I was going to write a post about the state of affairs within the current incarnation of the Conservative party and our ‘Dear Leader‘ Boris Johnson. What is the point? He’s broken his own rules, even his own MP’s seem to accept this and anyone with a decent bone in his body would have resigned in shame. Unfortunately, decent and shame are two words that Boris Johnson doesn’t understand so this whole nonsense will continue until he brings the Conservative party crashing down when he eventually falls – which he will.
Instead I thought this photograph was strangely apt.
It was wonderful to stand on the cliffs of Bempton and take in the fresh air. Of course this was a lot fresher than usual as the wind was blowing off of the land so taking away the normal aromas associated with Bempton at this time of year – which I actually missed. It also meant that the normal cacophony of bird calls was muted but beyond it was a grand day out.
There was a full blown ‘Twitch’ for a lone Albatross going on as well which meant that there was probably far more people on the cliffs than you would expect. I didn’t see the bird myself but was told many times by the RSPB guides the best place to catch it if I wanted, I didn’t so I avoided the crowds as best as I could.
It is almost 6 years since I last visited the site and a lot has changed in that time – one thing is the amount of gear I now carry around with me for a start – I made do with my 200-600mm lens, camera body and iPhone – this wasn’t the case in the past when I never left home without bags of kit. Another thing that has changed is that I am six years older and and very rusty when it comes to capturing fast moving birds. As a result I missed an awful lot of shots. It didn’t help that half way through I had a camera malfunction which, unbeknown to me, put the camera into APS c mode. I know, I know I should have kept and eye on such things but I didn’t. Fortunately, I was still able to capture most of what I wanted.
I had a great time this morning using the new Sony 70-200 f2.8 that my friend has bought for his business. My god it’s a great lens – sharp as a pin and the focus is so quick. Would I be tempted to but one? Yes if I won the lottery but my good old f4 is more than enough lens for what I do.
Not quite the same but this is what I can produce with the F4. I’m sure the f2.8 would have been brilliant if I had used it to make this images but it certainly isn’t worth me spending the £2.6k!
Are we in the ‘End Times’? Are the drums of war beating – calling us to our doom? I don’t know but what I do know is that yesterday was a beautiful spring day here and I enjoyed it. I blew some money on a meal and drove through the English countryside to see an wonderful exhibition. If the end comes soon, which I don’t believe it will BTW, then yesterday would have been extra special.
Given everything that is going on at the moment it does seem just a little bit self indulgent to say I spent Sunday enjoying myself walking through the streets of London. Yes it is but what can I do about the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine at the moment. We should all be thankful of the fine things we in the rich and powerful part of the world have but we must also carry on as best we can and for us it was taking a long walk through London. It is 2 years since we have been able to do this an so we did and it was great, although my feet and hips might disagree at the moment!
I have to say I rather enjoy the new superwide on my iPhone. It is a bit crap but I have never bothered about that so long as I am able to get the image I wanted and this camera has added to the tools I have available to make images. (BTW if you interested the above images was not captured by iPhone)
To bring things full circle we came across the clean up after film or TV series scene had been shot in the City of London and brought our thoughts back to Ukraine. This was just after it had been announced that Putin had placed the Russian nuclear weapons onto some form of Special Alert – whatever that might mean?
Yesterday was a lovely early Spring day and because of this the weather was a bit all over the place. One moment it was blue sky and sunshine the next grey skies rolled in with just a hint of dampness in the air. After the battering we’ve had over the previous week this was a welcome relief.
I spent my day with my good friend David at Compton Verney. For those of you who might not know Compton Verney is one the best non London based gallery in the country and the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year exhibition did let the side down. I have been following the TV series since it started back in 2013 and this exhibition brought together almost all of the winners and a lot more paintings beside that. The programmes themselves are a bit hit and miss because they are produced like any other reality TV show with artificial crises and controversy and with good dollop of ego thrown in for good measure. However at the end you are left with some really interesting work and a worthy winner. If you get the chance it is well worth a visit.
One of the most rewarding part of the exhibition was that you were able to view the paintings for yourself without the flattening effects of a TV series which, even in 4K, doesn’t make any of the paintings look good but rather worse than they really are. There is no substitute for standing in front of a work and just allowing your own sense make what they will of what is in front of them.
After lunch we went a walk around the grounds just as the skies were at their most grey which made for a bit of photographic challenge but it was welcome to walk off the lunch.
Perhaps I’ve been spending far too much of time researching all things neolithic but walking around the park this afternoon I came across this fellow and it made me start to think of a much older time. A time when the old Gods rather than he new ones ruled people’s lives. So I’m not sure whether this is Lord of the Rings, Games of Thrones or Durrington Walls. Either way the trees do rule the floodplain.
One of the advantages to living somewhere that, if it was in the USA, would be described as a flyover state is that we don’t get really bad weather. Over the past week the British Isles has been hit by two powerful storms that have caused damage, chaos, injuries and unfortunately deaths. I, like many other people watched my TV screens as tails of of the storms were reported and the best video feeds from the internet were crammed into the reports. Twitter was a blaze and the outstanding hit of yesterday was Big Jet TV who provide live feeds of planes landing at Heathrow, usually a niche sector but not yesterday as we watched pilots bravely fighting the elements in an effort to land their aircraft at Heathrow. So while we did have gust of winds and driving rain it was nothing compared to what many people suffered yesterday, for which I am very grateful.
So this morning it was time to examine how the garden had resisted the storm and thankfully it appears unaffected. This is the time of year when things are starting the stir but as yet nothing too major. It always fills me with a sense of wonder just how much growth the plants make in a year. Borders that are bare at the moment by June will be full once more with bright and welcoming blooms. Life finds a way.
It is a few weeks since I updated my iPhone and I’m still getting used to the new camera set up. All the talking heads who make a living from telling you everything wonderful about the latest tech are reassuring about the new camera: They all agree it is better than the iPhone 12. I have no idea whether that is true or not but what I can say is that I love the new super wide lens. However, since I upgraded the phone I seem to be making photos that are black and white…not sure why that might be?
This man must go but the people who have the power to rid the nation of such a man as Boris Johnson are showing themselves to be craven opportunist who pretend to serving the country but with every second of inaction are demonstrating that they are only interested in serving themselves. If Boris Johnson is indecent then the Conservative MP’s who are still refusing to show any sense of duty and start the process to purge the body politic will be judged as accomplices and so should also be shown the door.
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