Project 52 - Weekly Photos by Geoff F - Second Quarter

[Geoff F]

It is rather similar here, Bruce.

The RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute) own and operate the lifeboats with volunteer crews. The Coastguard Agency is a government organisation for coordinating search and rescue work. There are also a few private 'clubs' which have taken over some of the old coastguard premises and keep watch from those locations. Some of them also have inshore rescue craft and do beach safety work with lifeguards.

Helicopter search and rescue work is undertaken by the Royal Navy who have some airfields at strategic locations.

It is the coastguards who have to organise these different organisations and decide which option to use in each rescue.

Many years ago, the coastguards were armed and used in anti smuggling operations but that resulted in problems when some people who were smugglers were also required for saving people from shipwrecks etc.

So the Customs organisation was formed to tackle smuggling and the coastguards reverted to working within local communities for preventing shipwrecks and saving lives when a wreck did occur.

[Cantab]

Many years ago, the coastguards were armed and used in anti smuggling operations but that resulted in problems when some people who were smugglers were also required for saving people from shipwrecks etc.

Not good!

[Geoff F]

Week 27 - An old barn. Near to where I was recording wildlife today. Poor midday light from the wrong angle but I did what I could with the scene.



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/250 F11 Iso 200. Merge of two bracketed exposures.

And from the other side.



A little bug which was among the dry grass.



Sigma 180 macro lens. 1/160 F9 Iso 500. Flash used.

[Cantab]

For my money, the first photo works very well -- perhaps because of the different angle lines: the gate, the hedge and the different angles of the outline of the barn.

[Geoff F]

I wandered around that site looking for suitable angles and rejected every option apart from these two. I was really hoping to find something for the next History Society calendar but that requires images in a 4 x 5 ratio and nothing would fit.

This is another of those cases where the Lightbox view, with extra contrast, looks much better than the basic view.

[Geoff F]

Week 28 - Soar Mill Cove. Where I was photographing and recording insects today.



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/200 F10 Iso 320. Merge of two bracketed exposures. But a harsh high angle light.

And a slightly different angle



1/320 F11 Iso 320

An insect from today, but not a good shot. Several of these Ichneumon Wasps but they wouldn't stay still and there was a bit of wind movement as well.

[Geoff F]

Week 29. Another landscape scene while I was recording the nearby insect life. And thinking ahead for suitable subjects to include in the next local History Society calendar, which means having a 4 x 5 ratio.

Batson Creek



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/200 F11 Iso 200. Merge of two bracketed exposures.

Looking seawards.

[Geoff F]

Week 30 - The Plant Hunt. This month's volunteer day at a local nature reserve included a plant survey in one of the more overgrown areas which created difficulties in finding a shooting angle,

I didn't want to carry too much stuff so I only had my little Fuji X20 and the conditions were a bit extreme for a basic camera. So I slightly under exposed for the highlights then recovered what I could during editing. Definitely no prizewinners here but it shows what was happening on that day.



1/480 F6.4 Iso 320



1/640 F6.4 Iso 320



1/850 F6.4 Iso 320

I thought that concentrating on the person on the left was going to be the key element and he would lead the viewer into the deeper scene.

[Cantab]

Good documentary photos. For my money, you coped well with the somewhat harsh lighting conditions.

The area is most certainly overgrown! Was anything of particular interest found? Or was it primarily a study to see if there had been changes since the last inspection?

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the comment. That is a rather wet area which hasn't been checked for several years so the survey was to note any changes. Nothing rare there although a few unexpected discoveries were made.

I'm not that good at identifying plants which aren't in flower, while the experts could name many species just from a few leaves on a seedling. My job was chiefly to note any insects which were in the survey grids. A 6 ft square area was checked at random placements around that particular clearing.

[Geoff F]

Week 31 - Soar Mill Cove Valley. Where I was recording insects today. Behind the coast path and looking inland where the protected area joins into farmland.



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/200 F11 Iso 250. Merge of two bracketed exposures. Rather harsh midday light.

This plant is Common Toadflax but it is sometimes called Poached Egg Flower, for obvious reasons.



Sigma 180 macro lens. 1/250 F16 Iso 160. Fill flash used. I always have trouble photographing this species with its pale flowers that can cause over exposure problems.

And a Brown Heath Robberfly.



1/200 F9 Iso 400. Flash used. Merge of two focus points.

[Geoff F]

Week 32 - Watkins Wood. I have been too busy with photographing and recording insects to get around to editing some other shots. But in the meantime, this is where I was recently recording the wildlife.



7D with Tamron 24-70 lens. 1/800 F8 Iso 400. Merge of two bracketed exposures. Rather high settings but I had been photographing other subjects which required these values. I did shoot more images with 'better' settings but eventually preferred this original version

And some more Robberflies from that day.

A Kite-tailed Robberfly having a moth for breakfast.



And a Hornet Robberfly



Sigma 180 macro lens 1/320 F11 Iso 320 Flash used

[Geoff F]

Week 33 - The Towering Crane. I wasn't expecting to see something like this at a wildlife site. There are quite a few building projects going on in the area but this is a somewhat different angle. Shot with my 180 macro lens. The only other lens with me was a 24-70 which wouldn't have been large enough. A bit of a no win whatever I did type of shot towards the light. But I had a go anyway.



1/320 F9 Iso 200

And a couple of the insects. A close up of a Phalangium opilio harvestman



And a different angle on a Terellia tussilaginis Picture-winged Fly

[Geoff F]

Week 34 - Regatta Rowing. Evening with the sun about to disappear behind the hill. But some patches of dark cloud messed up the light even sooner. I was a bit too far away and auto focus kept focusing on the water instead of the boats. I wanted to show some of the background as well as the boats.

Rowers are taken to the boats.



7D with Canon 70-200 lens. 1/640 F11 Iso 400

A tight turn



A close race.



1/400 F11 Iso 400

[Geoff F]

Week 35 - Vintage Machinery Show. What do you call Street Photography when it is in a field? A quick shot of two farmers having a chat beside a tractor.



7D with Canon 24-105 lens. 1/250 F10 Iso 320

The rest of my images are here (but rather 'tractor heavy')

https://pbase.com/crustacean/2022_vintage_show&page=1

A hot and hazy midday light with no other options, so I just did what I could.

I was officially there to help with the Salcombe History Society stand, but kept nipping off for some historical photos.



Friendless with no helpers

1/100 F5 Iso 200. Strong backlight so a hopeless situation. I added a bit of fill flash but only with the pop up flash

[Cantab]

Geoff, the pop-up flash seems to have done the trick. I took some shots a couple years ago on our back deck, which had awning over the top and behind the people, somewhat analogous to the conditions you were shooting in. You did a much better job than I did!

I had a look at the tractor heavy collection of photos on your website link. Apart from the documentary aspect, there are a number of good action shots. One that perhaps has a touch of humour to it is where a pair of plowhorses are stopped and have their heads turned to one side to see what on earth the farmer is doing behind them.

The Massey Ferguson and John Deere tractor shots brought back memories from my childhood. We several times visited an aunt and uncle's farm in Saskatchewan and I used to have a chance to steer a tractor!

[Geoff F]

Thanks Bruce. I also liked the 'why doesn't he get on with it' expression on the faces of those horses and thought a caption might be required.

You sometimes get a few odd and unexpected names appearing on old tractors because during wartime and soon afterwards, some vehicle manufacturing companies switched to making tractors.

On the second day I mostly shot video which I have started editing together, but that will take me a couple of days to complete.

[Geoff F]

My video of this event is now ready at

vimeo.com/742619095

A bit of a struggle in that harsh overhead light so my colours are slightly off in a few places. Also, because my 7D camera embeds audio into the video images I recorded sound on a separate external device then added the edited audio at a late editing stage. Which means sound might not exactly match the tractor being viewed.

Direct embedded sound means any problems cannot be edited afterwards so that can result in the whole shoot being discarded.

[Geoff F]

Week 36 - Clouded Yellow Butterfly - Colias croceus. In some years we get reasonable numbers of this immigrant butterfly, although last year I never found any of them. Unfortunately, they don't pose well for photographs. Always flitting around and keeping one flower ahead of my camera focusing. I have been attempting photographs for the past two weeks without getting anything and I had to chase this one for 8 flowers before managing a quick shot.



7D with Sigma 180 macro lens. 1/320 F20 Iso 250 flash used. Hand held. I had to seriously under expose the background to avoid over exposure on the butterfly.

And a nearby Lucerne Bug



1/320 F11 Iso 320 flash used.

[Geoff F]

Week 37 - Where I was recording insects today.

Approaching Clouds. It was a day of sunshine and cloudy spells.



7D with Canon 24-105 lens. 1/400 f11 Iso 250. Merge of two bracketed exposures

Straw Bales



1/400 F10 Iso 200

Shady Sheep



1/250 F10 iso 200. Merge of two conversions from a single Raw file.