Take a picture once a day, whether you need to or not

[Mosesandstick]

Ironically now that restrictions are easing I'm thinking about my editing backlog, and not heading out.


2020-07 Martin Mere Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust 003 by Aled Moses, on Flickr


2020-07 Martin Mere Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust 009 by Aled Moses, on Flickr


2020-07 Martin Mere Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust 010 by Aled Moses, on Flickr

[Mosesandstick]

More photos from last summer. If a tree falls in a forest (Hampstead Heath)... It was an interesting tree and I tried to take a few angles to see what worked.


2020-07-17 Hampstead Heath 002 by Aled Moses, on Flickr


2020-07-17 Hampstead Heath 003 by Aled Moses, on Flickr

[Khaldun]

Trees are my bane. They're so interesting in person but a fallen tree or an individual tree that can't be easily isolated in frame but is very interesting otherwise is nearly impossible to photograph in a way that captures how much they grab you visually in person.

[Trippy]

If you haven't already, check out Thomas Heaton's YT channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfhW84xfA6gEc4hDK90rR1Q and his Web site https://thomasheaton.co.uk/ (go to Gallery). Many of his compositions are very much an exercise in figuring out how isolate / frame a single subject, even against a "noisy" background, and his videos go into more depth on his approaches to those problems.

[Khaldun]

Yes, he's excellent.

[Mosesandstick]

Some more backlog photos from another Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, and some birds in flight practice. Reminded me that I need to check out Thomas Heaton's channel, any recommendations for a video?


2019-06 London Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust 001 by Aled Moses, on Flickr


2019-06 London Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust 005 by Aled Moses, on Flickr


2019-06 London Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust 008 by Aled Moses, on Flickr

[Khaldun]

Love shots where you glimpse something through the brush and that stays intact in the shot composition.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Love those pics, Moses!  Especially the duck peeking out from the leaves.  Did you use a telephoto lens for that or were you able to sneak up that close?

[Mosesandstick]

Thank you both for the comments. I was using a telephoto zoom at 200mm, so not that close but not that far. From memory I think I was probably around a metre or two away. It's basically an outdoors wildlife sanctuary and many of the birds are pretty used to having people around, though I wasn't trying to get exccesively close and was staying well behind the barriers.

Funnily enough this was my favourite photo of the set as well, but when I was picking one to upload to 'gram I didn't think it worked well at all on a small screen and picked a different one.

[Mosesandstick]

Continuing to be productive with my backlog, though it won't be long before I'm taking another long hiatus. Some photos from my last real holiday, just before Covid hit.


2020-03 Scotland 002 by Aled Moses, on Flickr


2020-03 Scotland 003 by Aled Moses, on Flickr


2020-03 Scotland 017 by Aled Moses, on Flickr

[Khaldun]

All great. The big bowl-shaped valley is stunning.

[Endie]

Is that Loch Morlich? It looks like the view from the Allt Coire an-t Sneachda or from Allt Creag an Leth-choin, but I don't see the eponymous burns.

[Mosesandstick]

Great eye Endie. You're right, I took them while I was doing a course at Glenmore Lodge. I'm not sure exactly which point I took the photo from. I might take my OS maps out later and see if that triggers my memory.

[Endie]

Great eye Endie. You're right, I took them while I was doing a course at Glenmore Lodge. I'm not sure exactly which point I took the photo from. I might take my OS maps out later and see if that triggers my memory.

Some folks bag Munros but I just tend to walk the Cairngorms, because I love those hills.  It's also handy to be in a range where, even if a sudden blizzard descends or you find yourself in dense cloud cover (Ben Macdhui, I'm looking at you) you know which way to go and recognise individual boulders or trees.

What course were you doing?

[Sky]

even if a sudden blizzard descends or you find yourself in dense cloud cover

Like I needed more reasons to live in my ancestral lands 

[Endie]

even if a sudden blizzard descends or you find yourself in dense cloud cover

Like I needed more reasons to live in my ancestral lands 

To be fair to the Cairngorms, sudden blizzards are rarely a risk from May to September. April and October are the tourist-killer seasons when folks in trainers and shorts find themselves wishing they knew how to dig a snow-hole half an hour after applying suncream.

[Khaldun]

Tourist-killer season, you're making me more and more inclined to move there.

[Mosesandstick]

Some folks bag Munros but I just tend to walk the Cairngorms, because I love those hills.  It's also handy to be in a range where, even if a sudden blizzard descends or you find yourself in dense cloud cover (Ben Macdhui, I'm looking at you) you know which way to go and recognise individual boulders or trees.

What course were you doing?

It's a wonderful place in the world to be. I'm jealous you get to walk it regularly. I was doing a 5-day introductory course to winter hiking. I think the current equivalent is this one: https://www.glenmorelodge.org.uk/winter-mountain/winter-mountain-skills/winter-skills/. I reviewed my maps and I think we definitely crossed Creag an Leth-choin and Coire an t-Sneachda at some point, but I can't remember where exactly I took the photos.

[Jimbo]

https://scontent-msp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/s600x600/272223828_10223556692398250_4787473227276735326_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=1BzJf2cYf78AX_Uuoeu&_nc_ht=scontent-msp1-1.xx&oh=00_AT-achiH5GLPwvifmecfRdTfZUG0LfpPq4zVuE_f2C2UvQ&oe=61FEFABC

[Khaldun]

Um someone else click on that first.

[Samwise]

Spent a long weekend at Pt Reyes and got a few decent shots with my Nikon P900.

[Count Nerfedalot]

Got more time these days to play with my real camera, but haven't gotten anything much to show for it yet.  I'm learning more about composition and hope to dive into post processing any day now (I've been saying that since Christmas).

Meanwhile, my phone is still a lot easier to carry around on hikes that have gotten a lot harder than they were a few years ago.  This turned out not too bad for a midday midlate winter shot on an unseasonably warm day with a phone though:



Might be a nice starter for playing with post processing, no pressure since it's just a snapshot anyway.  

[RhyssaFireheart]

That is a nice composition.  I like the warm light on the inside of the arch there.

[Count Nerfedalot]

Yes, that is what really makes the shot. It's from the sunlight reflecting off the bare rock floor under the arch.

[Samwise]

SF skyline from a serpentine outcropping on Mt Tamalpais.

[Khaldun]

Really like that idea. Feels like it's about two feet away from being stunning, where the city skyline rises definitively above the nearby rocks?

[Samwise]

Here's roughly the same view after taking two steps forward to see over the rocks ("open in new tab" for hi res version):



(edit) Bonus picture since I'm digging through the other ones from that hike.  Every time I'm on Mt Tam in spring I try to compose a "state colors" picture with these two flowers together:

[Mosesandstick]

Some photos I took on holiday back in March (back when I missed all the updates to the thread!) I'm sure some of you will recognise the location.


2022-03 Florida 001 by Aled Moses, on Flickr


2022-03 Florida 006 by Aled Moses, on Flickr


2022-03 Florida 012 by Aled Moses, on Flickr

[Khaldun]

That last shot is genius, but they're all good.

[01101010]

Starting June off at the Stanley Hotel for a few days away from work and shit, and the wife has a job interview tomorrow. lulz... I told her to take it on the porch with the view behind her.

[Mosesandstick]

That looks beautiful, where is it? And thanks for the feedback Khaldun.

Took some photos while on holiday in Mexico near Cancun and managed to find some this weekend to process them straight away.


2022-06 Mexico 001 by Aled Moses, on Flickr


2022-06 Mexico 017 by Aled Moses, on Flickr


2022-06 Mexico 004 by Aled Moses, on Flickr

[Samwise]

Been experimenting with Dutch Crunch.  My first attempt was tasty but failed to achieve anything resembling the signature "crackle".  This morning's effort went better so I had to document it.

[Khaldun]

Looks like great bread.

Also looks like photos from a space probe looking at the moons of Jupiter.

[Mosesandstick]

Is that the same bread as tiger/giraffe bread? It looks much better than the store bought stuff!

[Samwise]

That's the stuff!  It's always called "Dutch Crunch" here; almost every local sandwich place has it.