintShop Pro and the smaller is the original. All I did was to select the kite and gray the rest of the photo.

Details: Climping, UK
02/10/05, 15:46
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/1250 secs @ f9.0
70-200 2.8L @ 115mm
hand held

The original...

Twilight photography

2005-10-22T21:24:00.000+01:00

A few years ago I spent a week with the great John Sexton. One of the many many things I learnt from the great master was not to pack up the camera once the sun's gone down. While we exposed 30 second to 5 minute shots we often stared up at the stars, it was that dark.

While Rachel took the boys off for a pre-dinner hot chocolate at a local cafe I wondered around the park with the camera bag and tripod. To be honest I wasn't thrilled with any of the shots but this one will hopefully show you what can be achieved with very low light.

Details: Walpole Park, Ealing UK
22/10/05, 18:14 (sunset was 17:53)
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
15secs @ f5.6
70-200 2.8L @ 160mm
tripod and mirror lock

The start of Autumn

2005-10-20T13:37:00.000+01:00

I woke up on Monday to the children wondering why they couldn't see the trees outside, I don't think Pierre, the 2 year old, had ever seen fog before, at least not that he can remember. Before taking the boys to school, as I do almost every morning, I grabbed my camera for the short walk from school to the tube station for that painful commute into the City.

The leaves are really starting to turn now but these photographs were taken at the beginning of the week, the trees were still mostly green. The ground is littered with conkers and acorns, a delight for the squirrels.

Details: Walpole Park, Ealing UK
17/10/05, 09:20
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/60th @ f4.0
20-35 2.8L @ 35mm
hand held

Details: Walpole Park, Ealing UK
17/10/05, 09:26
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/80th @ f4.5
20-35 2.8L @ 35mm
hand held

Details: Walpole Park, Ealing UK
17/10/05, 09:30
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/50th @ f3.5
20-35 2.8L @ 20mm
hand held

Meet the boys...

2005-10-16T10:00:00.000+01:00

The most special people in my life are my boys, Luc (7), James (4 1/2) and Pierre (2 1/2). I thought I'd introduce them...

Luc, crazy on Karate, he's never actually had a lesson, it's amazing what you can learn from Jackie Chan films!

James, the grin is because he's just pinched Luc's scooter

Pierre, this little guy runs the house

My first post

2005-10-15T23:35:00.000+01:00

I suppose everything's got to start somewhere. I had a web site for years, over a decade in fact. I wrote the very first web site with "CiX", the UK's largest BBS back in the 80s and 90s. They're still around but just one of the many ISPs these days.

Anyway, my "old" web site hasn't been updated for years, I think the last time I put anything on it was when my first (of 3) sons was born, he's now 7 :-)

So, let's see how this goes. Hopefully you should see some nice photos, the odd bit of Java and a few interesting links from time to time.

Here's today's photo, I took it this weekend in the park next to where I live (in Ealing, West london).

Details: Walpole Park, Ealing UK
15/10/05, 17:15
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/40th @ f4.0
28-70 2.8L @ 45mm
hand held