Christmas was a little unusual for us in 2017; we had arranged to spend the festive break on the isle of Cumbrae in Scotland. A small seafront traditional cottage in Millport was our base, from where we made several forays exploring the area. As expected, the weather was very changeable, alternating between grey wet skies to freezing clear conditions. Ethan used the trip to fully test the iPhone X’s photographic capabilities, leaving his traditional gear at home. He will be adding a separate review of the iPhone in the coming weeks. I used my faithful X113 for the first time in many months. Below are two separate collections; one from the iPhone X and the other from the X113 for comparison.
Our summer holiday came late in 2017, so while thoughts were turning towards Christmas for many people, ours lay with planning a trip to Mauritius in November. Having never been to a truly tropical destination before, it was our intention to exploit fully the photographic and learning opportunities a destination like this offers. Our walks took us to the top of mountains, through rainforest (with particular emphasis on rain), along coastal paths and through verdant landscapes. Some days were very intense, and on more than one occasion the day ended with muscles screaming with pain and barely enough calories to get us to a restaurant. For us, this is what holidays are all about. Here is a small collection of images highlighting what was an interesting, albeit exhausting couple of weeks.
During November 2017 we visited Mauritius, stopping over for a few days in Dubai. Nothing we had read or seen about it prepared us for the heat and sheer scale of the city. Its bustle and architectural modernity were reminiscent of a JG Ballard novel…testament to mans ability to create a spectacular oasis in a part of the world where a vast city simply should not exist. As usual, our stay consisted of long days with little sleep, miles of walking at the expense of tired feet and insatiable thirst met with litres of water. Did we do Dubai justice from a photography viewpoint? Nope - not a chance. Too little time and too much to see to get under its skin and discover the real city. But we did have a great time recording some of the sites.
We spent a few days travelling around Cornwall during July 2017, visiting the north and south coasts along with a few places in between. The weather was typically English, throwing most things at us except for snow. Unlike Ethan’s previous trip to this part of the kingdom, the rain was limited to one day, leaving us with the rest of our stay to explore beautiful countryside and seascapes. We needed no excuse to pack the car with almost every camera and lens we owned and it gave me the first real chance to explore and use my TL system to its best advantage. Still in love with his Pentax 31mm Limited lens, Ethan favoured this for many of his shots.
One of our most loved areas for local photography is Stanton Moor. Just a fifteen minute drive from Matlock, the ancient landscape offers solitude and excellent photo opportunities; indeed we often use the location to test new gear and it provided great subject matter for a bunch of recently acquired and little used (as yet) lenses. Displayed here are some of our favourites, taken with some of our favourites, notably the Pentax FA 31mm f1.8 limited, Leica TL 35mm f1.4 and Leica TL11-23 f3.5-4.5 lenses.
High on exposed moorland above Glossop and within a couple of miles of the Snake Pass, lies the forlorn wreck of the B29 Superfortress “Overexposed”. One of many aircraft wrecks that litter the area of Bleaklow, Kinder Scout and Derwent Edge, Overexposed is the most dramatic due to the size of the aircraft. The crash site is large, windswept and an unwelcoming mix of ancient peat groughs and bogs…home to Arctic Hare and Red Grouse.
Over the past few months I have been fortunate enough to receive two very special items that have been on my wish list for a very long time. The first is a Pentax Limited 31mm f1.8 lens and the second is an Epiphone Les Paul electric guitar… greedy I know! What you see below is the result of me combining these two passions together. All images have been taken with my Pentax K-3 with both my new 31mm and my Pentax 100mm Macro. The collection stars my Epiphone Custom Les Paul Pro in Ebony, SX Stratocaster in Sunburst, Ashton acoustic and VOX VT100X Amplifier.
In November 1986 I was walking through a ploughed field a couple of miles south of Newhaven, Derbyshire, when something sticking up from the soil caught my eye. Kneeling down I pulled a small and almost perfect flint arrowhead from the ground. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and I have no doubt that if it wasn’t for the light reflecting from the artefact, it would have gone unnoticed. I cleaned the arrowhead in a little water I had with me, which revealed a beautifully translucent and finely knapped item.
Revisiting a subject first aired in 2013 and, being the keen walkers that we are, it was inevitable that over the years, we would find ourselves with an expanding collection of inane subject matter. Sorting through such vacuous output we noticed there were some hidden gems buried within, which formed a (vague) collection we had no idea we owned. Ladies and Gents, we present to you our signposts: the sequel collection!