A trip to Wells

In an attempt to burn off some of the Christmas calories, we went to Wells-next-the-Sea on the Norfolk coast a couple of days ago.  It was dull, grey and gloomy, and the rain set in during the afternoon.  Nevertheless we had a great time on the beach, throwing a frisbee for the dog and photographing the beach huts.

I've never tried photographing the beach huts with a fisheye lens before, but the results are rather interesting.  Of course, there's always the possibility of a stray dog and frisbee finding their way into the shot, but that's just an occupational hazard...

I also took my newly converted IR camera with me, and rather liked the false colour images produced simply by correcting the white balance.  Something akin to a cross between split toning and hand colouring...

The final shot shows my daughter, Frances, taking a picture of something interesting on the beach - a cockle shell, by the look of it.  Perhaps she'll post it on her blog at some point?

A New Toy

It's been a long time since I last posted, and this reflects an almost total lack of photography since October. Too many other things to do, unfortunately, but a few days off work have enabled me to do a bit of catching up.

Santa was very generous this year, and allowed me to have my original 20D converted for Infra Red at Advanced Camera Services. Despite the weather (and me being late sending the body off for conversion) the good people at ACS worked liked troopers to get everything completed in time for Christmas. Superb service, and a very friendly and helpful bunch of people. Boxing Day was my first opportunity to take the camera out, and these are the results from that inaugural trip...

We went for a walk along the edge of the quarry between Barrington and Harlton. The day was rather dull and cold, but there was clearly still a fair amount of IR light around. Frances had borrowed a couple of item from my camera bag, and was busy trying them out during the afternoon.

A couple of details from the walk...

... and three views of the quarry and its environs.

P.S. I love my new toy (although I'm yet to be convinced by Blogger's new auto-layout editing system - so much for WYSIWYG!).

A Trip to Wimpole

My daughter is putting me to shame when it comes to Blog postings, so I'd better pull my finger out.  Here are some pictures, taken today, of a camera club trip to Wimpole Hall.  There were seven of us braving the elements, but early on we were rewarded with some fairly spectacular light over the hall itself.

The sun didn't stay out for long, but I managed to take a few more pictures while it did.  The monochrome picture of the trees isn't Infra Red - just a cheat B&W conversion which makes it look that way.

The weather turned grey, so we went for a well-earned cup of tea - during which time, of course, the sun came out again.  By the time we'd finished, it was back to being grey and cloudy with the occasional spot of rain.  Typical!  Never mind, as there's always Homo photographicus to be observed...

In the final picture, Ann is explaining the finer points of using a Neutral Density filter to obtain long exposures.  She was practising on reeds blowing on the wind, as the "scudding clouds" she'd hoped for had long since evaporated.

I had a go at the water lilies on the lake and a rather fine fungus on a rotting tree trunk...

Meanwhile, we discovered exactly how many photographers it takes to capture a Shaggy Ink Cap!

Then we tried the famous "three photographers in a triangle" trick.

Of course, no post would be complete without a sequence of Ann realising - yet again - that she was going to make a star appearance in someone else's blog...

Paxton Pits

We had a club outing to Paxton Pits, near St Neots, last Sunday, but I've been so busy that this is the first chance I've had to post any pictures.  There wasn't a great deal of bird life around - mainly cormorants, in fact, and as a trout fisherman I have a pathological hatred of these black pests!  There were some rather beautiful swans around, though, and the ripples on the water provided a great background for them.

On one of the shots, a second swan managed to find its way into the frame - in reflection only - but I rather liked the effect.

Not being motivated (or proficient) enough to chase the rapidly moving dragon flies, I stood by the river and watched the world go by.  The speed of the canoe was more to my liking!

As always, this trip wouldn't be complete without the usual selection of Homo photographicus specimens.  There weren't many of us, but that didn't matter as we had an excellent morning out.