Winter Walks
Winter has its attractions, even if it isn’t all frosty and picturesque by the time we’re up and about. The camera is often the excuse to get up off the couch and out of the house, side benefits being clearing of the head and lungs, stretching of muscle and tendon and general wellbeing. This is true even if the photographs don’t turn out well. Or even if no photographs are taken at all, and the cameras effectively become ballast. Professional, I am not.
Inchcolm Abbey, Fuji X-T5, XF100-400mm
That’s not to say I can’t swan about with a massive zoom lens and look like a professional. I did this on a short run to the Braefoot Bay marine terminal by Aberdour. We walked up to the Monk’s Cave, from where I zoomed in on the Abbey on Inchcolm island in the Forth. At 400mm, the foreshortening brings the distant ski slope much closer and amplifies the haze effect.
Eurasian Curlew
The whole point of having the big lens on is to try to take photos of living things, which, being long time survivors of Man’s 7 million year evolution, know to keep a distance between themselves and a bloke in a bobble hat. I was pleased enough with this, quite possibly my first reasonable wildlife photograph. A combination of the long lens and my new X-T5’s 40MPixel file size gave scope for a crop which I think still renders nicely on screen.
“Nevermore!”
These characters are everywhere, or at least, I hope it’s not the same one following me around. Again, a crop from a zoomed in image which allowed me to cover my composition errors. I forget who it was who said that they never crop, always capturing the intended photograph in the viewfinder. There’s elegence in that idea that I admire but I suspect that not many world-class captures use every pixel that hits the sensor. There’s legitimate art in the post-capture processing and adjustments, I think.
Fuji X-T2, Nikon A-iS 85mm f/1.4
I love the textures everywhere. My wife and I discussed what this image might be called and couldn’t really think of anything we could put on a public website. I’m just going to move along to the grasses at the edge of the tide’s reach along the shore, which offer movement and colour.
Fuji X-T2, Nikon A-iS 85mm f/1.4
I want to call this, “Neapolitan” for the bands of colour, like ice cream.
The Bridges Fuji X-T2, Nikon A-iS 85mm f/1.4
We meandered home past the rising tide today and, looking back towards the bridges, across the sands of Pettycur Bay, felt thankful for all the privilege we enjoy, living close by to these amazing places.