More Than I Can Chew?

I started a new photo challenge today. Having finally lost the will to live waiting for Hipstamatic support to be able to provide me with a way to download the old photo’s I’ve posted to Ogle that I don’t have copies of, I created a new blog and decided to make do with the ones I have saved and to start again with the rest.

I made a spreadsheet (I do love a spreadsheet) to work out which combinations I already have and how many combinations there are altogether and at the moment there are 10,890 possible combinations of lens/film in my collection. This is going to take years! Have I bitten off more than I can chew? Possibly, but there’s no deadline. This could end up being a lifelong challenge, especially if I’m tempted to get any more lenses or films as they release new ones.

I decided to create a stand-alone blog for it instead of adding the images to my About Time blog with the other quests as there are so many photographs to take it will take up all the memory and I really want it to remain a free blog so maybe it will stay out there in the world long after I’ve gone.

I’ve been working out which combinations I’ve already taken photographs with have and adding them to a album then uploading them as posts and film galleries on my Hipstamatic Quest blog today. It’s going to take a while but at least there will be regular content going onto the blog so maybe it’ll get a bit of a following. I hope it’ll kick start some photographic creativity, it feels like I’ve stagnated for a while, even if it is with my iPhone not the DSLR.

Update 06/10/2019 – I was given a few extra lenses by Hipstamatic support as a gift for taking so long to respond. I foolishly accepted and now there are 11865 combinations! This may take me the rest of my life 🤣🤣

Update 25/08/2020 I bought more films and lenses! There are now 12321 possible combinations – step away from the Hipstamart now!

Photographic Advent Calendar 2018

This years photo advent calendar. The challenge – a photo every day between the 1st and the 24th of December of something vaguely festive.

Camera

One of the things on the list for the Photographic Scavenger Hunt 101 was ‘My Camera’.

I have a few, quite a few, probably too many (can you have too many ?) cameras, film and digital, that I have collected over the years.

I was going to post a photograph of my usual weapon of choice my Canon 7D, it’s a great digital SLR and the camera that I use for all photoshoots and when I want to be sure of capturing the best quality I can.

If I have to choose one it’s always going to be my first. The camera that fired the passion, a gift from my parents in 1980, it still works, it still gets used and I still love it. My Zenith EM. Russian, tough and built to last (and with my track record with caring for technology that’s an essential quality).

 

The Rollright Stones

The Rollright Stones is a complex of three Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monuments in the Cotswolds, the postcode address for it is OX7 5QB if you want to visit.

The complex consists of three main elements, The Kings Men stone circle, the King Stone, and the Whispering Knights.

The oldest, the Whispering Knights dolmen, is early Neolithic, circa 3,800-3,500 BC, the King’s Men stone circle is late Neolithic, circa 2,500 BC; and the King Stone is early to middle Bronze Age, circa 1,500 BC.

The Stones are made of natural boulders of Jurassic oolitic limestone which forms the bulk of the Cotswold hills. This stone has been used extensively in the region for building everything from churches and houses to stone walls. The boulders used to construct the Rollright Stones were probably collected from within 500m of the site.

In 2012, inspired by the legend of the Witch and the King, the environmental artist David Gosling created a wooden sculpture of a witch. This was made of the branches of Wellingtonia trees that were donated by The National Trust’s Compton Verney property, and held together with wire. The sculpture lasted for over a year but eventually succumbed to the forces of nature.

(text from the Rollright Stones website)

There is another temporary sculpture there now, also created by David and his son Adam – The Three Fairies 

Cloth, or gifts, tied to trees is an ancient tradition.  I believe it is a physical representation of a prayer or wish in which the help of Nature Spirits and Deities is asked for but I haven’t been able to find anything that explains this fully so if anyone knows more about it please let me know. The trees around the Rollrite stones are adorned with ribbons, flowers and other gifts. Some people see this as litter which I think is sad, as long as people consider the environment when choosing what to leave and don’t damage the trees I don’t see the problem and the wishes and prayers will mean a lot to someone and I believe should be left where they have been placed.

It’s a very peaceful pace to visit and a lovely place to go for a walk. The Stones are famously uncountable and it is said no one ever counts the same number twice.

 

 

Time Out

(Artistic Temperament Scavenger Hunt – Smoke)

SaveSave

SaveSave

Massa Marittima

We recently spent a lovely, very relaxing, week in Tuscany. We stayed at the beautiful Valdonica Winery (more about Valdonica in a post to follow) nr Sassofortino. We spent the week touring the area and visiting some of the beautiful, mediaeval, walled towns and villages and enjoying the hospitality, the rejuvenation and the wine of Valdonica.

One of the cities was Massa Marittima, founded by the Etruscans, with it’s history closely linked to the Copper and Silver mines nearby.

At the centre of Piazza Garibaldi is Saint Cerbone’s Cathedral, first built in a pre-Romanesque style in the 12th century in order to shelter the remains of St. Cerbone.

It’s a stunning building, indicative of the many Churches and Cathedrals throughout Tuscany, a grand design, steeped in history and a focal point of the town.

(Artistic Temperament Scavenger Hunt – Something Old)

What Makes You Different Makes you Beautiful

(Available to buy in lots of formats from my Redbubble shop).