It was a bit overcast and wet today, so I thought it would be ideal conditions for some images of the flowering shrubs and plants in my garden. So armed with the Olympus E-M1 and two lenses here are the results, I hope you enjoy the beauty of nature as I do at this time of year.
Lavender Azalea
I do enjoy a day out with the camera, so a trip to the capital city was the plan, with a view to walking along the northern bank of the river Thames towards the Palace of Westminster, better known as the houses of parliament. From there crossing Westminster bridge and walking along the Southbank to the Millennium Bridge, back over the river to St Pauls and then down to Tower bridge and finally back to Blackfriars. That should take up most of the day allowing for a few stops for photos.
The journey started with a train ride to Blackfriars station, on arrival I decided to have a bite to eat saving some space in my bag for my jacket, that I certainly didn’t need. It wasn’t a gourmet feast just a roll and a packet of crisps followed by a couple of wine gums.
The walk down to Westminster was fairly quick, the reason being that I drunk too much water on the train up and was desperate for the toilet. I would have used the toilets at Blackfriars, but it was just my luck that they were out of order, so I had to wait until reaching Waterloo (oh how appropriate). At least they didn’t charge unlike at Blackfriars where they charge you 30 pence, the problem is I can remember when it was a penny, hence the saying “spend a penny”.
Just after Waterloo station, I saw Princess Anne being driven in a car that was escorted by several Police outriders and two other vehicles, she was probably only going down to the supermarket 😉.
I crossed the river via Westminster bridge hoping to capture a long exposure shot of the Parliament buildings, only to find they had the builders in with lots of scaffolding up. I do now recall a news article about the work required on the crumbling building, so I just took a quick shot with the camera phone instead.
The Palace of Westminster Lumia 930 4.46mm @F2.4 1/1200 sec ISO 64
The majority of the images you will see in this post will be long exposures using the Olympus Live Bulb feature, with a combination of Lee Filters Seven5 Neutral Density (Big and Little Stopper), sometimes with a Polariser and or Graduated filter.
The start of this walk involves public transport by train, so a change at Brighton boarding an ageing diesel train on the line out to Worthing. So the plan was to get off at Shoreham and walk around Shoreham harbour, well that failed as I turned the wrong way and ended up on the wrong side of the water. I couldn’t be bothered to walk the mile or so back to start again so carried on, maybe that will have to wait for another day.
The path takes you across the harbour to a sluice gate, arriving at the beach I found that the wind was certainly turning the blades of the wind turbines.
Olympus EM-1 17mm @F11 4.0 sec ISO 200
I had planned to do this walk for some time so packed the camera bag and set off, however when I arrived it was just starting to rain only light to start with, but was getting heavier and heavier, so I abandoned and planned to return when it was a better day, that day arrived so I set off again.
The good thing about driving to Seaford is that parking along the seafront is free, yes free in this day and age, would you believe it. I parked at the far end nearest the cliffs and ascended the hill by the golf course. The view was spectacular looking back towards the town with Newhaven harbour in the distance.
Olympus EM-1 17mm @F11 1/100sec ISO200
Lumia 930 4.46mm @F2.4 1/50sec ISO 64
I am a big fan of these type of posts as I am interested in the technology, as well as the art of photography. So this is what is currently in my bag (that should be bags, as I don’t have one large enough for all my gear).
My cameras of choice are the Olympus OM-D series, the Sony A7R and the RX100 II. The Olympus OM-D series cameras are very customisable and are full of very useful features, the Sony’s are not so customisable, but do have the larger sensor. Although I have chosen both manufacturers for different reasons, ultimately I chose them both for their image quality and portability. Continue reading
Well here goes my very first blog post, the reasons why I started this and what I plan to do with it.
I have been meaning to start this blog for some time now, in fact, it was a New Year’s resolution but I kept putting it off until now. I have been a photography enthusiast since I can remember, borrowing the family camera for a school trip or holiday, until finally investing my hard earned money in purchasing my first SLR camera a Zenith EM. My second camera was much better, an Olympus OM-10, and I still fondly remember it, very compact especially with the only lens I owned, a 50mm Zuiko F1.8. So this blog will be my thoughts and actions while wandering ‘through life with a camera’. Continue reading
Nigel Burley Photography 