changing seasons | v2 | seven

Image | July 21, 2016July 21, 2016 | andy townend

As time goes on, you’ll understand. What lasts, lasts; what doesn’t, doesn’t. Time solves most things. And what time can’t solve, you have to solve yourself.”
― Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance

Lemon f/1.4 1/500s ISO200

Orange f/1.4 1/400s ISO200

Prunus f/1.4 1/6400s ISO200

Membrillo f/1.4 1/640s ISO200

Some kind of tree that I need help in identifying please 😉 f/1.4 1/6400s ISO200

Olive f/1.4 1/6400 s ISO200

Rosemary f/1.4 1/1600s ISO200

Lavender f/1.4 1/6400s ISO200

In my piece out in the midday sun | 4 I wrote about my decision to go manual with my camera, the gallery above is my first real attempt at doing so (well, at least the first time to do so for many years).

Each shot was taken with my Nikon D700 and my favourite Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4 lens. All the shots were taken with ISO200. I selected an aperture of f/1.4 each time because I was looking for a very shallow depth of field. One side effect of using such a shallow depth of field at this lens (at least in my experience) is that the images are not so sharp, but I still love the effect. The only auto setting that I left in place was white balance which I left sitting at auto. The images were recorded as NEF (Nikon’s proprietary RAW format) which I left at 12-bit (maybe I will switch this back to 14-bit). I used the camera’s on board exposure meter to help figure out the best shutter speed to allow the wide open aperture that I had selected, it was a very sunny day, without a cloud in sight, so some of the shutter speeds were very fast.

I developed the images in Lightroom CC applying the lens correction tools to ‘remove chromatic aberration’ and ‘enable profile corrections’ for the lens that I had chosen. I must also confess that I did also tweak the exposure setting, and add a little sharpening, on a couple of the images, so my experiment was not as pure as my original intention.

But, by and large, these images were as shot using manual settings. I have no plans to revert to any auto settings any time soon, what do you think?

Also, this is part 7 of changing seasons, I missed parts 4, 5 and 6 but then nobody’s perfect.

Oh, and as you can see, I am busy growing a selection of things that can be dropped into drinks, although I forgot to include a shot of my first vine.

for changing seasons | cardinal guzman | v2

out in the midday sun | 4

July 20, 2016July 20, 2016 | andy townend

To the complaint, ‘There are no people in these photographs,’ I respond, There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer
― Ansel Adams

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This post is about my passion for photography.

It is also about the process of learning. In a recent post in this (rather sporadic) series, I featured a photo which I believe was the first that I ever shot. It was of a hovercraft, a futuristic vehicle that like others, including the Concorde, has disappeared into the history books.

That camera was a Kodak Instamatic 25. It was (almost) idiot proof (if not Andy proof). A cassette was inserted in the rear of the camera, a single click captured (most of) what could be seen through the offset viewfinder, the cassette was wound on by a large black plastic wheel and that was it. The cassette was then dropped off at the developers and then the waiting began.
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out in the midday sun | 3

Image | June 28, 2016June 28, 2016 | andy townend

You’re an expatriate. You’ve lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you. You drink yourself to death. You become obsessed with sex. You spend all your time talking, not working. You are an expatriate, see? You hang around cafes.
― Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

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Funny how Hemingway summed up the dreams and aspirations of a group of young teenage boys who set forth on a European adventure. Perfectly.

We didn’t get that drunk, mostly sticking to orange, exotic, Fanta in deliciously heavy brown glass bottles. Oh, and ok, the occasional beer. We were young, I was only thirteen. And being thirteen in the Summer of 1975 was a world away from being so in 2016.

Sex? Well we dreamed of it a lot, fantasised about every girl we had met, and were yet to meet. But sex, as in real, messy, sex. No.
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pure

Image | June 10, 2016 | andy townend

I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet
― Mahatma Gandhi

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for wordpress weekly photo challenge – pure

strawberry fields

June 7, 2016June 26, 2016 | andy townend

Nothing I write here could say any more than the lyrics. Obviously.

So, I won’t.

salamancastreets

living is easy with eyes closed
misunderstanding all you see
– lyrics from strawberry fields forever, the beatles

The third in a series of photographic posts featuring a group of friends hiking in the beautiful countryside in the province of Salamanca, Spain.

El tercero de una serie de publicaciones fotográficas que ofrecen un grupo de amigos en excursiones en el hermoso campo en la provincia de Salamanca, España.

senderismo,la fiesta de la fresa en linares de riofrio, 5junio de 2016
*images taken with nikon d700, nikkor afs 16-35mm f/4 G andafs50mm f/1.4 G lenses*

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face me (!)

Image | May 19, 2016 | andy townend

Fighting for peace, is like f***ing for chastity
― Stephen King, Hearts in Atlantis

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I took this shot today during a photo shoot in Salamanca which I think will give me material for two more posts – featuring pianos and the work of Henry Moore.

But, for now, take a look at that face!

for wordpress weekly photo challenge – face

*shot with nikon d700 and nikkor 70-200mm af-s f/4G lens, no edits*

out in the midday sun | 2

Image | May 19, 2016 | andy townend

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The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.

How could a weekly blog post about the life of an Englishman living in Spain not include a reference to those words spoken by Audrey Hepburn paying the part of Eliza Doolittle in the movie My Fair Lady which in turn was based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion?

Often misquoted as ‘the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain’, or is it just me that constantly misquotes it? Probably. So much for that expensive private education and my success in English Literature examinations which included, as it happens, studying Pygmalion. But, as I said in my opening essay, I like to think my education taught me to think, not to remember things. So there you are.

Anyway, I think it is a reasonably well established fact that English people, at home and abroad, like to talk about the weather. A lot.

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(another) face

Image | May 16, 2016May 19, 2016 | andy townend

I know faces, because I look through the fabric my own eye weaves, and behold the reality beneath
― Kahlil Gibran, The Madman

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I took this shot yesterday during a hike with a group of friends in the beautiful countryside surrounding Ciudad Rodrigo, España. You can see more on my new photo-reportage site salamancastreets.

I thought this one apposite for the weekly photo challenge too!

for wordpress weekly photo challenge – face

*shot with nikon d700 and nikkor 70-200mm af-s f/4G lens, no edits*