On my radar Jan 21

It’s a long time since I’ve written one of these and with lockdown too many experiences are off limits so you’ve really got to work hard to come up with a good list. However that’s just an excuse so here goes.

And the Oscar goes to …

Good old Maslow and his hierarchy of needs reckoned that people are motivated in different ways and once the need for money has been addressed you get into the need for love and acceptance and then esteem whereby you’re respected by your peers. I can recognise that which is why I’ve been really chuffed on the odd occasion that I’ve won some industry or other award. I reckon that I’ve been there four times.

Jul 20: photo of the month

This month was a toss up between another butterfly and a little ego. Naturally the latter won. I last had my haircut 20 Feb 20 and this photo was taken 5 Jul 20 prior to my next haircut 8 Jul 20. I felt that I needed a record for posterity. Obviously I didn’t take this photo; all credit to Juni for framing the shot and then letting the camera take care of the rest.

The photo was taken with my Sony A77 ll with my Tamron 18-270mm lens, f5.6 at 1/200th, ISO320 and a focal length of 100mm. There’s been no post-processing, not even a crop.

Mar 20: photo of the month

This is sort of a signal photo being taken just before Boris J got really tough with his lockdown rules. I went into Cambridge to see what I could get from the market and was delighted to see lots of produce available: fruit, veg, meat, fish, cheese and bread.

This photo was taken with  my Sony Xperia XZ1, 1/160th at f2 and ISO 40 and no zoom (I rarely do). I’ve cropped it, corrected for the light under the awning and added a little ‘texture’ to bring out the detail.

Living with the pandemic

It’s been a funny old week. Last weekend was just about normal and now through the week we’ve had daily briefings from Boris Johnson as he imposes ever tighter controls on public activity so that we as a country can get on top of the COVID-19 virus pandemic.

It’s tough being moderate

Our Saturday morning breakfast table with friends at Don Pasquale in Cambridge doesn’t normally go in for vigorous debate. Generally the talk is of restaurants, football and classic cars but today was different being prompted by Extinction Rebellion (XR) digging up the lawn in front of Trinity College (see the photo).

Sep 19: photo of the month

It seems to have been a month with no recourse to my DSLR so it was a choice between a bunch of phone photos. This one sums up the summer and is typical of many photos I’ve taken. It’s apparently been a very productive summer agriculturally and my crop of tomatoes has been exceptional.

This was taken with my Sony Xperia XZ1, 1/100th sec at f2.0. The original’s been cropped but otherwise there’s been no post processing.

 

Aug 19: photo of the month

Sometimes you get a mobile phone photo just right. And I reckon this is one of those times. It’s Ely cathedral of course taken from the garden of the Almonry.

This was taken with my Sony Xperia XZ1, 1/2000th sec at f2.0. The original’s been cropped and there’s been some post processing to bring out the clouds and to emphasise the contrasts in the cathedral stonework.

Good teeth, bad teeth

I first went to the dentist way back in the early 50s when dental practice was fairly primitive: needles seemed blunt, fillings took an age to cure, loud scary drills driven by string ran hot and even though Xrays would have existed they weren’t in common use. It seemed like the practice of dentistry had barely moved on from the days when being a dentist was an adjunct of a barber’s job.

Oman Oman

It was the middle of December, we’d returned from a week’s break in Oman and it was time to reflect a little. Here’s what I wrote for the group which got together at last year’s writing class and which continues us to meet so that we have an excuse, nay an obligation, to keep writing.