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.)

Atlas - # 08/197

Greek myth tells us that Atlas held the World on his shoulders.

The Landlord of the Bell Inn at East Molesey does exactly that. The building dates from at least 1460 and is quite obviously "hand made". One can even imagine it standing here for another 600 years. Traditionally built means "Strong, flexible, robust. A combination of the light and the massive" in this case. The wooden beams could today already be 1,000 yrs old, cut in 1460 from trees in ancient forests.

While the Landlord chatted and made us feel comfortable and welcome the Bar Fly's trusty Olympus C7070 compact camera went into action to catch this unposed natural snap. This camera is compact enough to be discrete; large enough to be easy to set up manually in dim lighting without fumbling.

For the technical: ISO 100, f2.8, 2 seconds exposure, lens at 28mm wide angle. Camera nestling in trusty bean bag on the table.