Christmas festivities

This Christmas Santa gave me a wonderful Holga camera but we didn’t realize it was going to use 120 film so were were forced back to the digital world for Christmas photos. No great hardship resulted however, as I got a chance to head out the door with my trusty 50mm f/1.4 portrait lens – an ideal lens for low light photography – you simply don’t have to worry about light with this lens – it shoots fast in just about any situation. And, because it is f/1.4 it has a tiny point of focus when you shoot close up. You get photos that have a small area in focus and everything else is wonderfully blurred. You can ignore messy backgrounds – they simply don’t show up.

I totally love this lens and today, thanks to some totally wonderful food cooked by friends Mindy and Frank, I came home with wonderful presents, a stomach aching from great food and a fist full of food images to celebrate the day. The secret of the photos is to get close enough that you fill the viewfinder with the food but not so close that the lens won’t focus. Make sure the focus is exactly where you want it and go for it…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are Mindy and Frank’s wonderful cats..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, because it is Christmas, here are photos of the cool boxes we have used for years for present exchanges between houses… each time a box goes from one house to the other, for birthdays, Christmas and Hanukkah some of the papers we use to wrap are torn and glued to the box. There are 12 years of friendship and gifts celebrated with each box. There are Barbies, X-Men, Hanukkah stars and Christmas trees – there are M & M stickers and so much more in the memories the boxes contain…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And one photo of some of the funky presents. I have to explain that the snowman makes appropriate Christmas noises and poops candy into his hat – as for the rest of the presents, most defy explanation… sorry, but you really had to be there…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Christmas to you and yours..

10 things for your camera bag

Regardless of where you are travelling to this holiday season here are my top 10 things to have in your camera bag:

1. 3 sets of batteries – one in the camera, one in the charger and one in your pocket
2. Battery charger and a power cable suitable for use wherever you're travelling
3. Spare memory stick or smart card for extra storage on the road
4. Cooler to put the camera in if it’s hot where you are headed (leave the ice behind)
5. Polarizing filter to suppress reflected light for more color in your images
6. Tripod for capturing panoramas, macro shots and for longer exposures
7. Camera manual to refer to if you have questions that you can't resolve
8. Lens cleaning cloths, cleaning fluid and a brush to blow dust from the lens (not your shirt tail – please!)
9. A variety of lenses including a macro lens if your camera takes interchangeable lenses

10. Underwater camera housing for your digital so you can take it swimming with you

Surprising Cambridge UK

I was lucky enough to spend a somewhat damp afternoon in Cambridge last month. The buildings were fantastic and the Christmas decorations were up which is always so colourful and fun.

I walked out through one of the colleges to the river Cam where I saw people punting along the river. It was just on dusk - around 4pm and it was totally picturesque.

Click here to see some of my images from that day.