tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63262870751187269432024-03-13T17:47:21.287+11:00Decent ExposureDuncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-57693181600190198292018-03-02T00:00:00.001+11:002018-03-03T12:59:19.263+11:00Photographic colour printing with an RGB LED enlarger system<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It's been a long time since I made photographic prints from colour negatives. I'd been on the photographic team at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh for over 15 years, and left professional photography behind in 1998, when I quit that job for good. During that time I was employed on some pretty exacting work, meeting the scientific demands of the end-user.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In response to a Twitter friend describing her progress in building an enlarger using an RGB LED system, I've delved into the memory banks to work out how that would relate to conventional YMC colour printing. I'll apologise in advance for lack of images; I've been too busy working out the details that follow. If you want pictures, you might find one or two in the links at the end.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In essence, a colour print needs the right blend of red, green and blue light to produce the desired result. Although some advanced emulsions have employed more than just three light-sensitive layers in order to compensate for the limitations of photographic dye technology, a photographic film or paper at its most basic has layers sensitive to red, green and blue—the primary colours of light*.</span><br />
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<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">* <i>At this point, artists usually start to struggle a little, because they have always been told that the primaries are red, yellow and blue; this is true </i><i><i>with pigments</i>, but not with light. Look at a rainbow: red light mixes with green to produce yellow, and green mixes with blue to produce cyan (red and blue are at opposite ends of the visible spectrum, so there is ordinarily no magenta in a rainbow).</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The normal method of making colour prints involves a single exposure through yellow (Y), magenta (M) or cyan (C) filters. These are the secondary colours of light and when used in printing, you need just two filters to produce the right balance of colour; in most cases, only the Y and M filters will be used. Because each filter is used to reduce the effect of image-forming light, it is called <i>subtractive</i> printing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The more Y filtration is used, the less exposure the blue layer receives, and the more M filtration, the less exposure to the green layer. It is only necessary to balance the ratio of these two factors with the (effectively fixed) red exposure, while the length of exposure controls the final print density. The actual amount of Y and M filtration required depends upon the film stock and how it was exposed, as well as the printing paper; different batches of film and paper will require different levels of filtration.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The good thing about this system is that you have just one exposure, during which any dodging and burning—to alter local print density—will affect all colours equally. The downside is that you need a more expensive enlarger with a 'colour head'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The alternative method of colour printing is <i>additive</i>, where individual exposures are made sequencially through red, green and blue ('tricolour') filters; by this means, each colour layer in the paper receives the appropriate level of exposure for a balanced print. The upside to this method is relative cheapness: you only need a BW enlarger and a set of 3 gelatin filters. The downside is that you have to make sure you don't nudge the enlarger or printing easel between exposures (which will disturb the registration of the three exposures), and also that it becomes very difficult to do dodging and burning that evenly retains the proportions of R, G and B light, because you have to dodge/burn identically in each exposure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A variation of additive printing appeared in the form of the Philips <a href="http://www.jollinger.com/photo/enlargers/philips.html" target="_blank">PCS-150</a> "Tri-One" colour head. This allowed the arguably more intuitive R, G and B filtration in a single exposure, so that dodging and burning are as easy as in BW or subtractive colour printing. An RGB LED system would allow single-exposure printing, just as the PCS-150 did.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But what about an RYB LED setup? Is it possible to make colour prints using the artist's primaries? Let's think about this… </span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Red, being a light primary, will affect only the red-sensitive layer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Yellow, being a light secondary, will affect both red- and green-sensitive layers</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Blue, a primary, will affect only the blue layer</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So yes, using RYB LEDs, you could in theory expose all three layers of the print, but in adjusting the Y output, you would be exposing both red and green layers. In practice, this means that if there was just a green cast in your test print, you would need to reduce the Y exposure—but you would also need to increase the red exposure, because the red layer is getting some of its exposure from the Y LED.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Now, suppose the R and Y exposure levels are identical, and you want to remove that green cast, you reduce the Y exposure by a given amount, and you then have to <i>increase </i>the R exposure by the same amount. But what if the R and Y exposure levels are different? Now you'll need to calculate the relative proportions of red exposure that come from the R and Y LEDs, and adjust the R to compensate for the change in Y. Not impossible, but unless you relish the challenge of building a system that makes the compensation automatically, I'd avoid this approach. It's a recipe for headaches.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">What about YMC, using an RGB LED system? Here, the waters are a little murkier, but let's dip a tentative toe in. First, let's think about conventional YMC printing: typically, the enlarger head has a mechanism that lets you "dial in" the desired levels of filtration for each colour, and this is achieved by progressively swinging a dichroic filter into the light path; the more a filter is moved, the greater the amount of light that it intercepts and the more effect it has on the colour reaching the negative.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">For example (and let's make it simple by assuming 0-100 units of filtration are available): by setting Y-M-C at 0-0-0, the light is unfiltered, and effectively 'white'. By dialling in 50-33-0, the yellow filter blocks 50% of the blue light, and the magenta filter blocks 33% of the green; there is no cyan filtration. Expressed in terms of image-forming RGB light:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">50Y = <span style="color: blue;">50B</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">33M = <span style="color: lime;">67G</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">0C = <span style="color: red;">100R</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">blue is reduced to 50%, green is reduced to 67% <span style="color: lime;"><span style="color: black;">(<i>just 33% is blocked</i>)</span></span>, and red is at full strength. If this gives a perfect print, then those are the RGB values we're aiming at.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Now let's see how it works out using the RGB LEDs to produce yellow, magenta and cyan light. Dial in the same levels, Y-M-C 50-33-0; the situation is now somewhat different: instead of cutting blue, green and red light by those amounts, you are producing light as follows:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">50Y = 50R + 50G + 0B (you haven't just blocked blue light by 50%, you've produced red and green)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">33M = 33R + 0G + 33B (you haven't just blocked green light by 33%, you've produced red and blue)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">0C = 0R + 0G 6+ 0B (you haven't just reduced red light by nil, you've produced no light at all)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Now simply add those light levels to get the total amount of R, G & B light:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">83R</span> + <span style="color: lime;">50G</span> + <span style="color: blue;">33B</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Compare these figures with the <span style="color: red;">100R</span>+ <span style="color: lime;">67G</span> <complete id="goog_1129110159">+ </complete><span style="color: blue;">50B</span> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">that the filtration produced, and you can see that the two methods aren't equivalent, at least, using the same numbers. So, let's try turning it around a little, to see if we can make it work. Adopting the principle that one of the RGB colours should be at 100% (because there's no point in reducing all three, if you have the opportunity to maximise light output), and if we make it the red that's 100% (because in practice, cyan is rarely dialled in for a normal neg), how do we get 100% red? Well, ths is where is starts to get tricky. Both Y and M will contribute red light, so do we set both Y and M to 100? It looks like this:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">100Y = 100R + 100G + 0B</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">100M = 100R + 0G + 100B</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Add these together and so far, we have:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">200R + 100G + 100B</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But you can't have 200% light output, so reduce these values by 50% to get:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">100R</span> + <span style="color: lime;">50G</span> + <span style="color: blue;">50B</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Compare this with the <span style="color: red;">100R</span>+ <span style="color: lime;">67G</span> + <span style="color: blue;">50B <span style="color: black;">that we're aiming for, and you can see we're under by <span style="color: lime;">17G</span>. No problem, just increase the green light by that amount. How do we do that? Well, green comes from both Y and C (Y is red + green, and C is blue + green). The headache is starting, about now...</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">17G comes from 17Y + 17C, right? Yes, but you've also now added 17R and 17B, so you end up with</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;">117R</span> + <span style="color: lime;">67G</span> + <span style="color: blue;">67B</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">I'll get the painkillers!</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">So, it looks like any attempt to generate the right mix of light by using the R, G and B LEDs to work in pairs to generate Y, M and C light is either unnecessarily complicated or doomed to utter failure. The bottom line is: you need R, G and B light to act upon the emulsion layers sensitive to those colours, so what you need is there from the start; there's no need to try to replicate YMC subtractive printing.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">As for which might be more intuitive for an artist-photographer, with a somewhat uncertain foot in each colour camp, you would approach RGB colour correction by saying "is the print too red? ... then reduce the red light"; "is it too yellow? ... then either reduce yellow (red and green) or add blue".</span> </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">For an overview of subtractive colour printing, this <a href="https://www.lomography.com/magazine/258606-printing-ra4-colour-photos-in-a-darkroom" target="_blank">Lomography article</a> is a good start, as is this <a href="https://www.shutterbug.com/content/darkroombrprinting-color-negatives" target="_blank">Shutterbug article</a>. This <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=3VEdAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA361&lpg=PA361&dq=colour+printing+filter&source=bl&ots=BWti7LJe5j&sig=UnzlDNWJpKavygFn370ifmD7Ui0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiq9tGb7MXZAhWJxLwKHTDGCcIQ6AEIXjAF#v=onepage&q=colour%20printing%20filter&f=false" target="_blank">Google books preview</a> talks about both additive and subtractive printing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">For information about tricolour printing filters, see this <a href="https://www.kodak.com/AU/en/motion/products/lab_and_post_production/kodak_filters/wratten_2_filters/default.htm" target="_blank">Kodak page</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And for Lilly's journey in building her system, <a href="https://twitter.com/blaurebell/status/967550224402132997" target="_blank">here's the Tweet</a> that prompted this post. I might even order one for myself...</span>Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-5590544784303533852015-11-30T20:56:00.002+11:002017-05-04T23:08:58.678+10:00Bagpipes: an anatomical overview<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A colleague sent me a link to a Scottish comedian's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzV-u73jdWg" target="_blank">performance in Sydney</a>; said it was a good giggle. I was a bit dubious, given that he went by the name of "Danny Bhoy", which really suggested more of a Hibernian heritage, but whatever. When later he asked if I'd seen it yet and I said no, m'colleague went on to describe some of the highlights, including the intro, which was amid swirling mist, with the sound of the pipes, and Danny himself backlit in the dramatic scene, carrying what looked like a set of bagpipes. Colleague continued the narrative, including the revelation that the supposed pipes were just a bar stool with some ribbon tied to the legs, and Danny was also holding a wee tin whistle. It sounded good, right enough.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Recently</span> I had a few minutes while waiting for a program to think about a process, so I followed </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Colleague's </span>link to see what the fuss was about. Sure enough, it looked like a piper, but you you could tell it was a spoof as the camera zoomed in so you could see his left hand fluttering away at the 'whistle'; no piper, he. All was revealed a few moments later, and the intro joke concluded successfully. Now Dear Colleague, about that 'whistle'...<br /><br />Colleague really should have known better, given his Irish heritage, even if their pipes are a little different. The 'whistle' turned out to be the appropriate item for the job after all: a chanter. Chanter, Peter ... chanter; from the French, 'to sing'. A slightly flared pipe of ebony or somesuch, perforated and finished in ivory, which is played as you might play the recorder, except at waist level—it being connected to the bag, not directly to the mouth.<br /><br />The chanter is the part that produces the song; the melody. The twiddly stuff that either lifts the spirit and stirs the soul—simultaneously raising the hackles on the back of your neck—or irritates/scares/panics anyone within earshot. Maybe that should be ears, shot...<br /><br />There are tunes, written for the pipes, that just sound right. They are often assertive, vigorous, and have a direct connection to every one of your red Caledonian blood corpuscles - and, quite possibly, some of the white ones as well. Depending upon your disposition and ear for a tune, there may be something about them that you can't put your finger on, but it's no big thing ... until a well-known tune, written for a more conventional instrument, is played on the pipes. Then, it may seem that the piper either doesn't properly know the tune, or is being unadvisedly free with performing his own version. The reality is that the pipes do not have a wide range of notes available; no, the frugal Highlanders have made do with just nine. Furthermore, there are no 'chromatic notes' (no, I don't know either) on the Great Highland Bagpipe—<i>a' phìob mhòr</i>, if you're a Gael. This lends pipe music a limited sound, but I often felt that Joni Mitchell was similarly afflicted. So, the pipes are stirring, alarming, and slightly* edgy to anyone with a remotely musical ear in a modern, western sense.<br /><br /> * this word is really superfluous here<br /><br />Back to the chanter though. Its job is to produce the intricate stuff; the notable part of the piece, which you might be inclined to whistle, if the mood took you. In a battle situation—and remember that in the Great War, the Germans referred to the Scots pipers as 'the ladies from hell'—the chanter is used to produce the main assault on the enemy, the part that says "we've had our breakfast and it wasn't really what we wanted so we're a bit pissed off, and now we're coming to pick a fight with you." And so it goes; hell is raised with a leather bag, a few wooden pipes* and some reeds. One side of the piper's stern face may be blown out into an alarming bulge, while his fingers beat a 'fuck you' rhythm** that is translated into a no-nonsense assault tune.<br /><br /> * nowadays, synthetics are becoming more common<br /> ** a former colleague, ex-Scots Guards, used to 'play' his pen like a chanter, during committee meetings; perhaps he was quietly expressing the same sentiment.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgetFN1eYdligIKB3siTUmdlORCFWAJ8znk8iWYQhXCgG4II_K8aulCLp30UtFRSnPKVbGFCSmbsH5Ykgst208dYTv_Z-WDRpHn4LHPsMRTIG91OzEGSwVVi88hyphenhyphenf7x2ZQvOS0hi49tb9pS/s1600/Seaforth+Highlanders+%2526+piper+-+Scottish+advance+Operation+Epsom+1944.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgetFN1eYdligIKB3siTUmdlORCFWAJ8znk8iWYQhXCgG4II_K8aulCLp30UtFRSnPKVbGFCSmbsH5Ykgst208dYTv_Z-WDRpHn4LHPsMRTIG91OzEGSwVVi88hyphenhyphenf7x2ZQvOS0hi49tb9pS/s320/Seaforth+Highlanders+%2526+piper+-+Scottish+advance+Operation+Epsom+1944.jpg" width="318" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Highland_Bagpipe" target="_blank"><i>Seaforth Highlanders with piper</i></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">That's what the chanter does.<br /><br />The pipes though, have a secret weapon: the drones. These 3 longer pipes are not played as the chanter is; instead, they simply emit a constant note for as long as the bag is full of air and under pressure ... not unlike a politician. Their function & purpose is therefore quite different to that of the chanter. While the enemy is being given fair warning of the impending fight (Scots soldiers are nothing if not fair—it's the Highland ethic), they are simultaneously confused by the background noise, the drone. There is no tune to this. Think instead of a teenager whose voice has just broken, and who is in full flow with a moan against everything: parents, school, food, lack of internet, the entire Universe. It's a noise that nobody should have to suffer without the opportunity to decline.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />The pipes therefore have this two-pronged approach to putting the enemy on edge: the chanter and the piper's nimble fingers are saying "right; here we come, ready or not," while the drones are mentally hitting them for six. They can't quite work out where the moaning is coming from, and about what, so they are now mentally, if not physically, completely out of step with everything else that is happening. Bombs, machine guns, mortars and the whine of incoming shells are all straightforward and to be expected; bagpipe drones are not. It is a singular weapon that was probably banned under the Geneva Convention.<br /><br />So, Colleague, the chanter. Not a tin whistle. That just wouldn't cut it.</span>Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-7300437330982259182015-11-09T12:35:00.002+11:002015-11-09T12:38:59.824+11:00Personal artistic expression and greatness<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Recently,
Dan K posed a question on Twitter:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZRRCN7oQajYPOW7DgPjl2YBPyOIeVQMyxaPbQoiBHloXANpWTBnR008HOiZGC10os0jmjebZsw_XHPb2DR_Jqpqhe0ZAXHefraRzr81NBvqsMq_zqNwnDU2OKfhkY7r1GMZpO2bLvt2A/s1600/Dan+K+-+images+words+%2526+artistic+expression+%25231.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="77" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZRRCN7oQajYPOW7DgPjl2YBPyOIeVQMyxaPbQoiBHloXANpWTBnR008HOiZGC10os0jmjebZsw_XHPb2DR_Jqpqhe0ZAXHefraRzr81NBvqsMq_zqNwnDU2OKfhkY7r1GMZpO2bLvt2A/s400/Dan+K+-+images+words+%2526+artistic+expression+%25231.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="https://twitter.com/ZDP189/status/662578295569952768">https://twitter.com/ZDP189/status/662578295569952768</a></i></span>
</span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The
question brought various answers and comments, and then this response
from Dan, which set me thinking:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyfJJPkCgZWBjbafF_tXBrKdDwcaIGZJDZEgnStpRCGrCGZMzWqyiL_oz_hyUeONs0SS00yfKBnDRAE-SDxy_PArOSguETgYvLDkmQbuLeOBJNKQN98DvJrUKotZpNsqbRJWBSgozGpLvS/s1600/Dan+K+-+images+words+%2526+artistic+expression+%25232.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyfJJPkCgZWBjbafF_tXBrKdDwcaIGZJDZEgnStpRCGrCGZMzWqyiL_oz_hyUeONs0SS00yfKBnDRAE-SDxy_PArOSguETgYvLDkmQbuLeOBJNKQN98DvJrUKotZpNsqbRJWBSgozGpLvS/s400/Dan+K+-+images+words+%2526+artistic+expression+%25232.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I
know what he was getting at: if the words aren't your own, how can
you be expressing yourself by singing someone else's words? His own
response is arguably more provocative: the question about greatness
seems to be general, rather than specifically about photography, but
then the brevity of the Twitter format may be responsible. Then there
is the assertion itself: that he will never be great, whether it is
in photography, writing, or whatever.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Can</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
someone express themselves with words or music written by someone
else? I think they certainly can, if they are up to the job. I'd say
the expression is distinct from the act of creating the original text
or score, but there is certainly expression in performing someone
else's work. Think amateur theatre compared with Blanchett, McKellen
or Olivier; the performance is not just presentation, but
interpretation as well. Or in music: it is said that Dylan declared
Hendrix's </span><i>All along the watchtower</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
to be the definitive version. And if you have ever seen Sid Vicious
performing </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD0eb0tDjIk" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>My way</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">, you'd have to admit
that it wasn't anyone else's way but Sid's. Some of the words may
have been changed, and may not have been written by Sid, but are we
in any doubt that he was expressing his anarchistic, cynical self,
behind the theatrics? In all of these cases, the base expression will
be that of the writer or composer, but it is necessarily overlaid
with the expression of the artist that performs the work. </span></span>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">How
many great speeches are heard and either admired or loathed for their
content, when they are delivered by someone other than the writer
(I'm talking paid speechwriters, not plagiarists)? And yet the
message is delivered and perceived as the expression of the orator's
own sentiments and emotions—and if the oration is any good, the
message will be seen as being totally owned by them, and doubtless is
in at least some cases ... but with politicians, who can tell?</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Maybe
the most genuine expression is in performing someone else's work. It
at once affirms an association with the work and any meaning it may
have, and allows the performer to overlay their own brand on the
material. If the performance stirs something in the listener, then it
is likely that not only is the work of some merit, but the
performance is adding something extra. Cover versions come to mind:
if every cover version sounded exactly like the original, you'd have
to ask “what's the point?”, but if the cover is an individual and
novel performance (as distinct from merely a novelty*), then it must
contain some individual expression on the part of the performer.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">*
But even a novelty version (Barron Knights, I'm looking at you) is in
itself an individual expression.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Still,
I grant that your own words, performed by yourself, are nothing if
not expressing yourself.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
second issue is the question of greatness in one medium if you find
yourself 'naturally' expressing yourself in another. Why should one
preclude the other? However, there is a personal resonance here,
which is probably what prompted me to dwell on this, in the first
place, and to respond in words, in the second. I never used to be
much good with words, be they written or spoken, and still find that
to express myself most effectively, I need to gather my thoughts and
round them up on paper/monitor. I suspect in fact that the
introduction, in 1986, of Yours Truly to Mr Word Processor was a
turning point in my desire to write anything of substance. I did
write a few humorous lines in the early 80s, with a typewriter, but I
was frustrated by the business of having to either get it
substantially right first time—notwithstanding the corrective magic
of the Tippex papers—or rewrite another version. </span><i>1<sup>st</sup>
Word</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> on the Atari ST changed all
that, and I was free to express myself, and it was legible to others
where my handwriting was not. Of course, there was that small matter
of creative merit to get right; 29 years later, I think I might be
getting close.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
fact that polymaths and multi-talented individuals are something of
note does provide an answer to the question within Dan's thesis, but
it's not necessarily the only one. It is entirely plausible that Dan
may excel in photography or drawing as well as writing (and so, for
that matter, might I), but what governs that outcome? If there is any
spark of talent at all, is it not possible to develop it to a
significant level by study and practice? Maybe the answer lies where
the heart does. For some time, I've had the realisation that although
photography was an early passion—which later became a profession—I
do get particular satisfaction in expressing myself in writing. It is
also a pursuit that can be carried out no matter where I am, whatever
the time of day, whatever the light (as long as there is some), and
without darkroom, chemicals, expensive optics or huge amounts of RAM.
It can also be a several thousand-word technical document or a
<a href="http://www.redbubble.com/people/duncanw/writing/1108909-breath?c=36991-writing" target="_blank">six-word story</a>;
each gives satisfaction in the completion.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Dan
went on to say “I just feel if images were my primary medium of
expression I'd be more prolific...” What if you take but one
photograph in your career, or shoot just one film, but the outcome is
the photographic equivalent of <i>To kill a mockingbird</i>? I'd
venture that greatness is not so wedded to quantity as quality.
Still, point taken.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">It
is also clear to me that merely reading about photography gives
pleasure beyond simply the acquisition of knowledge. The
vicarious pleasure of photography by proxy? It is similar to looking
at good photography, but not quite the same. Should I be worried? I
should perhaps be more worried by an inkling a couple of years ago:
it occurred to me that I could possibly derive much pleasure in
simply walking around with an empty camera; aiming, composing and
firing the shutter (a proper mechanical shutter, that is, not the
electronic sound file that digital cameras are endowed with), and
enjoying that very process, as well as the thought of the photographs
that I'd 'taken'. There would be a huge benefit: no expense on film
and processing, and no hours afterwards in going through the
negatives and either scanning or printing them and trying to get the
best out of them; naturally, the photographs would all be great. I'd
also have more room on the walls for Steiglitz, Weston, Adams... </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJkHzx6rm1e8yONwOkhZ87UtqcHlXK0BV9RqvB26c2cJOttIt8BiTqdWfuDQ1yXWqt42lgk48tE4A89B9yt9LX8gYWvj-qkPobu6aow6GB_G32p8YMiGuPF5QD8-BBOEtutQKZpFrWMGgj/s1600/Stairs+700px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJkHzx6rm1e8yONwOkhZ87UtqcHlXK0BV9RqvB26c2cJOttIt8BiTqdWfuDQ1yXWqt42lgk48tE4A89B9yt9LX8gYWvj-qkPobu6aow6GB_G32p8YMiGuPF5QD8-BBOEtutQKZpFrWMGgj/s400/Stairs+700px.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The architect wrote the lyrics, but the final expression is mine</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></div>
Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-47743045402914396532015-11-04T22:16:00.000+11:002015-11-04T22:19:33.034+11:00Yet more kitchen capers<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Occasionally, when either necessity dictates or the mood takes me, I set to in the kitchen, and concoct something that I hope will be edible. I dislike using recipes, so tend to either stick with standards (meat, veg and multi-ingredient mash; fish and whatever; bolognese, con carne, or just stuff mixed and cooked in whatever time-honoured fashion is appropriate... you get the picture) or invent something as I go. The latter can be a risky venture, leading to unpalatable or just disappointing results, but thankfully I can usually pull off something worthwhile.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Tonight, I fancied something inspired by a simple rice-and-lentils meal we enjoyed with friends years ago, when we dropped in with little warning. It was tasty and simple, and despite their disclaimer that it was nothing special, I liked it very much. Why I should wait 22 years to attempt something similar is beyond explanation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Here's the gist of it:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Lentils with rice and vegetables</i><br /><br />• 1/4 cup green lentils<br />• 1/4 cup brown lentils<br />• 1 cup rice and ancient grains (or just brown rice)<br />• 1 onion, chopped<br />• 1 carrot, grated<br />• 2 cloves of garlic, mashed<br />• a dozen or so round beans, chopped<br />• 1/2 small red capsicum, chopped<br />• handful of cherry tomatoes, halved<br />• 1 can chopped tomatoes<br />• small amount of chopped salami, cabanossi, etc, if desired (I desired)<br />• sprinkle of basil and oregano<br /><br />Simmer lentils for about 10 minutes, then top up with cold water, add rice and simmer for another 20-30 minutes or until cooked.<br /><br />Saute onion until soft, then add garlic for a minute or so. Add carrot, beans, capsicum, chopped tomatoes and herbs (and meats if used), and simmer while rice & lentils are cooking. When all is nearly done, add cherry tomatoes and simmer for another 5 minutes or so.<br /><br />Drain rice & lentils when ready, rinse with hot water, and add vegie mixture with salt & pepper to taste.<br /><br />If daughter is not eating with you, add mushrooms to the vegie mix, or anything else that she would otherwise object to.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It was scoffed satisfactorily, and Young Man of <i>item-with-daughter</i> status ate his before leaving the kitchen, then obliged with preventing a leftovers situation from arising.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It's what's called a result, I believe.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There was no photograph, so here's something completely different.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7r4FUp0FkJ5fW1QD7Air1xxHkYHMlP09Tp67Nu3l-lfKXZzv90LmXl7OBiH57WCEVDL34565zxfLE7diGyRbn6l7ArZxww8OBpGYkfC5quTONMrqqh5r5FsvE3UMNWuUXHTTfD3xFIGTg/s1600/57+Lunar+occultation+of+Saturn+-+2014-05-14+-+ingress+IMG_1838%252B9+%255B40D+RAW9%255D+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7r4FUp0FkJ5fW1QD7Air1xxHkYHMlP09Tp67Nu3l-lfKXZzv90LmXl7OBiH57WCEVDL34565zxfLE7diGyRbn6l7ArZxww8OBpGYkfC5quTONMrqqh5r5FsvE3UMNWuUXHTTfD3xFIGTg/s400/57+Lunar+occultation+of+Saturn+-+2014-05-14+-+ingress+IMG_1838%252B9+%255B40D+RAW9%255D+cropped.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Lunar occultation of Saturn, 14 May 2014</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-28416951424310705562015-10-25T22:54:00.000+11:002015-10-25T23:27:34.942+11:00Coffeetography<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I virtually always carry a camera with me; two, if you count the one in the phone. Very often, I also carry a desire for a coffee. Not that I'm a caffeine addict: at home, I drink decaf - it's simpler, as Heather doesn't do caffeine if she can avoid it, so we only have to have one jar in the cupboard, and that decaf is as satisfying as a legit cafe brew.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">When we were in Ipswich some time ago, we were gasping for a cuppa, and couldn't seem to find anywhere that looked like they served a decent brew; when we finally found <i>somewhere</i>, it was pretty disappointing, so we effectively wrote off Ipswich as a coffee-free zone. Since then however, we have found a few places worth a second visit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One such is Nourish Real Food Cafe, in Brisbane St. It's fairly new, light, airy, and the tables aren't crammed in together. The food is adventurous and the coffee perfectly good. The building was renovated about 18 months ago, and they have gone for the bare brisks look, contrasted by a faux laneway to one side, presumably going to other premises.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">My camera eye can be drawn by all sorts of things, but the play of light and shade is usually pretty tempting. Once, at a gallery, I was as fascinated by the shadows cast by a series of exhibits mounted on a row of small shelves as I was with the art itself. There was no artist statement attaching to the shelves. Here, it was the clean lines and subtle shadows on a textured white wall that stopped me in my tracks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWpj_OpjpnIO7jcLhjF7iNWUHNAs6XSHTWVN4xl6TU-g24lPuDiyo-WXtwYBrT56OlLNFD4aAvCScqqecaYVlROc4MxM9AhSOL3wOHO0ue_YsJhjSIS0h3100KZDhAgBx-TacezkhaSMqS/s1600/Nourish+Cafe+lane+Ipswich+IMG_6916+800px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWpj_OpjpnIO7jcLhjF7iNWUHNAs6XSHTWVN4xl6TU-g24lPuDiyo-WXtwYBrT56OlLNFD4aAvCScqqecaYVlROc4MxM9AhSOL3wOHO0ue_YsJhjSIS0h3100KZDhAgBx-TacezkhaSMqS/s400/Nourish+Cafe+lane+Ipswich+IMG_6916+800px.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Inside the cafe, it was the walls that fascinated me. Nothing new or terribly unusual about bare brick walls in a modern establishment, but it was the pattern that seemed unusual. Heather knows a thing or two about bricklaying bonds (who'd have thought?), but this didn't seem like a bond that would have made it through building control. What would I know? The apprentice's first attempt?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgojYs2vT2hxnd8MHYPiWYoeOjwGLc3H2r1QFELxEhizOWbtsWtV7B7dC6uxmffGzWd35eeSfpHR62aNl7qblrpCCTlqXFukBd3Y_MSrDrSmLB7ACStQlyK3lEfXdsCXu89TiOOkxtuf4Cw/s1600/Nourish+Cafe+brick+wall+IMG_6924+800px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgojYs2vT2hxnd8MHYPiWYoeOjwGLc3H2r1QFELxEhizOWbtsWtV7B7dC6uxmffGzWd35eeSfpHR62aNl7qblrpCCTlqXFukBd3Y_MSrDrSmLB7ACStQlyK3lEfXdsCXu89TiOOkxtuf4Cw/s400/Nourish+Cafe+brick+wall+IMG_6924+800px.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The last few posts have touched on my inability to abandon film photography, but these were taken with the digital camera that I usually carry. I suspect that in the next five years it may expire; it's unlikely to last another ten. However, I have just bought a bulk load of black & white film, and shall soon run it through some cameras still going strong after 40 years or more. After film camera values plummeted in the last decade, they are becoming valuable again as a new generation of photographers discovers the appeal of traditional non-digital methods.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I shall also be exploring the world of developing the film in coffee and vitamin C—a combination </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">known as Caffenol—</span>which sounds nuts but is chemically quite plausible and has a growing number of advocates and practitioners. And why not do something different, if it works? Watch this space.</span>Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-11889160860283227042015-10-20T22:52:00.000+11:002015-10-20T22:52:13.436+11:00Waxing<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A bright, clear crescent Moon did shine down last night, and with a young man interested in seeing through the big scope, I stirred myself to grant his wish. While looking at the ancient surface, I noticed that the seeing was pretty good, so got the camera mounted for a few snaps.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There's nothing groundbreaking about a pic of the crescent Moon, of course, but it's always pleasing and never looks the same twice—unless you wait a long time and look at every possible opportunity. On this occasion though, there was a pinprick of light inside a large crater, evidence of day breaking upon a central mountain peak ... and who doesn't like a mountain sunrise?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The telescope is effectively acting as a 1200mm f8 long lens, which is pretty big on a crop sensor camera (Canon 40D). At ISO-400, the exposure would be reasonably short, except that I wanted to make the most of that little sunlit mountaintop, so took exposures of 1/13, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100 and 1/200 second, to get detail in both highlights and dark areas near the terminator (the day/night boundary). I then combined all 5 exposure levels to make an HDR image.</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ_0GPYNg-2Ya30Bb2edBUAJexp0eiYAPiaNe4j2KzAMmiVvwQ9MqSEOpjdyP7WheA_Mvrpq7I9ZUmNew5HzuWwAFAwnb0KesQd_hys6lWwG3q0WCg82R_ABdN98267GiLngMZNp11gxVW/s1600/Crescent+Moon+2015-10-19+HDR+combo+IMG_3231%252B23%252B27%252B38%252B43+%255BG1X+RAW13%255D+south+up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ_0GPYNg-2Ya30Bb2edBUAJexp0eiYAPiaNe4j2KzAMmiVvwQ9MqSEOpjdyP7WheA_Mvrpq7I9ZUmNew5HzuWwAFAwnb0KesQd_hys6lWwG3q0WCg82R_ABdN98267GiLngMZNp11gxVW/s640/Crescent+Moon+2015-10-19+HDR+combo+IMG_3231%252B23%252B27%252B38%252B43+%255BG1X+RAW13%255D+south+up.jpg" width="366" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>The southern highlands, at top, appear more heavily cratered as they haven't been overlaid with lava,which process produced the dark 'seas' in the northern hemisphere.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ZO61ofxyw-exixJ2aNDcPEuLHd-n4M3ED7hks4cHgY-rpZyDXGoIiCt0GhyphenhyphenkjukuZIclDHY_EPsDzMfcpheDeen1ckqwI_R2WFdRvXBcPBoQLgQkJmq0Il5v8LvMs3_gqQ98VHf4i2bB/s1600/Maurolycus+2015-10-19.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ZO61ofxyw-exixJ2aNDcPEuLHd-n4M3ED7hks4cHgY-rpZyDXGoIiCt0GhyphenhyphenkjukuZIclDHY_EPsDzMfcpheDeen1ckqwI_R2WFdRvXBcPBoQLgQkJmq0Il5v8LvMs3_gqQ98VHf4i2bB/s1600/Maurolycus+2015-10-19.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Maurolycus, with central peak lit</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAViBmZsZbdcRgFJDFBbU60YszmgQxtvR9uV0B9_RbBkF6buPMbDqjLK0EwjYLrT77awJEZdA48s1BjUvRO1zD6YNln8qCJD_z4TFIo1Xms1QWJVET3MM7lHKYrYKUobMgF5RiPrHEzDHS/s1600/Theophilus+Cyrillus+%2526+Catharina+2015-10-19.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAViBmZsZbdcRgFJDFBbU60YszmgQxtvR9uV0B9_RbBkF6buPMbDqjLK0EwjYLrT77awJEZdA48s1BjUvRO1zD6YNln8qCJD_z4TFIo1Xms1QWJVET3MM7lHKYrYKUobMgF5RiPrHEzDHS/s1600/Theophilus+Cyrillus+%2526+Catharina+2015-10-19.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The crater trio Catharina, Cyrillus and Theophilus, beside the Sea of Nectar</span></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sea of Tranquility; Apollo 11 site circled</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span>Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-41107291127335717132015-10-18T20:34:00.001+11:002015-10-20T22:54:41.502+11:00A peripatetic camera<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's been far too long since I've posted here, so here's a post I made as a guest on the 35mmc (35mm compact camera) blog. I became temporary custodian of a point and shoot camera ("<i>The Traveling Yashica</i>"), and used that quaint but not-yet-dead medium, photographic film. It was fun, even if I didn't love the camera. The premise is simple: receive the camera and shoot a film, then blog the results:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"</span></span><i>I have decided to send my Yashica T5 around some of the nice folks I
cross paths with on twitter, get them to shoot a roll of film then send
the camera to someone else who wants to take part.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>All I ask is that anyone who ends up with the camera sends me some photos and a little bit of a backstory to go with the<span style="font-size: small;">m.</span></i><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"</span></span> -- Hamish Gill</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEqNbqp65m8rkcFcE3GEs4yyVgH5baZ98teliVlMIDUdYn4nr8lthdcpnNg6AU7yUVh8sFuVlOCbWjxpHkUkgdYA925N_xQpzAYRM8UVDeUkVjwIDcsfFSpMJFly5r8YtDOOxTRVuFf2XB/s1600/T5D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEqNbqp65m8rkcFcE3GEs4yyVgH5baZ98teliVlMIDUdYn4nr8lthdcpnNg6AU7yUVh8sFuVlOCbWjxpHkUkgdYA925N_xQpzAYRM8UVDeUkVjwIDcsfFSpMJFly5r8YtDOOxTRVuFf2XB/s320/T5D.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">As I still love the look and palaver that goes with using film (I never stopped, just stopped shooting it except on very rare occasions), I thought it would be a worthwhile thing to do. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVSTZsANNRURyRJSXsgcpFEtaAaaurupHkR67JrFAdZrAOYb_ZyXE8c0nz6Bo61ckv2fAXt2a4VAYXK60imOrrK-tVAkTrnCgIiROazI3335AdMrQGnhIOZRFXqceUUYSXsz_aW7pwwzh8/s1600/Dusk+planetarium+1500px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVSTZsANNRURyRJSXsgcpFEtaAaaurupHkR67JrFAdZrAOYb_ZyXE8c0nz6Bo61ckv2fAXt2a4VAYXK60imOrrK-tVAkTrnCgIiROazI3335AdMrQGnhIOZRFXqceUUYSXsz_aW7pwwzh8/s400/Dusk+planetarium+1500px.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium at dusk</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.35mmc.com/17/10/2015/traveling-yashica-duncan-waldron-camira-australia/">The Traveling Yashica: Duncan Waldron (Camira, Australia)</a></span>Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-31190692787412029112014-05-12T22:39:00.001+10:002014-05-30T23:23:01.223+10:00Time will tell<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There has always been a bit of a left-of-centre* streak in my photography, albeit with plenty of straight-down-the-middle conventionalism to balance. I studied photography in a 3-year diploma course, specialising in applied photography in my final year, and encountered all sorts of photographic possibilities along the way. That course led me into employment at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh; not your average job for a freshly-minted young photographer. (* When I say 'left-of-centre', I suppose I should say 'right-of-centre' as well, since I dabble with 3D stereo pairs, but that's another matter; you can investigate <a href="https://twitter.com/stereothreedee" target="_blank">here</a>.)</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Laser dispersed through flashbulb</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">When I started snapping in the early 70s, you took a roll of plastic material (coated with dry gelatin & suffused with silver halide salts) and inserted it into a camera. That's right: the back of the camera opened up, and a roll of film went inside, which allowed you to take a limited number of photographs—usually 8, 10, 12, 16, 20, 24, 36, 48 or 72—before you had to stop and reload. Imagine a memory card that limited!<br /><br />As an aside, whenever I use film these days, the smells take me right back to 197X; they were just an incidental part of the photographic process until the 90s, but now they are an incredible nostalgia trigger. I should get a bottle of Paterson <i>Acutol</i>, just so I can open it for a sniff every now & then. (I don't miss the benzene-based colour chemistry of the 70s & 80s; it just <i>smelt</i> psychoactive.)<br /><br />So, how did my left-of-centre radicalism manifest? Often, it was just through taking a shortcut to a result, such as shooting a pic on a cut-down sheet of enlarging paper, rather than load a whole film. Or processing in a developer not intended for the job, just because it was available. Sometimes though, I'd shoot pictures with the question 'what if?' in mind. I was always an advocate for the idea that, never mind what the rule book says, have a go, and see what works. I suppose it's surprising, given that attitude, that I never took to cross-processing, but there you go. I wouldn't want to be predictable, would I?<br /><br />These days, as well as doing less and less photography as time goes by, I use traditional materials on a very infrequent basis. One thing that does get me loading a camera with light-sensitive silver-based materials is pinhole photography. It <i>is</i> possible to do pinhole with digital, but the small sensor size—even if using a full-frame DSLR—is rather limiting, as is the field of view. So, when I see a piece about anyone using traditional materials, or cameras before electronics really took over, I'm immediately interested.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> <i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Extreme-wideangle pinhole selfie</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Pinhole photography is photography almost at its most basic (I'll allow that photograms are even more basic): no lens, no shutter, no aperture, no light meter, no viewfinder. Just photographer and instinct. In practice, I might use a hand-held light meter to gauge the right exposure, but it's not absolutely necessary, after a bit of experience. There is something very satisfying about creating a photograph without all that modern technology has to offer.<br /><br />When I read of a project to create pinhole photographs with 100-year exposure times, I was therefore immediately interested. For a few years, folk have been creating <i>solargraphs</i>—year-long exposures that record the Sun's movement, both east-west and north-south. These photographs are taken using photographic enlarging paper, but are not developed in the normal way; instead, they are scanned as soon as the camera is opened, to record the image that has appeared on the light-sensitive material.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7f-vdaXyj4oYRTXf-aMfujEd8QFLsNxUuoYtAdlQHyMVV0Iv2dT2_H2VkCCg-6_AjJG_nuxMZok1R39gDjJPO4rg8c3L-KK7iMuh_uwRnSKzS-i5l1jjUTanurKsdOOzzjGA9-uci3H6q/s1600/Solargraph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7f-vdaXyj4oYRTXf-aMfujEd8QFLsNxUuoYtAdlQHyMVV0Iv2dT2_H2VkCCg-6_AjJG_nuxMZok1R39gDjJPO4rg8c3L-KK7iMuh_uwRnSKzS-i5l1jjUTanurKsdOOzzjGA9-uci3H6q/s1600/Solargraph.jpg" height="281" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A typical solargraph - <a href="http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/07/19/solargraph-shoot-a-6-month-long-exposure-using-a-beer-can/" target="_blank">source article</a></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Now, somebody has come up with the idea that you could load a simple camera with black paper, and expose it for a hundred years to create a record of urban change during that period. Not black photographic paper, mind you, just black paper. Photographers, as well as scrapbookers, generally like the idea that a photograph will last for a very long time, if processed and stored properly. Cheap paper can contain acid from the manufacturing process, and will consequently not last for a very long time if exposed to light (the acid will also harm any other materials stored with it, but that's another story). Papers intended for archival use will last much longer, but ultimately, papers exposed to light—especially UV-loaded daylight—will fade or turn yellow, and that will be the mechanism that's relied upon in this project.<br /><br />To anyone who has used that lovely material, Cibachrome, there may be a resonance here. Unlike every other photographic material where exposure, followed by development, created an image with either granular silver or colour dye, each Cibachrome print began with a sheet of enlarging paper that contained all the dyes already in place; it looked brown before exposure etc. The technical beauty of Cibachrome (for me) was in the process of developing a silver image and then bleaching that image and the dyes associated with it, leaving only the dyes that weren't affected by the exposure, leaving a direct positive image (it was used for printing from colour slides, not negatives). (It also meant that the image was sharper, as the dyes in the unexposed emulsion limited light scatter.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I just loved the brilliance</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> (both literal and metaphorical)</span> of the Cibachrome method, and thought that it had been discontinued years ago, after it had been renamed Ilfochrome; however, the Ilford site says that it is still available. This chap seems to think that it was on the way out, and shows the material being used for original in-camera photography, rather than for printing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /><br />The point about that apparent digression is that the photographer behind this project is using black paper, which should gradually be bleached away to a positive image; or so the theory goes. There are many questions, of course, about this project: will the cameras still be there in 100 years; will the exposures actually work; will the images be worthwhile, in any broad sense of the word? If all goes to plan, it might make for a fascinating exhibition/book/blog post; it if fails, then likely very few people will notice or care … but I suspect that's art for you.<br /><br />Read about the project here: <a href="http://petapixel.com/2014/05/09/100-cameras-will-photograph-berlin-ridiculous-100-year-exposure-times/">petapixel.com/2014/05/09/100-cameras-will-photograph-berlin-ridiculous-100-year-exposure-times/</a></span>Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-37091690132481376752014-04-30T21:19:00.000+10:002014-05-12T22:42:50.157+10:00In search of caffeine<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">When we lived in Edinburgh, one of our favourite pastimes was to go for a drive through East Lothian. We'd just pick a road and head down it; with plenty to choose from, we'd have a different journey each time. East Lothian is a coastal county, bounded to the north by that well-known Scottish linguistic joke, the Firth of Forth. It is a green place, containing both coal-mining towns and pastoral land—and even the odd site of historical importance (a hoard of <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-21244147" target="_blank">Roman silver</a> was found on Traprain Law in 1919).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> <i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ripening Harvest, East Lothian</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Having moved to the New South Wales north coast 16 years ago, we found the opportunities for similar explorations a little more limited, although we did have a few favourite roads through the Coffs coast hinterland. Four years ago, the move to Brisbane's southern suburbs reduced the opportunities even further, although we have taken the occasional meandering route home through some of the older suburbs, to enjoy a glimpse of the city's older residential architecture.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">More recently, we have been nursing a notion that moving inland to a large country town might be a good idea. Although there is no mandatory retirement age in the Brisbane City Council, I start drawing my UK Civil Service pension in less than five years, with the old age pension 5-10 years beyond that (depending upon how far those particular goalposts are moved by government policy).With that notion in mind, we finally took a trip to Toowoomba, having said many times that we should.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">My introduction to Australia (apart from the few days in Sydney after arrival), was two years spent in the small country town of Coonabarabran, the local centre for staff working at the UK Schmidt Telescope, to which I had been assigned for a while. Coming from the cultural sophistication—not to mention the ancient roots—of a city of 300,000 people, I felt as if I'd arrived in the Wild West. The strange shop awnings, some unsealed roads, and huge cars that you could play 5-a-side football upon, were a world away from the Georgian architecture and horizon-to-horizon asphalt of Scotland's capital. However, I took to it pretty quickly: the change was refreshing, and I grew to like living among just 3,000 people, in a simpler, more honest way of life. In a way, this place seemed to have a lot in common with the in-your-face bluntness of Glasgow, than the behind-closed-doors cliqueish attitudes of Edinburgh. And, because Heather had grown up in such places, whenever we travelled thereafter, we would compare places to Coona', which seemed like the 'real Australia'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It is partly with that feeling in mind that we feel drawn to smaller town life, although I would also welcome a move to the drier side of the Great Dividing Range, where tools don't go rusty and camera lenses (among other things) don't do mouldy, like they do in a humid coastal environment.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-v0if82yKdDMfTKjmylMGGcc4fsZ5HmeSmvo7SVtc2j9r_pgUPhK5l26dTJ-RtSXTKhfXyHgFmseeD6f-oR6fUNbBPvzu0x2294CTDyDaOIxi7wGh73dx7V6PLN5nq1enbeA72ape6Q2a/s1600/Warrumbungle+sunbeams.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-v0if82yKdDMfTKjmylMGGcc4fsZ5HmeSmvo7SVtc2j9r_pgUPhK5l26dTJ-RtSXTKhfXyHgFmseeD6f-oR6fUNbBPvzu0x2294CTDyDaOIxi7wGh73dx7V6PLN5nq1enbeA72ape6Q2a/s1600/Warrumbungle+sunbeams.jpg" height="217" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Warrumbungle Mountains, on the Great Dividing Range</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In between our first planning to see Toowoomba, and our actually going there, Heather had gained a friend just an hour further west. The visit was therefore to kill the proverbial two birds. We could have done with another day or two, but it had to be something of a flying visit—which just means we have an excuse to do it again later on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So, what's important in our choice of town? I've said for some time that I could pretty much live anywhere, that home can be where I hang my hat. Coming to Brisbane has been enjoyable, although that might not have been the case had we not managed to find a home in the suburb that we settled upon. Here, there is easy access into and out of Brisbane, on relatively uncongested roads, and the public transport is good; my journey to work is a fairly trivial run of less than 20 minutes, and the suburb itself is good. Retiring to a country town though, there will be no drive to work, and the way out of town will be pretty straightforward anyway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We have few vices, but one that we do have is the pleasure of seeking out a cafe that makes a good coffee. There is plenty of average coffee around, but I can make that at home, if I'm being sloppy. Joining the Brisbane Coffee Lovers Meetup group introduced us to a few places, and we have found more ourselves. So, we would hope that anywhere else that we settle has at least one place we can repair to, for a well-made cup. After a terribly long drive from home (OK, about 90 minutes), we therefore stepped into the first likely place that we saw, to slake our coffee-flavoured thirst. Sadly, it was quite average. Not <i>bad</i>, but not great. After that, we went walkabout, to see what the town centre had to offer, stopping to buy some things for lunch on the way, which we later scoffed in the botanic gardens. Good, there is at least one excellent deli in town.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Nature, ignoring unnatural boundaries</span></i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2yo2FEyYQgxG1yLeq3QDLaFCrF0xAmC_n_Hd9sevSFHFmiRm-OanK9O39W52-6gEyrBnTfnx8Tf89fKmX-OpJrgsc6irH7AG95kgKJd_cQfyd-KyUJOa1qBDDecgyl0SO5G5DkVRM1r1/s1600/Tree+in+Toowoomba+Botanic+Garden+IMG_3473+%5BJPG%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2yo2FEyYQgxG1yLeq3QDLaFCrF0xAmC_n_Hd9sevSFHFmiRm-OanK9O39W52-6gEyrBnTfnx8Tf89fKmX-OpJrgsc6irH7AG95kgKJd_cQfyd-KyUJOa1qBDDecgyl0SO5G5DkVRM1r1/s1600/Tree+in+Toowoomba+Botanic+Garden+IMG_3473+%5BJPG%5D.jpg" height="400" width="275" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Nature, being natural</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The day soon went, as we meandered about both on foot and by car. We had agreed to be at our friends' place for 6, so leaving around 5 was the plan, but we had need of another coffee, after a hard day swanning around†. We spotted a place that looked like it was trying to be a Melbourne lane cafe, and after a quick butchers inside, decided that it seemed authentic enough. Sadly, the coffee wasn't to my palate, so another one was crossed off the mental list.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfE44Oej_GHcZ6FdT2AT0TcVCR99E0badOOah1gIKZDWQDnQap5-FeJsxIJj8LnKkqjMsjZUFuVUEa7PnXsPpgXHICjwC3S3JrLlcCWt_nZUQi_yToy-wEcTEjv8NNtCFcZqKXtAWHE-eE/s1600/Toowoomba+cafe+lane+24042014431.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfE44Oej_GHcZ6FdT2AT0TcVCR99E0badOOah1gIKZDWQDnQap5-FeJsxIJj8LnKkqjMsjZUFuVUEa7PnXsPpgXHICjwC3S3JrLlcCWt_nZUQi_yToy-wEcTEjv8NNtCFcZqKXtAWHE-eE/s1600/Toowoomba+cafe+lane+24042014431.jpg" height="193" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Urban retro-chic</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">After our night in Dalby (where the sky was dark and the stars bright), generally chewing the fat evening and morn, we headed back east around midday. This late on Anzac day, the ceremonial parades had finished, and we found Toowoomba to be mostly closed. After another walk around town, we had a delicious lunch at the Biriyani Hut, followed by ice cream and sorbet at the corner cafe, followed by … wait for it … a gorgeous coffee. We'd found it at last, and know where to go next time. The iced delicacies were very good as well, so no complaints there at all. Mission accomplished.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The drive home took us </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">back </span>across flat pastoral land, with cotton, sorghum and who-knows-what-else? Coupled with a blue sky scattered with meteorological cotton-wool above the agricultural kind, a few photos were called for. I dare say I'll be back for more.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigCeSQq-3ptR9cMPyvIX_xlGGwiV-qSv7EER1dPuMSvd0fDfvd4RT4zqla93GEi86ZO6wkyHsH3vgHbEs6MOXL2lDO240yjGjW_urfOCquHrZabU66pm83Y6zjRfqC894OgJy5dX86C4bW/s1600/Warrego+Highway+cotton+clouds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigCeSQq-3ptR9cMPyvIX_xlGGwiV-qSv7EER1dPuMSvd0fDfvd4RT4zqla93GEi86ZO6wkyHsH3vgHbEs6MOXL2lDO240yjGjW_urfOCquHrZabU66pm83Y6zjRfqC894OgJy5dX86C4bW/s1600/Warrego+Highway+cotton+clouds.jpg" height="126" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cotton-wool clouds after the harvest</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">† <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Do swans 'people around', when they're on a long lead?</i></span></span>Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-30933448188745269802014-04-23T22:01:00.000+10:002014-04-23T22:05:31.027+10:00Nocturnal lunacy<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Time was, we counted the passage of time in Moons. It's a convenient measure: short enough that one is 'only recently' but long enough that a dozen or so will take you through a set of seasons. 'Moons' in this context, means lunar months—or more specifically, the <i>synodic</i> months from New to Full and back again to New; a period of 29.5 days. (The other lunar month is the <i>sidereal </i>one, when the Moon returns to approximately the same position among the stars.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Moon is endlessly fascinating. Whether you are watching a Moonrise over the bay with nothing but your eyes (and possibly a glass of something convivial), or you are studying it at high magnification through a large telescope under a crystal-clear dark rural sky, it has a universal appeal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">For my part, I have watched with telescope and without; with binoculars; with camera; and with all sorts of permutations thereof. I have watched its phases come and go. I have watched the Sun's light slowly creeping across that distant landscape, illuminating crater floors and mountain peaks: a constantly-changing chiaroscuro that Buzz Aldrin described from its surface as 'magnificent desolation'.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqcH88MQxvYnCQ-HLjdTk3h2pS4mP_o0BxaMQ5lTyYbdvLtpxImXPbfYl6azM2mfJN7U_HUO1D6v64g-iTTOgqj_oiBNFQd28BI4LEWBzJn8T_CV9s_D6LaEoPH9Suv6CNAqEfOdkJoQbz/s1600/Purbach+Arzachel+&+Straight+Wall+2014-03-10+IMG_0892+%5B40D+RAW3%5D+G+channel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqcH88MQxvYnCQ-HLjdTk3h2pS4mP_o0BxaMQ5lTyYbdvLtpxImXPbfYl6azM2mfJN7U_HUO1D6v64g-iTTOgqj_oiBNFQd28BI4LEWBzJn8T_CV9s_D6LaEoPH9Suv6CNAqEfOdkJoQbz/s1600/Purbach+Arzachel+&+Straight+Wall+2014-03-10+IMG_0892+%5B40D+RAW3%5D+G+channel.jpg" height="169" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Purbach, Arzachel & the Straight Wall</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In 1976 I was given a second-hand 6-inch (150 mm) reflecting telescope. I had arrived. At last, I had an instrument with a proper mount, driven to follow the movement of the stars (actually, the rotation of the Earth, but let's not quibble), with which I could employ substantial magnification upon celestial sights near and far. By that time I had already decided that I needed to learn about photography, so that I could record what I was seeing through the eyepiece. Little did I know the challenge ahead...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I did try to mate my somewhat ancient SLR camera to the telescope, trying to get decent photographs of Moon and planets, but the results were generally disappointing. Fuzzy, shaken images discouraged me and until I was introduced to the Thomas Cooke 6-inch photovisual refractor at the City Observatory in Edinburgh, I did no more telescopic photography. The Cooke was a fine instrument in a poor situation. Murky city skies and poor 'seeing' were constantly conspiring to reduce image quality, but I did dabble a bit, and even recorded the second Scottish image of Comet Halley with it in 1985.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8z2Wmplrr3_zWEDUlMN0f9dKsMs3Klq0vBr1QLTpBNUy-YhXD8j4muIq455cRnZ00b4wO6yOtNaEcqN5rYOg26VEgx9pqQSq-LbUQ_pdtvvgAmJpJ37jZgK5621-2_mhbxqznfxGiT9Iw/s1600/Copernicus+Eratosthenes+&+Appenines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8z2Wmplrr3_zWEDUlMN0f9dKsMs3Klq0vBr1QLTpBNUy-YhXD8j4muIq455cRnZ00b4wO6yOtNaEcqN5rYOg26VEgx9pqQSq-LbUQ_pdtvvgAmJpJ37jZgK5621-2_mhbxqznfxGiT9Iw/s1600/Copernicus+Eratosthenes+&+Appenines.jpg" height="169" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i>Copernicus, Eratosthenes & Appenines</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I have the good fortune these days to work at the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, which is equipped with a Zeiss 150 mm refractor. The beauty of that instrument is that it sits on a coudé mount, which means that the viewing end doesn't move with the telescope, which in turns allows any camera to be mounted without upsetting the balance. The drawback to this telescope is its optical system: as an ordinary 'achromat', it is subject to incompletely-corrected colour, so that when taking photographs there tends to be a blue haze around bright objects. (The Cooke</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">, with a 'photovisual' triplet objective,</span> was corrected for red, green and blue light.) So, after trying for a while to take some decent lunar photographs through the Zeiss, I find that unless I want to discard the blue channel and go for a greyscale image using just the red and green, it's of limited use. Which is where I come back to the old reflector (the 'CF', it having been manufactured by the old Charles Frank company in </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Glasgow</span>).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxZ9OlBgA9AplDVpVe2U-Sxt8iFcbLz-hJUj46QosKNua4P-bb2lEV3-BwB_NFW6BzCa0yfpxYIWGXWGmshbHBLv1prUSrsI2W2KjLj58sp38V-Ne6dJSFs4P4XmYhHYHmrL2Rz5Uhwrjs/s1600/Zeiss+refractor+800px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxZ9OlBgA9AplDVpVe2U-Sxt8iFcbLz-hJUj46QosKNua4P-bb2lEV3-BwB_NFW6BzCa0yfpxYIWGXWGmshbHBLv1prUSrsI2W2KjLj58sp38V-Ne6dJSFs4P4XmYhHYHmrL2Rz5Uhwrjs/s1600/Zeiss+refractor+800px.jpg" height="320" width="228" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUL-1JGQSiguRc5YDwCyrtvp-EcXioA0qLcl_yddvbIxWH4L60kR1O5hqQQzndpx9G6HjahW6YFJH3n2wJrM0PMeJUAipV6VZX7I7S0akI-KJPIttNi05q8Paf3BLLTTcm8cFdhv25WtoV/s1600/DW+at+Zeiss+refractor+with+dome+slit+open+at+night+IMG_2401+800px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUL-1JGQSiguRc5YDwCyrtvp-EcXioA0qLcl_yddvbIxWH4L60kR1O5hqQQzndpx9G6HjahW6YFJH3n2wJrM0PMeJUAipV6VZX7I7S0akI-KJPIttNi05q8Paf3BLLTTcm8cFdhv25WtoV/s1600/DW+at+Zeiss+refractor+with+dome+slit+open+at+night+IMG_2401+800px.jpg" height="320" width="228" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Zeiss refractor, with Yours Truly observing the Moon.</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The reflecting telescope was devised by Isaac Newton as an alternative to the simple lens telescopes of the day, which were even more plagued by false colour than any modern achromat (a-chromat ... meaning no colour, but they don't quite live up to that name). I'd never achieved much with mine in the past, but would a modern digital camera make any difference?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One of the great benefits of digital imaging is the immediacy of it: you can see the image without waiting for a film to be processed and printed. So, when you need to assess the accuracy of focus, exposure or subject targeting, you have almost instant feedback. If the camera has live view focusing then the focus can be refined before shooting, under high magnification (although even then, checking the images on a large monitor allows a final decision).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Fortunately, the image scale of the CF is almost perfect for a crop frame DSLR: the Moon sits comfortably in the frame, while allowing some room to move; it's effectively a 1200mm long-focus 'lens'. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I have become enamoured of hi</span>tching my Canon 40D to it, and recording our nearest natural neighbour, although it's hardly ground-breaking stuff. No two images will be the same though, due to the changing phase and libration—the apparent east-west and north-south wobbling that allows us to see 59% of the lunar surface (even though the Moon keeps nominally the same face to us all the time).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Here then is a set of images taken over the last month or so, as well as a 3D stereo pair using another image from last year. Enjoy.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Moon's size varies because of its elliptical orbit. A so-called 'supermoon' is a Full Moon when it's at its closest distance from Earth, although it's only about 14% larger than the opposite extreme.</span></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB2HrvnIo42bJat5AwjyCNjHd0hRHSv1YRbN8KvXvY2LpheARxMLstRvjKIg7S7CYPCFBNJSO5DHNX2beHcX4Mt9cZpbys0SD0NFeOi8UjdH_a8XPU12ffGTcfDACgvKm_ESwFa8ReAQMn/s1600/Gibbous+Moon+2014-03-12+%5BCF+scope%5D+IMG_1015+%5B40D+RAW2%5D+saturation+enhanced+3+%5Bsee+info%5D+700px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB2HrvnIo42bJat5AwjyCNjHd0hRHSv1YRbN8KvXvY2LpheARxMLstRvjKIg7S7CYPCFBNJSO5DHNX2beHcX4Mt9cZpbys0SD0NFeOi8UjdH_a8XPU12ffGTcfDACgvKm_ESwFa8ReAQMn/s1600/Gibbous+Moon+2014-03-12+%5BCF+scope%5D+IMG_1015+%5B40D+RAW2%5D+saturation+enhanced+3+%5Bsee+info%5D+700px.jpg" height="200" width="176" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQa8QCrrnlxtVwrhdom4aBMwZraErCwqb0cmcPyMWyx4p5eGHezKz2jgijDEiiaUeT7a3hUO6GAYU1PMWmRUimyhqqvy1FopuQcmqw7CxwarqVYTrQOeh3RytnOt-iB-kIOIQme5VohK8B/s1600/Waning+gibbous+Moon+saturation-enhanced+IMG_1733---46+%5B40D+RAW4%5D+700px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQa8QCrrnlxtVwrhdom4aBMwZraErCwqb0cmcPyMWyx4p5eGHezKz2jgijDEiiaUeT7a3hUO6GAYU1PMWmRUimyhqqvy1FopuQcmqw7CxwarqVYTrQOeh3RytnOt-iB-kIOIQme5VohK8B/s1600/Waning+gibbous+Moon+saturation-enhanced+IMG_1733---46+%5B40D+RAW4%5D+700px.jpg" height="200" width="164" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Waxing and waning gibbous phases. The images have been processed to enhance the subtle colouration due to different mineral composition; the Sea of Tranquility is noticeably more blue than its neighbours. </span></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgya4nQWCCVuRlKHSlhN1lzbPL5CKb6nue6dUVYHCBw-9b_RAEhWdn9-Jk4VY80gIFKwZAFqPsuhe43nRkn_eqNGkyndWidV3vpdTVLSIe363ndIo9W7uClOojuPn7KxhmcyYXBZfMQfI5U/s1600/Lunar+eclipse+2014-04-15+IMG_1630-3+%5B40D+RAW4%5D+700px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgya4nQWCCVuRlKHSlhN1lzbPL5CKb6nue6dUVYHCBw-9b_RAEhWdn9-Jk4VY80gIFKwZAFqPsuhe43nRkn_eqNGkyndWidV3vpdTVLSIe363ndIo9W7uClOojuPn7KxhmcyYXBZfMQfI5U/s1600/Lunar+eclipse+2014-04-15+IMG_1630-3+%5B40D+RAW4%5D+700px.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_xFX_-wEsU9IA-eyjQTGYbt6tOb4BS_VuKbTkFC25Rxmr0QcTcjRHpSJAvrIcJIZegKyG5-xKsiXdaZ7__lOLFftU0z8alJRVJ60ndQVxQhYb-gNbuBn2pt0gbdet3i9WzZnsQrSQxFHv/s1600/Lunar+eclipse+2014-04-15+HDR+IMG_1687+4+%5B40D+RAW4%5D+cropped+border++1681+%5B40D+RAW4%5D+cropped+border+noise+reduced+saturation+700px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_xFX_-wEsU9IA-eyjQTGYbt6tOb4BS_VuKbTkFC25Rxmr0QcTcjRHpSJAvrIcJIZegKyG5-xKsiXdaZ7__lOLFftU0z8alJRVJ60ndQVxQhYb-gNbuBn2pt0gbdet3i9WzZnsQrSQxFHv/s1600/Lunar+eclipse+2014-04-15+HDR+IMG_1687+4+%5B40D+RAW4%5D+cropped+border++1681+%5B40D+RAW4%5D+cropped+border+noise+reduced+saturation+700px.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The total eclipse of</span></span></i><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> 15th</span></span></i> April 2014. 5 minutes before the end of totality (left), and about 30 minutes later, in partial eclipse (right); the latter image has been HDR-merged from 3 separate exposures that cover the great brightness difference between the shadowed and sunlit portions.</span></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji2dAGCnupv-i-V5w03LmaKfRhZQH4VewR4n5dImKDLXepkFPI_HmG-pncJQ7mJFKqGw-pzxZOUJmq2dmf4yoPcLSVVlmUPr0kAz3MfYmRVXVN1PCU6P8wJ-MhwmygQwpY4Cu0uOwGYwXH/s1600/Waxing+crescent+Moon+&+Earthshine+IMG_1546+etc++1542+%5B40D+RAW2%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji2dAGCnupv-i-V5w03LmaKfRhZQH4VewR4n5dImKDLXepkFPI_HmG-pncJQ7mJFKqGw-pzxZOUJmq2dmf4yoPcLSVVlmUPr0kAz3MfYmRVXVN1PCU6P8wJ-MhwmygQwpY4Cu0uOwGYwXH/s1600/Waxing+crescent+Moon+&+Earthshine+IMG_1546+etc++1542+%5B40D+RAW2%5D.jpg" height="291" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A crescent Moon in two bites, showing the 'Earthshine' that brightens what would otherwise be the dark side.</span></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz0juSC5ekf5Uf5ZDgjACuaZJB8Q_JrcRpj9l4R2CWl3RYWVQ-IVF6ZuTferg4yP56I0UAUM-gDpagUt3b8t0WbF5fT-7qw07w-DfzfV2IM5dq3bIqSWdJV-lT4VkVC3lF_o85ORMqqb9R/s1600/Moon+showing+mineral+colour+differences+2013-09-19+&+2014-03-16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz0juSC5ekf5Uf5ZDgjACuaZJB8Q_JrcRpj9l4R2CWl3RYWVQ-IVF6ZuTferg4yP56I0UAUM-gDpagUt3b8t0WbF5fT-7qw07w-DfzfV2IM5dq3bIqSWdJV-lT4VkVC3lF_o85ORMqqb9R/s1600/Moon+showing+mineral+colour+differences+2013-09-19+&+2014-03-16.jpg" height="206" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">It might just look like 2 Full Moon images, but this is a stereo pair. Try crossing your eyes, then bring the middle of 3 images into focus. If you can manage it, you should see a round Moon instead of 2 flat images.</span></i></span></div>
Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-15209814301651983342014-04-01T22:58:00.000+11:002014-04-01T22:58:10.089+11:00A public bookmash<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I discovered the art of the bookmash—a.k.a. book spine poetry—via Stan Carey, who maintains the blog <a href="http://stancarey.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Sentence first</a>. I have dipped my toes only briefly into the bookmash pond, as it were, and not for some time. Today, however, I found myself in one of our regular charity shops, and thought: bookmash!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I once introduced the owner of one of Brisbane's second-hand bookshops to this practice, and even perused her shelves in search of an example, but have never—despite threats to do so—rearranged any retail bookshelves to satisfy this particular creative urge.<br /><br />If you're not familiar with it, the idea is simple: look at book titles and find an arrangement of them that seems in some way poetic; Stan has his collection <a href="http://stancarey.wordpress.com/tag/bookmash/" target="_blank">here</a>. Today's effort was put together fairly quickly, with all of the books already in one small section of the shelf; all that was required was a little shuffling. Judge for yourself if this is poetry:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgISrwmfzo5uu0nABnZwHeg-39YeUb9ztC2gbKNcUmt7wS1fuPWUf4i_er5KHYhcjzHFHHM3g_tl_uhXE9l2zggU2h3fjeKf9c1v69wIu24yI1jJqL0PBhAQqhBvuNlBBryaMVA5nzqjXu/s1600/Bookmash+01042014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgISrwmfzo5uu0nABnZwHeg-39YeUb9ztC2gbKNcUmt7wS1fuPWUf4i_er5KHYhcjzHFHHM3g_tl_uhXE9l2zggU2h3fjeKf9c1v69wIu24yI1jJqL0PBhAQqhBvuNlBBryaMVA5nzqjXu/s1600/Bookmash+01042014.jpg" height="289" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Tangled webs, kiss, pillow talk.<br />Lies I told about a girl, tangled up in you.<br />The dance of anger; Sunday's silence.<br />The road.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Whether or not anyone else noticed this ephemeral poem is a matter for conjecture … but I doubt it. It's just our little secret.</span><br />
Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-90434050862665242092013-03-04T20:43:00.002+11:002013-03-04T20:53:31.593+11:00More kitchen fumblingFaced with a need for evening sustenance and a relative dearth of raw materials, I delved into the cupboard and the bottom of the fridge. It should be noted that whenever I do this, I will almost certainly produce something that I am more than happy to eat; whether others are keen to join me, might be another matter.<br />
<br />
What did I fancy, and what did we have? Well, I fancied something hot or cold, that could be eaten with or without cutlery. I'm easily pleased.<br />
<br />
Salmon. From a tin, certainly, but I have fond memories of Mum's salmon sandwiches, so it's a definite contender. Vegies: well, there's a courgette (or zucchini, if you will), 2 shallots, carrots aplenty, a few measly cloves of garlic, a red capsicum - oh, and a tin of brown lentils. Aaaand... brown rice. We rarely eat it, although I really like it (but I don't think the others share my liking to the same degree).<br />
<br />
So, the assembled cast:<br />
<br />
1 tin salmon<br />
1 tin lentils<br />
1 carrot<br />
1 clove garlic<br />
1 courgette<br />
2 shallots<br />
half a capsicum, cut into large chunks<br />
dollop of olive oil<br />
shake or two of Portuguese seasoning<br />
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Grate carrot & chop courgette, capsicum & shallots. Crush & chop garlic. Add all to pan with oil & seasoning and soften over low heat. Before courgette is reduced to mush, stir in lentils & salmon. At some point, start boiling rice, then in the fullness of time, mix all together and serve.<br />
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I have no photograph, but it was sort of beige-coloured with various colourful highlights, as one might expect. I toyed with the idea of adding a dash of balsamic vinegar, but decided against. A Lindeman's shiraz did it no harm at all.<br />
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It was acknowledged as worth repeating.Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-87812285558952648852012-09-25T22:31:00.002+10:002012-09-28T21:05:07.799+10:00Wedding Vows<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Do you take this man...? Honour... obey... Till death..."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">All that palaver: promises of lifelong commitment (pre-nups notwithstanding), joyous union, emotional mothers, sodden uncles and wayward children under the table, peering where children ought not to, and so forth. Time-honoured stuff. What if the parties involved are out of the ordinary? Special? Idiosyncratic? Idiotic? What might the vows sound like then? Here are some possibilities:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Teenager</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Do you, Kevin, take Mandy--"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Yeah, whatever. Chill, dude ... We done now? *<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">hey bro you cool for a wave? c u l8r kev?</span>*"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Pessimist</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Do you, Reginald, take Gladys..."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Yes, but what's the point? It won't do me any good, will it? Besides, it'll all end in tears. Or divorce. Or bankruptcy."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Mechanic</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Will you, Mick, take this woman--"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Yeah, no problem. I can take a look next Thursday, but won't know for sure until I've checked underneath. Judging by the bodywork, there's a few miles on the clock, and clutch parts can be difficult to get hold of with these older models. Could be expensive, too, if the rack needs work. Might need to get me mate Barry to take a look; he's worked on these before... sort of hobby of his, like."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>The Lawyer</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Do you, Justin, subject to the provisions set out in Annexe 'A', and without prejudice to your rights at law, take this person, known hereinafter as Felicity; and all of her goods and chattels as agreed heretofore in the Memorandum of Understanding set out in Annexe 'B'; acknowledging an attachment deemed to be of mutual benefit and with equal share of risk to be borne jointly and severally, but without burden of responsibility on either part towards the parties to be known henceforth as "The In-Laws"; wherein this ceremony represents, whole and comprehensively, a binding agreement not to be rent asunder except as provided for in Annexe 'C', under the powers granted by the Secretary of State for-- [etc, etc, and so forth, blah, blah, gasp, wheeze, yawn, shuffle...]</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>The Scientist</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Abstract: This experiment is intended to demonstrate the long-term miscibility and covalent bonding stability - expected to be in excess of 25 years at 20 degrees Celsius - of 2 unique and volatile organic reagents, in the presence of a varying<b> </b>admixture of organic and inorganic contaminants, catalysts, coagulants, heavy metals etc.; such agents being introduced to the mixture at random intervals throughout the experiment. The presence and action of a variety of alcohols is an utterly unknown factor, the effect of which will be closely monitored, and which may prove pivotal to the outcome of the</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> experiment as a</span></span> whole."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>The Art Critic</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"This is a collaborative work that brings a beautiful dichotomy into sharp focus, while casting a murky veil over the consciousness of personal identity and ambition. It references duplicity-as-singularity - a veneer of cooperation in the public eye - while alluding to stark contradiction in its purest form. Ultimately, we are left with the burning and very contemporary question 'Is this a good idea?'"<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>The Wine Buff</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"This is a blend - an audacious one, if I may say so - of widely-differing characters in an attempt to produce something that is at once both volatile (almost shockingly so), and deeply soothing; something with a certain <i>je ne sais quoi</i>, or perhaps <i>j<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="fr"><span class="hps"></span></span></i></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="fr"><span class="hps">e n'ai pas la</span> <span class="hps">moindre idée</span></span></i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">. The liaison between a bright, cheerful component with a light body and long finish, and a heavy - almost thickset - tart and astringent one that ends all too soon, is bound to surprise at first, but time will tell. Probably best laid down for several days, somewhere dark and quiet. Left for too long though, the delicate (and, let's face it, rarely perfected) balance of Magnolia blossom notes with somewhat brusque tobacco overtones and a whiff of ripe Adriatic seaweed could be a disaster in the making."</span></span>Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-8424179568465391872012-08-16T19:28:00.003+10:002015-11-03T21:38:17.009+11:00Bliss<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It's winter. The tail-end of it, anyway. Mid-August, and winter, so I'm clearly not in Scotland. Not that August in Scotland </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">couldn't</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> be wintry, although that would be more likely in June. June snow! Summertime, supposedly, and yet you can see gravity-assisted ice crystals without being fundamentally </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">surprised</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, just indignant.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">No indignation here, now. Not a trace. Except possibly directed at my coffee cup, which has had the temerity to empty itself.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This is suburban Brisbane, and at this moment it's deeply pleasing. Blue sky with more than a smattering of </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">cumulus fractus</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. There is a wind too, possibly around Force 2. If it gets above Force 4, most Australians seem to start complaining; "shitty weather" was a phrase I became familiar with some years ago. Try the east coast of Scotland in February, when the wind is coming off the North Sea (having previously deposited any and all of its warmth over Russia); then you'll learn what shitty weather is. Mind you, I suppose in Alaska they'd scoff: "Scotland? Paradise with whisky."*</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Today, it's about as pleasant as it gets. The mercury is probably sitting around 23, and suburban Paddington is simply a haven. Sitting on a ridge, in my favourite bookshop/cafe, overlooking palms and a variety of broadleafs - deciduous and evergreen - and any cares and concerns I might have, have made themselves scarce. My son's happy place is the beach, in the surf; mine is here, but it's hard to define precisely why, so I won't try. I shall just return in a week or three for another dose, when my batteries need to be recharged.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">* Yes, I know; that seems tautological.</span></span>Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-80119700637803124642012-08-05T16:14:00.000+10:002012-08-16T19:33:24.001+10:00Faster, Higher, More Sedentary<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">OK, so I'm not a committed blogger. <i>Mea culpa</i>. It's a fair cop, guv. For a while though, I was dabbling elsewhere (</span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://ausalba.weebly.com/">ausalba.weebly.com</a>) </span><span style="font-size: small;">and may yet continue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Olympic Games are on as I write, in a land far away. Mind you, they could be just down the road, for all the difference it would make to me. I used to watch a bit of football in my teens, if I had nothing better to do, and Wimbledon used to hold some fascination, but it's many a year since I felt drawn by either. Later on, I found televized lawn bowls appealing - though goodness knows why, given its inherent lack of obvious drama (I find Stephen Fry's attachment to darts quite bemusing) - and have even rolled a bowl or two, with a surprising measure of success. It has to be said though that I am not a huge fan of sport, as either a spectator or a participant.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Surely the Olympics are different? They are inspiring, aren't they? All those super-fit, single-minded paragons of sporting prowess and excellence, giving their all. Sounds about right... Many years ago, in school, we were asked to write a composition about the future of the Olympics. Well, in asking me, the teacher was asking the wrong person, given my ambivalence towards the subject. However, after due consideration, I wrote something about the increasing cost of hosting the event, and opined that it would become prohibitively expensive for many nations. As it is, we see the massive undertakings becoming exercises in brinksmanship, with facilities being completed barely in time, not to mention the failure to recover a sufficient portion of the cost though ticket sales. Still, we love the Games themselves, don't we?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">What I didn't comment on, 40-odd years ago, was the issue of performance-enhancing drug use. To me, that makes a mockery of the whole shooting match (ironic moment: haven't heard of any shooters being chastized for drug use), as there is always the nagging doubt: 'yes, but did s/he win fairly?' It may take years for that question to be answered, if testing procedures have yet to be developed for new doping agents.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The other thing that niggles me is the constant examination of which nation has most medals. I really don't give a monkey's whether China has more medals than the UK, or Uzbekistan. Nations don't win medals, competitors do. If Mark Spitz or Daley Thomson (that dates my interest...) wins a neckful of gold (and does it cleanly), then I salute their achievement. If the USA sends a crop of hopefuls that ends up collectively more successful at acquiring gold, silver or bronze than their Australian counterparts, so what? Nationalism strikes again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I wish all fair competitors the best of luck, and congratulate those who have already stood on the winners' podium, but the simple fact of their being accomplished enough to get to the Games marks them as being something special in the first place. To further divide them by hundredths of a second or by being millimetres closer to a bullseye, seems almost superfluous.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">It has to be said that I shall be far more interested in whether or not the Mars Science Laboratory and Curiosity rover land safely on the Red Planet tomorrow afternoon. Hitting a 3km-wide target at a distance of 250 million kilometres (as the crow flies), and doing so in a controlled manner, is a significant achievement. My fingers will be crossed. For those equally interested, Catherine Q has a post about Curiosity here: <a href="http://www.catherineq.com/2012/08/05/mars-rovers-risky-ride/" target="_blank">Mars Rover's Risky Ride</a>.</span></div>
Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-5009053723273673722011-05-30T20:31:00.004+10:002012-08-16T19:34:01.789+10:00In pursuit of bodily harm<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Horses and fishing rods. At first glance, they don't seem to have much in common. One's got legs and can run like the clappers; the other's good for throwing food to the fishes. Each of these disparate things, however, gives me cause to fear and respect them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Other than a brief few moments as a tiddler, placed in the saddle of a horse that my sister was about to ride, and a trip along the beach on a donkey a few years later, I have only ridden a horse once. Similarly, I have been fishing on only one occasion that I can recall. It is perhaps significant that I was not the prime mover on either occasion, but was encouraged to take part by well-meaning friends or family.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Memories of my equine experience were brought back only too clearly when watching some youngsters about to disappear on a morning's trail-riding. As each horse-child pair was saddled up, strapped in and otherwise properly prepared for the impending adventure, a number of them gathered in front of me, waiting for the off. I watched the nearest horse plodding around, browsing on the grass at its feet, and generally filling in time. As it did, it turned this way and that, bobbed its head up and down, swayed around, and generally did as it pleased, with the passenger taking no part in the proceedings. It brought back in a vaguely unsettling way, my own experience some 20 years earlier: that horses have their own minds, desires, intentions and agendas, plus the nervous system and musculature to put it all into practice. In short, unless you are absolutely in control, with sufficient authority - and the ability to convey this to the horse - you are on a slippery slope.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">With a car, you can generally turn off the ignition and the car will stop what it was doing up to that point; this does, of course, require good judgement, care and attention on the part of the driver to ensure that it is not done at the wrong time, but there is absolutely no doubt who is in control. Any misbehaviour: it's engine off, and bye-byes. With a horse, you have to say, "Look here, I say, would you mind not doing that - YES, THAT!" and so on. Any mistakes and you're cactus. Oh, and by the way - the horse will be quietly laughing at you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A loaded fishing rod, it has to be said, has similar undesirable qualities in the hands of a novice. To be precise, it has a curved piece of metal with a very sharp barb on the end, flailing about on some very fine nylon. Said barbed metal is furthermore designed to become lodged, and remain firmly embedded, in flesh - nominally piscean flesh, but any flesh will do; the hook's not fussy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Now, old hands at the fishing game are presumably possessed of at least one of the following: (a) fine motor control - that in a deaf signer would represent perfect enunciation, syntax and fluency - coupled with the eyes of a hawk; (b) a devil-may-care attitude in respect of vicious puncture wounds; (c) no nerve endings below the elbow; or (d) membership of certain recreational clubs involving leather restraints and whips and an associated pleasure in maltreatment of personal tissue. This must be the case, because when a rod is in the process of being prepared with lead weight and hook (some of which, you may be astonished to learn, have more barbs than a caffeine-deprived shock-jock), the business end can develop a mind of its own that a horse would be proud of. It can appear that the hook/weight assembly regards Newtonian physics with utter disdain: there can be much comical to-ing and fro-ing of hand and line, trying to ensure a satisfactory confluence of the two without dermal perforation, while the hand holding the rod gradually joins the rest of the body in a rising panic, ensuring that proper coordination and control become merely wishful thinking. At such times, if my advice be sought, it would be prudent simply to throw the whole contraption in one direction while leaping quickly in the other. Of course, this does not guarantee an injury-free outcome, but at least the torment and uncertainty will be brought rapidly to a conclusion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">If you are determined to give fishing a try, I would suggest fly-fishing, on a day with moderate but steady wind. Simply stand with your back more or less to the wind, then because the fly has no associated lead weight, it will be carried safely off away from your body, should you happen to lose control of it; in that situation, dropping the rod will put everything out of harm's way. Of course, you eventually have to cast your fly towards the fish, which seems to involve waving the rod around in a somewhat cavalier fashion, with the possibility of all manner of mayhem occurring anywhere within umpteen metres of you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Tell you what: take my advice, and leave horses and fishing rods alone. Photography and aerobic poetry are fairly safe and surprisingly diverting; there is every chance that your body will remain undamaged in such mild pursuits. Afterwards, you can drive your car to the fishmonger.</span></div>
Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-32028194560267623672010-10-27T21:37:00.002+11:002010-10-27T21:42:02.102+11:00A little something to keep me going<div class="body"> <div class="inner"> <div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:10pt;"> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >A gaming table, somewhere in 18th-century southern England...</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, sits with a few choice companions – all movers and shakers (either that or just rich and idle). He is holding a handful of playing cards... a shrewd move on his part, as his associates are doing the same, and he does not wish to appear different – or indifferent. There is the aroma of tobacco and of port, walnuts and bandaged gouty feet; a heady mix at any hour. The hour is late, but it is not yet pyjama time or the wytching houre. All eyes are on Sandwich, save for those on the fine bosom of a serving wench, or those searching for a glimpse of a neighbour's cards.</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >Characteristically, the Earl of Berkshire spoke first: "Come on, Sandwich! You have been sitting there like a haunch of mutton for fully five minutes now. Either play or resign."</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >Sandwich, being the Noble Fellow that he was – not to mention the holder of such illustrious offices as First Lord of the Admiralty and Postmaster General – dismissed this discourteous interjection with barely a twitch. He moved only let go a silent one and to take a pinch of snuff. After further deliberation and scrutiny of his options, he played a card, sat back in his chair, and gestured for his valet. "Higginbottom," he said, for no other reason than the man's name was Effingham, "I am hungry. Kindly prepare me a plate. I rather fancy the mutton, or roast beef if perchance there is no mutton. Wait though – my hands will be greasy upon the cards, and I cannot bear that, so be creative. Chop chop! I won't have that scoundrel Buckingham winning because I am weak from lack of sustenance."</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >The play continued, with the Good Earls doing their best to acquire a considerable pot that was there for the taking, gods willing. Presently, Higginbottom/Effingham returned with a large plate, piled high with what appeared to be a compôte of sliced bread and meat.</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >"What the Devil is this?" demanded Sandwich.</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >"My Lord," fawned Higgingham, "it is the mutton, as you requested, but I have taken the liberty of enclosing it in some fresh bread, that you may keep the grease enclosed and under control."</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >"Capital! First rate! You hear that, Buckingham, you old fool? A manservant who can think for himself. I should think you green with envy, if you weren't already green with a bilious attack." Effingbottom relaxed almost imperceptibly, stiffening with pride at the same time. "What do you call this... creation, Effingsworth?"</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >"My Lord, if I may make so bold, and given that my family name is–"</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >"Excellent, splendid! 'Sandwich' it is. There you go, Buckers, how are your pork scratchings now, eh? Not only can the man think for himself, but he is also modest and loyal. Har, har. I say, Higginsworth, my goblet appears to be void... as does the bottle, since the Earl of Idiocy here just knocked it over."</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >"Certainly, My Lord."</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >Sandwich selected a 'sandwich' from the top of the pile, studied it briefly and then took a hearty bite. "Mmmf... it'f goob; weawy goob!</span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >"I say, you fellows," he declared, once the Noble Mouth was empty, "I think this 'sandwich' thing could be quite something. Possibilities for a business here, don't you think? Damn fine idea."</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >Moments later, Bottomsworth reappeared with a large boxy-looking affair in his hand.</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >"What on Earth have you brought me now, Hilary?"</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >"My Lord, I have been thinking for some time about this, and felt the time was ripe to try it out, if you will pardon the pun."</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >"Yes, yes, of course, but what is it?"</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >"My Lord, I have devised a container that can serve in place of a bottle, so when the Earl of – I mean, so that in the event of any mishap at the table, the wine will not be spilled."</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >"Extraordinary! How does it function?"</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >"In brief, My Lord, I have contained a fresh – but not too fresh – pig's bladder full of wine inside a case made of stiffened parchment, and fashioned a kind of valve at the base, to allow the wine to be released only when required." Effingham demonstrated for the Good Lords, to quiet muttering and comment. After a few seconds, Sandwich piped up.</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >"Bottomsworth, I fear you are on a genuine flight of fancy here. Kindly take that contraption from my table and bring me a proper bottle of wine, as God intended. If He had meant us to serve wine from such an abomination, He would have called this land Aus– ... Austral–... oh, something else! It's England, man, England, dammit! Now be off with you, and spare us all your fanciful notions."</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >***</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" > </span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" >In due course Effingham, now a humiliated and dispirited shadow of the servile man he once was, fell foul of the law and was transported to the colonies; one of the very last to suffer that fate. Once there though, he applied himself diligently, kept his nose (and many other parts) clean, was granted his freedom in due course, and went on to start a chain of wine dispensaries. Several generations later, a great, great nephew had a brilliant idea based upon an old hot water bottle, a cornflake packet and a bottle of cheap shiraz...</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br /><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:small;" ><br /></span></p> </div> </div> </div>Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-36840772938842363362010-08-26T19:48:00.008+10:002010-08-27T07:37:34.732+10:00And the winner is...So. Australia voted. This time, the voice of reason may lie with 3 independent MPs. Will it do us any good? Will the glue hold for 3 years? Will anyone end up insane? Answers on a <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/23348578">postcard</a> please, to...<br /><br />Ah well. It was tedious before, and unexciting now, which might be the best outcome of all. Anyway, while it lasts, why not celebrate and enjoy it with a choice t-shirt? Perhaps this one:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.redbubble.com/people/duncanw/t-shirts/5788597-2-minority-government"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 556px; height: 350px;" src="http://ih0.redbubble.net/work.5788597.2.fig,white,mens,fbfbfb.minority-government-v3.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Pyr8v13Q9Yk_s09aQ5nMu78BbaXsoC53QT60CY42skilBq5QQyNWqAjB9svnvtxJMimZ9VNj4k2LlQdpNQD0moJ6TOJTh6Ivu4IAr11cVllKDZaId8Bg80xVUH11W1tHil1XXmyMQNcx/s1600/Minoritycard.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 271px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Pyr8v13Q9Yk_s09aQ5nMu78BbaXsoC53QT60CY42skilBq5QQyNWqAjB9svnvtxJMimZ9VNj4k2LlQdpNQD0moJ6TOJTh6Ivu4IAr11cVllKDZaId8Bg80xVUH11W1tHil1XXmyMQNcx/s400/Minoritycard.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509661312839495538" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG2WDFGorLJWsJxwXH_BxLWduxfUIpLjtD4gjEXqmvaT6KOyEGe956GIBqlI4593nWa92ese-k8m60zh6AuB5CO0TVYPMvZWbCvFMxdEp5dZ1yf2jo38z3jlURpNoiHVSg6OJuQ76B1b9y/s1600/Minority+detail.jpg"></a><br />Thanks for fellow-Twitterer <a href="http://twitter.com/sjb351">@sjb351</a> for the inspiration.Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-29524218733396623202010-08-23T19:54:00.004+10:002010-08-23T20:02:05.967+10:00Honeyed Chicken DelightNo, it's not a pet name, it's a recipe. One that my beloved concocted recently, when faced with the need to feed us. So simple, so tasty. Here's the vitals:<br /><ul><li>1 carrot</li><li>1/2 onion</li><li>400g chicken tenderloins</li><li>1 dessertspoon honey</li><li>small sprinkle caraway seeds</li></ul>Sauté the carrot (thinly sliced) in a little butter or oil until beginning to turn golden. Remove from pan and add chicken. Brown nicely on both sides, sprinkle in a few caraway seeds (1/4 teaspoon max.), add honey and stir around to deglaze the pan. Return carrot to the pan and stir through until heated.<br /><br />Serve with rice or potatoes and greens.<br /><br />That's it, apparently, so go to it.Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-61283283861753541782010-06-14T23:20:00.003+10:002010-06-14T23:36:58.360+10:00300 WordsHaving discovered<a href="http://300words.posterous.com/"> 300 Words</a> this evening, and finding it a splendid idea, I thought I'd try to rise to the challenge. If I manage to turn it into a habit, I might even become a contributor. Here's a start.<br /><br />...<br /><br />I’m a cat person, sort of. I prefer them to dogs, without question – which isn’t to say that I like all cats, or dislike all dogs; far from it, and perish the thought. Why the preference then, when it turns out that I am allergic to the fickle felines?<br /><br />Let’s see: they amuse me. Well, dogs can do that too, so it’s not just that. They look pretty and feel nice, on the whole. They take care of themselves, without having to be walked, and without one having to pick up biological detritus dropped on said walks. Mind you, I feel somewhat ashamed that they might be nipping over the fence to dig up a neighbour’s precious primulas, but compared to what my son could be doing to their precious daughter, it’s a minor misdemeanour. Not that he lives with us any more, but that’s beside the point.<br /><br />Maybe it’s an ego-massage-thing: that an animal that can be so aloof if it chooses, might decide to honour your lap with its warm presence, is clearly a comment on your suitability as a host. Have a gold star.<br /><br />Cats eat quietly. They don’t drool… much. They can’t be heard a couple of hundred metres away, barking at anything that moves – and several things that don’t. They are not inclined to roll in all manner of unspeakable substances that consequently require the donning of protective clothing and a fixed grimace in order to eliminate the offending miasma. They do, however, have minuscule lances on their feet, which they tend to use indiscriminately when young; adulthood eventually puts a stop to that sort of nonsense, unless they are being tormented (or think they are).<br /><br />Maybe it’s the wide open, love-me eyes, or the I-know-you’re-there-but-I’m-ignoring-you confidence as they walk past, or even that they are a smaller package. Ultimately I’ll just have to admit that Mr Spock would find it illogical. Perhaps I can get some therapy.Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-34963040240002686782010-06-13T18:29:00.021+10:002010-06-14T20:42:33.415+10:00Back in the land of the livingIt's been a while, and there's been a bit of water under the bridge since I last came this way. I've left behind the work of casual employment, and started a job for which I am eminently suited - which makes a change!<br /><br />In April we relocated to Brisbane, so that I could take up a post at the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium. There, I am styled a Support Officer, which means I am one of the show presenters. School shows, public shows, observatory sessions - they're all in the mix, as I show the good citizens and tourists of Brisbane the sights of the night sky and the Universe at large.<br /><br />There is a certain repetitiveness about it, giving the same shows on a weekly basis, but with the changing sky as the year progresses, and the different audiences from 5-year-olds to adults, there is a certain amount of freedom to <span style="font-style: italic;">ad lib</span> in each show and change the focus along the way. Besides, there is an awful lot of Universe to talk about in a 15- or 45-minute talk.<br /><br />One of the fringe benefits for me as a long-time amateur astronomer, is having access to 2 good telescopes - a Zeiss 6-inch refractor and a Meade 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain. The pleasure is somewhat reduced due to the location just a few kilometres from the centre of a large city, but it's good to be back at the sharp end of a decent instrument. While in Edinburgh I had access to the Cooke 6-inch refractor at Calton Hill observatory, although I made far less use of it than I ought to have done, and really became an armchair astronomer over the last 20 years or so.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwNx3PMOKtkugAC0i64_cGF1kn7ev3J4wadPBhwkyhBpjwgbwPsrO0FB8K2taEmeyrA4sgyPmQPI9Esz99Jp8rfenuLhdzHDI2Vott7ifcZ6we1trWhE2Q_KYClzSQFkYuFCnE2BDpVGnO/s1600/Saturn+via+Zeiss+%26+Nokia+-+04062010%28003%29.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 313px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwNx3PMOKtkugAC0i64_cGF1kn7ev3J4wadPBhwkyhBpjwgbwPsrO0FB8K2taEmeyrA4sgyPmQPI9Esz99Jp8rfenuLhdzHDI2Vott7ifcZ6we1trWhE2Q_KYClzSQFkYuFCnE2BDpVGnO/s400/Saturn+via+Zeiss+%26+Nokia+-+04062010%28003%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482221573504937186" border="0" /></a>The Zeiss is particularly interesting, as I can easily mount a camera on it for photography through the telescope. So far I have just done a few tests that need to be built on, but I reckon I shall have fun with it in the future. As well as 'proper' photography with a camera attached securely to the business end (being on a Coudé mount, the scope can support quite a heavy load, which is just as well, since I intend to use my old brass Canons), I have experimented with cameras held against the eyepiece; not the best method, but it can work reasonably well, as this shot of Saturn taken with the mobile phone shows.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnUQpyzDlKh1kFRfStoQeAcg3fmn5wtSCM5Man1HEeeyB4abBkQx3FtuXa-5794x2Vti3CivzoTitSHpef_NHECnpMp2pztrIF8lY3ARxHpj9DWuucm_4x5lLaKkAY6qtHfFtYtduQQhvY/s1600/Sun+via+Zeiss+%26+H62+eyepiece+-+20100612_005975.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnUQpyzDlKh1kFRfStoQeAcg3fmn5wtSCM5Man1HEeeyB4abBkQx3FtuXa-5794x2Vti3CivzoTitSHpef_NHECnpMp2pztrIF8lY3ARxHpj9DWuucm_4x5lLaKkAY6qtHfFtYtduQQhvY/s400/Sun+via+Zeiss+%26+H62+eyepiece+-+20100612_005975.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482213664893783938" border="0" /></a>Another experiment was shooting both the Sun and Moon with a digital compact - still shooting precariously through the eyepiece while hand-holding the camera, but it worked quite nicely. 2 small sunspot groups are visible at top right and bottom right, and despite fairly poor seeing, the Moon image shows reasonable crater detail.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFbad-SmwwvsT6Vw9hb5do_nmiSOuzlwTnz-Ge7Zaf0IkeVnxF7Xz8j76alN5hp9C8lbdk-0bTjju56B1jSIuv3r1hfRud4_bkEwq8RZWLkyjdnkNVPhTn5DbX5do8_uILX6WEg4V5shXt/s1600/Moon+20100607_005869.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 311px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFbad-SmwwvsT6Vw9hb5do_nmiSOuzlwTnz-Ge7Zaf0IkeVnxF7Xz8j76alN5hp9C8lbdk-0bTjju56B1jSIuv3r1hfRud4_bkEwq8RZWLkyjdnkNVPhTn5DbX5do8_uILX6WEg4V5shXt/s400/Moon+20100607_005869.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482224534579705554" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJwoPpJeEyvIojamqAzKuvUCdFQpoHPFqBNvxwCBZ1fYnwEl4hB2XyYG16-KRx-mOoF8yHilg5-EcZoQrW131E-fVYxoyrBWNGvpovFdD3vuVR385a4wiv0f3QMP6DmfBDmlt8LEgDuYU/s1600/Moon+20100607_005869.jpg"><br /></a>Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-20341453342602606292009-12-23T17:35:00.004+11:002015-11-11T20:56:01.461+11:00Watch the birdieAbout 25 years ago, I bought an old camera in an antique shop in Edinburgh. The owner was tinkering with it as I walked in, and I knew straight away it was mine! It was nothing flash, but the design intrigued me. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIyGctmkX_w3xHsa-wPmhsu1557Cc7EN5FOC2iqco3Lws3ONwNmeJNQPG42racxHMWvcNezT7qp6U14hdnW_C4v_1PydnOBIapxjc2EqjDINjby1xVjpFIZ5FdPefMREIwYqQC3Ax5p8xf/s1600-h/Rear+small+crop.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEA1Wzd9YWX5Y3cLi3_3FEhaFrRnnFjoLI9C3WF3o92_WkTuoHwXM-c0XbRjnWM1kJkNqUzyxQDbn6Zd-LgRYoGnoeSlSDeydNsCF93oyTJYRVIGxKS2Wu_iDcLVWt5I8B6hwIUdzFhrfc/s1600-h/Front+right+small+crop.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a> It was made in an age when glass plates were still the standard medium for taking photographs. When I later sought an idea of the camera's age, it was suggested around 1870, predating the Eastman Kodak company by a decade or so. However, the design of the camera means that only dry plates would have been usable (it was designed to hold a stack of plates, so plates made with the wet collodion process would have been entirely unsuitable). Dry plates were in development during the 1870s, culminating in George Eastman's success in developing a machine process for mass-producing dry plates. So, I'd say this camera was built somewhat later than 1870.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKZ86Q6Cklwnty_BBkawfLWj6UqXBD1xO0TmaO6HDhQKko6PrGhlyV-rIjDuomkYE6CdbtY6GeQpgOhV1Wu3yfxI5dbET1Bi4q6RDVaW36k16wv3wWd8sA6zpFq1HIAA9hn1VAEBO0ei6I/s1600/Front+left+20090809_04643.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKZ86Q6Cklwnty_BBkawfLWj6UqXBD1xO0TmaO6HDhQKko6PrGhlyV-rIjDuomkYE6CdbtY6GeQpgOhV1Wu3yfxI5dbET1Bi4q6RDVaW36k16wv3wWd8sA6zpFq1HIAA9hn1VAEBO0ei6I/s400/Front+left+20090809_04643.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Camera front; 1 cord for instantaneous exposure, 1 for time exposure</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj32aD2Beuga_chc9N-Ao0D-1ODkHTkQOFj2hRND1QkUIY81CDsGVojHHY9XlT4z2c7z9mxJTrcLGEf-Xeu-p7UhwX4ynOqDWsFCICEoxJ_CvkzJWAxMttZXy2iA19bWFSbhHBdUwLVPcJK/s1600/Front+right+20090809_04642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj32aD2Beuga_chc9N-Ao0D-1ODkHTkQOFj2hRND1QkUIY81CDsGVojHHY9XlT4z2c7z9mxJTrcLGEf-Xeu-p7UhwX4ynOqDWsFCICEoxJ_CvkzJWAxMttZXy2iA19bWFSbhHBdUwLVPcJK/s400/Front+right+20090809_04642.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Red cord is for cocking the shutter</i></td></tr>
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<br />
I have thought on several occasions that I should try to take a photograph with it, but the design made it a less than trivial task to do so, and I put it to the back of my mind until very recently. I have been tinkering with paper negatives for pinhole cameras, to get the development right for use as a negative, and with this foundation, it was an obvious step to using the old camera, using a small sheet of enlarging paper in a suitable cardboard holder.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHtZQVRhhBrwm5ZyJ0eh1j0BE-keL2MjIsYt99-8JIDixvxpJDp1rc0paIW4a3NKLNtmuyJqqaVbNpjt1oF7U4d0DFURGu0qxFXI-PgRbsZ8MlLYY0WZX0Vm4DG1e2EjxgfmmlhdUTgkvI/s1600/Rear+20090809_04644.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHtZQVRhhBrwm5ZyJ0eh1j0BE-keL2MjIsYt99-8JIDixvxpJDp1rc0paIW4a3NKLNtmuyJqqaVbNpjt1oF7U4d0DFURGu0qxFXI-PgRbsZ8MlLYY0WZX0Vm4DG1e2EjxgfmmlhdUTgkvI/s400/Rear+20090809_04644.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Back end of camera</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBu8aFFB_atDvwvzEm0mxtxl-l69tRUpugNh-YU2308shZS0zorL3zTMgDRAK5vFj4ZyYR7buhn3fEUd5XcC-SAoujMsYuM-sU6TTPVq5HQPOM6fzPSIENzwXYDLXK1U7pVVYKFJvhXpHG/s1600/Inside+of+camera+back+20151109_214455+20%2525.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBu8aFFB_atDvwvzEm0mxtxl-l69tRUpugNh-YU2308shZS0zorL3zTMgDRAK5vFj4ZyYR7buhn3fEUd5XcC-SAoujMsYuM-sU6TTPVq5HQPOM6fzPSIENzwXYDLXK1U7pVVYKFJvhXpHG/s400/Inside+of+camera+back+20151109_214455+20%2525.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Inside of camera back, showing mechanism for lifting next unexposed plate</i></td></tr>
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I had already established a nominal ISO speed rating for the paper, so with a hand-held light meter (a <i>Weston Master III</i>, since you ask…), measurement of the f/ratio of the lens (about f/14 or f/28, depending on which of the 2 aperture stops is in use) and the 'B' or 'T' shutter setting, I was able to give a long enough exposure, as required. Shooting indoors, in a large antique shop, I decided on 45 seconds - manageable by the sitter I had 'engaged' for the job (the shop owner). The resulting negative was somewhat underexposed, as it turned out - possibly the light had changed after I took a reading, and before making the exposure - but with careful digital post processing after scanning the negative, I was able to get a good enough result. I'd like to compare it with any of the plates taken with the camera soon after it was made, but will have to be happy with this modern product.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgp5L0PDTOVNpZw42_YRfqN7hqK-NiHr8ETh82IR0insa_1-OEaqo1yRYycG3haT9U18J8iI_NHHaFYuT4Xzyam7UxF9mJgGZBYjUhKjmRczRoH9nKRghCPiuyb0igtH2g9npFV8xtkU9V/s1600-h/Old+camera+-+2nd+pic+--+David+Mann,+Olde+Memories+%26+Treasures,+Coffs+Harbour+--+unsharp+masked.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418324885542294866" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgp5L0PDTOVNpZw42_YRfqN7hqK-NiHr8ETh82IR0insa_1-OEaqo1yRYycG3haT9U18J8iI_NHHaFYuT4Xzyam7UxF9mJgGZBYjUhKjmRczRoH9nKRghCPiuyb0igtH2g9npFV8xtkU9V/s400/Old+camera+-+2nd+pic+--+David+Mann,+Olde+Memories+%26+Treasures,+Coffs+Harbour+--+unsharp+masked.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 295px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
Now, if I can make a rollfilm adaptor (taking 118 film, perhaps…), I might have something really usable.Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-50731406972858472062009-09-29T16:33:00.004+10:002009-09-29T16:57:22.029+10:00Fishy capersWe don't eat as much fish as we should, so last night a piece of barramundi seemed in order. Eschewing the frying option, I went for steaming it on a bed of vegetables, accompanied with noodles.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ingredients</span><br /><ul><li>500g barramundi or firm fish of your choice<br /></li><li>2 largish carrots, shaved, grated or finely chopped<br /></li><li>2 sticks celery, chopped</li><li>1 large onion, chopped any way you please<br /></li><li>good handful of shredded cabbage<br /></li><li>3 cloves garlic, crushe </li><li>sweet soy sauce (about a tablespoon)<br /></li><li>malt vinegar (ditto)<br /></li><li>oil for frying</li><li>small amount of water or stock</li><li>instant noodles or rice<br /></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Method</span><br /><ul><li>fry onion in a large pan 'till soft</li><li>add garlic and fry another 2-3 mins</li><li>add carrot and celery, plus water/stock (I used 1/2 a stock cube)</li><li>lay fish on top of vegies, add salt & pepper to taste, cover pan and simmer for 10-15 mins, or until fish is just cooked</li><li>stir in soy sauce, adding more water if necessary</li><li>cover fish & vegies with cabbage, and steam for another few minutes, until cabbage is soft</li><li>start cooking noodles while cabbage is steaming (or if using rice, start cooking rice 5 minutes ago...)</li><li>when noodles are done, the rest should be ready</li></ul>This works well using a dry white wine instead of water/stock; with a curried preserve instead of soy sauce; with zucchini, shallots/green/spring onions, fresh asparagus, etc.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Was looking forward to leftovers for lunch, but No. 1 Son decided he'd have some after all - and declared it to be very good - success!</span></span>Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-28542009616397522102009-07-11T17:56:00.003+10:002009-07-11T18:52:18.254+10:00Click #2<span style="font-family:verdana;">A moment seized; a fleeting glimpse. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Contemplation. Possibilities; subtle details, obscure even. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Clearer now, focus sharper. New perspective; comes to life. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Different light, shadows new. Chiaroscuro changes mood. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Quiet thrill; a frisson. Tones, texture; composition gels. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Now from here, lower. Detail isolated, highlighted. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Turn a ring; focus narrows, draws the eye. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Close in, tighter frame. Rule of thirds? Break it. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Nailed it.<br /><br />...<br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfN0CcoduMlwNpnRnUNhcticfJnKjhDVILT_R6mJsxnHhML6Y4yBNkF6mxAsy8NzX-zzCD1mExNE9aBuZmCeJfNsXEMIe__ehhj5MTDBK6cud9eufwa8XTf8yKyqmg79LvA2G9ugByjL8k/s1600-h/EF+shutter+20090711_04255+final+size.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 313px; height: 389px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfN0CcoduMlwNpnRnUNhcticfJnKjhDVILT_R6mJsxnHhML6Y4yBNkF6mxAsy8NzX-zzCD1mExNE9aBuZmCeJfNsXEMIe__ehhj5MTDBK6cud9eufwa8XTf8yKyqmg79LvA2G9ugByjL8k/s400/EF+shutter+20090711_04255+final+size.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357122614294143394" border="0" /></a>Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326287075118726943.post-42326459808928433542009-07-10T10:30:00.003+10:002009-07-10T11:04:56.471+10:00Click<span style="font-family:verdana;">Brass, turning. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Gut drawn tight. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Rhythm punctuates silence. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Drum moves relentlessly. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Tooth meshed with tooth. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Cast iron drops. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Glint of sun on silver. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Shadow sweeps downward. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Motes settle on oak. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Governor spins. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Whirr</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Bell rings out. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Ding</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And thrice more. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">What time is it, Grandad? </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Steady beat of time. </span><em style="font-family: verdana;">Click</em><span style="font-family:verdana;">.<br /><br />...<br /><br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyOw9fG71bJjnXFXhZtAAL0-5W_vSx9SvA0xI5Ryuz66BgK3Gs_KExqCoAyPYoswIeULLMEKo9YtIzWP0wt9PKOSH6GrjjRNVLjPkNAb0sF42bzC1LAA1K9uR5bU6DXQPN-nw3awxS1hWr/s1600-h/Time+20090710_04250.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 292px; height: 389px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyOw9fG71bJjnXFXhZtAAL0-5W_vSx9SvA0xI5Ryuz66BgK3Gs_KExqCoAyPYoswIeULLMEKo9YtIzWP0wt9PKOSH6GrjjRNVLjPkNAb0sF42bzC1LAA1K9uR5bU6DXQPN-nw3awxS1hWr/s400/Time+20090710_04250.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356630744281836226" border="0" /></a>Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12573730243954350196noreply@blogger.com0