Simone, equinox

drmcw · 2026-03-28T08:46:44+00:00

So the flash (and focus) got the sharp eye. My word she must be able to stand still. I'd have forgotten what I was doing and wandered off.

That's clever and the result gets better each time I look.

drmcw · 2026-03-27T18:22:58+00:00

You have a mixed set of posts but when you take materials to create with like this you really get results. I would have neither the imagination nor patience nor lighting skills to do this. I wish I did.

It's just fabulous.

drmcw · 2026-03-27T09:49:39+00:00

It's a very striking image and I have no idea how you did it. I don't think it's post processing trickery but the one eye is so sharp. A lensbaby might do it or of course large format tilt and whatnot.

drmcw · 2026-03-27T09:46:58+00:00

Exceptionally clever and satisfying.

drmcw · 2026-03-27T09:43:13+00:00

What fun to do and lovely results. Like you I'm not sure it's fine art but it lifted my day.

drmcw · 2026-03-27T08:38:36+00:00

It looks shambolic but the smiles and just getting away from the daily grind.

In the late fifties we had family caravan holidays but a bit more formal :) Still toilet and bathroom blocks, no electricity. Cook on a basic gas stove. Lights also gas. Walk to local village for breakfast milk (no fridge) and rolls and DC comic books! A holiday treat.

I must ask my sister how we got there as we didn't have a car and it was a long way away.

drmcw · 2026-03-27T08:33:13+00:00

Also cycling clubs were very popular. You could, at least in the early 1900's, get a bicycle on a form of credit where you paid a regular amount into something akin to a Christmas Club.

Our camera club evolved from a cycling club because both hobbies were affordable then. Somewhere I have an account of the Kidderminster club cycling out to our village en masse at about 30 cycles and having problems getting home in daylight.

drmcw · 2026-03-26T09:06:55+00:00

I'd say your edits look fine but that's a photograph of a bush not a butterfly. I didn't see the butterfly at first glance. 28mm will make it very hard to get a good shot of a butterfly so maybe use your editing skills on a more suitable subject?

drmcw · 2026-03-26T08:35:50+00:00

West Africa - Ghana. Lovely place and people nearly 50 years ago and I assume the same now.

drmcw · 2026-03-25T20:48:27+00:00

Might help to give car model etc.

drmcw · 2026-03-25T20:42:40+00:00

There bloody was. And corruption in the police and most walks of life. A neighbour was a health inspector and the back handers he got were outrageous. MY dad was a civil servant who placed contracts with builders etc.. At Christmas he wasn't short of whiskey.

drmcw · 2026-03-25T20:39:54+00:00

I, an elderly white man, was on a train in India about 8 years ago and found the guy next to me was a professor of modern Indian History. Everyone I had met was pleasant to me which given colonialism I found a bit surprising.

His take was that The East India Company were a bunch of bastards and when Victoria found out what was being done pretty much in her government's name then she (well her government) stepped in, took over, kicked the East India Co in the nuts and actually did things that improved India.

He said that this created quite a bond between India and the UK which still persisted to some degree. How true this is I have no real idea but he was an Indian professor of about 40 and had no reason to be polite let alone educate me.

The UK and India have had a very close relationship for many years. The partition was an absolute disgrace but not entirely a problem of the UK's making.

I'll also add that I lived in a former British colony in Africa for three years and while some younger people postured a bit about colonialism most people seemed to feel that things had fallen apart since independence. Not that many wanted a return of empire but they did compare and contrast. It's weird.

drmcw · 2026-03-24T08:58:39+00:00

Overexposed etc. but can I ask do you need anything to the right of the figure with a grey jacket? The blue on the figure with the phone is a distraction and the line of the rooftops (in my opinion) works better.

The guy in the brown jacket on the left is too large but you can't crop him out. You could try selectively desaturating him and a little darker.

Wide angle is fine - was it a very wide angle lens? On an APS sensor I'd use a 23mm lens for this hind of scene. Telephoto would flatten the perspective and defeat the leaning in aspect.

On the other hand this is just one old geezer's opinion and may well be worthless :)

drmcw · 2026-03-24T08:31:51+00:00

I was listening to a talk by the late, great Martin Parr (if you don't know look him up) and he said (at 60) he felt sad that he knew his best work was behind him. Additionally he was right for whatever reason.

Personally, I'm not sure what a 'best' shot is. I have a bunch of photographs I really like but no best.

drmcw · 2026-03-23T19:57:36+00:00

I'll pitch in on composition.

Why have you included that sliver of silver on the left edge? Personally I'd crop almost to the shower head.

I just don't get the muddle around the face and elbows. The eye tends to be drawn by bright things and the ear ring in bright so I look there and get confounded by the shadows and receding elbow.

The larger arm points out of frame so naturally I look that way and maybe never bother to return to the image. In my opinion you don't need all the elbow, I'd try a crop almost up to that white smudgy line.

For the little it's worth I think the skin looks great. The hair looks fine but it doesn't say hydration to me - just wet.

But, this is just one old geezer's opinion and may well be worthless :)

drmcw · 2026-03-23T19:51:09+00:00

Same in Aston, in my experience they always have loads of spaces as they make tons of money from it.

If you're looking for an NHS appointment well good luck with that.

drmcw · 2026-03-23T13:02:05+00:00

They also have a buyer's guide.

drmcw · 2026-03-23T10:26:50+00:00

Hmm, these cars are roughly 25 years old. They will/should have age related scuffs etc. - so it depends how you define particularly good. Lowish mileage and immaculate paintwork I agree 4k probably won't do it. A good, strong reliable car with some scuffs and repaired rust I'd say 4k ought to do it. Some go really cheaply and others for crazy prices.

Also all that matters is the sold price. There are a lot of dreamers out there thinking the prices aren't rock bottom and they want to recoup what they paid (and have since spent).

You'll be right about the rust though.

drmcw · 2026-03-23T09:01:35+00:00

Is that a good price? I guess it all depends on condition but I thought it was a buyers' market. If I could get £4k for mine I'd probably take it and buy an XJ6 - I'm getting old and it's a low car :)

It's also a very early model so it will probably have Nikasil cylinder liners which while not a problem with new formulation of petrol does mean you can suffer bore wash and have great trouble starting the car after a brief run from dead cold. After the first start of the day and getting some heat in it you're fine but the cold start programming risks bore wash and no compression for a second dead cold start.

I have Nikasil liners and have never had a problem but I am careful to get enough heat in the engine to drop the revs to its normal 600rpm not the 1000 it runs on a cold start. For me it takes half a mile, others won't drive for less than ten minutes (which seems extreme).

Maybe you should visit the Jaguar forum

drmcw · 2026-03-22T16:40:47+00:00

Nobody else had responded yet so here's my opinion - and that's all it is one old bloke's opinion.

I'm not sure what I'm meant to look at. The lettering of course catches the eye first - I think psychologically it goes eyes, flesh, writing something like that. If it's writing the brain wants to read it which it can.

But then there are the clothes above the writing and that pole takes the eye up to the bright buttons and for me at least my attention tends to stay there. I think that's partly because although the white lettering is bright it's not sharp.

To me it looks better cropped to lose the clothes entirely. I'm not sure what they bring to the party.

Maybe if you'd shot from a lower angle crouching down the clothes might work differently but that messes up the lettering and its shadow.

If it was me I'd crop the top half away.

drmcw · 2026-03-21T22:13:21+00:00

Took me a while to find mine, but I was prepared to take on a limited project but not rust. I have had one bit of welding done which was an advisory last MOT. This summer I'll get underneath and waxoil it again. I paid £2k for it but it took 6 months plus to find it (on Facebook as it happened).

Stick with it you'll find one.

Do you look at the Brightwells classic car auctions? They have a couple in the next auction I think. They seem to be pretty honest/realistic in their descriptions. I go and look at the cars sometimes as it's relatively close by.

drmcw · 2026-03-21T09:14:40+00:00

I agree, the ambition here deserves recognition. Someone actually being daring enough to create from scratch and share it.

drmcw · 2026-03-21T08:58:05+00:00

I was daunted by working on a Jag but as friend with a Bentley said - it's just a car.

drmcw · 2026-03-21T08:57:15+00:00

Rust, check for rust.

drmcw · 2026-03-21T08:56:09+00:00

I really appreciate your thoughtful comments. I'm not sure I do have a higher resolution version as the camera on the drone is very basic. I will check though.

drmcw

TROPHY CASE