Getting Old…

There are some days when you realise you are not as young as you were or think you are. They are randomly scattered amongst other days. On good day you forget or at least try and forget they are there but deep down you know. You just know.

You get aches and pains in places that you never had before. No longer are you able to bend down and a slowness enters what you are doing. It is impossible to put you finger on it but you know. You just know.

Today is an old man’s day. Tomorrow who knows?

I only mention this because every time I hear Donald Trump’s staff saying he is something he is not “…fitter than Obama … ” for example, I look at images of him and I know they are not telling the truth. I don’t wish any harm to the man but he is nearly 80, doing one of the most stressful jobs going. He is not going to be as fit as a man who left office in his 50s. You only have to look at the photos to know the job is taking its toll. It always does.

Still I doubt very much if the White House cares what I think. I’m not an American citizen so I don’t get to vote. That is all true. What is also true is that Donald Trump is an old man and old men take a longer time getting out bed in the morning. They have pains where they never used to. There is nothing we can do about that. I know and I think deep down he knows. I am certain his staff knows. Things will never get better.

Well that didn’t go where I thought it would!

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Coalville Noir…

Cold, damp and a bit exhausted. Welcome to a damp wintery dawn at Coalville.

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Ashby de la Zouch by the Sea…

You either know or don’t know what the meaning of the title. I suspect if you are curious some light Googling will move you from one state to the other.

Yesterday found me pounding the pathways and parks of Ashby de la Zouch, a town I have a VERY long history with. This was part of the Paradise – Consumed project. A damp, cold milky morning – what was not to like?

I did discover a major supply shortage scandal! The Ashby M&S store has not had a delivery of Eccles Cakes in some time. I’m sure it must be Sir Keir Starmer’s fault. According to an awful lot of the screaming media everything else is so why not add this to the list? I can report that I visited my local M&S store there were supplies but they were low. How will the country survive?

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Not Sure What is Happening…

I seem to be in the middle of some automated scraping of my blog. Over the past week I have had a huge increase in the number of visitors to the site.

When I break this number down it would seem that only page that these thousands of visitors have looked at is the ‘home‘ page. After that nothing. The visits to the other pages are at the usual numbers. Perhaps Open AI et al have finally got around to saying hello? Perhaps. Maybe it is some other actor. I don’t know. I think the only thing to do at the moment is to monitor the situation.

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A bit of GAS?…

Do I suffer from G.A.S? (1). I’m not sure. I have just replaced my venerable 70 x 200 mm zoom with the latest version. The reasons for this were simple. The old lens was starting to struggle with the resolution of 61 MP. Last summer I found a similar problem with my old macro lens. They have been with me since my switch to Sony over around 10 years ago. The new Sony 70 x 200 mm should address both of these issues.

Lets see if I haven’t wasted my money. Only time will tell.

FN (1) Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS)

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No Title to Mention…

An uneventful day in Coalville. However, I have scouted out some more interesting photographic sites.

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Parsley, Sage, Rosemary…

Another day. Another early start. There was a time when shooting in the dark or early dawn light meant tripods, hope, prayers and grain. Now? Breath out and let the camera do the rest. The first two images were captured using an iPhone. The reason for this is because I had left my super wide in the car and couldn’t be arsed to go back to get it. (So much for artistic vision and integrity.)

The rest were captured with my main camera hand held. I just ensured that I exposed for the brightest part of the image and the pulled everything back in post. Simple really. Does this make me a bad photographer or just lazy. I don’t care. I have sufficient skill combined with first rate equipment to captured the images I want.

So what was reason for this nightswimming? Capturing images from Castle Donington, Hemington and Lockington for the Paradise – Consumed project. Did I need to get up early? Well yes as it started to rain just after dawn and I didn’t fancy being caught out in that! (Actually I was later on and it wasn’t fun.)

At this rate I might actually finish the project in under a year. This would be something of a record. Now there is tempting providence!!!

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Something Old, Something New…

Storm Goretti came and went. I had great plans: Get up at dawn and capture some heroic images in the local park of the snow covered trees. It was looking so good when I went to bed 3 or 4 cm of snow on the ground and more falling. What could go wrong? Well the British weather for one thing! Instead of delivering significant snowfall the snow had turned to slush and was rapidly being washed away by the driving rain.

Then of course I started reading about the hardship and loss in other parts of the country and I felt a bit of a self centred prat! So instead this weekend I’ve been doodling and remastering images from the archive. This time from January 2007.

I used to think I knew a lot about photography back then. With the benefit of almost 20 years experience I can safely say I didn’t. Will I ever?

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Awaiting Goretti…

So I had plans. Good plans. Then I bottled out because of an oncoming storm. Over the past 24 hours I have consumed everything I could about Storm Goretti. I followed the advice. Canceled the aforementioned plan and now I await its arrival. It’s a bit late. Currently it is raging over the West Midlands like Alioth. By 16:00 hrs we should have the first lashings of rain then maybe quite a lot of snow. Time will tell.

Wish us luck.

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Welcome one and all …

In life nothing is permanent. As Shelley wrote …

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

When I was growing up Coal was King. Now it is no more. In 20 or so years time the final memories of a world passed will be no more.

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