Posts Categorized: art + photography

Late Afternoon Walk Through the Last of Autumn’s Bright Glory

Posted by & filed under art + photography, photos + text from the road.

Entry into Kensington Gardens is Alive with Yellow Trees Backlit Sunset behind the Round Pond Bones of a Chestnut Tree Revealed The Last of the Big Bright Autumn Trees in Hyde Park near the Rose Garden

Thurs. 11.14.19 – One of my favorite things to do when I am visiting London is to take a long walk in the park(s) every day. If it is warm, I will only walk through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, but if it is cold I will keep walking through Green Park to St. James’ Park. If I go the whole way to the far end of St. James’ Park, it is 2.47 miles one way and my fitbit is nearly ready to have a fireworks party.

I don’t find this walk boring, as the plants, trees, and animals are always up to something new, and the people are good to observe as well. I will listen to music, or a podcast, or take the earbuds out and listen to all the sounds in the park and the roads near by.

I have several favorite year around trees, but in early spring and late autumn there a few trees that go all out. The above trees and clouds are winning for the mid-November 2019 autumn finale spectacle.

Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her camera phone in the 4pm hour while walking.

London Skyline, Waiting for the Full Moon

Posted by & filed under art + photography, photos + text from the road.

London Skyline, Waiting for the Full Moon

Tues. 11.12.19 – Happy November Full Moon for those of you who can see it. Late yesterday evening, I took the Nikon out to the Embankment bridge to photograph the Full Moon rising over The Shard and the Thames. Due to large clouds hugging the first 10-15 degrees up from the horizon, I was out of luck.

While I persevered out in the cold and damp for nearly an hour before I gave up, I was able to take a number of good shots of the storm clouds and the London skyline. The above is one of my two favorites from that hour.

Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nikon D850 and a 50mm lens on Mon. 11.11.19 while standing on the Embankment bridge waiting for the moon.

Desert Quarter Moon

Posted by & filed under art + photography, oh, california.

First Quarter Moon, CA Route 62

Sun. 11.03.19 – Driving back from Arizona along Rice Road / CA Hwy 62 westbound through the desert just a bit after sunset and the first quarter moon was high up in the southern sky. It was beautiful.

Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Samsung Note 9.

Yashica Mat 124G :: Three Photos

Posted by & filed under art + photography.

Fallen Leaves in the Pond Ice Oxford Street at Night Mom and Canela

11.02.19 – One of my great blog / photo sins of the last year is that I have not posted most of the photos I have taken. The three photos above from last November 2018 taken with a vintage Yashica Mat 124G loaded with Cinestill 800T film are a good example. I posted a few photos from this roll of 120 tungsten film here and there but not here here.

Today, I am resolving my forgetfulness by posting the three best photos from the Cinestill 800T taken in November 2018. The pond ice and my Mom holding her chihuahua were taken on the 8th or 9th of November 2018 in Bishop, California, and the blurred photo of the London double decker bus on Oxford Street was taken on November 24th of 2018.

I have been searching for a in good working order Twin Lens Reflex camera for sometime, of which the thift store Rollei was a fail when I found the Yashica on Etsy for a very reasonable price in early October 2018. Using a TLR is a very different way of shooting film and I was not necessarily fond of the results I got from the first two rolls. Since then, I have only shot one more roll of 120 film in the camera and I have been alternating between using the Sunny 16 rule and an external light meter, as I have more than a faint suspicion that this camera overexposes.

Anywhoo, the above are my three favorite shots from the Yashica TLR from 2018. And why am I posting these photos now? I put in a roll of 400 ISO something in the camera last winter (Jan or Feb 2019) and just found the camera in a box the other day, so I have been shooting with it this week to use the roll of film and see if my thoughts that it overexposes are true. Thus, one year later…

A year late, but better than never.

Middle Aged and Old :: Sweet Pea and Belle

Posted by & filed under art + photography, news + events.

Middle Aged and Old :: Sweet Pea and Belle

Sat. 10.26.19 – Sweet Pea and I are in Arizona visiting / dog sitting the lovely, but very elderly, Miss Belle le Cane while her people are out and about. Our good old friend Miss Belle is now 14 1/2 years old – or somewhere in her 90-somethings. Belle is feeling her age.

Belle arrived to Family Hanen as a rescue puppy in October of 2005 while I was away at grad school. There were a lot of good years in between 2005 and 2019: dog beach, dog parades, dog sitting, walks, playing fetch – and a whole lot of photos.

Belle is still trucking on with heart pills and CBD oil. There is very little running but she perks up about an hour or so after the food/pills/hempoil.

In other news, Arizona is Arizona. It is dry and warm to hot.

Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nikon D850 and a 50mm lens. For the curious, Sweet Pea is a rescue as of last year August and is estimated to be between 6-8 years old, most likely closer to 8.

More Macro Photo Experiments

Posted by & filed under art + photography, nature + environment.

Macro - Aloe Flowers Macro - Passiflora Macro - Star of Persia Flower

Sun. 05.26.19 – Today I went out and about with my cheap Amazon $12 extension tubes for Macro photography. I went out and explored yesterday to see if there are any flowers in Hyde Park that would work to take macro photos of. The answer was yes as late May spring has fully sprung in the London parks.

Thus, I took my extension tubes with a manual 24mm old Nikon lens along with my Nikon D850 DSLR out and took many photos up close. Very up close.

Here are a few of my favorites. Per usual, double click to see the enlargements.

Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nikon D850 at Hyde Park in London, UK.