Sony Alpha

This old barn in Naillat belongs to a friend, and is unusual insofar as it is built above, and incorporates, an outcrop of granite. Quite why it was built in this rather peculiar manner is a mystery, but it is still in use after countless years ! Taken with a new toy, a little secondhand Sony DSLR, and converted to monochrome using Silver Efex, which I have finally got working in Gimp. I don't think SE is that different to G'mic, but it certainly has a more user friendly interface! Sony Alpha 100, 18-55mm Sony lens. Photofinished in Gimp using Silver Efex.

Another member of our tribe of cats! The daughter of a neighbours cat, she was born in the back of our workshop, and decided to stay with us. Obvious how she got her name! More play with the Nik Collection of Photoshop plugins running in Gimp, this time DFine, a quite sophisticated tool to control noise in digital pics. Still very much on the steep part of the learning curve with this !! Sony Alpha 100, 18-55mm Sony lens. Photofinished in Gimp.

One of the prettiest signs of Spring !! Sony Alpha A100, Sony 18-55 SAM lens. Photofinished in Gimp

Hope springs eternal ! Sony Alpha A100, Minolta 35-70mm zoom lens, x1 dioptre close up lens. Photofinished in Gimp

The flowers of the Quince tree (Cydonia oblonga) are very short lived, but very pretty for a few days! We have one in our garden which produces a lot of fruit, but apart from making a conserve, there isn't much you can do with it ! I think in Alsace it is distilled to make a "liqueur de coing", and I have heard of quince cheese in Spain, but I've tried neither ! Sony A100, Minolta 35-70mm lens, plus x1 dioptre close-up lens. Photofinished in Picasa

Waiting to be moved to the paintshop, this ex-Great Western Railway goods wagon has been given new bogies, buffers, and corridor connections, and now looks something like the original vehicle, or it will, when it has been painted! Seen in the goods yard of the imaginary English town of Newton Saint Aldwyn, my 1/76th scale model railway which I am slowly converting to radio control operation. I will probably never finish it, but it's fun trying to adapt new technology - keeps the "little grey cells" from dying too soon !! Sony Alpha A100, Sony 18-55mm SAM lens. Photofinished in Gimp

Another view of part of my 1/76 scale model railway, this building is actually a scenic cover for a three track traverser, which allows short rakes of wagons to be stored in hidden sidings beneath the roadways. Scratch-built from a mixture of cardboard and MDF, it is covered with brick papers downloaded from the internet. It's not quite finished, and although this isn't high quality architectural modelling, hopefully it serves to convey some of the grimness of post-war industrial Britain! Sony Alpha A100, Sony 18-55mm SAM lens. Photofinished in Gimp