Saturday 26 April 2014

For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life...

Photography is a funny occupation really... in how many others jobs I wonder do people think that they can do just as good a job as the professional - so much so that they expect us to work for hardly anything or indeed for free... because let's face it... taking pictures is child's play... (?) Well of course it isn't - even if you are a very good amateur and your work will stand up to scrutiny against the rest you don't have to shoot if you don't feel like it; or the weather is bad; or you can't think of a subject... I was in conversation the other day and the subject of Wedding Photography came up... "A friend of our didn't have a photographer at their wedding... we all took pictures then then sent them copies..." How many other aspects of the wedding did they trust to amateurs and luck?  Did someone who couldn't open a can of beans do the catering? Did someone who couldn't thread a needle make the dress? I would guess not... these jobs are entrusted to an expert... someone who knows what they are doing - be them a friend or someone picked from the local Yellow Pages... but photographs? Nah... we will give everyone a camera and as they drink more during the day we will be left with hundreds of brilliantly taken images of all our friends enjoying themselves... And how does this pan out in 5, 10 or 20 years time? Do they sit back and think about the pate? The flowers (now what colour were they?)... what colour was Grandma's hat? "I tell you what lets look at the wedding album... oh we haven't got one of those... the images are on the laptop somewhere - ah yes here they are in My Pictures... Oh, we didn't get one of Grandma - shame that as she had come all the way from Scotland and it was the last time that whole generation was together... still there's one of Barry relieving himself behind a tree and there is one of Charlotte drunk under a table... still we did get the one of us leaving the church and the family group... Oh no we didn't because everyone was talking to old friends and didn't take one..."

Still think it's a good idea not to book a professional photographer to cover your wedding?

Rant over...

So, what have I been shooting this week? Well I went out on Wicken Fen on Saturday for an hour or so... and found the following...




forget-me-not (Myosotis spp.)


lady's smock (Cardamine pratensis) - above and below...




reed reflections in a pond... I just liked the light and colours here...



sedge (Carex spp) flower...


spittle-bug larval case...


St Mark's fly (Bibio marci)... so called because it emerges close to St Mark's Day - 25th April




remains of a wild bees nest - found inside a fallen willow...


Well, that was a productive hour or so and enjoyable - spring is my favourite season (when we get one) and the emergence of St Mark's fly, the song of returning warblers and the blossoming of trees is just a delight...

So a couple of days later I went out into the garden to see what I could find there...


bee fly (Bombylius spp) - an important pollinator; the mimicry is for protection...



honey bee (Apis mellifera) - my favourite shot of the week...



hoverfly (Platycheirus spp.) inside some apple blossom...



hoverfly (Rhingia campestris)

and whilst in the garden Quinn made an appearance...



Now, this next bit isn't for the squeamish... whilst taking pictures I noticed an odd thing - something I hadn't seen before; and after talking to a fellow ecologist discovered what I was seeing... Just outside the garden is a small patch of hoary cress (Lepidium draba) and on the underside of the uppermost leaves were many dead flies...





Now, apparently what is happening is this... the flies are infected by a fungi - Entomophtora muscae - this fungi invades the body of the fly and slowly digests it from within. Before the fly dies however, it affects the brain, making the fly move to a high point and spread out it's wings - so allowing the spores to spread... the fungi is used as a biological control of pest species of fly... How fascinating is that!!! Thanks Richard for the information!!! May sound a bit unpleasant to some, but I love this sort of ecology... the way this has evolved is just amazing...

And so to prettier things...also in the garden is...



geranium...



honeysuckle

Today (Friday) I have been on a shoot in Cambridge - just an insurance claim thing, but the car was parked near Trinity College cricket ground - to get there I drove past the Cambridge University Real Tennis Club and the Cambridge University Rugby Union ground... lovely looking venues and places I would have loved to have played... the shoot may have been dull but the surroundings surely made up for it... And now the weekend approaches... who knows what that will bring... On Monday I have a meeting with a prospective client and to top it all the pictures taken at the dance performance are selling... two orders yesterday...!

You can keep up with my imaging here... or here... if you are that way inclined and I hope you all have a great week...

TTFN







Saturday 19 April 2014

Where are the songs of Spring?

It's been a (ow) painful (ouch) very painful week... it started off painfully and is finishing even more painfully...you see, to the amusement of at least two friends I have the onset of a frozen shoulder - which is giving me sleepless nights and limited mobility... luckily handling a camera is relatively OK...

Photographically I have had a fun week... We (as you may know) have been up north to Yorkshire, visiting friends and family and taking pictures... now when shooting during the previous week my second camera body failed... some sort of battery related fault... now it's tricky to function with only one DSLR if not impossible... fortunately my main sponsor found me a nice used Nikon D2X (very similar to my main Nikon D2Xs) in fact after I had installed the most up to date firmware they are virtually identical... Hope fully I can get the faulty D200 fixed sometime in the future...(thanks Ma...)

What have I been shooting? Well the week started in York, and whilst there we went to a local country house - Benningborough Hall... lovely gardens and plants...(cold wind, picnic in a small garden shelter)...


Garden gate...



Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) - always nice to see...

...and a nice place to take family portraits...



From York, we moved on to Scarborough, where I got to play with my D2X - here's what I found on the cliffs...




Meadow buttercup (Ranunculus acris) - in both monochrome above and colour below...



Daisy (Bellis perennis) - I really like daisies - great little plant...



Dandelion (Taraxicum officinale agg.) another overlooked common species, but one that also looks better and better when actually LOOKED at...



In addition to plants...



a hoverfly - although I don't know which one...I continue to be impressed with the resolving power and quality f my macro lens - the Tokina 100mm f2.8 AT-X Pro - more expensive lenses may have the edge when it comes to build quality (although the Tokina is very sturdy) but as far as sharpness is concerned... I have never used a sharper lens...or one with better contrast...



Now below is a detail shot of a caterpillar eating its way into a dandelion flower... I was taken by the colours and the structures on the caterpillar's skin...






Wood anemone (Anemone nemerosa) - black and white and colour...one of my favourite spring flowers, especially when seen in great carpets beneath a hazel/oak coppice...



And finally from Scarborough - a couple of landscapes...



The first taken from on top of the cliffs looking south towards Cayton and Cornelian Bays with the promontory of Filey Brigg in the far distance. I like the way the sun plays on the water and the scale of the people on the wave-cut platform...




Finally, a 6-image panorama of the South Bay... This was created in Photoshop CC and looks really good when blown up...(the picture, not the town)...

By the end of the week I was out shooting insurance claim pictures - it pays, (not a lot) but something and if you get a few then it becomes worthwhile... I also sold some of the dance studio pictures - not surprisingly the elegant young lady's family liked the images...coincidently her mother teaches my son... small world...

Now. it's Saturday and I may get out on the fen... see those pictures next week, or if you can't wait... you can keep up with me on a daily basis here or here depending on what you like...

See you all next week...

TTFN





Saturday 12 April 2014

...spring calls with flowers and dancers...

And now we enter my favourite time of year... the days start to get longer and warmer; the plants start to grow, blossom forms and birds return from Africa... Insects appear on the wing and the world is full of life... roll on the coming year with all it brings... bring forth life...

Photographically it has been an interesting week... stating with the Feathers School of Dance concert that I was lucky enough to photograph last Sunday... What a great event - young people of all ages really into their music - impressive choreography and all of it somehow organised by someone looking after a new baby...! Some people seem to be able to do anything!!!  The event was fun to shoot although many of the scenes were a challenge due to the lighting... Stage lighting... it can be a photographers' friend but more often than not it can also make life tricky...

This was a two camera shoot - but seeing as one of my bodies started playing up during the shoot the previous Thursday, I was concerned I would have to use one body and limit my shooting options... Fortunately with careful management I managed to use both but only by using the malfunctioning body sparingly... me thinks something needs to be done about this...

A selection of images...







The audience were treated to a Red carpet entrance...












Although I am no expert on dancing, one dancer caught my eye for her pose and grace... and elegance






I'm not sure of her name, but she was a delight to photograph...

There are now a selection of those images - HERE and all are for sale... Images are available electronically as JPEGs with no restrictions on reprints or postings. £8 per image of if more than 5 bought the price drops to £5 per image. Email me for details - alexjpscott@gmail.com

After this shoot, I spent the next couple of days post processing and preparing for my final tutorial. I hope Matt has learnt loads about his camera and what it takes to improve his images... from what I have seen it is the case!!! Looking forward to seeing the shots from Rome!!!
During this tutorial, which was about Macro photography, we happened on some apple blossom...






Always looks good against a blue sky...

...And then whilst in the local Millennium Gardens I took this picture of a ladybird...



I'm pleased with this image... love the colours...

Well, after this we have driven north up to York, via Stratford upon Avon... Now, I grew up not that far from Stratford and have spent many a happy hour there... at the theatre, in the pubs and clubs or just wandering around the riverside.  Interestingly, just after I bought my very first camera I visited the town and shot one of my very first rolls of film there. A Kodak Colour Print film if I remember rightly, probably  100 ISO (ASA as it was then)... Below is a modern version of one of my very first images... This one taken on 10th April 2014... the original (which I no longer have) would have been taken in summer 1982 on a Nikon FG with a standard 50mm f1.8 manual focus lens... This recent one was taken with a Nikon D2Xs with a Nikkor 20-35mm f2.8 AFD auto focus lens...


From memory, the shot from 1982 was under exposed... and put in the rejects box!

From Stratford, we visited a friend, who lives in the shadow of Edge Hill. The English Midlands is a delightful landscape - I grew up there and returning after many years away I really appreciate it more...beautiful trees, hedges and rolling hills...

Now Chris has an amazing garden, so even though we were invited for lunch, I couldn't resist capturing some of her gorgeous plants...



Camelia...


Hellebore...



Primrose...



Chaenomeles x superba (I think)



Snake's-head fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris)



Bergenia...

Now, I have been asked for more technical information, especially regarding my plant portraits... So here is what I used for the selection of plants above...

Nikon D2Xs + Tokina 100mm f2,8 AT-X Pro macro lens. All pictures were shot at 250 ISO, hand held and more often than not manually focussed. Exposure was set in Aperture Priority mode with the aperture being changed to give the required depth of field. Framing was all by eye. Post processing was in Lightroom 5.3, usually with the minimum of changes made - contrast, sharpening and brightness. Occasionally I add a vignette - positive or negative depending on the effect I want...

Friday was spent in York, staying with a dear friend... she has a lovely garden...(another one!!) so I had to see what I could see...



Hellebore...



Not sure what this is... so if anyone has an idea...








Well, that is about it for the time being... hope you all have a good week... keep up with my comings and goings HERE or if you don't Facebook, I post regularly HERE...

See you soon...

TTFN