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Large Format & the Weather
A few notes on dealing with weather while using a large format camera.
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Sphagnum moss
The other day I came across a rather interesting blog post on sphagnum moss. I didn’t know there were 30 different kinds of sphagnum in the UK, nor that the plant had no roots, and just sort of floated on the top of the bog. As it happens, I should have paid a closer attention to that one!
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Scottish Nature Blogs
I was going to write another irate post on the wrong framing of the issues at the heart of the assisted dying bill, but I don’t have anything new to add to the previous post on the subject. So instead here are some enjoyable blogs dealing with Scottish nature.
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A Picture in the Making
Beep! Beep! Beep! I flay about a bit, until my brain works out what is the meaning of the ruckus — my 4.50am alarm clock, a photograph in the making.
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Loch an Daimh
My new Trailstar tarp has arrived, begging to be taken out, and this weekend is the only chance I’ll get till June. Alas, the forecast is for two days of steady rain. But then, what better weather to test a shelter in, right? 🙂
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Warty Cavalier (Melanoleuca verrucipes)
Usually found in the late summer and autumn, this mushroom was first recorded in the UK only in 2000*, and is mostly found in the south of England. Well, this one appeared in my garden in the Central Belt of Scotland last Friday (11 April)! It popped out in an old abandoned flower pot.
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Uber Complex Chief Engineer Fail (contd)
Time for another update on the OpenReach ‘Uber Complex Chief Engineer’ fail. I have now worked out why I am not getting emails from them: their email system is not compliant with email addressing standard, as set out by RFC 5332!
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Caorach, 13 April 1941
A couple of weeks ago I stumbled on a reflection on the Caorach air crash site that I wrote the day after running the Assynt Traverse nine years ago.
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Reclaiming Amateurism
Yesterday a blog by Peter Saint-Andre took me to his much older (2015) post on self-patronage that touches on the subject of an ‘artist as an entrepreneur’. This struck a chord with me.
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Thumbs up for Old(er) Maps
I have a handful of ‘current’ OS maps of Scotland, but most of my paper maps come from the ’90s, and the electronic versions I am currently using are an edition from 2016. There is lot to be said for that, as I was reminded on our walk yesterday.
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Uber Complex Chief Engineer Fail
Last week I mentioned our FTTP case was now handled by OpenReach’s Uber Complex Chief Engineer – I can now report back that it’s about as much bullshit as it sounds. On Tuesday I received the following text from OpenReach:
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Romanticising Romanticism
This is a continuation of a comments thread on the linked Alex Roddie’s post; I decided it’s too long to dump on someone else’s blog (and also too important, to burry in a comment).
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Mamiya 7ii — Second Impressions
The 80mm lens arrived several days earlier than expected (these days it’s far quicker to buy second had stuff from Japan than the EU; another unsang Brexit benefit), so I had a chance to get a roll through in the house to test it and the impressions are also very good.
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Uber Complex Chief Engineer
As far as bullshit titles go, OpenReach’s Uber Complex Chief Engineer has to be right up there with the best of them. Not making this up, this from my most excellent ISP, A&A:
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Mamiya 7ii — First Impressions
Why am I only getting this camera now? The first impressions are very good indeed.
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GAS is a Terrible Affliction
For a number of years now I have been on a quest for the perfect hiking camera. There have been one or two candidates over that time that started promising but ultimately didn’t entirely meet the expectations.