Taking stock..of sorts…

Posted on February 15, 2019 by Guthlac

So where have I got with the Ironstone Benefice project?   Not too sure but I have been working on it for just over two years now and I have to say it has been fascinating for two reasons:  Firstly, I have been exploring parts of Leicestershire that I knew partially but now having sometime on the ground I feel I have much better understanding of the county I have called home all of my life and Secondly it also spans the rekindling of my interest in photography.   So here are some of the images from the last two years.

INteresting bunch.

Posted in Ironstone Beniface, Photography | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

In the land of Vikings…

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Guthlac

A beautiful winter’s day – it could be early spring (I hope it isn’t because spring should not start on Valentine’s Day in this part of the world – it could be a harbinger of something much worse!)   This was another visit to try and work on the Ironstone Benefice project which I and my good friend David Manley have been working on for two years now.   Today I was in the Wreake Valley walking in the footsteps of the vikings.

The name vikings congers up a vision of violent seabound warriors whose blood thirst helped destroy all who came before.  As usual this is more Hollywood than reality.  Of course the vikings were ruthless warriors but they also settled the lands and lived alongside their Anglo Saxon cousins.  We know that the Danish settlers made a home in the Wreake valley because of the places names and also the name of the river.  Wreake, in old Danish means meandering river, which is a good description of the Wreake.   We can also say how far along the valley the Danes settled because the Wreake enters Melton Mowbray as the Eye, a good pre Roman British name and leaves as the Wreake.  All the villages the sit alongside the Wreake have Danish names i.e they all end in by, so we have Asfordby, Kilby, Frisby, Hoby, Rotherby and Rearsby (Rearsby probably marks the end of the Danish settlement as the names further to the south are Anglo Saxon.)

There is little or no archaeology standing above the ground to say where the Danish settlers first set up home but the usual pattern is that they took over areas that were not being farmed by the Anglo Saxon farmers.  What is clear though is that the Danish elite must have replaced much of the Anglo Saxon elite in the areas hence the Danish place names.

Apart the photography it was just a pleasure to be out walking in the countryside and cleaning out the lungs for a few hours.

Posted in Ironstone Beniface, Photography, Winter | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s about three weeks – what have I learnt?

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Guthlac

So here is my street photography set up – scary isn’t it.  A five year old camera body – although mine is around 3 years old and a lens that is over forty years old.  Those of you who might have been aware of this blog over the past few weeks will know that I have been trying to get to grips with this set up for a few very important reasons:  firstly it is incredibly light – just 600g; it is remarkably robust – the lenses is bomb proof and so is the camera – it was raining quite heavily on Sunday and and the body never missed a beat and finally it is cheap.   The quality of the images I have started to produce with this set up are starting be very interesting indeed and I have started to master the problems associated with using an old manual lens on a mirrorless digital body.

The biggest problem I have had is mastering focus. (Exposure can be sorted out in post – not ideal but it works.)  I uses the focus peaking system which has been problematic but finally I think I have got the hang of it.  Last weekend was the first time that my ancient muscle memory started to kick in which has helped a great deal.

The benefits of the set up, apart from the cost, really started to come into its own on Sunday.  As I wandered the streets of central London I came across photographers using much heavier cameras which seem to be over kill compared to my lightweight set up.  Using the camera does have a feel of the old Leicas about it  (I know that is sacrilegious in many quarters for very good reasons) and I know have some understanding why many photographers over the generations have sworn by this set up.  Having the lightweight set up seemed to allow me to stay in the crowd without being too obtrusive – a real bonus when working in the street.

As for the lenses I have discovered that either the 28mm F2.8 or the 35mm F2.8 are best used at two settings – fully open or F8.  Beyond F8 the images start to become very soft indeed and I have no doubt if I had better quality FD lens much of this problem would disappear.  But I have to make the most of what I have got and that is actually a really useful constraint to have which got to start thinking about the state of photography in general.

I am as guilty as the next gearhead – I love buying new equipment whether I have really needed it or not.  Perhaps the most pointless piece of kit I have ever is the Canon 24mm tilt and shift.  It was a fantastic lens but required a lot of setting up to work correctly – something I never quite got around to.  Gear was king.  Then it wasn’t.   I have now reached the point in my photographic journey where lightness and simplicity is what I seek.  Out have gone heavy lenses and cameras to be replaced by two set ups:  Firstly a Sony A7 mk 2 and three primes and one telephoto zoom.  I can easily fit all of this into a small shoulder bag;  Secondly my travel set up above which can be carried over my shoulder with an extra lens stuffed in a pocket if needs be.  This is about as simple and yet powerful as you could wish for.

Of late I have watched an awful lot of vloggers on YouTube banging on about how this camera is crap or that lens isn’t worth it.  It does seem so adversarial and not really getting to the point we all capture photographs and try and make images out of them.  The image is king.   You might not think my photographs are as good as yours and that is fine but photography isn’t about the latest gear and I think my travel set up has clearly demonstrated that point.

Enough of me banging on about what I think about photography and back to the camera and lens set up.   After this weekend I think it is starting to gell.  I suspect there will be a long way still to go but I am making real progress and finally producing the images I find rewarding with my very inexpensive but light travel set up.  Click Click.

 

 

Posted in Photography, Street Photography, Winter | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

With Ralph in my mind…

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Guthlac

This is the second series of images made on the Streets of London on Sunday.   As I was making the images this morning I couldn’t help but hum Streets of London in my head.

I think London may have change quite a bit since he wrote that song in 1969.

 

BTW if you ever wondered why Brexit is bonkers and why Ireland is going to be really screwed this clip elequently demonstrates the point.  Here is an Englishman singing about London on The Late Late Show on RTE (The Republic’s BBC sort of).  We are the same people, we share the same bloody history, live on the same Archipelago so why are we insisting on screwing each other over for no gains at all on either side?   It is truly bonkers and I guess when historian’s come to write the history of this time that will be the name of the book/chapter!

Posted in Photography, Street Photography, Winter | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Streets of London

Posted on February 11, 2019 by Guthlac

We live in a sea of photographs.  Each day millions, probably billions, more are added.   Yesterday I was wandering in and around Soho, London whilst the Chinese New year celebrations were taking place.  It was a fantastic day out and even better if you want to make some street photography – which I did.  I loved it, such characters such life.  I couldn’t get home to work on the images which is what I did this morning and some of the images are reproduced here.

When reviewing the images I captured I started have second thoughts  as they contained parents with their children – should I reproduce those as well?   There is one which I think perfectly illustrates the dilemma of modern motherhood – a mother teaching her son how to use a smartphone.  I think it is a beautiful moment but I feel it is a very special moment between the two and shouldn’t be for a wider audience on this blog.   Is that right?   Well I think so but I suspect other people’s views may well differ.   This brings me back to the billions of images already out there on the internet.

Anything you put onto the internet you have to accept will be datamined by one or more of the tech companies.  This bog, for example, is being datamined as I write it.  I use the Google Chrome browser which has a really good spell check that I use all the time.  However, for it to work it has to pass every word to the cloud for the A.I. of the spell check to work.  Once that data is with Google they will never let go of it as it is worth billions to them when my small blog is combined with the data for millions of other people.  The same is true of the millions of photographs and videos that were taken yesterday and posted to the different social media sites – perhaps even the young son’s content is also there along with his mother’s .  So should I worry about the effect my photograph would have on those two people?  Well I believe the answer is yes even though the reality is that it doesn’t really matter at all.  Is this censorship?  Of course it is but not out of legal peril but rather common decency.   I’m not sure where that line is but I’ll try and not to cross it.

 

One final point.  By applying this additional editorial process I think I might have made a better selection that reflects yesterday.

Posted in Photography, Street Photography, Winter | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Non dormientes officium…

Posted on February 11, 2019 by Guthlac

Sometimes I find it difficult to get a good night’s sleep in a hotel.   It has nothing to do with the bed or anything like that. My suspicion is that as I get older I just find any change in my circumstances affects my sleep patterns – this certainly wasn’t the case when I was a young man.    Anyway it does give me chance to make some art.

nocturnus quidem.

Posted in Apple Pencil, Art, Digital Painting | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Some More Perspective…

Posted on February 9, 2019 by Guthlac

Over the past few posts I may have given the impression that I am for Brexit.   I am not.  However, I not in favour of running down Britain which I feel has sometimes taken the over some of  the Remainer approach to Brexit.  Britain has many many faults, such as every country, but is a very rich and successful.  It has a powerful military and a global spanning cultural reach.  It will survive and no doubt thrive after Brexit I just feel that aligniating out largest market is not in the best long term interest of Britain.  Neither is allowing the European Union go off in a Franco/Germany dominated direction either.  However, that is so much water under the bridge and now I feel we just have to make the best of where we are whether that is with a withdrawal agreement or not.

Yesterday I received a book I have been wanting for sometime – The Poll Taxes of 1377, 1379 and 1381.   Now for most people this is hardly on the top of their reading list but as this blog I believe  has demonstrated time and again I not your normal ‘someone’.   The book very much does what it says in the title and consolidates and reprints all the records for the three taxes from the late 14th century.

For me the most interesting one is the Poll Tax return for 1379.   Here for the first time in a national register we get to see the people of England.   In the area of my study,  the coalfield of north west Leicestershire, we see the first miners appearing  two John Coleman, William Collier and Roger Collier.  Each had to pay 4d.  However as interesting as this list is the one thing that is not recorded is perhaps the most significant of all. Some of the people listed had survived the first outbreak of the Black Death in the late 1340’s.  They probably would have been young children who may well have seen their own family die in front of their them.  By whatever means they had survived and were now recorded for posterity.   Even the people recorded who were not alive when the Black Death hit for the first time would left lives scared by the memory of what had happened.

So the next time you might hear someone making exaggerated claims about the effects of Brexit then remember the people recorded in the 1379 poll tax return.   They had seen what real horror looks like and might smile at how trivial Brexit is in comparison.    This doesn’t mean that things aren’t going to be bumpy over the next 6 months or so or the Republic of Ireland is going to be truly screwed if things do wrong and we leave without a deal.    Instead what it means is that things are not anything like as bad as John Coleman, William and Roger  Collier  had survived or their parents had told them about.  We do need to take a chill pill every now and then when thinking about Brexit – and that includes me!

Posted in Brexit, History | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Ireland’s Borders are Europe’s Borders….

Posted on February 7, 2019 by Guthlac

If we dismiss the recent comments by Donald Tusk as being at best unhelpful and certainly not the most diplomatic language ever used – perhaps it is something to do with the name Donald?   What are we to make of the latest moves in the game of chess which is the Brexit leaving end game?

Well the first thing to say is that whilst some in the Republic of Ireland welcome the comment from European Commision press release (see title) they really should be a little more circumspect.   The statement is clear and it means that should we have a no deal Brexit then the Republic’s border with Northern Ireland will have to become a hard border – otherwise the integrity of the European Union’s customs union, single market et al are compromised. This of course drives a coach and horses through the Good Friday agreement (Perhaps that should be a 38 tonne lorry)   Equally it will also mean that goods being transhipped through a third country ie the UK when reaching the EU again ie Calais will be subject to the same checks as those of other vehicles entering the EU from any other third country.   It would be  a total nightmare for the Republic of Ireland and no matter how many warm words that come from Brussels about solidarity the interests of the European Union is to get along with one of their largest export markets as best they can.

I have said it before and I feel it worth repeating – at the moment European Union solidarity hasn’t cost any country a single Euro.   If we, and I mean both the UK and the EU, part without a withdrawal agreement that will change very quickly.  Forget all the smokescreens about big businesses, such as car makers having problems – they will but they are big enough to sort them out themselves or rather their logistic provider will have.   No it is the fresh produce exports to the UK are where the problems will really occur.   I am sure that there are tomato producers in southern Spain who are wondering whether they will have a market in Britain after the 29th March?   Of course they will but it is much more of a problem to transport produces that has a sell by date than a gearbox.   If there is a significant delay at the ports then this will very quickly become a problem for the national Governments of the producers and that is when solidarity could start to crumble.

For an example of this you only have to look at the EU’s relationship with that other large, geographically at least, third country Russia.  This is a country that it is widely accepted to have interfered in all sorts of European matters for its own geopolitical goals.  Yet the EU’s response has been confused and weak to say the least.  The main reason is that the member states have their own interests to protect from Germany’s energy supplies to traditional Italian political relations with Russia.   I suspect that the Baltic states are far more reassured by the support given by NATO than the EU.  (The main NATO European country is Britain.)   The long and short of this example is that solidarity is easy when there is nothing at stack but national interest will always come before the EU’s interest.  It is one of the main reasons that the EU is bureaucratically strong, the ability to hand out large fines to Social Media companies as an example, but diplomatically weak – it doesn’t even have a permanent seat on the UN security council which, of course, Britain does.

Given all this where are we on the Deal/No Deal spectrum?   A few weeks ago I thought we were far more likely to leave with no deal however I’m no longer that sure.   I suspect that we will get a deal, lets call it Backstop 2, through parliament probably by early March.   There will will be an awful lot of fire and furry on both sides between now and then but when the real meaningful vote comes in March I think it is more likely that MPs will vote for Backstop 2 than against it.   However, the one thing that you can say at the moment,  if some says they know what is going to happen then you know they are lying,  nobody knows.   I just hope that the Republic of Ireland doesn’t come to regret the appearance of gloating at the UK’s difficulty – I suspect that Leo Varadkar was dismayed by Donald Tusk’s comments – they haven’t helped.   If he wasn’t then things between the Republic and Britain could get very uneasy very quickly and that would be very unhelpful for everyone concerned.

Posted in Brexit, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Updated Website….

Posted on February 6, 2019 by Guthlac

 

I’ve just updated my website with some of the best of the photographs I made in 2018…it can be found at the address below

https://www.simonmarchini.com/

Posted in General | Leave a comment

A lot of hard work for what?…

Posted on February 3, 2019 by Guthlac

Another Sunday another session with the Canon FD Lenses and my Sony A6000.   To recap I have set of small lightweight Canon FD lens circa late 1970s that I have decided to try and use with my Sony A6000.  The reason for this is that they are small lenses which would be ideal for a travelling setup.  The main problem I have encountered is that they are very difficult to accurately focus even with Peaking switched (A method on the Sony to show what areas are in focus.)   This is very hit and miss and many times the Peaking shows that the lens is in focus when it later transpired it wasn’t.  It would be useful if this problem was consistent but at the moment that doesn’t appear to be the case (I have to accept that there may well be significant amount of user error as well!)  Nonetheless, it does call into question the notion of using this as a lightweight travel set up.  I think the only thing I can do is to persevere and hope to get to understand the set up and reduce the focusing errors to a minimum.  More street photography from Leicester methinks!

 

Posted in Photography, Winter | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment