Had a really enjoyable shoot last night in London with my good friend Parrish. We settled for a while on the South Bank photographing the skateboarders and cyclists with our EM-5's. I think we both realised the limitations of the contrast detect autofocusing for moving subjects, and certainly, I had to pre-focus for many of these shots. Still, I am quite happy with how many of them turned out.After the South Bank, we headed off towards Tower Bridge, and I'll post those images on another post.Many thanks to Parrish for joining me on the shoot; I think we both learned a bit more about our EM-5s! These were all shot with the Olympus 12-40mm F/2.8.
On the way home from Lincoln, we drove due east and spent a short time at Natureland in Skegness, a wildlife centre renowned for their conservation and rehabilitation of seals, several species of which frequent the UK's coastline. They also had an excellent reptile and butterfly house, and a small aquarium. All the shots below were made with the EM-5 and the Olympus 60mm F/2.8, except for the seal pics which were made with the Olympus 12-40mm F/2.8.
A castle dating back to the 11th Century and William The Conqueror, much of it was unfortunately off limits for repair and renovation. But they did have some medieval enactments, and I have presented some shots from that here.All taken the the EM-5 and the Olympus 12-40mm F/2.8.
My sister and her husband very kindly invited to travel to Lincoln with them for the Bank Holiday weekend. Our first stop was Lincoln Cathedral.If there's one thing the United Kingdom does well, it's grand cathedrals, and Lincoln is no exception. Started in the 11th century and taking over 120 years to complete, it is a true architectural marvel. As I have stated before, I have no religious subscription of any kind, but I love photographing churches and cathedrals. They offer no end of photographic opportunities, with mesmerising architecture, stained glass windows and geometry.Hopefully, these photos below do some justice to this magnificent building.
Yesterday evening, I was joined by Jena and Theresa for a photo walk around St Paul's. Jena and I have shot this area so many times, but I think it was a first for Theresa, who was part of the group that had met a week earlier on the photo walk with Nasim. Just to try something different, and in lieu of the overcast skies, I decided to use the grainy black and white Art Filter on my EM5. The filter is applied to JPEGs, which has saved me post processing time, but the camera usefully makes an original RAW file with full colour for each image. However, I quite like the way it has rendered these images, and they are presented here virtually straight out of the camera. After dinner, Theresa and I hung around to help her capture some dusk shots, but we were treated to quite an impressive sunset. I applied a graduated filter to those images in post to acetate the colours in the sky. The last image was a routine long exposure of The Shard, nothing particularly original. All these shots were made with the Olympus 12-40mm F/2.8.
Spent yesterday at Ightham Mote (pronounced Item Moat), a National Trust property in Kent that has a rich and varied history. A beautiful and compact place, the good weather really allowed us to appreciate the reflections of the property in its moat, as well as the gardens and lake. Once again, I must thank the excellent guides and volunteers at Ightham Mote for their generous knowledge and kind help.All these images were shot with the EM-5 and the Olympus 12-40mm F/2.8, except for the last one which was shot with the Olympus 60mm F/2.8.
So, yesterday evening, several other photographers and myself met up in London with Nasim Mansurov from Photography Life for a photo walk. He is visiting the UK from the USA.We started at Trafalgar Square, making our way down the Strand, across Waterloo Bridge and then finally along the South Bank, before stopping to eat at a Waterloo chip shop. These were my images below, all shot with the Olympus EM5 and 45mm F/1.8. I must thank Nasim, as I'm sure all the other fellow photo-walkers do, for organising the meet and for his generous time and help with everyone's photography. I think we all had a great time and very much appreciated his help and insights.
After our visit to Claydon, we made our way over to Stowe, a beautiful garden retreat that gifted visitors with a voyage of discovery along its paths, greeting us with temples and columns, as well as the luscious scenery.Overlooking the gardens is Stowe School, off limits to garden visitors but from where the view was quite impressive. It barely felt like the hours we spent walking there, and these shots were obtained with the EM5 and various lenses, mainly the Panny 14mm F/2.5 and the Oly 60mm F/2.8.I hope you enjoy the images as much as I enjoyed capturing them.
Sunny weekend weather meant an excursion out, and this time it was Claydon and Stowe, two National Trust venues within a few minutes of each other. Claydon is an 18th Century mansion belonging to the Verney family, and has some of the most magnificent ceilings you will ever see. The carving in the pine around the ceilings and door frames is just exquisite, and reflects the lavish taste of Sir Ralph Verney, who extravagance contributed to his financial ruin. The property is replete with some truly fantastic furnishings and chinoiserie, and even has it's own small museum. The staircase leading up to the dome skylight is just one of the highlights.As the interiors were part of a private collection, no photography was allowed inside, so I focused on the exteriors and also the interior of the lovely adjoining church.Once again, I must thank the wonderful and generous guides for their time and knowledge, helping to make our visit so enjoyable and interesting. These photos were all taken with the EM5 and various lenses, mainly the Panasonic 14mm F/2.5.
The final day of our Easter weekend involved a long hike around the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire countryside. Too busy walking to take many photos, but the walk did bring us into contact with some fascinating places, such as Norman era churches and an old paper mill, and we also met some friendly horses. These were all taken on the go with either the EM5 or my phone, the Nokia N8.
Day three of Sal's and my Easter weekend was a little rainy, but we still ventured over to Newark Park, a property managed by the National Trust. A Tudor hunting lodge first founded in 1550, it was restored in the 20th Century, and hosts much interesting furnishings and decor, as well as some stunning views and a penchant for swan ornaments. The grounds are quite beautiful and extensive, and we saw two resident peacocks, one perched in a nearby tree and the other on a bench. All these shots were made with the EM5 and various lenses.
Day two, we headed to Gloucestershire, back to Sally's place. And Along the way we stopped off at Cam Peak to take in the views as the evening light waned. The River Severn is visible in the distance in a few of the photos.These were taken with the Olympuses 45mm F/1.8 and 60mm F/2.8, not traditionally landscape lens but there we are. Not every landscape shot needs to be wide. I'm not a seasoned landscape shooter but hopefully these images will demonstrate how beautiful the English countryside , and specifically, the West Country, can be.
Just had a fantastic four day Easter weekend in the company of my good friend Sally, and our first stop on Good Friday was this National Trust venue. A beautiful property in the scenic Kent countryside, Knole was the former show home of the Archbishop Of Canterbury.Photography was not allowed inside owing to the private collection, but I can tell you that the furnishings and paintings were quite stunning, and definitely worth the visit.The extensive grounds around the property are frequented by fallow deer, descended from a time when they were introduced to the area for hunting.These photos are mainly of the exteriors of the grounds, and shot with the EM5.
Weather was good last week, so I made a trip to Audley End House And Garden in Essex. Managed by English Heritage, it is a magnificent property with fantastic interiors and furnishings, with each room being more impressive than the last. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside the house except in the nursery, so most of these photos were taken around the grounds, which were extensive and equally decorative. The gardeners have obviously worked extremely hard to make such beautiful floral displays to the rear of the house and in the rose garden. I did take some photos in adjoining buildings and rooms such as the laundry and kitchen. There were also the stables, which are one of the oldest functional stables in the country. As ever, the guides were very friendly and generous with their time and knowledge. If you can, please make your own visit to this terrific place.
After the Chocolate Festival, we headed down to Regent's Park to catch some of the spring flora and fauna. We were fortunate that the herons were so close, and there are many photos of them here simply because I was impressed by how sharply the Olympus 60mm caught them. There are a few flora photos below them. I spent the entire day with this one lens attached to my EM-5 and I was able to get some pleasing captures, both at the Chocolate festival and Regent's Park. Just proves that a single focal length isn't necessarily a limitation.Hope you enjoy the photos.
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