Addendum

It is determinedly lo-fi but as a tighter framing of this double exposure it is more representative of what I had in mind. There is a photograph elsewhere in my stream of this charming lady whom I met by chance for anyone who finds this arty approach a bit frustrating. www.ipernity.com/doc/341635/49733028/in/keyword/4725036/self

Looking back; Oh, way back - So long ago now - I would say Without a moment's hesit Ation That I have been fascinated With bus stops for Oh, a long long time. With buses, Less so.

Reading is the largest settlement in, and the county town of, the Royal County of Berkshire. The confluence of the Kennet and the Thames is in Reading. Reading is the principal regional and commercial centre of the Thames Valley. The population of Reading is 174,200, although the number in the greater urban area which not only comprises the borough but also analogous districts outside the borough boundary is 233,000.

The picture was taken with a Nikon D40 (introduced 2006, CCD sensor). The lens was an elderly Nikkor-H 50mm f/2 from circa 1971. An all-manual experience, like going back in time (except not film).

Nikon D2Xs and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens.

During June, 2017, I visited Lacock Abbey to try out a few old M42 screw-mount lenses on a Canon EOS 40D DSLR. I got some nice pictures of bees and insects feasting on the flowers in the garden, and an especially satisfactory result photographing a lavender bush using a Cosinon 135mm telephoto in the abbey yard - the place where Fox Talbot did his photo of a fellow up a ladder. Later I took a walk around the inside of the big house built on top of the abbey, just to prolong the visit really. And from an upstairs window I observed a party of girls arriving under the supervision of a harrassed-looking teacher-type of woman. They were probably there for the Harry Potter experience in the cloisters, because that was where they were about to enter. I had a Chinon 55mm f/1.4 on the camera and clearly no time to change it, so I shot a few speculative shots of the melee beneath the upstairs window. I might have done better with a longer focal length, but as it turned out one of these pictures included this girl swerving in a right angle to enter the cloisters. She had the perfect expression of a young person in high spirits on a summer outing, bringing back all sorts of buried memories of joy and freedom. She makes a good subject for experimental photography in which I am currently indulging.

A walk in the park.

For about 60 years this was a footpath which provided a shortcut from the town to a housing estate. There was a prohibition order banning cycling on this path and the railings served to emphasise the serious intent. I don't know if there was ever a prosecution; many times I saw cyclists ignoring the ban with impunity. Then recently the railings were removed and the path widened. The prohibition order was revoked and lines were painted on the new tarmac delineating where cyclists should cycle and walkers should walk. It all seemed a bit pointless really. Fujifilm X-E1 & Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 XF R lens set at f/1.4.

Nikon D2Xs with a Nikkor 28mm f/2 AI lens, made circa 1981, and said by Bjørn Rørslett to be excellent for DX, FX, and on film. Rørslett commented that the lens offers outstandingly sharp images and these are produced at all aperture settings from f/2 to f/8. Rørslett found it unusually resistant to flare and ghosting and eminently suitable for shooting directly into the sun.

This is a new edit of a picture previously posted here. I've cropped out some of the foreground to accentuate the young cyclist taking a short cut across the park, and getting a bit bogged down for his pains. The mist was doing a good job of shrouding the trees but I've made it even denser by, inter alia, making the photograph more grainy. That also emphasises the presence of the cyclist a bit more. I must prefer it to the original edit, because I am posting it afresh. Editing is a whole sub-genre of photography, I find, and it has taken on more prominence for me since Covid changed my habits so profoundly. I notice that the focal length of the lens gave a full-frame equivalent field of view of 60mm; and cropping it a bit more simply serves to confirm my preference for shooting moderate telephoto. Nikon D40 + Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 AF DX lens.

Nikon D40 + Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 AF DX lens. The AFS-Nikkor 18-70 mm f/3.5 - 4.5 DX G ED-IF lens was Nikon's first midrange zoom designed for the shorter focal lengths required by digital cameras. It was the kit lens for the Nikon D70 introduced in 2004. According to Bjørn Rørslett, it was an excellent optical performer at a bargain price. Contrast is high, colours are vividly saturated, and image sharpness is simply stunning. (Obviously not in fog, though). 18-70 mm corresponds to 28-105 mm on a full frame camera. What particularly distinguishes this lens is its fast (for a kit lens) speed where the telephoto end provides f/4.5 instead of the more usual f/5.6. It weighs only 14 ounces and when teamed with a Nikon D40 the weight is just two pounds. I used routinely to favour a Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f2.8 on the Nikon D2Xs. It gave good clarity and contrast, but I often found it lacking in the telephoto and I think the 18-70mm, although slower, is a better lens for my purposes.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor AF-S 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 VR lens.

A girl. A smile. A camera. Click. Later: A black-and-white print (No name, no details). Much later: The black-and-white print On eBay. Sold. (No name, no details). The girl - Who knows?

I visited Avebury in August after the heatwave had ended. It was a bright day, but not unbearably hot. As I rounded the Devil's Chair en route to the beech clump by the Marlborough Road junction, I chanced upon this couple and impulsively asked if I could take their picture. I'm still getting used to using the 35mm fixed focal length, and my first shot was too much stone, too little people. The second was better, but not much. This was my third and final photograph; the couple remained good humoured throughout and I hurried off lest my intrusion became boring. I can never assess at the time I make a picture if it is going to be good. So many technical things can be wrong; I sometimes find features which I did not notice in the viewfinder; and with people, their eyes can be closed or I accidentally catch a funny expression. I was glad, therefore, that I cheekily persisted for this third shot. I prefer it in black and white.