Autumn Arboretum #1

14-10-18

After the walk to the Botanic Gardens last Monday, Tuesday I took myself off to the local Arboretum, it was a really sunny bright day. Took my old Olympus E620 with the standard 14 – 42mm and 40 – 150mm zoom lenses, because it was so bright I used a polarising filter for all the shots to cut down the reflections from the leaves and bring out the colours. I opened the images in Lightroom  and then edited them in On1 Perfect Effects, really like that program, it’s quick and easy. Glad I went early in the week as the weather has taken a turn for the worse. Took far more photo’s than I normally would so will divide the images into two or maybe three postings.

Through The Trees

Still a lot of Green

Ready To Fly

Pine Tops

Show Your Colours

Old Wounds

Veil Of Leaves

Bend With The Breeze

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Botanics #2

10-10-18

It was a unusually warm day today, 71 deg F. / 22 deg C. Spent the day in the garden catching up on the chores I’d put off, pruning and tidying up, could do with another week at least. The best part was having my cats with me, both of them laying on the lawn enjoying the sunshine, interspersed with dashing around and investigating/supervising what I was up to.

Here are the last few images from my walk to the Botanic Gardens on Monday.

Cheerful 

Fuzzy

Maples x4

Fall Fallen

Seed Pods

Botanics #1

08-10-18

Wasn’t sure if autumn had shown up owing to the hot weather we had recently. But to prevent seizing up I needed a walk, the Botanic Gardens seemed a good idea, an easy 3 mile round trip. So off I went this morning with my old Olympus E620 digital camera and Minolta HiMatic of 1962 vintage. The weather was changeable so I set the Olympus to 400asa to get reasonable shutter speeds with the penalty of a bit of noise in the images.

Lemon & Lime

Autumn Grasses

Contrast

Still Blooming

Hostas On The Turn

Good For The Eye

Soft 1&2

The Arboretum tomorrow I think, it’s supposed to be a sunny day, better for film images.

Botanic Gardens On Film & Atomic Rooster

02-11-17

Had the film developed from my lovely sunny visit to the University Botanic Gardens last week. I don’t mind scanning in negatives too much so long as I have a good supply of coffee, nicotine tablets, and some good music to listen to. A 70’s prog rock selection seemed just right, Atomic Rooster was the first album to hit the speakers, and it brought back memories of seeing them at Leicester Poly in 1971 ish, followed by selections of Camel, Baker Gurvitz Army, Bad Company, and some early Electric Prunes. 

Film Shots From The Olympus – OM101/88, with 50mm, and 35-70mm lenses

I used a polarising filter on some of these shots to bring the colours out and darken the sky. It was my first time using Fuji C200 film (kindly donated by one of my photowalk buddies) I have to say I’m quite impressed with it. 

Mimi and the last Rose

Mimi

It’s not often Mimi is still when she’s out in the garden but something had caught her eye and she was mesmerised for a while.

Last Rose

The last Rose in bloom in my garden, it flowered late because of the poor summer we have had here in the UK. Here’s hoping for better weather next year.

These images were taken with my Chinon CPX film camera with a Chinon 28mm lens, I really like the way film can capture colour and texture.

I needed some colour #2

07-10-17

Chinon CPX – 50mm f1.7

Hadn’t used this camera before so decided to take it along on my visit to the Botanic Gardens earlier in the week loaded with Fuji superia 400. Most of the images were taken with a Chinon 50mm f1.7 and a Chinon 28mm f2.8. The 28mm is beautifully made, the 50mm is a bit plasticy but very good optically, a 70 – 150 mm also came with it and I wish I had brought it along. The camera and lenses cost me £4.99/$6.99/5.56 euro about 2 years ago. The Chinon was good to use, bright viewfinder but the shutter button is quite sensitive. Overall I was quite pleased with the results, especially as it wasn’t a particularly bright day.

Time Of Year Colours
 

Hostas  On The Turn

Seed Heads

?

Photobombed By A Fly

Sculpture “Born to be Free” By Anat Golandski

Fallen Leaves

Muted Yellow

Sweet Chestnut

The Main House

I needed some colour

03-10-17

The weather has been so unsettled lately that I felt the need for a bit of colour to boost my mood. So yesterday I went on a quick trip to the University Botanic gardens. Wasn’t sure if there would be much in the way of blooms after all the bad weather we have had but there were a few hardy specimens and the colour of autumn was just beginning to take hold. These were taken with a digital camera but I also took along a film camera, and when I have scanned the negatives I will post a few shots if they are ok.

Sculpture “Wave”