Tag: Ian Myers

Walkabout in Nantes with the lads from Instagram – Part I

Posted on Posted in Architecture, Nantes Photography, UrbanTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Now and again I do some colour photography, especially with the colours you get from the X100F. Everyone goes on about it, but they really are good. A guy on Instagram wanted to get some people together of various photographic levels, some who know little, some who know a lot, some who have loads of gear, and some who have very little. This was the first outing.

We wanted to get into Nantes during Golden Hour, but somebody had the rather silly idea of making it the “morning” Golden Hour. I, of course, was late. The meeting place was Place Royale, where Kate’s favourite fountain its. Emiliano Sala had just disappeared on his flight from Nantes to Cardiff, and people had made a kind of shrine to him.

They all had DSLR’s with lenses and tripods and the whole shebang. Guys together having a competition to see who had the biggest… Camera… What else were you thinking about???? I turned up with my Fujifilm X100F. Yes mine was the smallest (camera) but I’m fine with that, and I own it!!

But I digress. I usually do black and white conversions and seem to have the process slightly sussed out. The colour film simulations are just great on this camera and I get why people wax lyrical about them.

When I got the X100F I wanted to have a digital camera that was the equal of my film cameras. I wanted something that could open up to F2 and go up to F16. I wanted something that looked good and that got the job done. It’s basically a compact camera, with a fixed prime lens, and is sold as the street photography photographer’s camera, or the travel photography photographer’s camera. Of course it it great for this, and just slips in a bag. It’s light and such an understated chic. I love it! There you are. I love my camera.

But back to Nantes who is the real star in this series. In this first part you see us going from the Place Royale, going to bakery for breakfast and a coffee (I always seem to find a place to eat wherever I am…), heading towards the Tour de Bretagne, which is Nantes’ version of the Tour Montparnasse in Paris, going across Cours des 50 Otages, towards the Castle via rue de la Marne, and having a look at some the of the streets branching off, and ending up on the rue du Château.

Off to see Mum and Dad in Alnmouth

Posted on Posted in Alnmouth, Black and White Photography, Landscape Photography, Northumberland, Travel photography, United KingdomTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

Alnmouth is one of those picture postcard villages that the UK does so well. I have a good few photos of the place but these are winter photos, and I can always share the others with you later on in posts to come. This was the culmination of our trip. I’d been needing to go home for ages. Brexit has been taking a lot out of me, and add on the worries about my Dads health, you get a mixture of all kinds of crappy!

Anyway, as you’ll see in the photos, Alnmouth is the kind of place that will just help you forget everything and it just works its magic on you. My parents hadn’t seen Killian for over a year and my Mum suggested that we go out for a walk. Needless to say, I took my camera with me. I kept falling behind because I would stop to take a photo. Seems to happen quite often when I’m out.

I just felt that I was in the right place. Everything felt fine in a way that it seldom does in my everyday life. I felt at peace. it’s the kind of place that helps me forget. I was able to se my parents. Killian was there too and not at all anxious. It was like why can’t every day be like this.

For the photo geeks out there, I was using the X100F. Here are the photos….

Greyfriar’s Kirkyard, Edinburgh

Posted on Posted in Architecture, Black and White Photography, Landscape Photography, Travel photography, United KingdomTagged , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

We’d both decided that before we even got here we would have to visit this Churchyard with many of Edinburgh’s famous and infamous residents who decided to stay on permanently… JK Rowling used some of the residents’ names for her characters in the Harry Potter books. See if you can spot where Tom Riddle is buried…

It’s a very “haunting” place and is supposed to be one of the most ghostly cemeteries in the UK. As you get closer to the (now closed) section where the Convenanters were imprisoned you can really feel the ominous pain and suffering that they endured at the hands of Mackenzie, and the hatred as you pass Mackenzie’s mausoleum.

Elsewhere there was a feeling of calm. The sun was just coming up over the hill and Edinburgh castle was so warm in the golden hour light.

This little guy, as bold as brass just didn’t care about the photo shoot! He just went around looking for food…

The first morning in Edinburgh

Posted on Posted in Architecture, Black and White Photography, Travel photography, United Kingdom, UrbanTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

It was that time of the month. The month of December that is. In between Christmas and the New Year. Those days where you’re in food limbo and don’t know what day it is..

Let me explain… Last Summer we went on our annual visit to see my parents in Northumberland. My son was working at the time and couldn’t come with us. My daughter had her two parents all to herself.

Towards the middle of Autumn, my father was in hospital and we we’re all very worried. I hadn’t received “the” call to come home but I was in a bit of a state about the whole thing. Wanting to spend time with him etc, and during Autumn and Winter I tend to get very homesick. My parents were about to go on a cruise over Christmas and the doctors said that he couldn’t go, as they “wanted to keep an eye on him.” As it turned out, he didn’t have pancreatic cancer, and just need his heart medication changing. But I felt so crappy living miles away and not being able to do anything, and failing completely as a dutiful son.

I had once jokingly said, “You know I’m capable of coming over to see you.” To which he replied, “You are capable of many things!” Well that had stayed in my mind, and as Autumn turned into Winter I decided that my son and I would go and see both my parents. We decided on staying in Edinburgh, and we could take the train down and see them. All this to explain what the heck I was doing in Scotland.

I got the poor bugger out of bed before the crack of down, and headed down for breakfast. Not just an ordinary breakfast. Oh no. We don’t do Ordinary. I had the full Scottish breakfast and as I was piling up the sausage, haggis, baked beans, roast potatoes, bacon, mushrooms, and the obligatory HP Sauce onto plate one, I could hear my heart saying something that rhymes with “Oh Clucking Bell!” Funnily enough, it had given up when I got the toast and blackcurrant jam, and the natural Greek yogourt, with cornflakes and red fruit. Gotta stay healthy folks! And Tea. Proper tea. I mean the tea that just gives you a cuddle as you drink it. not this French “infusion” rubbish that looks like something the cat did when it was upset with you. Oh no. None of that. I was home!

Right, now to the geeky bit about what camera I was using. As we only had hand luggage I decided to leave the DSLR at home and only take the Fuji X100F. It’s a great little camera and a joy to shoot with. Between you and me, I actually think it’s my favourite camera. A bit needy in the battery department, if you know what I mean… But I take spares with me.

Île de Saint Cado

Posted on Posted in Black and White Photography, Landscape Photography, Travel photography, Wildlife PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

So you now that some of my French family lives in Brittany. Just near to where they live is the Island of Saint Cado. It’s one of those quaint places that you see on post cards. It can get a tad windy in winter, but the last time that I was there everything seemed fine.

So what you’re getting today is landscape photography and some wildlife photography. I’ve always like birds and birdwatching and I’m always on the look out. Today I saw a Spoonbill. It’s basically a big bird that wades in the water and has a beak (bill) shaped like a spoon. 10 out of 10 for originality, eh? It’s a bird that is quite rare in the UK and at 47 years old, this is the first time that I’ve ever seen one. I just stood there looking at him and snapped away. It was like being a child again.

I wanted to test some new ND filters with the 16-35 lens, and as you will see further on, I also had the 75-300 lens with me. All this on the Canon 6D Mark II.

Alignements de Kerzhero

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My mother in law lives in Brittany. In France that conjours up a whole load of clichés; salted butter, crêpes, kouign amann, pretty houses, the sea, granite, and standing stones. My sister in law also is a fan of Photography and the last time I was up there I made damn sure she wasn’t working and we took out our cameras. That day I was using the Canon 6D Mark II, and the 16-35 F4 lens.

When I fist got these photos back I was in utter dismay at the crap that I had created. I thought I’d never be able to use them and they were doomed to be forgotten. However I didn’t want to have a photographic Waterloo (remember I’m in France) and started up Lightroom and tried to salvage something. This is the result of that salvage, and I have to admit that I was very happy that I did!