Rust - # 09/59

There's nothing like a nice bit of time-expired Ministry of Defence equipment to excite the imagination.

The Bar Fly does "Textures" - # 08/214

We're back in the Bell Inn East Molesey, built around 1460.

The Bar Fly was fascinated by the textures of the ancient wattle and daub walls, the brick and the rough old oak beams. Of course the "traditional Faithful Dog" had to be included.

So: Olympus C7070 mounted on table with trusty bean bag to steady it; lock in a low ISO to eliminate grainy "noise" and give a nice long, slow exposure to bring out all the details and richness. Make sure the aperture is right to ensure that both near and far are pin sharp; use a remote release rather than timer to allow me to control the moment when to fire the shutter. White balance set to "tungsten/incandescent" to eliminate false "orange" cast from the lights, and give a better white colour rendering. And, naturally, remember to switch off the flash.

Result: a nice clear true-to-life memory of a pleasant evening in delightful company. That's what the "Richmond upon Thames Bar Fly Occasional Series" is all about.

(The photo looks good in B & W, but I wanted to bring out the warmth of colour and texture rather than the tonal effect and drama of the B & W version.)

Crack in the wall - # 08/155

Old Twickenham 1 - # 08/122

Walking through the core of old Twickenham close by the old St. Mary's church (remodelled in the 18th century) we are reminded that this was a very small riverside community, built on a rising slope to avoid floods and take advantage of the good landing point offered by the river bank.

Walking through gives an experience of sudden light, sudden patches of shadow, changes in level, a rich sense of rough texture and vegetable colour, and a variety of angular shapes.

The arrival of the railway changed all that - 19th century urban sprawl took over!

Hitting the blank wall - # 202

Shortly after I had downloaded about 10 days worth of posting shots, and before I had backed them up to the emergency store, my laptop had a serious accident. Google, Microsoft and probably others (but not me - I did everything according to instructions) played a nefarious role, but of course they are legally absolved because I use them at my own risk, don't I.

A friend of mine who is world renowned for photographic skill once said to me "When in trouble, go for Textures". So, for the time being, Textures is what it will be.

This is the Texture of my brick wall surrounding the front garden. Just pray that I can get my archive back soon, because tomorrow you will be getting another Texture (but actually it's rather nice, so don't worry too much).

Joyous thanks for the nice spare computer reserved for my wife. This one remains untweaked in the clean condition as it came out of the box, and that's how it will stay.... NO TWEAKING.