Photo101:Triumph & Contrast.

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OK, yes I know I’m late posting this final assignment to the course, but at the end of last week life seriously got in the way!

Regular Blogonaughts will know of my friend G and his battle with leukaemia. Things have been a bit up and down for him of late, but his mental therapy and release from the cancer treatment has been riding motorbikes. Until last week, when the poor chap was knocked off his bike by a crazy pedestrian.

The lady in question, in her 60’s and lets just say rather large (no lets just say fat!), ran across the road without looking and collided side-on with G and his motorbike. Fortunately G was only travelling at about 10mph and even better was being followed by a Police car whose occupants saw the whole thing happen. Even so he ended up with a broken wrist and bruises all over. G’s pride and joy, his Triumph Bonneville Scrambler, was written off!

Worst of all, he can’t ride for six weeks until his wrist knits back together!

So in tribute to my mate, for whom life just seems to throw even more crap at, here’s a picture of him on his Triumph in happier times. As always, thinking of you mate!

G's Triumph.

G’s Triumph.


Oh yes, the pedestrian? Well, her ample rolls of lard protected her from serious injury, she needs to be grateful that G was not on a bigger bike or a car!

On the assignment front I couldn’t resist playing with monochrome again.

This is a small carving that can be found on the beach at Tintagel on the North Cornwall coast. The lady’s hand gives scale and also adds a stark degree of contrast to the slate rock, especially in black and white. I hope you like it.

Magical contrasts.

Magical contrasts.

Catch you all soon.

Dookes

Photo101: Double & Rotation

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OK, I confess I’ve really stretched the interpretation of todays assignment!

To be honest I was lost for inspiration, maybe it was the dead dull, boring, double yellow lines of our course leader’s example that did it for me.

Or perhaps it was the scenery that I was today again surrounded by on the beautiful North Cornwall coast that shut out trivial things of “doubleness!”

As a result dear Blogonaught, I am forcing upon you a slightly obtuse approach; my “Double” is two shots of the same scene but in different formats, which sort of gives a nod to the “Rotation” requirements!

Why give you two of the same?

Well, I just feel that the view is so stunningly beautiful that I wanted to share it with you, twice. After all I was the lucky one perched up on the cliff enjoying it today!P1050635P1050637
Just so I’m not accused of cheating too much, here’s another shot that qualifies as a double, but I think it would look silly if I rotated it!

Two Gulls = Double Trouble!

Two Gulls = Double Trouble!

I hope you like the shots, please let me know what you think of them.

Catch you soon.

Dookes

Photo101: Edge & Alignment.

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Assignment for today: “Show us an edge – a straight line, a narrow ridge, a precipice.”

Over breakfast I pondered what approach this task needed, this could be another tricky one!

Fortunately the day was shaping up well, with lots of sunshine and even better I was planning to spend most of it on my beloved North Cornwall Coast. An idea began to form in my mind, but as so often happens something else came along and it just sort of seemed better.

So here is my interpretation of edge and alignment.

Barras Nose, where Cornwall meets the Atlantic Ocean.

Barras Nose, where Cornwall meets the Atlantic Ocean.


There’s quite a lot going on in the picture and more than one “Edge.”

Firstly there’s the edge where the land meets the sea; it’s the edge of the ocean and also the edge of the land. Next we have the edge of the cliff and finally the horizon where the sea meets the sky, or in the old times it was the edge of the world!

As you can see, it was really tough spending time in such a spot. . . only joking, it was wonderful!

I hope you like the photograph and as ever I’d love to hear from you with your thoughts.

Catch you soon.

Dookes

Photo101: Glass, Squared.

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I had such big ideas for today’s assignment, but all I needed was one vital missing ingredient – sunshine!

I spent some time in my workshop trying out some ideas with motorbike headlamps, but no I didn’t like the end results. Frustration was beginning to set in.

Early this afternoon though, I noticed that the sky was brightening and one or two brief breaks in the cloud cover were appearing. As the sun began to stream obliquely through our dining room window, I realised that this was going to have to be a quickly grabbed opportunity.

There were precious few props to hand, but a nice bottle of Monbazillac placed on the window sill created a lovely effect as the sun shone through the golden wine.

Sunshine and amber Monbazillac create golden rays.

Sunshine and amber Monbazillac create golden rays.

I literally had time for half a dozen shots, before the sun disappeared into the clouds again.

The light remained bright, but not sunny, so I had a little play with a crystal decanter and highlighted it with some artificial light. I must say I’m quite pleased with the end result. P1050544I really like the refraction effect in the square cuts.

Yes, I’m pleased with that and I hope you like it!

Dookes

Photo101: Treasure & Close Up

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I liked the way our assignment was put across today, because I’m definitely one of those people for whom “treasure” is not about material value, for me it’s all about the emotional attachment.

When my late father died he had two wrist watches; one was an Omega and it was quickly claimed by my materialistic young sister, not I suspect for any emotional attachment but purely for what the thing was worth! The other old valueless watch suited me fine, it doesn’t work any more, but it’s the watch that I can remember Dad wearing when I was very young and without the encumbrance of that annoying younger sibling!! Now here’s a funny thing, I couldn’t find that old watch today! You know that feeling? It’s somewhere safe, but for the life of me I can’t remember where!

In that case I turned to another piece of treasure and in a way its something much more suited to Photo101, again the link is with my late father, but this time it’s his old camera.

This is an Ensign and Ross Selfix 820 Special dating from 1953.

Ensign and Ross Selfix 820 Special.

Ensign and Ross Selfix 820 Special.


For the technical, it takes 120 roll film has a f3.8 10.5mm Ross Xpres lens which will stop down to f22. Shutter speeds range from one second up to 1/250th second. It has a part leather-covered body and leather bellows.

To my knowledge Dad only ever shot back and white film through this camera. As a result I thought that a couple of monochrome close-ups were appropriate!P1050529image
On the open market, I don’t think that this camera is worth very much, but to me it’s priceless.

I believe that Dad bought it new, no one else has ever used it and at least whilst I’m alive no-one else ever will, it’s too emotionally precious for me to see that happen.

I hope you understand.

Catch you soon.

Dookes

Photo101: Landscape & Cropping

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Hello Blogonaughts!

For today’s challenge/assignment for the Photo101 course I thought that I couldn’t be happier, but then I got thinking, again.

OK, the self-imposed rule is that I’m taking new photos for the course. That rules out a whole bunch of mountain views from around the world, just gotta get out on a bike and take some fresh pictures!

Now many of you people will have seen my photos from around the area where I live, Bodmin Moor in Cornwall UK. Living in such a lovely place I have to admit that I am more than a little spoilt for views to point my camera at and often I tend to return to favourite places. So today just as a treat to myself I went of to a small corner on the extreme Eastern edge of the Moor, somewhere I haven’t visited for a few years, even though it is only about four miles from Dookes H.Q. as the crow flies.

I hope you like what I managed to get. I couldn’t resist a bit of cropping on one shot and turning it monochrome. . . it just seemed to cry out for that treatment!

Kilmer Tor, imposing and forbidding.

Kilmar Tor, imposing and forbiding.


Hawks Tor, wild hard country.

Hawks Tor, wild hard country.


Hawks Tor monochrome.

Hawks Tor monochrome.


Kit Hill and the Lynher Vale.

Kit Hill and the Lynher Vale.


A Harley in the spring landscape.

A Harley in the spring landscape.

I had a lovely morning grabbing these shots, even better was riding my fine Harley friend along the way!

Catch you soon.

Dookes

Photo101: Scale and Observation.

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Hello everyone.
Today’s assignment nearly beat me. Not because I couldn’t find anything to shoot; no I couldn’t find an end result that I liked! Am I getting too picky?

I tried little model motorbikes perched on the fender of one of my Harleys. Ants climbing over pebbles. Golf balls, tennis balls, rugby balls. I couldn’t stand any of them.

Time to get out on two wheels and find some inspiration!

A gentle trundle around the Northern edge of Bodmin Moor took me to the old air-base at Davidstow. I’ve blogged about this place in the past, it’s one of my favourite locations to go for a bit of fresh air and thinking space.

Thinking space on a Harley.

Thinking space on a Harley.

I can palpably feel history in the air here, but apart from the ghosts of the past and the odd walker the only other inhabitants are the sheep. . . and that’s when I got an idea!

Looking West I could see there were some sheep enjoying the last of the evening sunshine and they were nicely silhouetted on a small hummock.

Spot the sheep!

Spot the sheep!


I hope that this shot gives some idea of the wide open space that is Davidstow and puts a form of scale to the view!

Catch you soon.

Dookes

Photo101: Moment & Motion.

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It’s been a busy day in my world and I didn’t get as much time to chase the shots I wanted for this assignment.

My initial thoughts were based around water cascading over a coastal waterfall on the North Cornwall coast. Simple really; set up camera on tripod, take long exposure and bingo nice blurred water in motion shot. . . er well, not quite! Guess who not only forgot the tripod, but also only took a compact camera that wouldn’t go below 1/30th of a second shutter speed, Doh!

Actually, I got a couple of reasonable shots, but nowhere near what I had in mind.

Tumbling Water in Motion.

Tumbling Water in Motion.

Rushing by in Closeup

Rushing by in Closeup


On returning to Dookes H.Q. later in the day, I picked up a tripod, my trusty Nikon D80 and headed out to grab the fading evening light. I had an idea.

Cornwall is a pretty breezy part of the world, we get buffeted by the North Atlantic winds for most of the year and in recent times we have seen a sharp rise in the number of wind farms and turbines being built. These structures have the ability to sharply divide opinion amongst many people. For the record, I like them. I like the engineering, the look of them and can spend hours being almost hypnotised by their regal action.

So let’s have a play with the camera!
This is what I call a “normal” shot.

ISO160, 75mm lens, f11, 1/80th Sec. exposure.

ISO160, 75mm lens, f11, 1/80th Sec. exposure.


Now lets put some “motion” into the shot!
ISO160, 75mm lens, f34, 1/5th Sec. exposure.

ISO160, 75mm lens, f34, 1/5th Sec. exposure.


As the light began to slip away, I couldn’t resist a more ‘arty’ shot from a different angle, but still with movement in the moment.
ISO100, 18mm lens, f22, 1/8th Sec. exposure.

ISO100, 18mm lens, f22, 1/8th Sec. exposure.

I’ve got to say, I enjoyed grabbing these photographs and I hope you like them too.

Catch you soon.

Dookes

Just for the record, no photo-shopping here, it was all done with the camera!

Photo101: Architecture & Monochrome

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I didn’t have to look very far to find inspiration for today’s assignment.

Sitting high up in a remote and wild corner of Bodmin Moor lies the World Heritage Site of Caradon Mining District; it’s only about fifteen miles away from Dookes H.Q..

The granite massif of Caradon Hill rises above the surrounding moorland and its slopes are strewn with the noble remains of a once mighty industry. In the 1840’s this area became of the greatest copper producing regions in the world, but within 50 years the boom time had passed and the mines fell into terminal decline.

Today the evidence of those golden years can still be found in the landscape, tips of waste rock and long disused tramways have now become as much part of the Cornish landscape as the ancient moors themselves. The industrial architecture and archeology is now treasured as part of a distinct Cornish identity.

I love walking amongst these ruins, interpreting their original purposes and just simply admiring their simple yet regal architecture; these were buildings built to do a serious job. They also make great subjects for photography, particularly in monochrome!

This is the engine house for the Houseman’s Shaft at South Wheal Phoenix Mine. In it’s day this mine produced nearly a quarter of a million tons of copper ore.

South Caradon Mine

South Wheal Phoenix Mine

Through the arch window, South Wheal Phoenix Mine.

Through the arch window, South Wheal Phoenix Mine.


About a quarter of a mile to the North East stands the ruins of Phoenix United mine. This mine had a charmed existence because by 1864 its copper reserves had all but run out, it had already produced about 200,000 tons, but then large tin deposits were discovered beneath the copper lode and the mine switched to tin production!
Phoenix United Mine

Phoenix United Mine


From 1865 to 1897 the mine was producing around 30,000 tones of tin per year. This engine house was one of the last constructed in Cornwall, in 1907. It was hoped that by sinking the shaft to a depth of 1200 feet that further reserves would be found, but sadly it proved fruitless and by the beginning of 1914 the mine had closed.

I hope you enjoy these photo’s as much as I did taking them.

If you ever visit the area please stick to the paths and don’t climb over fences, there are some very deep uncovered old mine-shafts out there!

Catch you soon,

Dookes

Photo101: Pop & Colour

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I had a long think about how to approach today’s assignment and three things came to mind:

1. Follow my self-imposed rule of only taking fresh shots for Photo 101.
2. I really only wanted to use natural colours.
3. No doors!

Of I set into the great outdoors to see what I could find.

It’s an interesting thing with nature in this part of the Northern Hemisphere, just about all of the early spring flowers are yellow. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, in fact may of them are amongst my favourites, it’s just that it gets a tad predictable! So there I was wandering around with camera at the ready taking goodness knows how many shots of daffodils and primroses; the trouble was nothing had really grabbed my imagination.

Then, walking along one of the hedges at Dookes H.Q. something caught my eye, something vivid blue and beautiful in the dark under canopy of the hedge. It was a single flower of Blue Periwinkle, Vinca major, normally a native of the Western Mediterranean, but a plant that does well in Cornwall’s mild temperate climate. This little fellow had certainly stuck it’s head up a bit early, but I was very pleased to find a bit of variety in the dense hedge.

Ideally I would have set up my tripod to take macro shots, but running out of light and time I had to make do with hand-held and using a lens that was far from ideal; I think I just about got away with it! The little flower is only about ¾ of an inch, 18mm, across it’s diameter, the photo is a pretty cruel enlargement!

Vinca major, blue periwinkle.

Vinca major, blue periwinkle.


I hope that this pops enough colour, I like the way it stood out against the gloom of the hedge floor and it certainly made me feel happy finding it anyway!

Dookes

. . . and it’s not a door!