Summer

Nikon D2Xs + AF Zoom-Nikkor 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6D IF lens.

Photographed with a Nikon D50 and a Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6 G lens.

Photographed with a Nikon D50 and a Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6 G lens.

Fuji S3 Pro + Nikkor 18-70 mm f/3.5-4.5 lens.

Nikon D2Xs and Tokina SD 50-135mm f/2.8 DX AT-X Pro lens.

I used a Nikon D50 with an AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 set at maximum aperture. ISO was 1600, meaning a pretty fast shutter: 1/4000th. The D50 has a CCD sensor and does an amazing job rendering JPEG files. Very little work is necessary in post processing. This camera is a pleasure to use and a secondhand bargain.

Photographed with a Kiron 70-210mm f/4 Macro Zoom on a Nikon D50.

Nikon D50 and 55mm Micro-Nikkor f/3.5 AI lens.

A picture of some pretty daisies to brighten up the dark dank days as we approach the winter solstice. Photographed with a Chinon 55mm f/1.4 lens on a Canon EOS digital camera.

Nikon D50 + AF Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6G lens at 145mm. A bit of tweaking in Lightroom.

Nikon D2Xs with an AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G lens.

First there was the Stone Age. Then there was the Ice Cream Age. A selective enlargement from a much bigger picture. I had only a 35mm f/1.8 lens mounted on a Nikon D50 that day. 400 ISO, 1/250th, f/8.

Periodically I return to this photograph, attempting to improve it. The subject agreed to be photographed and I wish I had made a better job of it. It was only ever a jpeg and RAW would have provided more to work with, but I had no appreciation of its benefits at that time. With the sea behind her I ought not to have relied on the camera's metering; at the very least I should have bracketed exposures. Nevertheless, there is some charm in the portrait even if I say so myself. I have improved it a bit in Lightroom, I think.

'Summer Poem' by Heather Holden. Note the absence of punctuation. Adrian Henri met Heather Holden, who was raised in Haslingden in the Rossendale valley of Lancashire, in 1964. He was a lecturer for foundation course art in Manchester and she was a student on the course who looked beautiful, painted beautifully, and wrote beautifully. Henri was smitten; Heather was flattered. Henri’s ‘Tonight At Noon’ and ‘I Want to Paint’ are directly about Heather Holden. In Adrian Henri’s early poems, Heather Holden was his muse

Canon EOS 30D and Canon EF 35-105mm f/3.5-4.5 lens.

Nikon D2Xs + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens. Aperture-priority; 100 ISO. 1/500th at f/5.