April moon

Hmm, I really should make an efford to updating my blog more regularly. That way I can make the posts smaller.
Lot's is happening these days, not all good though I'm afraid... WIthin the next 2 weeks the aircraft I have been working on, the A380 will take to the skies for the first time. I'm sure everyone will be holding their breath as it is quite a landmark in aviation history.
However good Airbus may be, Boeing managed to secure their position in the market once more. Apparently their 777ER (extended range) has taken to the skies. Though it is not exactly a brand new aircraft, it does have one huge feature over all airbus aircraft: Range. It is now the longest range aircraft in the world, beating the A340-500 with barely a couple of thousand miles. One slight problem I think they made, is that the 777ER has a longer range than their new dreamliner, the 787. The 787 has a smaller range than even the A340-500 I believe.

These days I find myself watching Manga more and more. Manga is really not a good term. I should say Japanese animations. They can actually be quite good you know? I'm following a series called Ghost in the Shell. So far so good. There is a longer storyline in there but most episodes are standalones. I like the music though. My favorite however, is Noir. It is about a girl who suffers from amnesia and she discovers that she is really good in one thing: killing! She goes out in search of her own background. That series also has good some real good music. Too bad that these animations tend to be pretty expensive.
Tina gave me an animation before. It is called "Castle in the sky". It is from a fairly famous animation writer/producer. He also produced an animation called "Spirited away"

April has arrived, with the dubious weather it tends to bring. Sunshine and rain simultaneously! At least the weather is slowly improving and I can take out my cameras again. Recently I bought an Olympus OM1-N, probably one of the smallest SLRs around. The size is not my main concern though, it's the quality. Apparently it is optically of very high quality and mechanically it is pretty good too. WHat I liek about this camera is that it is fully mechanical! No more messing around with batteries! Ok, I admit it does use a battery, but only for the light meter. It works fully without batteries though (except lightmeter ofcourse).



This is the Camera I bought. Well... Almost anyway. I have an f1.4 50mm lens on it while this one has an f1.8. I like it a lot! I already bought extender tubes for it so I can do some macro photography.

I also bought a Bronica S2A recently. It's a 6x6 camera. I lik ethat one too as it is very rigid, but it is very VERY noisy when you press teh shutter release. It is like a bomb explodes! So when you photograph models warn them in advance. I'm keeping an eye out for a Mamiya TLR C33. These are supposed to be very very quiet (no mirror slapping around) and it has a build in bellows for close-ups



Bronica S2A. I will need to order the extension tube as well. I saw it for sale and it was pretty cheap, so gotta have it! I'm not gonna build on this set though. I want a 50mm lens (it came with a 75mm and a 100mm f2.8 and 2 magazines) for landscape, and that's it really. I'm mainly gonna use it for landscape. The mamiya I could buy if I can get it very very cheap. Won't spend more than 30GBP on it though. One thing I want for the Bronica though, is a winding crank. It only has a knob and that just isn't very comfortable to me.



The mamiya...

Now it's time for some pics I think. These have been taken with my Canon 10D, not with any of my new all mechanical analogue kit. I first need a GOOD scanner for that.



This girl was aware that I was making this picture because she was walking pretty fast down the hill. Could she have been afraid? Doesn't make sense though. Who would be intimidated by a 6'4" (1.90m) 15 stone (95 kg) dutch guy carrying cameras around his neck with telelenses that exceed his own height?



A window... yes, a win-dow...



Well... I gues they're leaves arend they...?



Another lodge... Actually the area I live in is pretty nice. Many fancy-pants houses WOrth only a few million pound sterling... In fact, teh area is soo posh that we actually have our own dedicated police patrols 24/7. While I was making these images a police car pulled up from behind and the constable inside asked me what I was doing (apparently observation and awareness weren't his best subjects during training as I was quite obviously pointing my huge zooms in all directions and had about 3 cameras on my neck!). So I gave him an answer that matched teh intelligence of his question: "Oh, I'm observing houses and police patrols sir. I'm planning a big burglary operation and I need to know teh details of the houses, What their owners do, if and what alarms are installed, you know the usual...". He looked at me like ... Then I said That I was making some close ups of plants and features and I showed him the pics I had on my 10D. That seemed to satisfy him and he drove off again...



One of many flower close ups I made. I don't have extension tubes for my canon. I might buy some cheap tubes (no optics inside so what can go wrong???)



A typical english phonebooth. And no, it is not the tardis. The tardis is green! I actually quite like what I did with this image. B&W with a red phone booth... Thank you adobe!



Close up of a daffodil. Not too bad I guess... I think this is one of the few flowers that I know the name of (well, in english anyway)

Well, I'll have to keep it at that for now. Lets pray I will make some more updates to my blog in the future...