a year in the country

I've learnt to love the effects of slowing down time in a photograph. If I am under a night sky and I just look at the stars there is lots to see, but a time exposure allows the weakest of stars, even those your unaided eyes cannot see, to be recorded by my camera, but this is not as simple as taking a quick snap. The important thing to start with is to understand that the prolonged recording of an image creates the effect one is searching for, but it also brings many problems. The only way to do a time exposure is to leave the shutter open for a set period of time, usually done with a built in timer or by using the Bulb setting and manually or externally controlling the shutter opening time. Most DSLR cameras allow for a maximum open shutter time of thirty seconds, and this is more than enough for Milky Way shots, but often not enough for other types of time exposure. Today I'll just talk about photographing the Milky Way. I like to use a fast lens, that is, one that can o...

I remember reading that the revolutionaries of Paris tore up the cobblestones to make barricades and to use them as missiles. I wondered this morning if there may be a barricade forming in our street. Certainly it would be difficult to use these cobblestones as missiles for each would have to weigh several kilos. The image on the right is an historical one from Paris, but that on the left is from outside our door in Rome.  Today we went for a walk in the Jewish Ghetto of Rome which largely consists of intriguing and meandering laneways. The ghetto was originally created by Pope Paul in 1555, and a surrounding wall was constructed with one gate in and one out. The occupants were forbidden to trade in anything but clothing and real estate.  On October 16, 1943, Nazis took 1023 jews by force and deported them to Auschwitz Camp. Only fourteen survived. These people were rounded up in the square of the Turtle Fountain. There are some photos on the website. Back to the cobble...

It's been fun writing the code for this site. I've been laid up with a bad cold for a few days, and this has been the perfect opportunity to do some deep feeding on computer code. I already had a reasonable understanding of HTML, PHP and MySql. (For the already bored, these are a couple of hand in hand computer languages that allow websites to be built and made "reactive" through the questioning of a database.) The really interesting thing has been working on the interface between digital images and computer programs. Most digital images contain lots of bits that work together to make up a picture. I already knew that. I also knew that every digital image was attached to a data file called EXIF date. (EXIF means Exchangeable Image File Format by the way). Getting boring here, so get back to the interesting bit. I discovered that this EXIF data is attached to each image. It records such things as the camera equipment used and the settings of that equipment, and as ...

Yesterday I was fine. A little tired perhaps.During the night my sinuses became irritated and by morning my nose was running like a tap. I don't think it is 'flu because I still want to live. Hopefully it will be gone in a week, but that's no comfort to Anne who has just started sneezing. I think I'm lucky it started early, so it might have run it's course before we take off.

Next week we fly out of Tullamarine for Singapore and then on to Rome. We've been packing and repacking for a couple of weeks. I have a couple of problems. My checked baggage allowance is generous and the cabin baggage allowance not so generous. I want to carry an Apple Macbook as well as a sleep pump (I suffer from Sleep Apnoea) and a Full Frame DSLR camera as well as three lenses. Because these things are fragile and easily stolen I want them close by. This makes it a bit of a juggle to weigh everything and make sure I can carry aboard. Anyway, all looks good so far. Better get the passports and put them somewhere I won't forget.