Birdsong

Aside from the above title being a most excellent war novel by Sebastian Faulks, it is also a truism of the current times we are living through . . . I know, it's really bizarre isn't it!

I don't know about you, so I can only speak for myself - I live in a City next to a busy road. Even at the back of the house, in our garden, the traffic noise is there most of the time, from the low drone, to the boy racer, buses trucks and lorries, to the upper, always there thrum.
Noise is something we never truly get away from unless we hit the wild spaces.
It can be incredibly silent on a mountain top; and especially when the wind dies down. it's an all encompassing quiet, tinted with the movement of air, and the thundering of your heart and the coarse old engines of your lungs; but it is something else too - it's a physical presence.
It's like, with nothing moving around, the air has stilled to its natural state - no thermals to lift it, no massed patterns of weather squashing and twisting.
None of that.
Silence becomes a state of being, and to be alone in that, far from the modern world, well, it's beyond my ken, and I can only say that everyone should be given the opportunity to experience it.

I guess that's why traffic noise gets me.
You really can't escape it - even in quiet, sleepy villages, there's always something whizzing along, cutting up the quiet and disappearing off into the distance.

And yet now, with the enforced shutdown of nearly every aspect of society due to CV, suddenly the traffic has stilled and it is bliss.

The birds have commandered the silence again, re-taking what had been theirs and filling it with a sweet song that says, no matter what, life in all it multifarious forms will go on, with or without us.

I find that wonderful.

So go on, go out on your Govenment-Approved Once A Day Exercise and see if I'm not right. Listen to those little chirpers, going for it like there's no tomorrow and relish it, because the world will revert back to its noisy old self and the silence and trills will seem like a distant memory.

OK, this is FB, so there's some photography going on, like it or not!

I couldn't find any pictures of birds, so instead went for the next best thing - places in the world that I have found peaceful!
Not that we've travelled much, but all the same, I think that, if you are open to it, peace can find you at all times.
Here's some of them:

Petit Sablon Afternoon

OK, this was taken with the Nikon F3 and f2.8 28mm CRC Nikkor - it's a great lens, and takes a lovely photograph. 

It's a detail of a fountain in the Petit Sablon Square in Brussels. 

A small but beautiful area of peace - yes there's traffice noise, but there's also birdsong and the rilling of water - highly recommended if you are ever there.

Petit Sablon Fence

Another detail from Petit Sablon, this time with the Sony A6000 sporting the 35mm f2 Nikkor 'O'. 

It's done a fab job I think, the colours are quite subtle.

De Kattenkabinet   - Spot The Cat

Same camera and lens, but a different place.

Amsterdam is nuts and even more-so these days, well, it was . . . . bet the locals, like those in Venice are relishing every moment just now.

Well, in amongst the bong-hunting, beer-swilling, neighbourhood-annoying youthful hordes, there is this - De Kattenkabinet. 

Basically a museum dedicated to all things feline and quite a delight actually (even if you don't like cats!). 

This is the garden at the back, inhabited by lots of sleepy cats and, incredibly, chickens. The songbirds are pretty fly there too - they keep themselves well above the cats and taunt them with song and flitting.

Hell of a place!

Abandoned Nets

Off the coast of Croatia there is a small archepeligo called the Elaphiti Islands. They're sleepy places, and really rather quaint and peaceful.

The above abandoned fishing net, was taken on Suđurađ, the quietest and sleepiest of the lot. Sony and 35mm Nikkor again . . . .

It is a wonderful island with groves and sleepy farmhouses and strange bits of junk lying about, and, of course, birds. There are some cars there, but mostly, it's the occasional whizz of a scooter that cuts the peace.
I'd love to go back one day.

When In Rome

They Really Do Follow You

When in Rome, do as the Romans do . . . stay off the streets at midday! It can get bloomin' hot, unbearably so actually, and of course, everyone wants to maximise their holiday so they're out and about in extreme temperatures.

So, what to do, when your (under)pants resemble kinked and knotted, skin-chaffing bits of soggy sandpaper? 

Yes, that's right - head to The Cimitero Acattolico, or The Non-Catholic Cemetery for Foreigners in Testaccio, Rome (to give it its full name).

It is the single greatest city space I have ever encountered.

Choc-full of incredible gravestones, some quite recent, it really is an oasis in the busiest City I have ever been in.

Lots of birds, and lots of graves like the above, which scared the bejeesus out of me - it's just there, lurking and staring directly at you no matter the angle you're at. 

Very weird.

The camera was The Ship's Anchor! The Nikon D300S and the 18-70mm f3.5-4.5 G AF-S DX.

Jings it was heavy, however (and despite no longer owning it) it rendered colours pretty well.

Gentrified Glen

When the Nikon went back, I got the Fuji X2-ES and 27mm f2.8. A fine get-up, but for someone raised on Nikon F's and Mamiya C330S's, as light as a gnat's fart. It developed a fault too, so went back and I hung up my digital improvements.

Anyway, this wonderful little place is besides Cambo house just south of St Andrews. It's a small Victorian 'improved' dell, with this wonderful burn running through it and a couple of small ironwork bridges. 

Dead peaceful and lots of birds.

Tribute To Eliot Porter

This was taken besides the Adriatic and is a Pie-Phone (Mk V, meat and potato) pic. There's flare, but somehow it reminds me of early LF colour photographs by a hero of mine Eliot Porter - think it is the format actually. Anyway, this wee walk was beautiful with birds, wild figs and the soft lapping of waves, mixed in with the gentle twanging of mankinis from the German tourists who liked to bathe there. 

Ah the sound of a twanging mankini . . . I'll say no more!

The Pool At The Centre Of The World

I think I've shown you this before - it's a loud little pool at the head of a Glen where you can go no further. 

Not much in the way of birds at such an elevation save the odd grouse and a few eagles, but peace ran out of the rocks and enfolded me. 

Again a heck of a place - and if the government don't restrict all outdoor activities I'll try and get back there whilst there's still some snow on the ground . . .

Camera was a 500C/M and a 150mm Sonnar - bliss.

Loch Tideline

Ah, this is a secret place of mine in the South Of Scotland - every time I have been there, it has felt like my own private playground and as such I intend to preserve its identity!
This was taken after a night of heavy rain and the loch level was starting to drop leaving this line of leaves.
The camera was my favourite 35mm camera  - a plain old Nikon F Photomic, made between August and October 1970. Heavy, clunky, but hand-holdable down to ridiculous speeds because of the weight.
Lens was a '71 or '72, 24mm Pre-Ai Nikkor - just an incredibly good lens.

Rocks, Pre-Rainstorm

Normally I wouildn't show my pants in public, but this is a scan off a contact print and I intend to print it soon. Again, a small walk in the mountains that is a bit off the beaten track.
The light was extraordinary as the heavyweight clouds muscled in from the left.
Camera was a 500 C/M and the lens was my 60mm Distagon.

Keeping The Magic In

Remember that secret place I mentioned with the Nikon? - this is close by. 

It is a (I believe un-noted by archaeologists) small hill fort. It has a spring on the top of the hill, and to my mind, any pre-historical era person would love to have somewhere easily defendable with a nice water-source too.

Not sure why I like this pic, but I do.

It's square and that holds it all together - 500C/M and 150mm Sonnar.

Oh and there's birds, normal small songbirds, and red kites, billions of them. Peace oozes from the ground and it has a real uncanny feel to it. 

The funniest thing to me, is that others must have felt it too - maybe it was a sacred grove? 

There's plenty of ancient trees (which had significant magical interest) all over the place. 

Curiously there's a Motte nearby too - the Norman's really liked to seize the local places of power . . more of that at the bottom.

Oh and it is surrounded by stone dykes and fields, yet has remained un-farmed . . are the walls keeping the magic in?

Fort Imperial Defences

Back to Dubrovnik. You are literally at the top of the City here as this is a section of the defences of Fort Imperial atop the hill of Srđ.

The Fort itself was built by Napoleon, and centuries later it became part of the resistance during the Battle For Dubrovnik.

I took a wee shifty here - don't think you were supposed to climb so high, but the fort was claustrophobic.

Plenty of birds here, their song taken away on the wind. peace was here too (strangely).

Camera: Sony A6000 and 35mm Nikkor. 

Aged Oak

Ah, another Norman-commandered site! 

I played here when I was young. 

It is a named SSI and is chocca with oaks that must be around or over 1000 years old. It is an extraordinary place with an extraordinary feel.

Lots of birds and a disquieted peace. as a family we always felt there was something weird and uncanny about the oaks, and I still can't place it. 

We tried to avoid it at night too.

This is another scan off a contact print   - needs to be properly printed.

Camera: 500 C/M and 150mm Sonnar.

Sunday Morning

I rediscovered this - it was taken with a Nikon F3 and a pre-Ai 28mm f3.5, which, the knowledgable amongst you will know was the lens that McCullin shot Vietnam with.

It is widely ignored these days (everyone want's the f2.8 CRC version because a load of net influencers say that is the one to go for) and as such is a total bargain. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it, in fact I would say it takes a great photograph.
The above was morning sun through a hotel bathroom window. it was sunny (for a change) and the birds were out in tough little tweety gangs!
Peace suffused the air and me and the wee one had a wonderful weekend.

And that's it folks.
The end is nigh (if you believe everything you read) and whilst the privations might seem tough, I'll draw your attention to a little known shipwreck of a ship made in Dundee, the RV Strathmore.
You can read extracts from a passengers diary here on this link
Now that was tough.

TTFN, keep taking the pease-pudding and remember to add some carrots in too.

Cats Wanted, Dead Or Alive

Morning folks - this'll be quick and to the point.
When I was young, my Dad gave me a gift which has gone on giving.
He encouraged me to visit my local library, and even though these days I don't (preferring to get my own books for a fairly ott, house sprawling, interesting, useful when the bog roll runs out, sort of collection) that early delving into fiction has affected my life totally. 

Cats Wanted, Dead Or Alive

After a not so brief dalliance with Janes' Book Of Anything Big That Kills, and Sax Rohmer's Dr.Fu Manchu, and Mr. Lovecraft's Miners In The Deeps, my wee brain settled on a form of fiction I no longer read. 

Science Fiction. 

Why don't I read it any more? 

Because I don't think it particularly has anything to say and hasn't for a long time - it's become the domain of cliché and bad writing, lacking the naivity that made those novels of the 50's, 60's and 70's so wonderfully fresh.

But going back, way back to those formative books I read, goodness me - it's definitely a cliché to say it, but They Blew My Mind.

The sub-section of SF that intrigued me the most, wasn't the Space Operas, it wasn't Ursula's oh-so relevant Gender Benders, it wasn't even Future Wars. 

There was certainly a love affair with Time Travel; but my absolute, tip-top favourite was:

DF - Disaster Fiction.

Y'know, Apocalypse stuff . . and even then, it wasn't the broad span that was out there, it was two very specific books that I read many times. John Wyndham's Day Of The Triffids, and Edmund Cooper's All Fools Day. 

Allied to these two cornerstones,  JG Ballard's High Rise and The Drowned World, completed my education.

It was pretty heavy stuff for a youngster.
Mix in any Michael Moorcock (apart from Jerry Cornelius)
Heavy re-reading of The Hobbit and LOTR (curse you Peter Jackson for taking my world away from me and spreading it out like an all you can eat buffet before the hungry eyes of the world!) and you've got a brain primed for one thing only . . . . DISASTER!

Which I guess brings me succinctly up to date with what set this off.

Before we shut down last night and stumbled off to plug ourselves into the dream machine, I caught a really telling report on the CV EMERGENCY.
You know what I am talking about, and why nobody has abbreviated it to CV is beyond me, but anyway.

In the UK, concerned neighbours are printing out forms to put through old folks doors with phone numbers on if they need help or support.
That's positive.

In the States, and please excuse my generalisations if you are from there and reading this - I've always admired America's Let's Get It Done spirit; your roots are in people from this little land and its islands - you're not that different really.
But what is different, was the footage of queues at gunshops.
Whilst we mad Brits stock up and argue over Bog Roll (Toilet Paper for those uninitiated in Britspeak) from the footage we've seen on TV, Americans are stocking up on guns and ammo. 

Now it doesn't take a brainbox to realise, that a fuse has been lit.

Thinking (or rather reacting) like this - well, it's an easy step up to The Big One (though CV really isn't, but more of that in a minute).

It's more the thought process that has been rolled out by this current World 'Crisis', and that thought process was something I thought had gone away waaay back in the bad old days.
But no, there he is lurking at that street corner, smoking a ciggie, in a trench coat and Fedora . . it's our old friend:

Cold War Paranoia.

It was a hard learning process (for both East and West) when the Wall came down and (some!) people realised that on the whole, no matter race, colour, language, thought process, (bar the nutters) people are people.

We're all the basic same machine.

We all want the same things.

I can't think of any more accepting city than Berlin which quickly found its bohemian roots again.
It's a city I feel totally at home in despite not understanding German particularly well.
They learned quickly.
Life is more than division and dissent.
It is also more than:

He's got that, I want it, and I don't like him either. 

The world has to work together man or it is all for naught and the megalomaniacs can run the game; holding back (rather like the clichéd generals in films who let the grunts do the hard work and blood spilling) whilst the rest of us run around like headless chickens.

Use your noddle.

Not saying nuffink, just saying, that's all.

It can be pretty simplistic being a human being, but increasingly we've let technology overtake humanity.
Brains are outsourced to phones; news is trusted without weighing the facts; the ability to make decisions is increasingly a herd mentality, so whilst people are gathering themselves, sheep-like, into virtual flocks, the wolves are really in the pen with them.

There was an interesting headline in the FT this morning saying that there was a Russian campaign of misinformation going on with regard to CV - that people were being whipped up to a frenzy of panic by social media.
I came to the same conclusion in early February - things were rolling out like a bad SF novel!

Far be it for me to go against Government Advice, but what people seem to have lost all sight of, is that stuff like CV isn't new - it has been going on for millenia, and it will carry on going on.
Undoubtedly something is out there, but isolating yourself will not stop it, it just means your body has less chance to build an immunity - mark my words, when this one starts to adapt and mutate as a virus will always do, maybe not the next one, but somewhere down the line it'll get really bad (again!).

You have to take chances now and use a bit of common sense; be understanding and kind; help others, sure, but also use your Harn (old Scot's word for brain) - take all that is being thrust at you with a modicum of suspicion.
Weigh the facts yourself and look at your countries officially published figures for deaths from Winter Flu - they should be (so far) considerably greater.
Amendum added three days later: Certainly this is more contagious, and even though things are looking terrible around the world, it's going to be a long long haul before the full story is told. AND THE PUBS ARE SHUT!

Anyway, use your noddle.
Question it all, look at the facts (there's screeds of WHO reports).
Not saying nuffink, just saying, that's all.

Anyway, wot's this got to do with photography - oh nothing, it was a pre-tea melding of thoughts that came out on the computer.
The pic at the top was taken on a lovely sunny Sunday, with the M2 and the (now becoming hard to find at a sensible price) Canon 28mm f3.5 - think that pic was on f5.6, because despite the sun, it was still pushing it with regard to speed.
Film was Delta 400 developed in Pyrocat-HD.
In hindsight I should have adjusted my position for a better composition and picked out the 'Dead' of a fantastic statement:

Cats Wanted, Dead Or Alive

The window is an ex-Thai restaurant - that space has never had much luck - I think there's been a collection of Chinese/Thai restaurants there since time immemorial.
Wonder if they did my absolute favourite, Tempura Tiddles?

Anyway, here's another couple - same film, same lens:

Weird Light Sunday

Mine's A Pint

Anyway, enough said, I did say it would be brief. 

Hope this has made you think, and how about, instead of staying at home, going out (with your mask on if you like!) and making the most of the light and the empty City streets.

I'll leave some last words to someone else:

Help!
I need somebody
Help!
Not just anybody
Help!
You know I need someone
Help!

When I was younger
So much younger than today
I never needed anybody's help in any way
But now these days are gone,
 I'm not so self assured
And now I find I've changed my mind
And opened up the doors

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being 'round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won't you please, please help me?

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways
My independence seems to vanish in the haze
But every now and then I feel so insecure
I know that I just need you like I've never done before

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being 'round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won't you please, please help me

When I was younger, so much younger than today
I never needed anybody's help in any way
But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured
And now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being 'round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won't you please, please help me,
Help me,
Help me,
Ooh

TTFN, and if the bastard who stole all the long life milk in Tesco cares to owns up, I'll not get him into trouble.

Some Photographs Of The Same Thing

Well,  I'll not say it's boring, but it is quite a change for me.

I've rarely photographed (some might say slightly obsessively) the same thing twice - it's just not really in my remit.
Certainly I'll visit the same places and re-photograph them, but the same thing? 

Well no. 

But this thing was different.

Hasselblad SWC/M

It's quite unusual to find a large piece of deep water marine equipment just sitting on the ground, waiting for something to happen, but such was the case with this. 

You maybe saw it recently in the post about Frankenstein.

I've no idea quite what it is, but one thing is for certain - it's from some Brutalist Planet, where things are made tough and look the same too.

To my eye there's something that I find fascinating about it and I can't quite place it.

Is it because there's an air of Chris Foss about it?

If you're not aware of Foss, he's a SF book illustrator, whose amazing flights of the imagination made a deep impression upon the (slightly) young Sheephouse. 

Look him up  - there's plenty of examples around - and then tell me if you think our subject wouldn't be out of place in one of his paintings!

So yeah, maybe that's why it caught my eye - it's just a shame it has been fenced off.

It wouldn't look out of place in the foyer of the V&A as an example of Design and Functionality, but instead here it is, sitting by the gates of a scrapyard waiting for the end. 
I'll be sad to see it go.
When I was thinking about (and photographing) the Frankenstein piece, this, to me, became an allegory for The Modern Prometheus.
Something created by man, not 'beautiful' in the conventional sense, but BEAUTIFUL in its own right, yet now cast away.

Stupid I know, but I like to think that maybe Mary's spirit was governing things.

Anyway, enough of my musings, without further ado, here are:

 Some Photographs Of The Same Thing

Rolleiflex T

First up is the one I posted before. 
This was taken with my Rolleiflex T - a camera that seems to (strangely) get a fair amount of stick, and yet, what's not to like: it has a single-coated Zeiss Tessar, optimised for f11 and the typical Rollei practicality, where everything has been thought through incrediblty well. 
That it sat in their line-up inbetween the Planar/Xenotar configured top of the range boys and the lowly Rolleicord, seems to be largely ignored these days. 
A lot of vendors sell Rolleicord Vbs for a heavier premium (because they're 'newer') and yet, optically many would argue the Tessar has an edge over a Xenar.

Don'tcha just love old optical terms!

As with most (well, in my experience) TLRs (apart from the likes of the 3.5/2.8 E's and F's) the lens works best in the happy smiley people range - i.e. from about 3 feet to about 15 feet. 
It's not really a landscape camera though it DOES produce excellent results used as such. 
Actually, for all that, the majority of landscapes I've taken have used a TLR and I've never really complained about the results.

However, when I invested in my Hasselblad system I truly realised what I had been missing!

Still, this being said, I've no complaints with the T. 

It has been a good friend for years.
What the shot clearly shows is that it is entirely easy to operate a Rollei handheld in low-light situations - this was just about sunrise on a Winter's dawn and 1/30th at f5.6

Hasselblad 500 C/M, 60mm Distagon

I was so enamoured with it, that I went back the following week, this time with the 500C/M and the 60mm Distagon affixed.

I love the 60mm Distagon - it's an incredibly sharp lens with virtually no distortion.

Here's what Zeiss say in their literature:

Distagon T* 60 mm f/3.5 CB

The Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 60 mm f/3.5 CB is versatile wide angle lensto be used with all current Hasselblad cameras. The stunning optical performance recommends this lens for a wealth of demanding tasks in commercial, advertising, and industrial photography, to name just a few.

Detailed interiors with people,groups in particular are a hallmark of this lens. In candid wedding photography the Distagon T* 60 mm f/3.5CB is an indispensable tool that can be used wide open whenever ambient lighting conditions ask for it.

I found it rather telling that in a visit to the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin, alongside his trusty Rollei, there was also a 500C/M with a 60mm C Distagon attached.

Nuff said. 

It doesn't seem to be a too popular lens in the Hasselblad V line-up - no idea why.
The film was HP5 at EI 200 and exposure was definitely happening - it was bleedin' BALTIC . . . nah, 1/30th at f4.

Hasselblad 500 C/M, 150mm Sonnar

Still thinking about it, I went back AGAIN the following week.
What with everything being fenced off and all that, I felt I needed something longer. 
And what did I have? 
Yep, the 150mm Sonnar.
I've detailed it many times before - it's a bargain of a lens for a Hasselblad - sharp as a tack, creamy out of focus and relatively useable at f4.5 maximum aperture. 
The beauty with all the Zeiss Hasselblad lenses is that you really can shoot them wide open and get very useable and distinctive results, so even though I was shooting unfiltered Ilford SFX at EI 100 and was operating pre-sunrise (the exposure was 1/125th at f4!) I was still confident in my ability to photograph things relatively wide open
. . . and that was just my trousers . . .  nah, just joking.

Hasselblad SWC/M

I had a break of a week or so, but I found it was still on my mind; so, not wishing to leave things out, I headed back yet again. 
This time I was toting the SWC/M with that luscious 38mm Biogon. 
It is a lens that can really do wonderful things to light, and I'm not sure what it is - it just seems to be a great translator. 
Suffice to say I love it - it may not be the ideal lens for everyone, but I find if you get yourself into the Super Wide Zone mentally, it is all you could wish and a whole lot more.
The film I took with it, was FP4+ as it is all I had left - not exactly ideal for the light levels I was encountering.. 
I tried to approach each frame like I was making a sequence of photographs - I'll let you see the rest next time, but in the meantime, the pictures of the Marine Monster will have to suffice.

Hasselblad SWC/M

And that was the last of them - should I go back with every other camera and lens I own or would that be over-egging the pudding? 
The latter methinks.

So, job done. 
Hope you like the photographs . . . and if you don't, well I can dig it (as they used to say). 
They're all 800dpi scans off of prints as usual - Ilford MGRC for speed and convenience. 
However I will say that as scans of prints I think they're fairly ghastly. 
Certainly in the SWC/M shots the slight vignetting from the lens (the weather was so terrible and I was getting 1/15th of a second at f5.6!!) has been heavily over-emphasised. 
The prints whilst not brilliant - more works in progress - look considerably better than the scans - but then again isn't that always the case. 

Anyway, 'nuff excuses - over and oot the noo!

TTFN and don't forget to post those letters.