Stand at a festival selling the popular Japanese dumpling made of batter, diced octopus, tempura scraps (tenkasu), pickled ginger, and green onion, topped with okonomiyaki sauce, green laver (aonori), mayonnaise, and katsuobushi (fish shavings), originating from Osaka. Delicious!
Camera: Pentax MZ-3
While the train came speeding by, I moved the camera with the movement of the train but was hoping for some motion blur on the train itself as well.
Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX APO
Taken in Kyoto in front of the Higashi Honganji temple with the yellow, autumn leaves of a ginkgo trees in the background. Waypoint N34.99150 E135.75804
Camera: Pentax MZ-3
Stitched together from two photos, the shunting yard close to my house makes for a nice play of line but I have to say that I prefer the black and white version I did a week earlier.
Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX APO + PTGui
A sure sign that Spring is approaching is the cherry blossoms on the trees in our neighbourhood. If this were Japan, we would be getting ready for the hanami, the cherry blossom viewing parties. One word of advice, if you don't want to be surrounded in the park by drunk salariman, take your hanami during the daytime :-)
Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO
Station on the 'L' down Wabash Ave in Chicago, January this year.
Camera: Pentax MZ-3, lens: Sigma 28-300mm - 1:3.5-6.3
Yesterday I mentioned the space you have in the Paris boulevards, I very much compare that with London where the streets are cramped and so noisy with the old fashioned busses, that I get the immediate urge to leave a "canyon" like Regent Street as soon as possible. I truly get claustrophobic in there. Instead of messing about with congestion charges, they mayor of London should consider closing the centre of London for traffic and making the Tube free in Zone 1.
As for Paris, it is Baron Haussmann we have to thank for the spacious boulevards. But his reason was not our well being, his main aim was to allow battalions and artillery to enter the streets of Paris to cut down rebellions and in doing so he destroyed most of the medieval city. :-(
Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX APO
After having lived in a suburb of Paris for about 12 years, we still return to Paris for mini-breaks every couple of years. Paris is so spacious and no matter what period of the year you visit Paris, Paris is beautiful and unique. Paris in colour never works for me, but the moment I take my black and white camera, it comes together.
Camera: Pentax MZ-3, lens: Sigma 28-300mm - 1:3.5-6.3
Since it has become cold again, we have been feeding the squirrels and birds in our garden a little. All morning the blackbirds had been pecking away on this apple we had offered them.
Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 50mm 1:2.8 EX MACRO
First built in the year 1050, the Saint Walburgiskerk church is locally known as the Walburgkerk church and has its current exterior since the 16th century. It is famous for the library dating back from 1561 where 750 medieval books are kept on chains.
Camera: Pentax MZ-3, lens: Sigma 28-300mm - 1:3.5-6.3
Another photo belonging in the San Francisco series that I cleaned up a bit so that it is presentable.
Camera: Pentax ME, lenses: Pentax 50mm, f1.8
Of course I couldn't resist the reference in the title to the song "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" by Bob Dylan, but that's what I was humming when we came across this balloon caught by the tree. :-)
Camera: Pentax MZ-3, lens: Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX APO
Today the weather was really beautiful and I'm really starting to miss the possibility to go to the forest for a good walk somewhere close by. We used to live on almost walking distance from the Forêt de Montmorency and the Colne Valley Park cannot really compete with that ^_^;;
Anyway, the garden was frost covered and I always wanted to play around a little more with my macro lenses. This pigeon feather was frost covered and I moved it in the sun by instructions in the "Learning to See Creatively" book by Bryan Peterson. I had to be quick as in the following shot, all the frost had already melted :-)
Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 50mm 1:2.8 EX MACRO
The same pedestrian bridge as in this photo, but with a completely different feeling to it.
Camera: Pentax MZ-3, lens: Sigma 28-300mm - 1:3.5-6.3
Delayed tube finally arriving at station? Tube just broke down before arriving in station? In fact it is a photo of a tube pulling into the station on time; a rare event indeed :-)
Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX APO
Reporting from Bergen-op-Zoom now, where I arrived from London after a gruelling day waiting at the airport as I was booked for the 8:30AM flight but only managed to arrive in Antwerp at 9PM. I guess it was a bit foggy, but to cancel flight after flight, eh VLM? Next trip out we'll look into the Eurostar highspeed train to Brussels and then a rental car. ^_^;;
Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX APO
The colourful lampion in Gerrard Street, the most recognizable street in London China Town.
Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX APO
Two details of the Dragon Dance celebrating the Chinese New Year in London yesterday and the prettiest girl in traditional costume. After previous disappointments with wide angled lenses at similar events, I had only taken my 70-200mm lens and this worked out very well by keeping the depth of field as tiny as possible which is a piece of cake with a telelens.
Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX APO
Detail of one of the rusty taps that sprung up all over the fields.
Camera: Pentax MZ-3, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO
As mentioned earlier, last weekend we did the Water and Woods circular walk around Little Marlow and, of course, we got lost in the woods as the description probably makes a lot of sense if you know where to go but less so when you get there for the first time. ^_^;; Anyway, we got onto the path to Sheepridge and took the bridleway back to Fern. Unfortunately, in late January this is a rather desolate landscape which luckily translates well onto Black and White.
Camera: Pentax MZ-3, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO
A long line of bales of hay vanishing into the distance.
Camera: Pentax MZ-3, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO
With the discovery of Robert Capa's long lost negatives at the end of last month, we have something to look forward to when new photos will get published. See the article in the NY Times.
Taken on the circular Water and Woods walk we did last weekend to test my new lens that I'll be using on my MZ-3 camera and thus far the results have been very positive.
The attentive reader will notice the similarity of the photo in this post and the post just below this one. They're taken in two different countries and weeks apart and on two different media. What makes the first photo work in colour for me is the incredible soft light we were having that sunny winter's day. In the photo above the light was much harsher and that makes it work better in black and white for me. I have to say that I prefer the first photo and I'm looking forward to your opinions.
Camera: Pentax MZ-3, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO
Well, WebShots.com is finally back up for everybody so my blog should look normal again. In the mean time I had a chance to play around with Flickr and I liked the groups and the easy way to Geotag photos. I especially like the feature that allows you to browse photos taken in the vicinity.
Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO
The lonely feeling of a deserted beach on Iceland. Taken on a beautiful day in early summer at the southern-most point of Iceland, nobody was brave enough to try the waters :-)
Camera: Pentax MZ-3, lens: Sigma 28-300mm - 1:3.5-6.3
Bridge and reflection of the bridge over the River Berkel close to the Town of Almen.
Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO
With Webshots.com still mysteriously unreachable with the upcoming Valentine's Day getting closer, I have finally opened a Flickr.com account. I was enjoying between 1500 and 2000 views every week at Webshots and ranked among the highest Japan oriented albums and it will be tough to get started from scratch again. :-(
Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO
With WebShots still down, I was thinking about a subject brought up by SheyMouse on his blog about wanting to retake some photos given the chance.
Going through my portfolio, I have loads of missed opportunities: beautiful locations and subjects, but a badly composed photo or no photo at all as I didn't even see the chance. Composition doesn't come naturally for me and I have read a couple of books about it without grasping the fleeting notions described in them. It is not until I read "Learning to See Creatively: Design, Color & Composition in Photography" by Bryan Peterson that things started to make sense a little more. If you have some money to spare, I would also recommend his excellent "Understanding Exposure", even for the advanced amateur photographer.
I have pre-ordered his "Understanding Shutter Speed: Creative Action and Low-Light Photography Beyond 1/125 Second" and I'll let you know if it is of the same quality.
If Bryan Peterson has a Google Alert on the use of his name and comes across this blog, please eave a comment for a devoted fan :-)
All sounds absorbed by the fog, a 'ghost' ship slowly materializes.
PS: I realize that WebShots.com is down and my previous posts are all lacking photos. Hopefully they get back online soon.
Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO
