Snort!

One of the many interesting things about the Nikon F4s film camera, is that the DX lenses on my Fuji, give me a wider view than designed for. This, for example, is the 17mm I use. It's designed for a dSLR and as such, is actually about a 15mm on a film camera. Suits me fine, allows me to get lumbering behemoths like this rhino on film. Still not all of it mind you, the rhino is just too big, but better than on the Fuji.

Side note, ever wonder how they get the rhino to the zoo? Car carrier maybe? Flatbed? Walked it there? I may never know.

Classic

Naturally, with my love of old things, I still shoot film. In this case I've gotten my hands on a pristine Nikon F4s and ran a roll of film through it.

Too much history to the F4s to post here, but suffice to say, this is a lovely camera. I will be shooting much more in film in the months to come.

Giraffe from the zoo, one-hour processing at the local pharmacy. Kodak 400CN film.

Faded

The saturation here was toned way down, otherwise nothing was done to the image, I felt it conveyed what it needed to as is.

Metal

Somewhere down the journal is a near idental shot with normal colouration. Feel free to compare and contrast.

I think Google scrambles the image names here, but for lack of anything else to call it, I named the picture 'hallowed be thy name' so that's where the metal title comes from.

Visitation

Again, being unseasonably lovely weather this weekend, I went to the big cemetery here i town. I've been here before and got plenty of great (ahem) images so I didn't want to rehash what I'd already taken but instead further explore the emotions these images could evoke.

The following shots were taken in late afternoon, you can just see the moon in a few and as shot, they were almost too cheerful, with the sky being an azure blue and the trees there still holding green.

Adjustments were required to bring the images more inline with the sombre setting.

Thataway

Odd that this ornate ironwork coach wan't a weathervane, but it made for a great image all the same. I used my 17mm on this one, to get a bit of the background farm and area in the picture.

Once

Detail of the headlamp assembly of the BMW.

Luck

As luck would have it, on the same farm as the tractor, was an abandoned BMW. I'm not a fan of BMWs (with very rare exceptions) but this one just seemed to belong where I'd found it. Some surface rust but it looked ready to tackle the open road once again, if only someone would.

Idea

This was the tractor in its original colour, the nose logo too faded to be a detail properly, but the overall impression still worked. The keys were still in it, as it waiting for the owner to return it to use soon.

Tractor

I love old decayed things. They have a sense of history about them, a presence that isn't equalled in the modern age. Thus I'm always on the lookout for wrecks, ruins or abandoned things on my photography jaunts. I was especially lucky with this tractor and made several shots and several scenes with it.

Farm

Some weekends ago, with a nice day, I went in search of something to shoot and chanced across a series of small farms. The next few images are from those farms.

Given the sunny and warm(ish) day, contrasting with the age of the farms, I've adjusted in colour profiles accordingly to fit with the mood I felt each image should convey. Let me know what you think.

Difficult

A Rhino, if it wasn't obvious. Rhinos are big, very big. You see them on nature shows but until you get right next to one in person, it is difficult to convey the size of these animals.

As such, it's even harder to get a good shot of one, especially with fences and whatnot in the way, so I had to settle for the eye and first horn.

Even so, the texture of the skin makes it an interesting shot.

Squawk

Penguin detail. Unlike most of the animals there at the zoo, you could get almost nose to nose with the penguins. They didn't seem to mind, and indeed, several 'posed' for the camera. Unfortunately I'd run out of space on my memory card, so one shot of a penguin was all I got, but it's a pretty good one in my opinion.

Fat

I think these are gophers, but I'm not positive. In any event, just inside the zoo is a large collection of them, and a feeding station where you can buy food pellets to give to the gophers.

I'm fairly certain gophers aren't supposed to be this fat, but I suppose if I was given yummy treats all day, and didn't have to work for my food (other than looking cute) I'd be fat too.

All pics taken with my Fuji S2 Pro and my walking around lens, the Nikkor 35-70 f/2.8

Busy

The weather is been great for this time of year, these past few weeks, so I have been out with the gear. My internet connection has been broken at home (more correctly, absent) so I've not had a chance to upload things until today.

I will start with pics from the local zoo. Not great pics, but I had much fun taking them. The tiger here is somewhat photoshopped, as I was behind a rather filthy window and couldn't get a good clear image, but you get the idea.

Simple

Cold weather really isn't my gig. I want to stay indoors where's it hot all the time. Doesn't do much for my photography I know, so I went out the other day (it happened to be warm-ish) and fooled around at a local park, not really looking for anything special, just to keep my skills up, and perhaps get a little (just a little mind you) exercise.

Anyway, a little stream runs through the park and I thought it made for a good composition, with the mixture of colours, so here it is.