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One of the cool things about where I work is that we sometimes get a random flypast of various different aircraft which is cool if you are like me and like planes. Last time it was Harriers and Spitfires. Today it was the Airbus A380. I went out onto the grass leading up to the start of the runway with some colleagues. The weather has been miserable all day with scattered downpours and dark clouds. Everyone was hoping that it would stay sunny long enough for a good view of the aircraft.

This is another panoramic image that I took while trying out my new tripod head. It was taken in April. I've fiddled with it to try to give it an 'older look' but it was mainly taken just to use my new tripod. I think if I was to take this again, I would get someone to pose in period farmer costume, maybe with one leg resting on the hoe and chewing a piece of straw. Anyone fancy dressing up for me?

It's been a while since I've updated so I thought I'd make an effort with this post.

Around the end of April I obtained a new panormic head and legs tripod combination for my camera to aid in taking panoramic shots so that they line up properly when you try to stitch the multitude of images together. I decided that I would head out in my car and look for anywhere interesting that I might try out my new 'toy'. The tripod needs setting up accurately for it to work properly so it was also an opportunity to test out the settings that I'd figured out to see how correct I'd managed to get them.

My brother Edd had his brain imaged as part of a study that he is involved in. He's added them to his site for others to look at. His brain looks 'wonky' and even though me and my other brother probably joshed him around a lot we didn't do anything that would deform his brain (I hope!). I wonder if all brains look 'wonky' when imaged and that the views we see on television have had the Photoshop treatment - the equivalent of the models in magazines getting airbrushed to make them look prettier.

The only downside to my bro's imaging is I have now lost the ability to insult him about having no brain - he can prove that he has (even if it does look slightly wonky ;-))!

Yesterday, after spending the weekend hanging around my flat I figured it was about time that I stepped outside and saw so light that wasn't generated by electrons hitting a phosper screen. I set out with my camera gear and just went for a walk around the local area. I visited places that I'd already been - the Three Brooks Nature Area and the local lake but didn't really find any inspiration.

I've had some time to process some more of the photos that I took last weekend while out with my friend. While looking for a way up to Racton Monument we passed a church. The Sunday morning mass was just finishing as we went past so we left to come back later when we would be able to park. I was hoping that we might be able to get some pictures of the stained glass panels in the window through one of the other windows from outside but amazingly, when we came back over to the church after photographing the Monument, the church was still open and we could get inside.

Last weekend I visited one of my old friends from Uni down in Southampton. On the Sunday we decided we would go out for a drive and see where it took us. While looking for something that was listed on my atlas as an 'abandoned village' we came across an interesting looking ruin on top of a large hill. It took a while to find somewhere where we could park and gain access to what eventually turned out to be a folly.

I finally did it - took the plunge an bought a new printer. I wasn't sure it was going to work properly as my computer doesn't meet the minimum recommended specification for running it but it seems to be OK so far. (You know your computer is old when it doesn't meet the spec of a printer!) I spent most of yesterday playing and have used all but one of 4x6's you get in the test pack that comes with the printer in the box. I've been putting a different sort of picture on each one to see how different things come out on the print. There's a couple of black and white portraits, a couple of high colours and some other stuff.

I've been playing with panoramic shots and have yet to find a satifactory way to display them. Underneath the 'read more' link is a panoramic image of the lake in my previous post. If all goes well, it'll be displayed in an IFrame. It's only 3 shots and the image is 91KB in size (I've made it a lot smaller than the original). I tried the SPi-V engine but didn't find it very satisfactory. If you've got a better idea of how to display it let me know. I'd be very interested!

It's been a long time since I posted anything but for a good reason - honest! Work has been manic the past couple of weeks and I've been putting in more hours than normal leaving me wanting to just sit around and vegetate at the weekend. The end of this week calmed down a bit so I managed to leave on time Thursday and Friday therefore this weekend I figured I'd use my 'perkyness' to take my camera out into the local area.