Unexpected Bonus...

Whooper Swan - Watermead - Leicester

Mud Mud and many other things. That was the car park of Watermead country park. This is a large gravel pit that is not part of a low lying country park that stretches for about five miles along the River Soar as it leaves Leicester heading north. It is one of my favourite places to test equipment and get used to new equipment. You can always guarantee a good show as the locals have fed the birds, particularly the swans and geese. As a result of this there is a huge flock of both that just hang around waiting to be feed. Great for photography!

So I went to Watermead to test my latest lens. I have just bought a Canon 500mm and I have to say it is shaping up to be a real addition to the groaning kit bag! I was just going to use the mute swans to give me practice - imagine my surprise when amongst the throngs of mutes there was a solitary Whooper Swan. I usually have to go out to Welney to see this magnificent bird and here it was just feet away. A real bonus!

Click here to see more examples of the Watermead Images.

Change of mind...

I'm having second thoughts about the subject of my ARPS submission. At the moment I have a nominal title of 'Birds of the British Coast'. Now this is an achievable objective and if I am honest I probably have enough photographs already to submit a very strong series of prints. However, this morning I was road testing my new lens and as I did this I realised that there was a significant area to study in recording the ordinary, the mundane and the everyday. Perhaps this is something I should work on? It certainly is a lot easier than spending hours on the road. However, this ease posses another problem - just how do you record the mundane in such a way as to make it interesting? This is an interesting problem to work at.

So what is the answer? Well the truth of the matter is that I don't have to come up with an answer any time soon. I can work at both strands simultaneously and see which produces the strongest results. So lets see how things develop and hopefully I will have a difficult decision to make later in next year.

Website: WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.blogspot.com

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

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Watermead

The noise and furry of a large group of swans is a sight to see. It is made worse by the birds expectation to be feed. Pandamonium is let loose when some actually does feed them. Makes taking photos easier though!

I'm on line at: www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac http://simonmarchini.blogspot.com www.simonmarchini.co.uk I hope you enjoy

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Should I write this?

As I write this there is a little voice in the back of my head SCREAMING - 'Don't Do It!'  Well I'm going to do it anyway.  I think I have fixed the backup problem that I had.  The reason why I have this voice is that I don't understand why the program worked before without the fix had to create.  Well time will tell whether this is misplaced confidence.

One of the reasons why I feel confident that I fixed the problem was when I was testing the program this is one of the photographs that backed up without me knowing.   Having just reread that I am not sure that is a very good reason to feel confident.

It just gets better

Sparring Mute Swans

I have spent the day catching up with my processing of photographs.   I have to say the more I work with the 1D the more I like it.  Now I know I am a big chap and so size is not an issue for me but I find the camera just so well balanced, even when using a long lens.   I have just been out and took some more dandelion seed head shots.  I used the 1D and it suddenly became a much better experience.  Not only is the image processing first rate but I found using my macros lens so much better as well.   Another tick in the positive box.

Anyone for a bath?

The first results of testing the 1D mk III

Mute Swan

I went out to Watermead park this morning to get some experience with the new camera. I have to say I wasn't disappointed. As with any new piece of kit there are new buttons to get used to and I can't say I am proficient yet but the early results are looking good. It seems that the camera and the 100 - 400mm zoom lens were made for one another.

Greylag/Domestic Goose Gosling

Some colourful birds

Domestic Goose

Tufted Duck

The other day I spent an hour or so walking around Watermead Country Park, a local country park.  It used to be an old gravel pit and has been converted into a nature reserve.   One part of the park is now populated by a large number of swans, geese and ducks that have become used to be feed by people.  As a result of this you can get really close to the birds.  This means that you can get some interesting portraits of these birds without going to too much difficulty.