It was the big smoke for me this week - up to London for the Budget announcement. There's always an early start on Budget day so it meant a late train and overnight stay. My favourite place to stay for business is at the County Hall Premier Inn. Okay, a Premier Inn isn't that remarkable but it's five minutes walk from Waterloo and right next to the London Eye on the south bank.
Read more...In my youth I loved scale models; now I've gone and bought some scales. I'm chuffed to bits with them though - £5 on Ebay! I suspect they have graced a market stall or sweet shop in the past, my requirements are altogether more photographic. I'd set out looking for some baby scales, but they all look either too clinical or featureless. They're a bit more than a fiver too. Classic kitchen scales are plentiful, but not suitable for my idea - see below. Nikon D700, 24-70 f/2.8 at 35mm, 1/25 at f/8 I ended up dismantling most of our fireplace to create the background for the shot. In my head this...
Read more...Nikon D700, 50mm f/1.4, 1/30 at f/1.4 I just thought I'd post the aftermath of my challenge at the weekend. As I managed to get my month old son covered in soot (no, not up the chimneys yet, it was a steam engine - honest) it meant a bath was running almost as we walked in the door. A little later Tom was lying gazing out into the twilight and I had a f/1.4 lens on the camera. Available light - fantastic. Nikon D700, 50mm f/1.4, 1/30 at f/1.4 The narrow depth of field shooting at f/1.4 is something else - check out the shot above. I was aiming to get the eye closest to the lens in focus, and even...
Read more...Over the Easter weekend I set myself a challenge - instead of using my 24-70 f/2.8 or 70-200 f/2.8 zooms I had to stick to a single fixed focal length - my Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.4 lens. As nice as it is to travel light (and it is much lighter than my other zooms!) I was a little apprehensive as we approached the minature steam fair at Sammy Miller's motorcycle museum, near New Milton. I was envisaging close cropped portraits of grizzled steam enthusiasts, and detail shots of their lovingly restored engines. How would I cope with the 50mm alone? Harry helped me out here in a strange way. He was spooked...
Read more...I completed a pilgrimage of sorts recently by managing to visit Grays of Westminster. Based in Pimlico, this is an exclusively Nikon camera store from a bygone age. It's an interesting place, in perfect character with the surrounding stores in Westminster. Upstairs is where the new equipment is displayed, and pride of place belongs to the new D3X. Downstairs past their reading room is the second hand equipment - an array of F5 bodies in the first cabinet is testament to the demand of digital. The most recent second hand digital body was a D3, but I'm happy with my D700. Unless anyone wants to donate...
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