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Saturday Symmetry

Nature works Her art... Low Coul Wood, by Loch Striven.

Taken with the Fudge on 'scenic' mode and stopped back a notch on the exposure.

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"Until justice is blind to colour, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the colour of mens's skins, emancipation will be a proclomation but not a fact."
(L B Jonhnson)

...Sad that there is still a need to be reminded of this...

(The shot is from the archives.)

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Last Thursdays of the month are for the left of field shots.

Usually on Last Thursday the images have been taken through some heavy post processing for purely artistic effect. No need this time!  Out on Loch Striven, I looked back at a ship I was admiring and found this angle. The low light did all the work for me.

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Wings on Wednesday -
YAM's take on the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright hilarious of photographing birds.

There was a lot of the flurrying white stuff around lately.  I looked out the window and spotted this wood pigeon doing it's darnedest to dodge the onslaught!

Taken with the Fudge on manual 800ISO, f/6.2

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Shipping by...

That cold, foggy morning which brought out the tugs and brought in the Genmar George T (last week's shipping post), was rather busy. Here is the Trans Dania; Malta (Valletta); 1989. Pallet Transport; 5200 t; 113m.

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Monday's Critters

Trawled the archives - and found one I don't think I have shown you before.  It was taken in a nocturnal critters exhibit at the Australian Reptile Park without flash on the Uniden. It was not brilliant.  So had tizzied it up at some point... totally forget what kind of frog they were - but one of the 'tree' species.  Quite big - fist sized.

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MOONdays

Waxing moon of November...

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Saturday Symmetry

Under-bridge, Victorian wrought iron-work.  Duthie Park, Aberdeen. Taken with the 'Nik' on auto.

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"You don't take a photograph...you make it."

(Ansel Adams)

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Thursdays are the free for all days, the days to go a bit outside the frame...

The Merganzer you saw here yesterday?  That's it in the longer shot - and even here I had the lens out to about 20x optical.  To the right is Loch Striven and up behind that first point of land is the Kyles of Bute.

The Isle of Bute itself is the greener, middle, leftish 'lump' - the far hills are mainland(ish), being the Cowal Range on the Argyll peninsula.

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Wings on Wednesday -
YAM's take on the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright hilarious in photographing birds.

In all my years of birding, I don't believe I had, until this moment, met a Merganzer. Of the Red-breasted variety no less.  This was on the fondly remembered fair-weather day at the end of November, when I took the Fudge on its first outing to Loch Striven.  Had to stretch the lens well out and no monopod... happy enough...

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Shipping by...

Last week you were shown two tugs racing through the fog - they were off to meet this big fella... an hour later I was able to photograph their charge and one with them in attendance (below).

This is the Genmar George T; Marshall Islands flag; 2007; an oil products tanker; 150000 t; 274m length.

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Monday's Critters

Last week's repost of one of the Indian Squirrel series brought responses which encourage another reposting of the little tykes... here's a whole set in a different format for your Monday brighting!

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SUNdays

Rainspots on the window pane and a lowering sunset over Bishop's Glen...another of those shots which looks monochrome but isn't!

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Saturday Symmetry

Another from the Aberdeen-Edinburgh train trip in November 2014.  Bridges converging over the River Dee.

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"If you prick us, do we not bleed?"
(W. Shakespeare)



A repost of TAKE THREE.
Agave plant, fiercely pruned - one of the very first macro shots taken with the 'Nik' when it was young and fit.

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On Thursday's anything can happen...

...I could hear voices...



Taken with the 'Nik' at Dunoon's Castle House Museum.

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Wings on Wednesday;
YAM's take on the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright hilarious in photographing birds.

This was from the first outing with the Fudge. I had spotted the Herring gull fledgling and the oyster catcher... but only when uploading the shot did I also find I had captured some Greenshank (lower right) AND a redshank (mid top, front on so foreshortening the beak)... well pleased!

Not initially noticed due to the camouflage of their feathers against the rocks but also as it was actually a long way off - lens was stretched some 30x optical.

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Shipping by...

These are taken with the Fudge, late November 2014 on a freezing fog morning. Even through the mire, there is a good level of clarity.  The tugs are on their way to steer in a very large tanker - you'll see that next week!

TOP: SD Impulse; 1993; 33m
2ND; SD Ayton Cross; 2000; 33m

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Monday's Critters

Continuing my trawl of TAKE archives for critters... this little darling, as you see, was nearly two years ago. Indian squirrels are cute as buttons - then again so are Scottish Red Squirrels and even the pesky greys - individually...

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SUNdays

It was a grey and dusky day... quelle surprise!  Taken from the train crossing the Tay Bridge, by Dundee... and that IS the sun up behind that bank of cottony stuff!!!

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Saturday Symmetry

Portico of Ballater Railway Station (now a museum).

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"Like as the waves make to the pebbl'd shore, so do our minutes hasten to their end."
(W. Shakespeare)

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Anyway Thursday...the day for random pic(k)s

This one was taken with the 'Nik' on a drive in the countryside behind Dunoon.  The water is the Little Eachaig River.

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Wings on Wednesday
YAM's take on the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright hilarious of photographing birds.

Crisp, clear, telephoto shots again... and then the darned critter turned its butt to me!!!

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Shipping by...

Finally, I bring you offerings from the Fudge.

...Is it any better than I got from the 'Nik'? Initially I wondered, but once I had started getting a better feel for it, yes definitely; sharper, steadier, with better manual and semi-manual controls. That said, one cannot answer for the state of the atmosphere! Given how murky it was, I am quite happy with the colour pickup here.

'Katerina B' containers; Antigua and Barbuda, 1997; 100m; 4500 tonnes.

I could get all techy ... but this blog is more about the visual enjoyment; by all means if anyone wants the specs of the image, just ask!

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Monday's Critters

Had hoped to have some newbies to put in here, but the pickings have been very poor indeed. Instead, let me pick some for this month that were my faves from the blog so far... new viewers may not have looked back and regulars, I hope, will enjoy the revisit.

Kaneya, ashram dog and lord of his domain!

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SUNdays

Looking due E.S.E. from my lounge window one of the rare clear evenings of November 2014 - this was one of the last shots taken with the 'Nik' on auto.

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Saturday Symmetry

Grand entrance of Duthie Park, Aberdeen.  Taken with the 'Nik' on auto.

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A repost from the first month of TAKE...not many blooms around Dunoon at this time of year!

"Every flower is a soul blossoming in Nature." 
(Gerard de Nerval)

The waratah (wah-rah-taah) is the state emblem of New South Wales.  it grows in singles and occasionally more, at the top of long woody stems.  Taken with the Minolta handycam, using flash in-fill.

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WISHING YOU ALL THE VERY BEST FOR 2015!!!