Photography In The Park

Good evening and welcome to the show.

Today we had a break from the Olympic madness thats has gripped the city and escaped to the park. Of course, with me, I had my trustee Canon EOS 450D. The morning was a bright and sunny one but as usual the clouds crept in by lunch time but luckily we managed to avoid the rain by seconds as we headed back to the car.

After attending a talk, on how to improve your photography skills in regard to portraits, on Saturday I was inspired to try something a little different from what I was used to. I tried to get as much light in the lens as possible and opened the aperture as wide as possible. I had the ISO set to 400 and ,using full manual mode, I set the shutter speed to a relatively slow speed of around 1/200 of a second. This resulted in the images looking washed out and over exposed. But this is what I was chasing. I would have preferred to use a lower ISO but the light was so unpredictable that I was forced to compromise with these settings in order to avoid constantly fiddling with the settings every time the sun disappeared behind a cloud. One last note, due to lack of space on my card I was forced to shoot in L instead of L / RAW that I usually use. New card needed I think.

Once home I opened the files up in photoshop and tweaked with the Brightness, Exposure and the Hue / Saturation settings to bring out the picture I was looking for. This has resulted in the backgrounds being bathed in light along with certain points in Kara's hair and skin but the colours being vibrant and powerful.  For the first time I am very pleased with my days shooting. Personally speaking, I think my skills are improving.

If you have any comments (good or bad) then please do put them down as I welcome criticism, it's the only way to improve.

Till next time....

The Voice has spoken

Getting to grips with my big one (Camera lens that is)

As you will know I am a keen amateur (very amateur) photographer. It's something that has always interested me and finally, in the last year or so, I have gotten to grips with trying to actually be good at taking pictures.

I have my Canon450D with standard 18-55 kit lens, a couple of weeks ago I purchased a Canon Speedlite 430EX ll flash and last week I got myself a Canon EF 70-300 IS USM lens. Great I thought, now I'm all set to take awesome (yes America I'm stealing that word back for a while) photos.

So there I was at the weekend, visiting some good friends of ours, when I whipped it out (steady missus keep your curlers in I'm talking about the camera) and started clicking away with the big one. I got some good shots, while wandering around between the garden and the house, but as I tried to get a nice picture of their new born baby girl as she lay in her basket, I hit upon a problem. With my 18-55 lens I couldn't get a good enough frame without going so close that I blocked out most of the light (I didn't want to use the flash so close to the baby as she was sleeping) and with the 70-300 lens I couldn't get in focus without stepping so far back the basket obscured half of her face. I had a problem, yes indeed, I had a problem. And so it was that when I got home I explained to my lovely wife exactly why I would have to get another lens. (You can imagine the reaction) I don't think she was convinced. That is until she tried to take a picture of a meal she had made to put on her blog. Once again, using the small lens she had to go too close and the big lens too far away. Now she understood.

So I've been looking for a lens (I already had the Canon 100mm Macro lens on my list) and yea so it was that I found one, in the shape of the Canon (I'm consistent aren't I) 17-85 f/4-5.6 IS USM. The perfect solution. All I have to do is wait for one to come in stock at the suppliers that I have started using. MPBPhotgraphic, I highly recommend them. Dealers in used but high quality equipment, their prices usually beat just about everywhere else I have looked.

But this led me to thinking, when does it stop? I mean at what point do you actually have all that you need. I have 2 lenses (3 if I include the great lensbaby kit I have) and an external flash, I have a tripod and a kit bag. I want a macro lens and now I know I need another lens as well. I know that at some point I will have to get a reflector or 2 for taking good portraits both indoors and out. then later down the line I may discover that I need a second (of camera) flash or some other kind of studio lighting. And I'm sure a few years down the line the need for an updated camera will pop up. And then I'll have my tea pot and my tea cup, all I'll need is a tea bag. Hmmm, a tea bag, is that something that might interest you my friend? A tea bag.... Sorry I became possessed by Stewie Griffin there for a second. Where was I, oh yes. Photography.

Anyway, I decided to shake myself free of the vices of needing more kit and thought I would see if there were any local camera clubs or something of the like. Just to mix it up with other, slightly less amateurish than me, photographers out there. And what do you know, I found one. Yipee I thought. A chance to get in with some peeps and suck their brains dry (to quote Michael Ironside in Scanners) Clicking on the link that google threw up I found my self immersed in their website. Noooooo, the home page hadn't been updated since 2010. What does this mean, I thought to myself, have they ceased to be. A quick click on the events tab put my worries to rest. They still had things planned for the rest of this year. Ah, excellent I thought. And then it happened, as I knew it would. The great spanner that always makes an appearance at these times made its appearance and threw itself right into the centre of the works. You see, I had decided to check out the galleries on the site created by some of the clubs members. I don't know who these people are or how long they have been taking photographs but the club leader, treasurer, head honcho, the big man, what ever name you want to give him, was there. His gallery was at the top. Good, good, I thought in my most sinister manner, let me see what kind of photo graphical trickery I can pick from their minds. I delved into his gallery.

Now let me just remind you that I am in no way a professional photographer, not even a semi professional, not even an almost semi professional. I am an amature, about as amature as you can get. If there is a scale that has the most Uber Professional at the top of it then you will find me right down (keep going, that's it, further, just a little bit more) somewhere beyond what you can see with the naked eye, there you will find me. So as you can see I make no claims to be a good photographer. Lets face it, we've all done it haven't we. We lift up a camera (thinking, how hard can it be) we point and click. Then we pat our selves on the back thinking, see I knew it was easy. But then we get to look at what we shot and it's at that point we realise, there just might be more to it than we thought. And that's why I attending a photography course last year and why I am still reading, experimenting and seeking advice. I may not be a great photographer but I like to think I am getting better and improving all the time. Hopefully. So now I've cleared that up let me get back to what I was saying.

I checked out these galleries by the members of this club. There was, I think, 2 photos that impressed me. The rest ranged from average to just down right dull and some were bordering on awful, just awful. And yet these were the guys that went out together, clicking away at this that and the other. They should be bouncing ideas off each other all the time, pushing each other to improve and try new things. And yet here were these pictures that they obviously thought were good enough to display on line. So I clicked away from their website, disappointed and frustrated. Thinking I'll just try to find some peeps my self that are into photography and start my own Photography (and beer. After all it is me) group. Watch this space, you could be watching a long time though.....

One last thing. Just because you make a picture black and white doesn't immediately make it a good picture. It just becomes a bad picture, in black and white.

Does this post make me sound bad, do I come off as a bit of a photography snob. Believe me I'm not. I just want to learn. But  I want to learn from people who actually have something to teach and ideas to share. Not a bunch of folks who just go out and click away without any kind of personal critique. I may sound a little harsh but I'm harsh on my own work so I'm not going to be anything less on other peoples.

One day I will be UBER but for now I'm just a little bit better than crap :o)

Till next time.....

The Voice has spoken

The Passing of a Legend. Ernest Borgnine 1917-2012

The sad news spread out from Hollywood today that the great Ernest Borgnine had passed away.

Born to Italian parents, Emes Effron Borgnine was a first generation American. It wasn’t until he was in his 302 that he decided to take up acting but his craggy features, definitive voice and unmistakable talent made him a sure fire success.

Known to many as Lt. Commander Quinton McHale from the 60s TV show McHale’s Navy he soon became a globally recognisable star with turns in ‘The Dirty Dozen’ (1967) and ‘Ice Station Zebra’ (1968) But it was perjhaps his role as ‘Dutch Engstrom’ in Sam Peckinpah’s ‘The Wild Bunch’ (1969) that made people really stand up and take notice. Later he was seen playing the cop, Rogo, in ‘The Poseidon Adventure’ (1972)

In 78 he worked once again with Peckinpah, playing the abusive Sheriff Lyle ‘Cottonmouth’  Wallace in the Kris Kristofferson starring ‘Convoy’.

It was in 79 that I first noticed him. On a trip to the cinema to see the Disney movie ‘The Black Hole’. Playing crew member Harry Booth. I was 9 years old and this was the first time I remember seeing him in anything. I didn’t have to wait too long to see him again though as in 81 he played, for me, his greatest role. The simple, cowardly but lovable Cabbie in John Carpenters classic ‘Escape From New York’.

In 84 he became known to thousands of children as Dominic Santini the flight engineer on the family show ‘Airwolf’. Running from 84 to 87 the adventures of the super advanced helicopter and its 2 man crew kept children gripped to the screen on many a Saturday afternoon.

In 87 and 88 he made 2 TV sequels to the Dirty Dozen but neither reached the quality and fun of the original. Over the years he has appeared on both the big and small screen consistently and over the last 12 years has become known a new generation of children (be it in voice alone) as Mermaid Man a regular character in the much loved children’s cartoon ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’.

He had just finished filming ‘The Man Who Shook the Hand of Vicente Fernandez’ directed by Elia Petridis. Ernest plays Rex Page, a man who is bitter after living a life without any meaning. Something Ernest can be sure he didn't do.

So when you next have a drink please raise a glass to the greatest of  New York Cabbies, Ernest Borgnine.  

Till next time….

The Voice has spoken.



The Reading List Part 2

Well here I am again folks for the second part of the reading list.

So once I had finished working my way through a boatload of Asimov books I decided to hit some nonfiction works. All covering one issue that is near to my heart. My adopted country of Romania, primarily its past leaders. First of the mark is the book that, you could say, helped bring down a dictator.

‘RED HORIZONS’

Written by Mihai Pacepa.

One of Ceausescu’s most trusted men back in the 70s, Pacepa was privy to many of his darkest secrets so when Ceausescu heard of his defection in 78 he was numb to the core (Pacepa was the highest ranking intelligence officer to defect throughout the whole of the cold war) In fact Ceausescu set a 2 million dollar bounty on Pacepas head, this was increased to 4 with a million each from Arafat and Gaddafi. The Romanian secret police gave Carlos the Jackal 1 million to try and kill him. All efforts failed.

This book gives insight to the psychology and psychosis of Ceausescu and his volatile wife Elena.  (Elena was even more feared by Ceausescu’s men than he was and many of them prayed for the day that she would die and they would be free to deal with Ceausescu without the uncontrollable and volatile Elena breathing down their necks)Throughout its pages are some disturbing revelations about the agendas and policies of communism as a whole and the drive of Ceausescu to convince the world (through his personality cult) that he was a decent and peace loving leader dedicated to wellbeing of his people. But within the borders of Romania the people were poor, hungry and afraid.

Unfortunately for Romania, the world (for a while) was convinced. He received a knighthood from the Queen, Romania the ‘most favoured nation’ by America and numerous other pats on the back by world leaders. All fooled by the seeds of misinformation fed to them by his well placed agents.

Some of the book has to be taken with a pinch of salt but for the most part it is disturbing reading. After its release it was broadcast over several evenings from Radio Free Europe allowing Romanians to tune in and hear, in full detail, Ceausescu’s corruption. This, in the end, could be said to have played a small part in the eventual downfall of this insane couple.

Next was another book about  the Ceausescu family.

‘KISS THE HAND YOU CANNOT BITE’

By Edward Behr

This book covers the rise to power of Ceausescu and his eventual demise. The first few pages cover the last couple of days of Ceausescu’s life from his return to Romania from Iran to the eventual shooting of both him and Elena on Christmas day 1989. Found guilty of charges ranging from illegal gathering of wealth to genocide. It was a show trial and a flimsy excuse to give those who were newly in charge reason to execute Nicolea and Helena. Given that they could easily have been found guilty in practically any court in the world this travesty, in the shallow guise of a legal trial, failed to convince anyone

This is a fascinating book that gives insight to the early life and experiences that led to the creation of one of modern histories truely evil men.

Next I dug even further into Romanias past with

‘VLAD THE IMPALER: SON OF THE DEVIL HERO OF THE PEOPLE’

By Gavin Baddeley and Paul Woods

I have mixed feelings regarding this book. I wanted a book dealing with Vlad Tepes, from birth to death and all the bits in between. What I got was a book that did just that but was padded out by endless references to other notorious people from the annuls of history. Ranging from Ghengis Khan to Billy the Kid. Some of it was interesting while other parts just read like page filling dribble.

For the most part, it was a great book and certainly the parts detailing Vlads life were fascinating stuff. The depths of cruelty to which he sank were truly astounding but for all histories will to create a monster he was, for the most part, just a product of his times.

Given  by his father  to the Ottoman Sultan, along with his brother, as a guarantee of loyalty. He was raised within the sultans palace and used a source of pleasure by the Sultan, and probably many of the Sutans guests, this led to and an uderstandable hatred for the Turks. His brother Radu the Handsome becam the lover of the Sultans son and seemed to accept his life in the Sultans palace with a certain relish that Vlad could never do.

As a ‘guest’ of the Sultan he bore witness to many acts of cruelty by the Sultan and his Ottoman army. Some believe that he got his taste for impaling from witnessing it’s use by the Ottoman force.

In fact the Ottoman army were well known for cruelty and would often use their prisoners of war for pleasure before killing them slowly and cruely.

Given that he was raised in such surroundings is it any wonder that he turned out like he did?

But his short reigns as Voivod of Wallachia may have been enforced by extreme cruelty but his people lived in peace. Crime was minimal and he is viewed by Romanian people to this day as a hero who fought for the unity and protection of Romania.

For the most part a great book and worth reading.

I am currently back on the Ceausescu wagon reading.

‘THE RISE AND FALL OF NICOLAE AND ELENA CEAUSESCU’

By Mark Almond.

Once I’m done I’ll let you know what it was like.

Till next time…

The voice has spoken.

The Great British Summer

So there we were laid on the bed this morning, the three of us, watching some telly nonsense and trying to decide what to do. After all it was set to rain all day long, and believe me, it almost did.
In the end we had a trip to Eddie Cats, a children's indoor play centre. A quick trip to the Market for some fruit and veg and we were on our way to Eddie Cats.

As there was no parking at the actual place I dropped the family off and drove away to park in the supermarket car park next door. Typically once I had parked up the heavens opened once more and a down pore ensued. So doing what any self respecting guy would do I reached for the best form of protection I had in the car and headed out on the short walk to Eddie Cats. Imagine the looks I got as I walked past the line of cars waiting to get into the car park holding a Thomas the Tank Engine umbrella above my head. I had to laugh to my self as I saw the looks that were being shot my way. After all, who wouldn't.

A fun time was had by all and after a couple of hours we headed off home. During all this time the rain let up every now and then but after short breaks it always fell once again with the occasional biblical outburst just to make up for the dry spells.

Needless to say we had to stay in all day, but we made sure we all had fun. The little one has plenty of toys and games to play with and she's a real whizz at puzzles. At one point she decided the balcony was too wet and wanted to try and dry it with a tea towel, of course it was raining at the time so as fast as she dried it, it just got wet again. She found it fun though and we certainly found it entertaining.

As I write this now it is still poring out side, but we have the balcony door open as the temperature is actually quite nice.
Below is what our balcony has looked like all day.

Till next time.....

The Voice has spoken.

The Reading List Part 1

So there I am sat on the tube every morning snaking my way through the underground tunnels of London on my way to work. What do I do while sitting there gazing around at all the other early morning tube travelling zombies that accompany me. I read a book and listen to music once my eye lids start getting too heavy for me to keep open. I haven’t fallen asleep yet so my routine seems to be working well.

But what books have I read I you ask. Well, go on then…. Ask.

“What books have you read?”

Well let me tell you.

Are you sitting comfortably, then I’ll begin.

First off, I worked my way through Isaac Asimov’s Robot novels, starting with his short story collections. ‘I Robot, the Rest of the Robots, the Complete Robot and Robot Dreams.’ Robot dreams though isn’t really a robot novel just a collection of short stories, some of them with very little to do with robots. These are great collections containing some truly remarkable stories.

My personal favourites are (in no real discernable order)

‘Ugly Little Boy’

About a Neanderthal child ripped out of time (to become the curiosity in a company developing the technology to take things out of time) that is befriended and eventually mothered by the woman employed to take care of him. It’s a great little story of human emotion and the love only a mother could hold for a child otherwise laughed at by society.

‘Bicentennial Man’

Great story of a robot who wishes nothing but to be human.

‘The last question’

A great story covering eternity from life to death to life again.

There are many more outstanding stories but it would take a dozen posts to cover them all in detail so I will leave it at just these 3 brief little descriptions. These are just 3 of the handful that still stick in my mind.

After reading his collections of Robot stories I then moved onto the Robot novels.

Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, Robots of Dawn and finally Robots and Empire.

These are all fantastic novels that really show the massive scope of Asimov’s vision. My only gripe with them is that the 3 Laws of Robotics are repeated too many times throughout the books, though they actually become 4 Laws by the end of the final novel.

These also serve as a prelude to his Foundation novels as they are all within the same universe and share the same time line. There are even references to some of his short stories in them though, obviously when you try and tie stories together that have been written separately then you will always get inconsistences. But these are just minor points in what evolves, through the course of the Robot and Foundation novels, into a massive history of mankind’s future.

Read these books, not in the order that they were written but in the order that they should be read and you will thoroughly enjoy being immersed into and unfolding history of the future. Once I had finished these books I was on the verge of reading the Foundation novels for a third time but I decided to give fiction a break for a while. Though not before I read ‘The End of Eternity’ this is a story detailing the lives of people who are recruited from various points in history to look after and guide humanity through the ages, living outside of time. I found it a slow book to start with but by a third of the way through I was gripped. Not one of Asimov’s easiest reads but an amazing story never the less.

Order to read

ROBOT NOVELS

I Robot, The Rest of the Robots, The Complete Robot and Robot Dreams (these four could really be read in any order and some of the stories are repeated within the collections.

The Caves of Steel

The Naked Sun

Robots of Dawn

Robots and Empire

(The Galactic Empire Novels come next but I have yet to read these. They are: The Stars like Dust, The Currents of Space and Pebble in the Sky)

FOUNDATION NOVELS

Prelude to Foundation

Forward the Foundation

Foundation

Foundation and Empire

The Second Foundation

Foundations Edge

Foundation and Earth

So there you have the first part of my reading list from the last few month, later this week you will get to see part 2.

Till next time.....

The Voice has spoken

Im Back Baby

Well it’s been a while since I last visited. The death of my Father seemed to quash all enthusiasm for blogging. But now I’m back, trying to get my mojo back, to harness the power of Yoda and bring forth my blithering nonsense to the world once more.

So what to say, well it’s been a couple of months now and during that time I’ve read a few books, been on holiday, taken a few photos and watched a few movies so, what the hell. Let’s cover it all.

First off…..Holiday

Me and the family visited Majorca, that’s just off the coast of Spain for those of you who didn’t pass your Geography exams or whom just don’t give a twiddle.

The weather was nice the place was nice, in fact all was nice. Problem is I visited Majorca and all I got was a lousy German accent. Yup peeps the place was overrun with Germans. Now I don’t mind Germans, I have no problem with any people for that matter but when I visit Spain I expect to be surrounded by Spanish folk. It was so bad that on one beach we visited all we could hear were German voices, no Spanish at all never mind any other English. Half the signs were in German as well. But hey, what you gonna do, it was still fun.

We decided to go all inclusive in order to not have to worry about money once we were there. This meant that within the confines of our hotel all food and drink was paid for. Great for a while but the food got very samey after a couple of days, once again though for the money we paid we would have to be real miseries to complain. As with most all inclusive deals the hotel was in quite a secluded place, a bus journey to the nearest sandy beach. What this meant was that the hotel provided ‘entertainment’ every night. This is where it got very surreal. For me it was like going back in time to my childhood, holidaying in Blackpool at Pontins holiday camp. Every night before the entertainment would start people would come down into the bar area and try and get the best seats. They would be showered, changed and ready for the night. I mean really, these people would actually get changed into some smart but casual clothing (think jeans and shirt) in order to sit around the bar area and play bingo. I kid you not, bloody bingo. Then after the bingo there would be a show of some kind, be it some of the staff doing a rather lame song and dance act (sorry I mean mime and dance act, god forbid they should have actually sang) or some local club singer / dancer. What I found truly amazing was 2 young girls (late teens early 20s) who literally never seemed to leave the hotel. Every night they were sat at the same table playing bingo and every day they were hanging around the pool. Let’s face it if you were that young would you do that or would you go to someplace else and party your ass off. I though so. Mind you they may have been together but they never seemed to speak to each other as they were both on their phones all the time, maybe they were texting each other?!?!

The little one loved playing in the pool every day though and my lovely wife  enjoyed relaxing by the pool so I guess it was worth it. Would I do it again, I don’t think so.

If we go to Majorca again I would prefer to stay in Palma.

Tomorrow Books

Till next time...

The voice has spoken.