The Dark Side of the Camera
I've managed to completely miss Eurovision this year. Haven't heard a single song. And, from what I hear, this was one of the best events for quite some time.
Still, I was busy on saturday, clocking up a bit of a landmark with Run Like Hell; we played two sets, and for the first one we performed The Dark Side Of The Moon in its entirety from start to finish. For my part this requires some concentration to get inside Nick Mason's style and feel. His playing is very spacious and unadorned, so I have to suppress some of my own habitual accents and inflections or it'll sound wrong. But physically it's nowhere near as demanding as some of the other material in our set (particularly the Deep Purple stuff). But as a group piece it's a hell of an achievement to have under one's belt. There are still a lot of corners to round off, but it came off remarkably well for a debut performance, and it'll get better.
And now for some of the photography I mentioned in the last installment. If you want to see ducklings, goslings, coot chicks, and a rat, the full gallery is here. But I said I'd been playing with picture composition and macro settings.
I have no idea what flower this is (I'm not a flower person), I just liked the colour. I took one pic, then noticed the strand of web and took a second pic with the flower more to one side so the web would cut across the trees and the lake in the background.
A dandelion clock seemed a good subject to test the camera's macro focus; it ought to present a lot of detail. Which it did, but a gray puffy ball against a grassy background didn't make for a very interesting photo. Then I thought of silhouetting it against the sky. Since I couldn't fit both my head and the camera underneath the subject this was a case of point-click-hope-repeat. This one caught just enough background to heighten the sweeping perspective without being intrusive.
As with the first pic, setting the main subject to one side allows enough unbroken space for the background to have its own identity, while the focus ensures that it doesn't become distracting. The only problem is that it was taken from an uncomfortable crouching position; if I'd actually lain down in the dirt I could have given more attention to the viewscreen and I'd've made sure the horizon was level.
Still, I've started actually thinking about my photos, and I'm quite pleased with some of the results. Critiques welcome.
Still, I was busy on saturday, clocking up a bit of a landmark with Run Like Hell; we played two sets, and for the first one we performed The Dark Side Of The Moon in its entirety from start to finish. For my part this requires some concentration to get inside Nick Mason's style and feel. His playing is very spacious and unadorned, so I have to suppress some of my own habitual accents and inflections or it'll sound wrong. But physically it's nowhere near as demanding as some of the other material in our set (particularly the Deep Purple stuff). But as a group piece it's a hell of an achievement to have under one's belt. There are still a lot of corners to round off, but it came off remarkably well for a debut performance, and it'll get better.
And now for some of the photography I mentioned in the last installment. If you want to see ducklings, goslings, coot chicks, and a rat, the full gallery is here. But I said I'd been playing with picture composition and macro settings.
I have no idea what flower this is (I'm not a flower person), I just liked the colour. I took one pic, then noticed the strand of web and took a second pic with the flower more to one side so the web would cut across the trees and the lake in the background.
A dandelion clock seemed a good subject to test the camera's macro focus; it ought to present a lot of detail. Which it did, but a gray puffy ball against a grassy background didn't make for a very interesting photo. Then I thought of silhouetting it against the sky. Since I couldn't fit both my head and the camera underneath the subject this was a case of point-click-hope-repeat. This one caught just enough background to heighten the sweeping perspective without being intrusive.
As with the first pic, setting the main subject to one side allows enough unbroken space for the background to have its own identity, while the focus ensures that it doesn't become distracting. The only problem is that it was taken from an uncomfortable crouching position; if I'd actually lain down in the dirt I could have given more attention to the viewscreen and I'd've made sure the horizon was level.
Still, I've started actually thinking about my photos, and I'm quite pleased with some of the results. Critiques welcome.