Uploads from drizzlecombe, with geodata

And all of a sudden, they were gone (4/365)

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:14:41 -0800

A quick jaunt across the river during my lunchtime found me at the Salmon Street fountain area. I don't know why the city don't just leave them running ... when it's this cold, and ice could easily form today, there was noone there to slip over!

4th January 2011
LX5 1/500th sec @ f/8 and ISO 800. Stopped down 1/3 of a stop

West Down Beacon from Budleigh Salterton Beach

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:35:13 -0700

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

Best viewed large.

Budleigh beach is fascinating. Many wouldn't believe it, but it does have sand -- providing you wait for a very low tide. And the water is usually pleasant enough to actually swim in, as I did during this summer.

What always catches my breath are the colours. They are incredible. Every time I end up here, ever since I was a school boy just around the corner in Exmouth, I have to take a moment to soak up the rich reds, vivid greens, and, if I'm lucky, the pale blue sky. There's something about the Devonian air that brings out the magical hues that are so much part of what they now call the Jurassic Coast.

On a technical note: this picture renders the cliffs about right, and the same for the pebbles. I've noticed that Ektar 100 has a little trouble with red and overdoes them sometimes on very long exposures. My B+W ND filters tend to suck a bit out of the blue end of the spectrum too.

Hasselblad 500C/M 80mm Planar T* 1 minute @ f/16 + 12 stops of ND onto Ektar 100. July 2010

Of many, just this one

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 20:33:26 -0800

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

Icicle seen today at Wahclella. One of those hands-above-the-head-whilst-standing-on-sheet-ice-and-hope-for-the-best kinds of shots!

LX5 1/60th sec @ f/3.3 ISO 1600. Exposure bias -2/3 stop

The icy world of Wahclella Canyon (3/365)

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 17:19:47 -0800

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

Since it is the last day of my winter holidays, and the rest of the family has disappeared back to work, I thought I'd treat myself with a trip to the Gorge.

It was 'knock the breath out of you' windy heading east.

I made stop at Rooster Rock S.P. Really there wasn't much to see there apart from a section of very frozen river. The wind on that exposed sand bank was a bit too much to be comfortable, so I decided to move on pretty sharply.

Next stop - Horsetail falls. This was very, very icy, but fun. Wishing I had instep crampons, I slithered down to the water's edge (well ice's edge) and took a ten minute pinhole exposure. What with my experience over the summer, I suspect that I missed the shot. The swirling gusts of air that are always present at the base of a fall were sending waves of chilly spindrift in a 50' radius from the splashpoint. By the time the exposure had finished, the whole camera was covered literally in an eighth of an inch of ice! That made it a bit difficult closing the shutter. But, I suspect, the water had already closed the pinhole for me ;-)

Next, Wahclella. A very icy canyon, but as it is just ever so slightly warming up, big chunks of ice were richocheting off the cliffs. Quite unnerving. Nevertheless, I made several shots, and one long exposure with my pinhole, as you can see in this picture. The rock upon which the tripod stands was coated in ice. Very treacherous indeed!

January 3rd, 2010
LX5 1/30th sec @f/5.6 ISO 800. A.P. -1/3 stop adjustment.

It's what's for dinner (2/365)

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 19:12:37 -0800

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

Pasties! If you're any nationality other than a Briton, then no, they're not the sort you're thinking of! They're traditional, individual meat pies from the south-west of England, where I come from, whose main ingredients you see above (other than the pastry, of course.) Tis a shame you can't smell them baking right now!

January 2nd, 2011.

Lumix LX5, 5/16th sec @ f/8, ISO400, diffuser disc to tame the harsh shadows from our kitchen spotlights

The faithful old and the soon forgotten new (1/365)

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 17:20:29 -0800

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

Trolling around the Pearl District, I spotted this small accountrement of last night's reverie jambed into the grill of an old truck. Ironic how such a piece of frippery, whose lifespan is barely a few hours, ended up melded with something so enduring.

January 1st, 2011.

LX5, 1/400 sec @ f/3.3. ISO 400

Ending 2010 on a high note

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 22:17:18 -0800

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

For me, 2010 was one of those years that gets a C+ or perhaps a B-. There were memorable moments, for sure. But, in my book, it wasn't outstanding.

2011, on the other hand, will be; not only can I feel it in my bones, but I'm going to afford the effort to make it so.

Reflecting back one year ago, I declared that I would, on average, shoot one roll of film for every week during 2010. I haven't counted, but I'm not altogether convinced I quite achieved that one. Life got in the way quite a bit. This artificial number isn't particularly important anyway; I've captured some pictures that I really like and am proud of this year (to the extent of framing one and putting it on the wall for all to see.)

Although goals are somewhat artificial, I believe that they still should be set. I'm still thinking about what I shall strive for photographically in 2011. I know, for sure, that I will continue to concentrate on my pinhole and square medium format stuff. I really enjoy those media, and will continue to explore them further by extending and refining some ongoing projects. I've been fiddling around with a silly little compact camera recently, and have been enjoying that too. I'm quite inclined to use the latter for capturing a shot for every day of the year. We'll see, but I guarantee you, there will be more, and, I'm hoping, better output from yours truely in 2011.

I wish you all, especially my photographic friends out there, a very happy, peaceful, and productive 2011.

Panasonic Lumix LX5. f/6.3 @ 1/1300 sec, ISO 400 (underexposed 1/3rd stop.) Simple B&W conversion in Photoshop, and a custom yellow filter applied to darken the sky.

Smugglers Cove, Oregon

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 19:34:42 -0700

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

A family trip to the beach one day in September. This is an amazing spot. The way the cove wraps around is fun, and makes for a relatively sheltered beach. But I come back during the week, and in Winter when there are few surfers and some lovely stormy weather. I think this would be just the place to behold a nice, onshore gale!

Hasselblad 50mm. September 2010

Bike and graffiti

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 21:58:19 -0700

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

A shot from yesteryear. June 2008, in fact. I've been meaning to post it for, err, two years. Better late than never, I suppose. Somewhere deep in Southeast Central Industrial. I can remember liking the graffiti and it's juxtaposition relative to the bike.

Leica M6 50mm onto Ilford HP5 400. June 2008

It still wobbles quite a bit

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 10:41:35 -0700

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

I'm having a pick through my archive at the moment, looking for lost gems. There's plenty in there, and I'm sure I'll scan most of them this winter.

Anyhow, I stumbled across this image from one of my many stomps across the Millenium bridge. This one appeals to me because of its imperfection. I rather like that the bridge has injected some of its character by introducing some wobble into the picture.

Oh, for those of you that don't know, this bridge, when first installed, was induced into resonance by the motion of folks walking across it. The designers hadn't anticipated folks walking in lockstep. The more the bridge responded, the more they walked in lockstep (+ve feedback is bad) It was open for just a couple of days, then the authoritys closed it for a couple of years trying to find a way to damp out the oscillations, and that took nearly two years.

Pinhole, 10 sec @ f/250 onto Fuji Reala. A stormy day in July 2009

Oceanside Beach revisited

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 20:49:43 -0700

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

If you haven't been here, you should. Not only do you have to walk through that cliff over there to get to this part of the beach, but you get to hear the amazing sound of the waves rolling those large pebbles around. The sound is just like the stones grinding together in a wind-powered mill (you'll know what I mean if you've been in one), but has a decidedly chaotic element to it. And the view, all around, is fantastic!

Hasselblad 500C/M Planar 80mm, 1/60th @ f/16 hyperfocussed and handheld onto Ilford 100 Delta Pro. Late August or very early September 2010.

The many moods of Salmon Street Fountain

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:09:58 -0700

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

I think I'm lucky and captured at least three of the main patterns that this fountain is capable of -- not that you'd know it with this long exposure. The main hubble-bubble mode seems to swamp some of the more subtle activity that happens near the middle.

This was taken late on a Sunday night in August. Every time I photograph at this location, and it nearly always is on a Sunday evening, there's the aftermath of a Russian wedding going on down there. I don't know if I'm lucky, but statistician in me tells me that this cannot be chance! Anyway, on this occasion, the bride and groom, plus half of their entourage, wandered through the frame on several occasions. As usual for this time of night, my pinhole camera decided to ignore any curious souls and those blissfully unaware alike.

Pinhole 30 mins @ f/250 onto Ektar 100. August 2010

The ghouls of Los Gorditos

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 21:17:16 -0700

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

I'm having a much happier scanning night tonight. Going about the deed earlier in the evening definitely helps, and having a clear mind does too. Phew!

Anyway, here's another image in my Ghosts series. It's pretty clear that the phantoms I pursue happen to be hungry souls, and are oftentimes found gorging themselves hither and thither. No exception in this case: I think they were tucking away garbage burritos (yep, that's what they're called on the menu!)

Pinhole, 2 minutes @ f/250 onto Ektar 100. August 2010

Ghosts visiting Multnomah Falls

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 23:44:51 -0700

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

I'm not sure I'm in love with this scan, even though it's taken me a couple of hours of constant experimentation with Vuescan.

I'm struggling to get my scanner producing the right colours, and the whole process is just driving me a bit scatty. Perhaps I shouldn't do this late in the evening when it's sure to irk me, and just make me curse analogue to digital conversion even more.

Oh well, time to quit whinging, and go to bed. Tomorrow is another day, and perhaps I'll regard my work more favourably on the morrow!

Pinhole 4 mins @ f/250 onto Ektar 100

The mighty Humber bridge

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:35:19 -0700

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

A view from Barton upon Humber. I've run out of Portland bridge shots to put up, so I had to fall back to some historical shots taken in Blighty. Actually, I'm lying -- I still have plenty of shots from down the Willamette, but the envelope containing this shot slid out of my cupboard when I was trying to find another image. So, what the heck, this one made it to Flickr instead ;-)

I really like how what once was the longest suspension bridge in the world gets all twisted up by my puny little pinhole camera. See if your high-tech, all-bells-and-whistles, upteen megapixel digital SLR can do that!

Pinhole 10 sec @f/250 onto Portra 160VC. July 2009

That's enough for anyone, embodied or not, for one day

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 22:46:48 -0700

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

I'd prefer not to finish a day crabby, but that's definitely how I'm feeling right now. I just can't get my Epson V600 scanner tuned right using VueScan or any other software for that matter. If only window glass and scanners were cheap to replace!

My problem revolves around calibrating the software to recognise the colour of the base film material. I go through the process of previewing, selecting a gap between frames, previewing again, setting the exposure, previewing again, and then locking in the base colour. All to no avail. What I get is a very blue scan.

Oh, and the histograms within VueScan seem hopeless too: for one thing it is almost impossible to move the white point. Selecting the little triangle causes it to disappear without trace. Even when it's visible, it refuses to shift to the right beyond a certain point.. And this is with the latest version released yesterday. Double Grrr! Don't even mention the Epson software -- that's completely a non-starter.

Anyway, enough whinging. This shot is taken alongside Brighton pier around noon on a very sunny summer day. The Londoners had just started pouring in and frightening the ghosts off. It's remarkable how many people come down to the beach to be tiresome, unhappy, or both! I'm a little more resilient than our ghoulish friends, and took this shot of them fleeing.

Pinhole 10 sec @ f/250 onto Ektar 100. July 2010

It's good to be different

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:30:33 -0700

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

Before I forget about this series completely, I thought I'd better pop up another shot of a tree standing within a sea of trees. This time a gnarly old birch on the edge of a fir forest in Horsell Common.

Whereas many of their kin fall foul to a combination of strong wind, shallow roots, dry rot, and skylarking youths, there are a few of these old birches on the common which make it to a grand old age. I love the character that develops in their bark; what's left of it!

Hasselblad 500c/m 80mm Planar T* 4 sec @ f/2.8 onto Ektar 100. July 2010, twilight.

Water wraiths

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 20:50:28 -0700

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

Summer's always hectic for us, and this year has been no exception. We've been pretty busy for the last few weeks, and I haven't had many opportunities to go out and expose a roll of film. Today, life eased up, and my wife and I headed out to the coast. Our aim was to have a peek in at Oceanside, Oregon, and my goal was to get busy with my Hasselblad.

Did you know that Oceanside has a 'secret' beach? There's a tunnel, half natural, half man-made, that burrows through the cliffs to the north of the main sandy beach. Beyond is a different world. There are gorgeous rocky pinnacles out to sea, and blue-black pebbles where a 'normal' beach would have sand. The sound of the waves rolling these around in the surfline is entrancing.

I did expose a couple of rolls of film (of course) and look forward to what they yield. The whole action of pointing my camera at the sea got me thinking about the odd trip or two to the coast we've had this year. Then I remembered I had this film.

This shot was taken pretty much next to the Peter Iredale up at Fort Stevens. At the end of last year, my wife had given me an Argus rangefinder (found in a junk store) and this occasion was my first chance to use it. I ran a roll of Ektar through it split between this location and Cannon Beach. I'd not done anything with this film but browsed the prints a couple of times. Of all the usual shots -- Haystack Rock reflections, Peter Iredale in various poses -- this one made me smile the most. An unintentional double-exposure, but so much fun!

Argus Brick. 1/15th sec @ f/8 twice onto Ektar 100 (35mm!) January 2010

Before the big one

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 20:18:17 -0700

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

Brighton West pier. My pinhole camera was sitting on a large pebble for this shot. For the next exposure I placed my trusty Zero 2000 slightly further towards the pier between some of the pebbles that you can see in the middle ground.

I should have known it would happen. A larger than expected wave surprised me by soaking my shoes and washed over the top of the camera. Now, in my experience, a little immersion is usually okay, and a wipe with a hankerchief fixes everything up good and proper. And sure enough, I got a good fish's eye view of a scene similar to this one.

However, the subsequent 11 films did not expose correctly as a verdigris crystal decided to form across the camera's pinhole! Live and learn.

Pinhole 10 sec @ f/250 onto Ektar 100. Brighton, July 2010.
Blown highlights: free to a good home.

Menhir at Merrivale

nobody@flickr.com (drizzlecombe) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:44:16 -0700

drizzlecombe posted a photo:

I love heading onto Dartmoor late on a Sunday. Everyone's gone home for their tea, and the moor is mine all to myself. It's not often I end up on the western slope, but when I do, I oftentimes pop up to Merrivale to peruse the artifacts. What a wonderful place to amble around and while away the time imagining what the original residents were doing on this spot.

Simple ground level shot looking towards the Merrivale ring (which you can just see) and Great Mis Tor. At ground level it was very still, and those fragmented high clouds were barely moving. Strangely, between the two, the lower clouds were busily hurrying in from the south-west.

Hasselblad 500c/m with 2.8/80 Planar T*. 2 seconds @ f/16 onto expired Fuji Neopan 400. July 2010