Author: AK

Last week a wave of nostalgia came over me as I was searching the internet for photographic ideas and equipment . A long time ago I owned the Nikon D3s camera, I have always regretted selling / traded it in, to buy the Nikon D810. The D810 and I didn’t get on very well. Anyway I found a Nikon D700 with a very low actuation count in great condition. With the power of a credit card the camera was now mine all I had to do was find a lens. Low and behold my local camera shop had a mint condition Nikon 24/85mm f3.5 to f4.5 zoom lens that was going for a reasonable amount. Sold !…..Now I have some old / new kit and one is wanting to try it out.

As your all well aware the covid-19 issue is keeping people at home to work I’m not able to work from home so I still commute across London on my bike. Naturally things are quite a lot quieter than normal. The weather yesterday the 26th March was sublime. Cold but great light. D700 has to come out for a test run, I pop it into my rucksack and set of for work late in the afternoon.

Three images of London in late March for your pleasure. What do I think of the “Oldie but Goodie” camera ? Its great ! I love looking through an optical viewfinder again. The D700 files are really very good, you need to process the RAW’s to get the most out of them. But as they are not huge my MacBook Pro easily crunches the data.

25th March, the weather in central London is wonderful. But due to the covid-19 issue most people can’t get out to enjoy it fully as the British government have place strict rules on people and their outdoor activities. In my bedroom we have shutters instead of curtains. Due to the really bright light outside when they are in the closed position the rays of light seem to act as semi focused beams of light, these beams strike the ceiling light creating very ethereal patterns on the wall. It was all very fleeting within a few minutes they had all gone.

As were supposed to be filled with the joys of spring and looking forward to more daylight and better weather with more opportunity to get out and about we have the covid-19 issue to contend with. Here is a small contribution to what’s happening in my micro garden.

The following two images were taken today (25th February) I went out yesterday seeking some hard black and white photos and all I got was a through soaking. Today proved more fruitful, hard high contrast winter light was on offer, it only lasted for a few hours.
Camera used Olympus Pen F with the 12/100 f4 lens, monochrome 2 setting, with some post processing.

Six blog entries in February, if I had planned that it would never have happened. Funny old life.

Three black and white street shots from the West End of London.
Actually I had no intention of doing anything like this, initially I went down to the Thames to try and photograph the city skyline but the weather was dimal. On the way back home with the light, wind and drizzle in my face I thought there are some nice shadowy wet reflections coming off the pavements. Engage brain (not often) camera to zone focus, off we go.

For those of you that live in the UK, you will be well aware that the weather has been a bit stormy the last few day. I had to use public transport to get to and from work instead of my pedal cycle. I took the opportunity to take a few photos along the way. The one above was done at about 05:20hrs on the 10th of February.