“don’t call me Swirly.”I saw the swirly bulb and light fitting, and felt compelled to take this picture. There is no more to it than that. Is this a harbinger of a photo-mojo revival?
Time to start zooming with my feet. I love my Fujinon 18-135mm OIS WR zoom lens with image stabilization. But it is big and heavy. A $100 price reduction saw this Fujinon 35mm F2.0 WR lens coming my way. It’s sooo tiny and cute. The camera and 35mm lens combined weigh less than the 18-135mm lens on its own.
Checking back through my pictures, 18mm, 35mm, 55mm, and 135mm seem to be my most popular focal lengths with the zoom. Maybe I’ll finally end up with four prime lenses. We’ll see I’ll settle for 18mm & 35mm for the moment.
However, there is a slight problem. I’ve been taking so many bread-and-butter, quickly taken, documentary-style pictures for work that I’ve lost my photo mojo (again). I need to get out and find that elusive creative spark and have some fun with the camera and this lens. I have to admit that this picture shows that there is still some life left in the eight-year-old Nikon D40x, which is the workhorse of Ginger’s studio.
Tubby (a.k.a. Rotters) was sitting on the end of the bed and I rather liked the back lighting. I thought I’d try a grab a picture.
Look carefully and you can see his strange eyes. The poor cat is blind in his left eye and his right eye is badly obscured. He frequently bumps into things now.
Luke – Cooling off in the James River, Springfield, Missouri
Drifting with the current on the James River
Feet Up, Taking a Break While Kayaking
Chilling On The River
Drifting with the current on the James River
Drifting with the current on the James River
Drifting with the current on the James River
Tree Down on the James River
Drifting with the current on the James River
James River Northeast of HWY 60
James River Northeast of HWY 60
Great Egret
Luke and Katie have been visiting Springfield for a few days. While Katie and Ginger hunkered down in Ginger’s studio, Luke and I spent several hours in Bass Pro, and on Thursday ventured out kayaking.
The put-in next to the Veterans’ Cemetery that we planned to use was closed. However, we didn’t let that deter us. We simply launched the kayaks from the bank. The put-in seems to be closed for some bridge construction work. There was no work taking place over the water so we took our chance and headed up-stream. We had an easy paddle in quite warm temps (96°F) We quit heading upstream when we encountered the second riffle – though we almost didn’t get that far as early on there was a tree down across the river. On closer inspection we discovered that there was a four foot gap right next to the bank – just enough room for us to paddle through.
When we got to the second riffle there was a nice amount of water running, and we beached the kayaks to take a look around. Luke got his feet wet, and I decided to go one better and had a short swim. It was refreshing and cooled me down nicely for the trip back down river to the put-in.
Getting ready for this afternoon’s trip was a tad harder than it should have been. The kayaks were covered in sawdust from my winter wood-working activities in the Garage. Luke vacuumed them out while I hunted high and low for missing Personal Flotation Devices and the brackets needed to carry the kayaks on the the roof of the van. The problem was I’d tidied the garage and hadn’t got a clue where I’d tidied them away to. It took me at least an hour of moving things around and opening boxes to finally locate them. Tidying is not such a good idea. I think I’ll not do it in future.
An oil lamp, my journal, and unusually for me, a rum and Coke. All by the chiminea.
I wanted to add some ribbons to use as bookmarks in my journal, but I couldn’t find any at a reasonable (low) cost. I bought some colored string instead, but it didn’t always stay in place. So I’ve added charms to the strings to weigh them down. It’s a bit too fancy for my liking.
Three strings – three sections. Bullet Journal, my personal journal, and a small sketch book.
I’ve now found a source of reasonably priced 1/8″ ribbon, so the charms will probably be gone soon.
Really I was just playing with the camera as I’ve not used it in the dark before. All these shots were hand-held.
Despite the heat we decided to light the chiminea. Ginger went off to bed early and I stayed out contemplating my navel, life, the universe, and everything. Fire is so addictive and soothing. I really enjoy the chiminea.
This was a picture I took partly for work, and partly for myself. I needed a picture of Jonathan to accompany an article, and I also wanted to get a good picture of my EFM Mentor, friend, and the priest who officiated at our wedding.
Many people have asked how I got him to smile like that. Well, that’s between the two of us. Let’s just say I made an indecent remark and leave it there.
After a long break, I started journaling again at the beginning of the year. I had been using A5 notebooks because they fitted nicely in my leather TMI binder. The problem with the TMI binder is that it is big and awkward to carry. After a lot of thought and some experimentation, I decided to go with an A6 journal. I didn’t want to spend $50 on an experiment, so I bought some leather for $12 and made one.
I opted for A6 because there are reasonably priced, good quality A6 notebooks available. The refills made for the specialist upmarket journaling brands such as Travelers, Filofax, Field Notes, etc., are expensive and use proprietary sizes. Another good thing is that the A6 journal fits in my pocket at a push. I tried the Traveler’s passport size journal (I found a “faux traveler” for $14), and I liked it, but the cost of the refills made it impractical.
Seen here with my journal is one of my EDC (Everyday Carry) pens, the Pilot Metropolitan. Also shown are some pens I have had for a long time. The silver Parker was my father’s. The tortoiseshell pen and pencil must be 20-25 years old. The reddy-brown Waterman was a leaving present from my University staff colleagues back in 2008.
UK friends and family seeing this might begin to get an idea of why I don’t like driving in the UK. 100 miles of driving and this is about as busy as it gets.
After all the upgrades I’ve had recently, this vehicle was about as basic as they get. It didn’t even have a cruise control.
The visibility was terrible, but I’ve been able to clean it up a little.
The church in the foreground is St. Michael & All Angel’s Church, Hathersage. The imposing white building in the distance turned out to be the less than imposing Hope Cement Works.
When I say the visibility was terrible — it really was, as can be seen in this unprocessed version. But, I won’t be returning to take another picture so I had to make the most of the picture I have. Of course it does beg the question of Breakfast in America: how much post-processing is too much.
Not content with a steam punk wedding, we had to cross the harbour by boat for the reception on a lightship.
Mary Mouse 2
Ian and Neil – Mike & Diffi’s wedding
Gary & Ian – Mike & Diffi’s wedding
Nathaniel – Mike & Diffi’s wedding
Getting to the reception
Mary Mouse 2
Mary Mouse 2
Another special edition sepia version.
Uncle Keith – Mike & Diffi’s wedding
Portsmouth from Gosport
Haslar Marina
Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth Harbour
On the Gosport Ferry heading home.
And even though we’d eaten earlier, by midnight we were hungry again, so when we got back to Portsmouth Gail, Rob, Ginger and I went for a late night curry.
I was going through the pictures from our 2016 trip to the UK, planning on getting some more pictures processed and uploaded when I rediscovered these pictures. I took them at my sister’s wedding (the big event of our trip). I love monochrome photographs, and I couldn’t resist giving them the black and white treatment.
Unfortunately doing so is not clearing the backlog of unprocessed pictures.
In case you were wondering, there was an official photographer — been there done that, including for my sister many years ago! 🙂 — which is why I wasn’t worried about a few squints and odd expressions in the pictures I took.
Wedding
At the Altar
Preparing to process
Wedding Party
Wedding Party
Mike & Diffi’s wedding
Diffi
Ian Ashlyn and Nathaniel
Gary & Ginger
Gary & Ginger
I think this outfit almost got me banned from attending any future family events.
I finished and delivered the photo book during our visit to the UK in April 2017 (for Robert and Gail’s Wedding), so I can finally post my sister’s wedding pictures – and the rest of our 2016 vacation pictures too.
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. Orange and White Trails. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. Orange and White Trail. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. Orange Trail. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. Orange Trail. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. Orange and White Trail. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. Hiking the Orange and White Trails. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. Hiking the Orange and White Trails. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. Orange Trail. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
It\’s difficult to tell but to the left is where the trail used to come up a very steep climb. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. Orange and White Trail. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. Orange Trail. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. Orange Trail. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. An old liquid nitrogen tanker culvert on the Orange Trail. The culvert washed out quite quickly after it was installed in the seventies. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. Orange Trail. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. Orange and White Trail. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. Orange Trail. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. Orange Trail. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. White Trail. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area. White Trail. October 1, 2016 | www.ozarkswalkabout.com | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Luke – Cooling off in the James River, Springfield, Missouri
Drifting with the current on the James River
Feet Up, Taking a Break While Kayaking
Chilling On The River
Drifting with the current on the James River
Drifting with the current on the James River
Drifting with the current on the James River
Tree Down on the James River
Drifting with the current on the James River
James River Northeast of HWY 60
James River Northeast of HWY 60
Ian and Neil – Mike & Diffi’s wedding
Gary & Ian – Mike & Diffi’s wedding
Nathaniel – Mike & Diffi’s wedding
Getting to the reception
Mary Mouse 2
Mary Mouse 2
Another special edition sepia version.
Uncle Keith – Mike & Diffi’s wedding
Portsmouth from Gosport
Haslar Marina
Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth Harbour
On the Gosport Ferry heading home.
At the Altar
Preparing to process
Wedding Party
Wedding Party
Mike & Diffi’s wedding
Diffi
Ian Ashlyn and Nathaniel
Gary & Ginger
Gary & Ginger
I think this outfit almost got me banned from attending any future family events.
Gail & Rob
Mike & Diffi
May 27, 2016 | www.breakfastinamerica.me | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
May 27, 2016 | www.breakfastinamerica.me | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
Neil. Ian, Ashlyn and Marcelle.
Me an’ my brother – Photo by Ginger
Mike & Diffi
Yours Truly – Photo by Ginger
Mike & Diffi’s wedding
Uncle Keith
Portsmouth Harbour
Haslar Marina
Gosport Border Control
Mighty Mouse
Neil, Nathaniel, Ian and Gail
Neil, Nathaniel, Ian and Gail
Neil, Nathaniel, Ian
Gail, Rob, Nathaniel
Gail & Rob
Ian, Gail and Rob
Portsmouth Harbour
Nathaniel & Robert
Portsmouth Harbour
On the Gosport Ferry heading home.
Wedding Rehearsal
Titter ye not …
Wedding Rehearsal
Wedding Rehearsal
Wedding Rehearsal
Wedding Rehearsal
Wedding Rehearsal
Wedding Rehearsal
Gary – Photo by Ginger
Rehearsing my reading – Photo by Ginger
Wedding Rehearsal
Exiting in style
