I guess I got what I wanted. Cold clear weather at dawn. I had to pay for this wonderful light. Today it was my toes.
Of course it was worth it. What is more we might have snow by the weekend. Photographically a great start to the year. For many people 2025 this is not the case. We all moan about this or that but fortunately we don’t know the true horrors of the human condition. Long may it stay that way.
Tis the season for new beginnings or so we are told. Actually New Year, as we celebrate it [spoiler alert: I don’t] is a modern confection. There is nothing significant about the change between 31st of December to the 1st of January. Don’t believe me? I watched the BBC News channel yesterday. They stated that it will take 26 hours for the whole of the earth to move to the 1st of January. Now you could suggest that this is fake news but please don’t.
The much more significant date up here in the cold and damp north is the winter solstice. From that point, we are slowly marching to long summer days and away from the depression of night lasting many hours more than the day. Of course for those in the southern hemisphere the opposite is true.
To top everything off it is a cold and damp start to the New Year. Yippee.
Ba Humbug.
No one would’ve believed in the last days of the 2nd decade of the 21st century…
{Apologies to HG wells}
New Year’s Eve – 2019.
Looking back at these remastered images from 2019 everything seemed so much simpler. Yes Brexit was a thing as was Prime Minister Boris Johnson. They were known unknowns. What no one knew was that within four months of these images being captured one word would dominate the world. COVID. They were simpler times.
This is one of the advantages of revisiting images from the past. With the benefit of hindsight we can see the pitfalls ahead. No one in these images probably realised that the world would change so much. This transformation happened in just four months.
A sobering thought as we move to another New Year. I hope you and your nearest and dearest have a great New Year. I also hope that 2025 will not be shaped by just one word in the same way that life after 2019 was.
For a couple of hours yesterday the gray clouds parted and picture perfect late afternoon winter sun bathed southern Leicestershire. For late December it was also fairly warm. So I guess I didn’t get all I wished for but God moves in mysterious way etc…
It was an afternoon for winter walks, runs and trying out your new electric assisted push bike. Oh, and this being south Leicestershire taking your horse out for a quick hack around the country lanes and bridle paths. No matter I wasn’t in any hurry and happily waited as they clip clopped by before driving on.
I decided to only use one lens, my 70 – 200 mm zoom. This, at times, made for an interesting challenge but much better for that.
The more I use the Sony A7CR the more I realise I am reverting back to an early life. This is caused, in no small part, by the limited use I can get from the screen on the back of the camera. Because we can no longer buy a camera just for stills photography we have to make do with ‘hybrid features‘. On the CR the rear screen is one of those. It swings out so that you can see yourself whilst you ‘vlog’. Thus rendering it next to useless for photography, well at least I find it so. It is small thing but forces me to revert back to my days with early Canon DSLRs. Actually, the more I use this camera I find much older muscle memories resurfacing from much earlier Canon film days. I love it.
I have watched many hours of reviews and set up videos to help me set the camera up. However, my setup is very simple: single shot, RAW, manual ISO, simple auto focus and that is about it. I am interested in the form captured. It can then be shaped on the computer, just as it was in the past in the chemical dark room.
Whether this is the correct approach I haven’t got a clue. It just works for me.
Fn. As I write this the clouds are once more gray and unyielding. We have to be thankful for the light relief we get every now and then. It must be really boring having constant sunny days. I’m sure I’d get used to such things but it wouldn’t be the same. I’m British and so it is written in my DNA to moan about the weather whilst at the same time to enjoy its lumpiness. We are strange people!
It has been a damp few days. However, nothing is going to stop me getting out and capturing a few images.
The more I use my new camera the more I enjoy the luxury of a 61 Megapixels sensor. I have found myself thinking about an image in a totally different way. It also means that just walking around with one lens is so much more practical. This doesn’t mean I’m going to abandon my Zeiss lens. Not a bit of it.
Whilst walking through the mist a damp is atmospheric it would be nice to have some cold and frost days. It is winter afterall!
Hope you had a great Christmas. With my leg getting a lot better I took the opportunity to do some walking in the and around the area. However, as this at Christmas I found myself out and about before everyone else got up.
I also tried my new camera out in the dark. It was really impressive considering the pixel count. Also all the long exposure were handheld!
Looking forward to the New Year. What adventures will I have.
I couldn’t help myself. I just had to get out and about with the manic shoppers as they queued up just before 6 am this morning. I did have a few bits to pick up but nothing compared to gathered throng. I hope they all got what they wanted and that tomorrow Santa brings them something nice as well.
Let us all hope that tomorrow is a loving a peaceful day. (As I write this Christmas day has already started in much of the western Pacific and Antipodia.) A forlorn hope? Perhaps, but without hope there is no future.
Merry Christmas
Oh A.I…so schmaltzy…
Sunrise in this part of the world is around about 08:00 hrs at this time of year. That is thankfully moving in the right direction as the winter solstice was a couple of days ago. Yet the car park at my local shopping mall is full up. That can only mean one thing: M&S has opened early – let the 2024 Hunger Games begin.
For those of you outside of the UK who might be reading this M&S is not a budget store. As this years advertisement might proclaim: These people aren’t buying Christmas food they’re buying M&S Christmas food. That included me.
Tomorrow will be even worse as the fresh turkey brigade will descend. Then it really will be a battle. Can’t wait!
PS: Anyone who might be interested my leg is feeling a lot better. Thank you for asking.
I am the first to admit that I am one of the world’s worst patients. I am semi house bound at the moment. I spend a significant amount of my time with my leg resting on a stool. It is is hell. (This is me moaning rather than me being in any actual pain). There are so many things I want to do outside but I just can’t. I have to keep reminding myself that it is for my own good. That doesn’t help.
What it does mean is that I can start to plan for the yearbook of 2024. I am not sure whether it will be in two volumes or one. What I can do is start to prepare some of the art work. Last year I put together the above collage which I felt worked quite well. So I am working on this years.
For me the most interesting thing is that political portraits have disappeared from my collection. This is only partially an editorial choice for the image. However, I really didn’t make that many political portraits.
Hopefully my leg will be in full working order for the new year (my long suffering wife will certainly be relieved).
I have no idea whether I’ll post again before Christmas. Just in case I don’t, may I wish anyone who reads this post a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year.
Snow at Christmas? There was a time when this seemed a possibility. Nowaday, well not so sure. Evidence of a warming world? A bit too anecdotal – maybe but that is the thing with global warming. It creeps up on you slowly at least on a human sense of time. That is unless you live in a low lying country and every year you notice the tides getting a little higher.
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