I‘ve been in a funny mood these past few days. It must be due to the lockdown. I’m still taking new images, but for some reason, I don’t get around to processing them. I think it’s because I’m scared that one day there will be nothing left. With that in mind, I have just purchased a flash for the Nikon D800, with the intention of starting an indoor macro photography project. I did have a dry run the other week and ended up photographing duck feathers in the bathroom.
Last autumn around 40 ducks moved into our garden. Some left a few weeks ago (presumably to look for nesting sites), but about two dozen stubborn individuals remain. We’re happy to feed them, along with all the other wildlife, but they are a rowdy lot. The males are constantly fighting over the females and as a result, we have a lot of feathers scattered over the lawn. I thought I would put them to good use.
I eventually decided they would look best floating on water, but being light in tone, that would require a dark background. The best solution I could come up with was an empty litter tray lined with an old sheet. Balanced on the laundry bin in the bathroom, the light through the frosted glass was ideal. However, as the photoshoot progressed, I didn’t realise the water was seeping along the sheet and dripping on to the carpet. The shoot ended in a panic and my “dry run” turned out not to be so dry after all. As with everything else, the images remain unprocessed, although I daresay you will see them at some point in the future.
So until I begin my new project, I’ve been looking through some old film again. The image at the top was taken around St Katherine’s Docks in London. We had been to a friend’s birthday party in Wapping and for some bizarre reason, I decided to take my camera and tripod along. Before the drive home, we wandered through the streets for a time when we stumbled across these colourful arches. From memory, the exposure was about ten seconds, which thankfully removed all the passing pedestrians.
The image below was taken at the end of a pier along the south coast. My only memory of the occasion was that it was very hot and humid inside and I had problems with the manual focus because the viewfinder kept steaming up.
Steve Cullum
28 Apr 2020Glad that you have a little time in trying out indoor macro – something that I need to try. I look forward to seeing the results 🙂
Zooey
29 Apr 2020The bits are still arriving in the post. I think the flash arrived today, but we leave everything in the porch (untouched) for a few days. I hope to be up and running in some form or other next week 🙂
Sid
30 Apr 2020Ducks, water, floating feathers…
It looks like a magical scene in a fantasy movie 😊😉
Great shots!
Ciao
Sid
Zooey
30 Apr 2020Thank you Sid! I hope you and your family are keeping well 🙂