Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Good WoW at Strelley - Strong 13mph Westerly - 57F

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This collage is made of 2 of John's photographs from Dune de Pilat and John describes the lower picture as the biggest sand-dune in Europe. 103 metres high !

I love the simplicity of the upper image and John seems to have an excellent 'eye' for a picture. Particularly water !

Keep the pictures coming John - it's great to hear from you, and to see the snaps of what you are doing is the icing on the cake.

My day, following yesterday's action-packed Tuesday. has been comparitively quiet but none-the-less enjoyable.

When we met up at Reg's for WoW, there was much discussion as to venue. In the end, Strelley was chosen, which is just round the corner. I wanted to do some wildflowers and the last thing one wants is a 13mph wind rattling all the subjects about. However, I got some results and decided on a collage in an effort to disguise the errors a little.

There were 9 attendees but, due to his troublesome leg, Roger decided to come round with me rather than tackle the walk with 'the chaps'. The 'collage' is on the left.

Helen has just e-mailed me with some information on Courses for Wildflower identification.

I know there's a wealth of information on-line and in books but they don't seem to work for me. I need someone to point at a plant and say "This is Herb Robert" and then let me take a photograph of it.

There are courses available and I would guess one needs to go at different times of the year because of the transient nature of the subject matter.

Our bridle path route took us over the M1 via a narrow bridge and we both decided to snap some motorway traffic with an attempt at speed-blur.

I don't know how Roger fared but my best effort is on the right.

The trick is to achieve a long exposure time, with a tiny aperture (f22 in this case) preferably with a tripod, which I didn't have with me needless to say. I did my best with the camera braced against one of the stanchions of the Motorway bridge super-structure.

I don't know what you think but it seems to me that the 'blurr' is more pronounced on traffic which is going away from us than it is with traffic approaching !

There is probably a technical reason and perhaps one of more expert members can enlighten us ?

Y is at Burton Joyce tomorrow and I have a more-or-less free day. But I have lots of jobs that will fill it.

My responses to your previously crafted comments

Bob .... Epson ARE good. Brian recommended the model I have and it is still going strong. I forgive it the occasional glitch because the results please me so much. John once visited and, seeing some A4 pictures, said in his inimitable manner "Did you print those Father?". But I am afraid I don't really like printing - mainly because of the faff involved in cutting mounts (incidentally Brian will cut those for you too if you ask him) so I have a tendency to stick to projected images.

Your 'game-dealer' Stuart Rose, seems a very affable and knowledgeable chap. Apparently it was 'on the cards' some years ago that the National Trust would buy Laxton. Certainly some method of preserving it should be devised. It is a living museum and so important to the study of Agricultural History.

Now. Come on ! Everybody knows you drink Rimbaud, not eat it. A glass of a good mature 'Rimbaud de pays' is crisp on the palate and excellent with chips.

Jill ..... Re the Great Tit chicks. Miles says he has counted 6 and he is a pretty reliable source. We can only hope they fare better this year. Although, when calamity struck last year, all the children were very matter-of-fact about it.

I loved the wren story. The are very noisy little birds aren't they ? One wonders how so much sound emanates from such a tiny body. Please keep us informed.

Steel bands have such a mellow sound, and one can understand the relationship with mellow yellow. I tried to find a YouTube steel band that was just right, to link you to. But I failed.

Re your blue-ey tinge in your pictures. You can remedy a lot in Picasa, which I am sure we persuaded you to download. If you have it, we will talk you through the necessary in the near future.

Thanks for asking about my 'blood' and I am delighted to be able to tell you that the level is just about perfect. It is 3.1 and I don't need it tested again for a fortnight. If it is 3-ish then, they will probably risk leaving me for a month.

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Quotation time .......

"When rage and hot blood are his counsellors"

King Henry 1vth Part 2

I've not felt like that for 3 decades. Midly 'miffed' is about my extreme.



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6 comments:

jbw said...

Re you blur comment. It could be that the traffic going away is traveling downhill and accelerating while the traffic coming towards is coming uphill so is likely to be traveling a little slower as it reaches the top of quite a long stiff climb up from the Erewash valley.

Bob said...

John’s top picture is very attractive.

That’s what people say to me! Surely, to you, they will say "This is Herb, Graham"?

Jbw’s solution to ‘traffic-blur’ sounds reasonable.

I mostly only print words so quality is not that important too me.
My old Epson was very basic, very economical, and long-lived.

To avoid confusing others (correct me if I’m wrong):
Stuart Rose and his village neighbours farm ‘strips’ at Laxton on the mediaeval 3-field rotation system (organising shoots is a second string…).
I had understood Laxton to be part of the ducal estate (now Crown Estate) with all property leasehold. Revolution excepted, wouldn't that appear to offer future security.? Have I got it ravelled?

Rimbaud avec chips? Et les pois tres petits, Monsieur?

I can still succumb to ‘rage and hot blood’ (frequently followed by a cold and lasting desire for vengeance).

Jill;
I believe Wrens build a remarkably large globular nest with tiny entrance.

Yes, I prefer to be called Bob.

Reg said...

Blur- The differance on your picture is caused by the angular movment. The vehicles travelling north bound are almost coming straight towards you the vehicles going south are moving across your path and moving a greater distance through the frame think about it. They will all be moving at the same speed as, we know locally, there is a 50mph limit on that section at the moment with average speed check cameras. As I hvae often said recently the prorities are correct the speed cameras have been erected before the extra lane is any where near the being finished, in fact I think the cameras were the first thing the be done.

Rob said...

Reg has beaten me to the blur explanation and made a much better job of it than I would have done.

Wasn't Rimbaud portrayed by Sylvester Stallone in the film of the same name?

Why has the Sports Desk suddenly gone quiet? Shame on last night's referee. Bigger shame on Michael Ballack and, especially, Didier Drogba. Role models? Let's hope not. Well done to Utd for an excellent performance, Cristiano Ronaldo for an excellent performance, Arsenal and, especially, Arsene Wenger, for grace in defeat.

I love the top Dune de Pilat picture. It's now almost exactly 5 years since I was there - about time I printed some of the negs.

The wild flower collage is tremendous; well worth printing and framing. In particular I love the butterfly, the dandelion and the bit of fencing.

Helen's recent picture was also excellent - so it'll never win a club competition.

Rob

Unknown said...

No Chelsea supporter is going to have much to say about last night's match - what a total disgrace the referee was ...... certainly two penalties to Chelsea should have been awarded. (But Drogba should be permanently banned from football and I'm sure Guus will do as much as he can in this direction).

Six great tit chicks are still doing well - the mother is obviously a mature bird and treats all her babies equally - no ignoring the 'runt' and letting it starve like last year's mother did!

Miles' 8th birthday and his 'best' present was a digital camera - so watch out, Graham, a rival fast approaching!

Goodbye to bloggers for some days - Debra is packed up ready to move so I guess I won't have access until my return next Tuesday.

Jill said...

Great photos - the top one of the beach looks idyllic.....and I loved all the wild flowers. I have a good flower identification book I have had for years - photographs of flowers at different times of the year, and put in seasons that they usually flower in.

I can usually avoid 'rage and hot blood' as long as I don't watch the news.....mind you tonight's was good, Joanna for PM!

Haven't seen the wrens again, but I have heard them. Gardener was doing something within of about 10 ft. of where I think they nest, and he got shouted out....

Bob, I think wrens build more than one nest, but only use one to lay eggs/bring their babies up in.

I found a dead young mistle thrush on grass this morning, fully fledged, not near a tree, unmarked except for some scattered feathers. If it had been a cat or fox, I would expect that they would have eaten it, or at least there would be some injuries? I thought of a jay or crow, they took from nest and then dropped it?

Anyone any ideas?

My tree peony has just come out, it's beautiful, when the sun comes out again I'll photograph it.