CCC: Start to Finish Day

Today I took part in a very enjoyable 'start to finish day', ably organised by CCC President Sylvie, at her home in Newport.  The aim was to take some photos and process them to final images on site.  Sadly, a lack of portable computing power stopped me from doing this exactly, but I am keeping to the spirit of the event by bloging about it on the same day.

The weather was not kind, with a wet morning and overcast afternoon.  Luckily, Sylvie has access to some superb old glasshouses.  So, after a mild soaking exploring the gardens, I spent much of the day inside these.  One of the aims of the day was to explore more creative techniques.  After trying a couple of different things that weren't working for me, I settled on using my Lensbaby.  I felt that the vaguely dreamy quality that this lens can impart worked well with the old glasshouses.  A slight desaturation of the resultant images also seem to fit the setting.

 

 

London Lumiere Festival

Recently, the Lumiere Festival took place in London.  30 locations across Mayfair, King's Cross, Piccadilly, Regent Street, Trafalgar Square and Westminster featured light installations over 4 nights.  With hindsight, choosing to visit on the Saturday night wasn't the wisest decision.  But, that was the only night I had, and I thought to myself; it'll be busy, but not that bad.  Turns out it got very busy indeed.  Not quite New Year's Eve busy, but not that far off.  I managed to get to Trafalgar and Leicester Squares, but gave up on the other West-end sites, due to the tide of humanity standing in my way.  I got to a (relatively) quieter Westminster Abbey, before heading to King's Cross.  At King's Cross I particularly enjoyed an installation that projected colours onto the crowd.  But not long after that it started to rain and I headed for home. 

 

Barn Owls at Wicken

We finished the outing to Wicken Fen in another hide, staring out at a sea of reeds, hoping for some action.  We spent the time shooting passing visitors as they walked the board-walk.  Eventually our patience was rewarded by two hunting barn owls.  These are my favourite birds and it was a privilege just to watch them, let alone try and get some shots.  The resultant shots were taken at quite high ISO and have all been greatly enlarged, so they won't win any nature awards.  But, for the first outing with the new camera, I am quite pleased.

New Year, New Camera (Same Old Slow Workflow)

Having been thinking about it for a quire some time, after Christmas, I finally bit the bullet and ordered a new Camera.  A Canon 7D Mark II.  Several steps up and on from my old and much loved 40D.  It arrived last Friday, giving me Saturday to RTFM and get to grips with the new button positions, before its first outing last Sunday. 

Said outing was a trip to Wicken Fen that Ann had organised for the CCC and RPS Nature Group.  We met early, hoping to see Hen Harriers.  Sadly, birds are never predictable.  Despite waiting for a couple of hours in a spot they were known to frequent, and where they had been seen 2 days earlier, all we saw were some distant crows and the odd swan.  On the way back to the cafe for a much needed hot cuppa, we stopped to photograph the Konik ponies in lovely warm morning light. The afternoon proved more fruitful.  We first spent some time crammed in a cosy little hide watching various small bird species coming to feeders, before moving on to other things.