November 6th – I saw the deer on the scrub between Chasewater Dam and the bypass – just the two, what I assume to be mother and child. They were contentedly loafing, and although interested by the human attention, they didn’t seem nervous, at least until a dog appeared.
I’d not seen he dear at close quarters for a while, and on a wet, grey and very cold-seeming afternoon, seeing these graceful creatures cheered me up.
November 5th – Stopping on the Pool Lane bridge over the M6 Toll to try another long exposure shot, I noticed the lights here seem to have been changed to LED white from the old orange sodium ones.
Whilst the change is undoubtedly for the better, I miss the orange glow and the peculiar light of the older types – but it’s interesting to see a shot like this with such clear and true colour.
November 5th – It was bitterly cold as I headed out just after nightfall on a run up to Chasewater and back to the supermarket to get some shopping.
I’m fiddling with the camera settings, and it’s getting better, but I still can’t find that magic spot I had with the TZ70. Perhaps I never will with this one, it’s an odd box.
I was lucky to catch the firework at Chasewater on a long exposure. I was less lucky at Catshill Junction where I tried repeated shots to just miss the action every time. Still, the view wasn’t bad.
Practice makes perfect, I guess.
November 4th – And then, in the afternoon, again crossing Kings Hill Park on a short errand to B&Q, the twin sisters caught in the soft sunlight of an autumn day, surrounded by turning leaves.
This scene has occurred every year for over a century, and makes me feel safe in it’s constancy.
November 4th – The autumn colours were great this morning. When I started my ride to work, it was in semi darkness and drizzle; by the time I got there it was sunny, with clear blue skies.
Looking up in Darlaston’s Kings Hill Park through a canopy of yellow orange leaves, it felt good to be alive, to be there in the here and now.
It happened every year. I dread the onset of Autumn, and the wily old devil charms me to love in the end.
It was ever thus.
November 3rd – I hadn’t been up on the old Clayhanger railway bridge for a wile, and thought I’d try some long exposure shots. Sadly, the traffic wasn’t heavy enough to make it work well, but I had fun playing around.
I must get around to trying this somewhere busy, like the footbridge over Great Charles Street in Birmingham, or maybe Junction 9 of the M6 if I can find a good vantage point.
November 3rd – Oh well, I guess it’s time to rediscover night photography again.
I came back to Brownhills, and realised I’d forgotten to make a call in Clayhanger, so looped around. The classic view of Silver Street and the canal is always nice at night, but I’m not sure the TZ-80 is as good in low light as the TZ-70 was, or maybe I have to tweak a few settings. I like night urban shots to be hard and crisp mostly, but I can’t quite get what I’m after with this camera yet.
It’s a shame, really; when I played with the Nikon 9900 it was a great camera for most stuff, but the lack of manual focus made it difficult for night use.
My ideal camera would have Panasonic build quality, a Sony interface and Nikon optics. I guess it’ll never happen, though…
November 2nd – I was lucky to pass through Darlaston tonight as the sun set, and the view over the landscape – today, a genuinely black Black Country – was beautiful; once, this view would have been marked by chimneys, stacks and furnaces; this evening, house lights, clear air and the glow of sodium discharge made the urban sprawl look like glowing embers of a fire that caught the clouds alight.
Watching on, like a sentry, the cellphone tower; constant, contracted, monitoring, trading it’s hundreds of concurrent conversations with the ether.
And there I stood, camera in hand, caught for a moment in ideas of technological progress and the beauty of the place I love.
November 2nd – Walsall, on a crisp, chilly but sunny autumn day.
You couldn’t wish for anywhere finer: Walsall may have it’s detractors, but the trees.The mixed architecture. The sunlight.
THis’ll do.
November 1st – It’s coming on winter. That was cold, and a shock to the system, for sure.
Now commuting in both directions mostly in darkness, the cold and the nights are drawing in. Already seeing evidence of the communal madness that commences with the darkness every year, this run up to Christmas is my least favourite time to be on the road on a bike.
Stay safe everyone, and wrap up warm – it’s getting chilly out there.
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