Monday 20 February 2012

Out and about with my camera

I've been doing less writing at the computer and a bit more of getting out into the fresh air this week to practise with my new camera.  I took a couple of days off but slept in and missed the morning sunshine - so I'll have to wait for spring before I get more variety to photograph.  I look forward to using my new macro lens on pictures of plants and flowers...

I went to Dorchester to see my niece and her nearly three year old son Jimmy, my great nephew.  The three of us has lunch in a pub, and while waiting to be served I took some pictures of him at the table and in the little play area outside.





I tried my hand with the movie facility on my camera and filmed a brief video for the first time, and as you would expect from a camcorder virgin, I won't be rocking the movie world just yet - however I was so pleased to find that while the camera work was pathetic, the quality of the video was amazing.  This I had not expected, because I thought that cameras with video facilities come a very poor second to camcorders.  

Jimmy is very articulate and likes to chat, and I much look forward to the day when I'm competent enough to "interview" him because I think it'll make him a star.  Oh well, there's great auntie speaking.

He comes out with lovely phrases he's overheard from adults but sometimes isn't quite there with the meanings - example:

Jimmy(cough! cough! cough!)

His Mother:  Jimmy, you must cover your mouth with your hands when you cough.

Jimmy:  Yes Mummy.  Puts his hands over his ears:  cough! cough! cough!

Today John and I went to the lake at Portishead, and he tried to con the gulls, ducks and swans with stale bread as a gourmet meal (they did draw the line at green bread though - I could almost here them saying "Is you 'avin' a larf???" as they spat it back again.)  I took a lot of pictures in my attempt to get the birds catching the bread in flight, or skimming it off the surface of the water, and what a racket they made as they all congregated to lunge for the food.  I need more practice to get my eye in, but here are some of the ones I got.  In some cases they're sections of pictures which needed selective cropping - it's very difficult to get decent pictures of birds on the move.

At different times two children wandered by on the hands of their parents and grandparents, and John gave them some bread to throw to the birds, and showed them how to do it.  It was clearly the first time for both the children, and the look of wonder on their faces was something to behold...

(You can see the bird's legs under water in this one)








I tried cropping out the bird on the right, but decided in the end that compositionally it probably looked more balanced.  This is the only one in this group which shows the bird with a piece of John's bread in its beak.  Click to enlarge.


How on earth do they keep so pristine?

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Photo Finish -
from Lonicera's non-digital archives









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4 comments:

Joyful said...

Your nephew is adorable. I esp. like the photo of him and the tire swing. The rest of your photos look great too!

Lonicera said...

Thanks Penny - he's easy to photograph, I must admit. He's so sunny tempered that you don't have to wait for him to smile.
Caroline

Coral Wild said...

It sounds as if you are having lots of fun with your new camera. The results are great as well!
Your nephew looks like a real honey..

I also love the "old" picture of the peaches - one can almost feel the fuzz.
Sue

Lonicera said...

Thanks Sue - actually I love the peach picture too! This evening I've been asked to take pictures at a wedding in April - not something I normally do - but thanks goodness the couple want natural candids, and someone else is doing the formal posed ones. Hopefully my new camera won't give me a hernia after carrying it about all day... (I can feel a new monopod coming up...)
Caroline

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