Late Summer

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I’d not picked up a camera for weeks. It happens, and can be a difficult phase through which to pass. I’ve been so busy visiting friends and family over the last month, including birthday celebrations, that I’ve simply not had time. And when I did have the time, I just wanted to relax. The weather is the typical British late summer/early autumn affair; it could rain at any minute or be a day of beautiful sunshine. I have been taking pictures with my phone on-and-off during the last few weeks, but it was this Sunday that I brought out the big gun, the A7R, and the excellent Zeiss Sonnar 55/1,8.

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I’ve said numerous times, and I will no doubt continue to do so as my age increases, that 50mm is not my favourite focal length. Why did I buy this non-cheap lens, then? Aside from wanting it because it is fantastic, there are also situations for which 50mm excels. It’s relatively easy to take a good portrait with a fast 50, but the real skill comes in not just using bokeh everywhere. I’m happy to waffle on and on about which lenses for which purpose and all that, and if you are interested, do leave a comment or drop me an email.

For now, I will just show you the images I took yesterday (yes, this is all of them).

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We’re lucky to have moved to a much more photogenic place than our temporary home last year. I say luck, but really it was a lot of patience and nous on our part. We didn’t sit around for a nice house and location to find us—we spent a year searching survivable (and by that I mean reasonably affordable, commutable, and sizeable) places in the UK in which to live.

And now we can spread our roots.

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Walking around a manor house, we heard some line dancing or a cèilidh, and found an old WWII ”fighting hole” through which we peeked. And I rather like the result.

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