Addendum…

Posted on August 2, 2019 by Guthlac

Today

Yesterday

Perhaps I was just a little too rash to downplay how brave/foolhardy I am.   Luckily the flood waters are subsiding – so perhaps not quite as brave as first reported!

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Wet Underfoot…

Posted on August 2, 2019 by Guthlac

 

As I mentioned yesterday we have had a significant amount of rain in a very short amount of time.  To the north of the country this has caused many problems where bridges have been washed away, houses inundated and the possibility of a dam giving way and destroying a village that is standing its shadow.

More locally the flood projection has appeared to work again with our local park flooding to take up the excess water.   This is not unusual apart from two things:  Firstly this, as far as I can recall, has never happened in the height of the summer and secondly the depth of flooding has never been so great.   Now of course these two observations are very anecdotal and there are many things that could affect them, an example might be that something downstream might have meant the water could not pass as quickly so causing it to back up.

Flooding in November 2007

The same location August 2019

From a photography perspective it is does cause an obvious problem – electronic cameras and lenses and water don’t really mix.   So unless you are willing to ruin all your equipment (shock horror I’m not) then there is only so much you can achieve.   This was bought home to me yesterday when a woman  decided to wade into the flood water to take her dog for a walk/swim (I really don’t know why but there we are.) .  Whilst it appeared that the water was only 40/50cm deep it suddenly became over a metre deep and though she had dressed in waterproof trousers and wellies she was clearly taken by surprise by just how deep the water.  (She was never in any danger and was able to wade out of the water safely if a lot wetter than she planned I suspect!) .  But what if she had been carrying camera gear?   (Of course she could have been carrying her phone in her back pocket which would have course been submerged!) .  Well the equipment could have been damaged by the sudden change in the deepth.

So unless you are brave, foolhardy or rich the conditions compromise just what you can capture.   This should come as little surprise because that is always so.  I choose the path of least resistance and stayed on the temporary shore line.  Brave aren’t I?

 

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91 Days

Posted on August 1, 2019 by Guthlac

Over the past couple of days there has been significant flooding throughout the country (not in the southeast so it was very much third item on the news!) .  Anyway, I live above the floodplain so I am not really affected by the water.   This means that I can go out and wonder at the awesome power of nature, take some pretty photos and then go home.  Others are not so lucky and they have lost everything thanks to the flooding.

In many ways this is the same as Boris Johnson telling sheep farmers in Wales that everything will be fine and they are to embrace the new opportunities a no deal Brexit will deliver.  He can then rush off in his shiny 4×4 to the next photo op leaving the bemused farmers wondering how they are going to make ends meet?

Why Does It Always Rain On Me?

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House Keeping…

Posted on August 1, 2019 by Guthlac

 

At the end of each month I have a look back through the images I captured from the previous month to see if there are any images I might have overlooked.  These are the three I thought were worth a little extra work from July.

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92 Days

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Guthlac

Beyond the probable disappointment of the Brecon and Radnorshire by election tomorrow there seems to be a small amount of good news for the Government and the alleged Svengali working behind the scenes Dominic Cummings.   It would seem that Nigel Farage has taken it upon himself to reopen the old wounds of a dispute that goes back to the Vote Leave team and their rejection of Farage.   It could be argued that one of the reasons why Farage has started to attack Cummings is because Boris et al are starting to peel away voters from the Brexit Party and with it any chance that Farage might have of entering Westminster and maybe even influencing any future Conservative government.  Maybe. Perhaps.   What is clear is that this is a fight that is only going to get more heated over the next few weeks.

‘Ginger get the popcorn…’ as one well known political operative once said.

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93 Days

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Guthlac

 

Yesterday saw Boris uniting the Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Scotland.  He did this by being booed in Edinburgh and then hiding away in a nuclear submarine.

As for his principle opponent (probably) Jeremy Corbyn is having a torrid time as well if the papers are to be believed (possibly).   It would seem that Boris is more trustworthy than Corbyn.   I’m not sure if that is what constitutes a honeymoon for Boris but it certainly isn’t the best of news for Corbyn (perhaps) .

In the land of parenthesis anything is possible (maybe)

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Photography….

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Guthlac

Over time I have come to realise that the modern photographic world has hit a plateau.  One reason is that every conceivable photographic images has been captured and what we are all really doing is going over old ground (this is only partially hyperbolic because in a world of Instagram etc. we are almost at the infinite monkeys  at a typewriter moment.)    The other reason is the almost mad development of new equipment which the manufacturers are creating in a vain attempt to bolster falling equipment sales.  In a world where photography has never been more popular ‘proper’ camera gear  just isn’t selling even though it is unbelievably sophisticated but there lies the problem.  There is no real reason to buy the latest and best because it isn’t really that much better than last years greatest thing and so on.

I have thankfully left behind the pursuit of the latest and greatest camera gear, although if I had the money I no doubt would buy the latest because that is the sort of person I am.  I don’t have the money so I don’t.   I am not saying I am going without, far from it, but I now find I enjoy photography for different reasons (having spent the last ten years visiting a wide variety of art galleries and encountering many different types of art has had a far more lasting impact on my own photographic practice than an extra 5 stops of dynamic range ever would have!)  With age comes a realisation that little is genuinely new in the world but rather the same old crap repackaged for modern consumption (not an appealing images I realise but true.)

I do have an Instagram account that I hardly use because, and I know this is an age thing, the frenetic output is just too much to keep up with.  The noise of an infinite number of people trying to understand the world through square images is something I don’t feel any need to join in with.   If I have reached a plateau then as far as I am concerned the view from here is fine.  To prove it these two  photographic images of a Meadow Brown butterfly were captured this afternoon with my desidely dated equipment.  I’m pleased with the result and that is all I try to achieve – if anyone else is it is a pleasant  bonus.

 

Here endeth the latest mangled ramble.

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94 Days

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Guthlac

This morning I watched the latest episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and it was mostly about Boris Johnson and Brexit.   Whilst it had the usual shapely observed whit about Boris I felt the overall damning assessment of a No Deal Brexit was that of someone who is viewing the whole situation from New York.  To him No deal will be a disaster whereas I suspect it will have a much more multifaceted effect on both Britain and European Union:   Some people and organisation will hardly notice things;   Whilst others will find their lifestyle changed in ways they hadn’t expected and finally others will be directly affected in very negative ways.   Where any one person or organisation sits on that continuum will be very subjective.   What is clear everyone will have some form of adverse effect.

Will it be a disaster?   I really do doubt it because there is too many vested interested on both sides of the argument and English Channel to allow that to take place.  However, I do expect each side of the argument to exaggerate some aspect of the whole sorry mess for their own benefit a la £350 million a week for the NHS on the side of a bus.

The one question I have not heard explained  in any great detail is why we will all have to suffer whatever level of discomfort we do?   What is clear is that this will not enhance our trading relationships with our nearest and largest trading bloc in the short term – so why do it?   My view has always been that the losses far outweigh the gains  however, clearly that is not the majority view in Britain even now.

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95 Days

Posted on July 28, 2019 by Guthlac

 

So the Sunday papers are in hyperventilating mode:  Boris Bounce; Election Fever; Farage  dodgy looking States side Brexit pressure group; Love Island – what isn’t there for the media to gorge on?   The old pre-digital adage  of today’s newspapers being tomorrow’s chip paper seems very very pertinent at the moment.

For me there is only two things to focus on:  Brecon and Radnorshire and Sheffield Hallam by elections.   These two events will tell us more about the state of play for each of the parties and Brexit than any amount of froth and hyperbole in which ever flavour of news outlets/app you might subscribe to.

Events, dear boy Events.

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96 Days

Posted on July 27, 2019 by Guthlac

Who is the biggest Cock of the Brexit Midden?

 

 

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