Tuesday 24 December 2013

Christmas Eve lunacy

Yesterday, a dear cousin asked me what sort of camera I used for my blog photos.

It brought me up sharply, as with the exception of last week's shot of the Ivory Gull at Evie, since our holiday in Somerset way back in early September, I have only been using the camera on my phone.

Len and Very Wrong Len have been conspicuous by their absence, which I will put down to me being too wrapped up in the whole downsizing and lifestyle-changing malarkey to worry about searching out and composing photographs.

To be honest, even when I am in the mood, 'composing' isn't exactly the description of my modus operandi!

This morning, however, as I sat at breakfast, the view to the west caught my attention. It was just before sunrise, a waning gibbous moon hung in the sky like a festive bauble and a garland of pink cloud swathed the horizon (hey, there's few trees up here, where else would you put your Christmas decorations?).

So, for the first time in ages, it felt appropriate to use a proper camera. After an amount of frantic scrabbling about under the stairs, I located my optics bag and hastily attached Len, the better to capture the wider scene.



It then occurred to me that, despite the gale howling around the courtyard, it might be possible to use Very Wrong Len to take a photograph of the moon. I have tried this before, at night, and just not got the hang of it, so I hoped that with more background light, it would improve my chances of success.



As the storms that have affected parts of the southern UK head towards northern Scotland, I wish you a Merry and, above all, Safe Christmas!

2 comments:

June said...

Was I the dear cousin? Anyway well done with your moon. Have tried to get it on John's Canon with limited success.
I knew nothing about blogs but m finding your so interesting.
Happy new year to you both.

Imperfect and Tense said...

Indeed you were! And thank you for triggering the blogpost.

For the record, my DSLR is a Canon EOS 450D and Very Wrong Len is an EF 300mm f/4L IS USM. I occasionally use a 1.4x extender.

All of the above are attached to a low spec, unstable platform... me!