Bills Posts

It started snowing here this morning. It was coming down quite heavily, with large flakes. But the ground was wet and not frozen, so it didn’t settle. Within an hour or so it had all gone.

I could have got up for a walk this morning, but ended up not doing so, for no other reason than just not feeling like it. I really must try and get some walking this weekend. Next week, I would like to get out for at least three morning walks..

I’m going to buy a new camera bag. The one I have at the moment is very good, but it’s too bulky, it’s a rucksack type, and is fiddly to get at kit for things like lens changes (although I’m tending to stay on the same lens most of the time when I’m out.

I managed to get up this morning and go for a walk. It was a good opportunity to give my new winter jacket a tryout. Which it passed with flying colours, I didn’t feel at all cold. Except my ears. Even though I had a flat cap on, my ears were exposed.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen any other reasonably sized ships other than the Brittany Ferry The Contentin come in. It was very nice to see a ferry come in, I thought it was the Commodore Clipper, but it turned out to be the Condor Islander. Fair enough I thought, but before I reached the far end of the promenade, another ship was coming in. This one was the Commodore Clipper. When things like that happen, it feels a bit like a reward, in this case for having got up for the walk.

If I had the time I could have loitered on the waterfront for a bit longer. The Amourique was comming in. I just couldn’t hang about, unfortunately. I carried on with the walk.

Because I was out a little bit later I was around the Cockle pond at the right time to see the striking orange and pink glow of the morning sky. It was quite lovely.

The topic at the club tonight was portraiture. I can’t show you any of the results of tonights efforts as i haven’t transferred them across from the main camera – probably tomorrow. But it dies give me something to write about.

There were two setups; a diffused light with a built in flash, against a black background, and a steady light setup at the other end of the room. We did the modelling; the members of the club that is.

Now, I can say that portraiture is not a branch of photography with which I have had much interest, and to be honest, I probably won’t (holdfast on the lighting set up, which is of interest in my vlogging efforts) but I can honestly say that I enjoyed tonights session, we got to use some nice kit, and we had a bit of a laugh and a good chat. What more can you say? Exactly what we need from a club.

Next week we have another night time walk to see the christmas lights of Gunwharf, and then on Tuesday, it’s the next Projected Digital Image competition. For us, the subject is pastels. Let’s see how that goes.

Last week when we went to Chichester, I bought a new coat. I think it was quite a good deal a 50% reduction in price followed by a further 20% reduction due to my having a voucher.

I haven’t worn the coat in anger yet. I made the decision not to wear the new coat as was still fairly mild. I thought the coat would be too warm.

The walk was a bit later than usual, I left the house just after 7AM. Things were stilll not open but the high street was a bit busier than usual. It was nice to see a pilot cutter coming to the harbour.

This is not a 100% accurate inglenook layout, but it will do for my needs. Amongst other things, that is learning how to lay track, and will include installing points motors, and wiring for a DCC network.

I have a choice of do I put cork under the track, or not? Should use track pins to hold it down, or glue? Luckily there is loads of help on you tube. In particular, one channel, The Model Railway guy has posted some really clear videos, that are easy to watch.

Wiring for DCC will be interesting. I haven’t bought the wire yet, but I am learning about the American Wire Gauge system, which everybody seems to use. Also, apparently, Halfords sells wire that is ideal for that purpose.

I had several opportunities to take pictures today. Unfortunately, they weren’t really on my mind. No particular reason, they just weren’t.

It was a fairly active day, I think I did more steps that I have doe for the previous five days. Not doing anything particularly special, just walking in to town, exploring the charity shops and the works – I even bought a couple of books.

We met up with some friends in one of the shops, one of whom had the latest leaflet from the leading party in the council. I have to be honest and say that if the plans for what is replacing the bus station are accurate, it could be really nice. We’ll have to see if it pans out.

Elayne and a friend went to a show in Portsmouth, to save them having to scrabble for a taxi back to the hard and having to contend with rowdy crowds, I said I’d drive round to pick them up. I spoke to a traffic warden to ask where it was safe to park around the guild hall. She said it was nice to speak to someone polite. I still paid for a ticket. In fairness, the traffic wardens disappeared and I didn’t see them again, so I would have got away with it. Oh well.

This is a bit of a placeholder. With the exception that I was going to use the header picture in our upcoming abstract competition in the camera club.

But not after the judge gave us an education on “abstraction” (is that a word)? It’s quite clear in the picture that the base object is a car, and because of that, it can’t be abstract.

What I need to do is have a good play around in photoshop and make any indication that a car is part oof the picture is removed,

On Tuesday, abstract was the other groups subject. I don’t think any of the pictures shown were black and white. I think it could be a bit of a mess. We’ll have to see.

It’s just over a month before winter formally begins on the 21st of December. These last few mornings, the temperature has been in single figures. Plus when there’s a bit of a breeze the windchill felt negative.

I’m bleating – none of that helps me get up for a walk in the morning. In most cases I just don’t feel like it. I need though to go for a walk at some point during the day.

Back in September Elayne and I joined the Gosport Camera Club, mainly because this is an activity we can do together.

The Club season runs from September to May, culminating in the exhibition in the Discovery Centre. The pictures that are shown in the exhibition are chosen over the 8 competitions (4 print and 4 Projected Digital Images (PDIs)), with the 1st, 2nd & 3rd and highly commended being the main subjects.

Elayne and I are putting both prints and PDIs into the various competitions. Elayne has already had a Highly Commended. In the first PDI competition I did put two images in, but something went wrong, and for some reason they were never shown. The competition Sec could not explain what had gone wrong. It was really frustrating, but at least I still have the images available for the next “open” competition.

Tonight, we had prepared two prints each, and had given them to the competition secretary ready for this week’s competition. The prints were being arrayed on the stands ready for the judging and, would you believe it, my prints weren’t there! I went and had a quiet word with the competition sec, and he could remember seeing the prints, but couldn’t explain where they were. Both in a slight panic, we went to our homes to check. Just as I was pulling in to our street Elayne phoned to say the prints had been found – stuck to the back of other prints. Relieved, I returned to the club.

Of the two photos above, both were held back because the judge liked them and wanted to take another look at them (actually the judge held quite a few back – more than usual). Anyhow, he gave Ooops 9.5/10 and Over the Bridge to Sky 8.5.

Not top scorers, but I was well pleased with the results.

On the 14th of August 2020 I decided that I would commit to doing a post a day for a year. I started with 1/365. There was a point where I remembered that 2020 was a leap year, so I changed it to x/366. I probably didn’t have to do that.

It was quite a day when I reached 366/366. I was quite pleased with myself. Of course I kept going. Things have gone very slightly awry since today’s date is 11 November there’s a gap of 90 days between now and the 14th of August, without quite a bit of effort. I think I will just carry on.

I’m not going to stop numbering. It’s nice to have a marker. There is no denying though, that even if I haven’t done the requisite number of posts, I have been doing the blog for four years.

There’s a thought. If I did two blogs a day for 90 days, I’d have caught up.