On 20 January 2014 20:24, Mark Roberts <postmas...@robertstech.com> wrote: > > Hi, boys and girls! We're back form old blighty after a splendid week > in London with brief excursions to Milton Keynes and Oxford. > > We toured Blechley Park with Bob W and Chris Mitchell and his wife and > had a fascinating look at the code breakers' headquarters and then a > nice bit of dinner & wine in Milton Keynes. We chatted a lot about the > rest of you on the PDML and laughed at several of you behind your > backs. Jolly good fun! > > Wednesday was the trip to Oxford and a meet-up with Cotty and wife. > Japanese food for lunch and a brief tour of the "800 Years of Medical > History at Oxford" exhibit. Dr. Lisa was impressed. > > Other relevant and irrelevant items of interest: The Wildlife > Photographer of the Year exhibit at the Natural History Museum. We've > seen it in many previous years but this one was the bet yet. Truly > outstanding stuff. And the kid's division(s) looked more like the > photos really had been taken by the ages indicated (rather than daddy > setting up the camera/lens/tripod and junior pressing the shutter > button when instructed). The Astronomy Photographer of the year > exhibit at the observatory in Greenwich was fairly small but > absolutely breathtaking. The effort and preparation that these amateur > astrophotographers put in is humbling. Brilliant stuff all astronomers > should see (you getting this, Miserere?)
Got it! I'll go right ahead and book a plane ticket to go see it! :-p Funny thing is, everybody always assumes I do astrophotography. I have to explain to them that I have a car, a mortgage, a wife, and now a kid, so no, I don't do astrophotography :-D Our own Darren Addy has started down the slippery slope of astrophotography and I hope he's able to stop before it's too late. > Turner exhibit in Greenwich was superb. He's one of my favorite > artists and this didn't disappoint. We also saw the Spencer exhibit at > Somerset House and enjoyed that a lot. > > The Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons was a high point > for Dr. Lisa. It held my attention for half an hour or so but she was > enthralled and could have spent a day there. She's just been reading a > superb book about Hunter > (http://www.amazon.com/The-Knife-Man-Snatching-Surgery/dp/0767916530) > and has been astonished by the work he did in the 18th century – > brilliant man. We'll be back to this one on future visits. > > If you visit London and like books you absolutely must visit Daunt > Books on Marylebone High Street. Fabulous book shop. Impressive > building. Nice people. > > Photographically I ran the gamut from HCB-style street shooting to > overprocessed HDR photography and everything in between. London and > Oxford are both fabulous places for photography and, for my purposes, > particularly at night. I'm doing more and more experimentation with > the third dimension of photography, time, using long exposures and/or > multiple exposures. I was traveling without a tripod and I really > enjoy the challenge of finding a spot to rest or brace the camera and > then work out the composition by trial and error. I had a blast and > got some pretty good stuff, I think/hope. > > I did almost all my shooting with the DA 12-24 (which saw the most > use) and the DA-L 55-300, the latter purchased specifically for this > trip. It's supposed to be sold only with a camera body as part of a > kit but some dealers break up the kits and sell body and lens > separately. The lens was $179 new, including shipping. It lacks the > quick-shift focus of the DA version and has a plastic lens mount but > it's the same optically, which is to say, superb. An amazing lens and > highly recommended. The 21mm Ltd also saw a little use. > > Now I'm getting ready for the start of school on Wednesday and since > I'm teaching Digital Design again, a course I haven't taught in a few > semesters, I'll be fairly busy, so it'll be a while before I get a UK > photo gallery up (I also have the PDML Photo Annual to contend with). > Hang on, because I think it'll be worth the wait. I'll be right here, sitting down, waiting to see your photos of my hometown. You better do the city justice! Cheers, —M. \/\/o/\/\ --> http://WorldOfMiserere.com http://EnticingTheLight.com A Quest for Photographic Enlightenment -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
