Days 246, 7 & 8~366

We went up to Edinburgh on Friday to go to the Scale Scotland Model show at the Hilton near the airport, Phil was displaying his models and also judging in the competition.  We stayed overnight in a Travelodge and went out with 2 modelling chums Lester & Steve for dinner and a few sherbets at the nearby Weatherspoons. We had a fab time, laughed most of Friday night and had a great day at the show on the Saturday. I’ve taken lots of model photo’s for our clubs Facebook page but was hard pushed to do my 366.  I managed though of course.

Day 246

The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Great Britain.
Each road is given a single letter, which represents the road’s category, and a subsequent number, of 1 to 4 digits. Introduced to arrange funding allocations, the numbers soon became used on maps and as a method of navigation. Two sub-schemes exist: one for motorways, and another for non-motorway roads.
The scheme applies only to England, Scotland and Wales. Similar systems are used, though, in Northern Ireland (see Roads in Northern Ireland), the Isle of Man (see Roads in the Isle of Man), Jersey, Guernsey, and British overseas territories. All of these numbering schemes use identical basic conventions and road-sign designs

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Day 247

Travelodge Hotels Limited is a private company operating in the hotels and hospitality industry throughout the United Kingdom. Branded simply as Travelodge, it is the second largest in the budget hotel sector (behind Premier Inn) and third biggest hotel chain in the UK by number of bedrooms (31,600 at the end of 2010).

Interesting facts:-

in 2006 the BBC Watchdog programme highlighted Travelodge’s policy of overbooking their hotels, turning guests away even when they have booked against a credit card. When a whistleblower revealed that overbooking comes before anything else, Travelodge admitted to this practice and updated their website to confirm this. Guests who are found in this position are where possible found accommodation in a nearby Travelodge at no extra cost to them, but if no rooms are available nearby the reservation is cancelled and the customer is refunded to the payee’s card. Travelodge say that overbooking is so more guests can make use of rooms that would otherwise be empty; however, the whistleblower programme contained footage of an internal Travelodge training video which stated that their business model required them to run all their hotels at maximum capacity, and that a ‘last man standing’ policy would ensure this always occurred.

In 2007, media around the world reported that David and Jean Davidson, a retired couple originally from Sheffield, had stayed at Travelodges in Newark, Worksop and Grantham for a combined total of 22 years, making each lodge their home.The retired naval sailor and his wheelchair-using wife found the cost of their stay comparable with living in a house, but with the benefits of housekeeping service and without added costs such as council tax and utilities. Following their departure, at least one lodge named their room “The Davidson Suite”.

Had to stay in one this weekend :/ basic but comfortable. Would kill myself rather than stay for 22 years!!!

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Day 248

The 35 mm format, or simply 35 mm, is the common name for the 36×24 mm film format or image sensor format used in photography. It has an aspect ratio of 3:2, and a diagonal measurement of approximately 43 mm. It has been employed in countless photographic applications including rangefinder cameras (film and digital), mirrorless digital cameras, digital SLRs, point-and-shoot film cameras, and disposable film cameras.

The format originated with Oskar Barnack and his introduction of the Leica camera in the 1920s.Thus it is sometimes called the Leica format or Barnack format. The name 35 mm originates with the total width of the 135 film, the perforated cartridge film which was the primary medium of the format prior to the invention of the full frame DSLR. The term 135 format remains in use. In digital photography, the format has come to be known as full frame, FF or FX, the latter invented as a trade mark of Nikon. Historically the 35 mm format was sometimes called miniature format or small format, terms meant to distinguish it from the medium and large formats.

The Minolta here, sadly no longer working, was the first proper camera I had, it was lush!

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Day 161~366

What exciting times here. Skye saw off an ‘intruder’ in the middle of the night. A neighbourhood cat came in through Skye’s cat flap, and Skye charged off downstairs and cornered the interloper in the lounge. Phil got up to see WTH was going on and when he got downstairs saw Skye hissing and spitting and growling at the other cat, Phil said it looked terrified, then it shot off back to the cat flap with Skye in hot pursuit and all fired up and ready to rumble glaring at the cat flap! Phil calmed her down and she’s probably quite chuffed with herself for being Top Cat.  I slept through most of it 🙂

Our weather has been strangely glorious as every day this week the weather forecast tells us we are under cloud with heavy showers, I must have missed them.  Today my shot is of Skye reflected in the twin lenses of my little Lubitel 166B.  Haven’t used it much as am concentrating on my 366, hopefully will have a bit more time soon. Its a b***h to focus!

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Day 90~366

I recently shot a couple of rolls of film on my Holga, and await their return with bated breath. It’s always hit and miss as to whether the photo’s will be in focus, exposed correctly, ruined by light leaks or accidental double exposures. There isn’t much control over the Holga! So I had a little look about the whole Lomo thing, and found out the next step up from a Holga would be a Lubitel 166B TLR, which has settings for aperture and shutter speed and looks like a poor man’s Rollieflex.  As I am a poor woman, it fits in my budget very nicely, and one arrived today. It’s going to be a steep learning curve, I got a roll in and on the go but looking down into a view finder is extremely weird and I haven’t got the hang of it, also there’s a lot more thinking about aperture and shutter speed which I’m not that used to, knowing the fuji will take care of that with an auto ISO setting while I just choose the aperture.  But I’m looking forward to learning, got a notebook to check what I’m doing so I can compare them with the shots I get back and will be posting the results when I get some shots developed. A cool square 🙂

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Day 19~366

My 2nd favourite camera is my SX70, which I’ve been neglecting so much since starting the 366, intending to shoot a few film packs when the weather perks up.

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The fraggle’s ‘hood report

Had to walk over to Pelaw today to pick up a prescription for Phil, and though it was a blustery day, the sky was blue in a lot of places and everywhere was all coloured up. It’s officially Fall here as of yesterday, and it’s a great time of year for photography.  You’ll notice I use the term Fall, even though I’m English, but…

(edumacation bit coming up 🙂 )

The word autumn comes from the ancient Etruscan root autu- and has within it connotations of the passing of the year.It was borrowed by the neighbouring Romans, and became autumnus. After the Roman era the word continued to be used as the old French word autompne (automne in modern French) or autumpne in Middle English, and was later normalised to the original Latin. In the Medieval period there are rare examples of its use as early as the 12th century, but by the 16th century it was in common use.

The alternative word fall for the season traces its origins to old Germanic Languages. The exact derivation is unclear, with the Old English fiæll or feallan and the Old Norse fall all being possible candidates. However, these words all have the meaning “to fall from a height” and are clearly derived either from a common root or from each other. The term came to denote the season in 16th century England, a contraction of Middle English expressions like “fall of the leaf” and “fall of the year”.

During the 17th century, English emigration to the British colonies in North America was at its peak, and the new settlers took the English language with them. While the term fall gradually became obsolete in Britain, it became the more common term in North America. (wiki) Well it’s not obsolete to me now!

I only had my iphone6 with me, so all these were taken with a couple of camera apps I have on it.

I have to walk over a bridge across the metro lines to get to Pelaw, there isn’t a drive-straight-to-it road, so it’s quicker to walk than go in the car, which is good, a bit of fresh air and exercise!

down the line (camera pro app)
down the line (ProCamera)

ProCamera is one of my fave apps as you can alter focus and exposure very easily and it has a lot of functions which is great if you don’t have a DSLR to hand.

ProCamera settings
ProCamera settings

My most used app is the hipstamatic app, I really like all the different lens/film combo’s. I make up favourites and also use the random choice setting now and then to see what it comes up with. At the moment I have about 60 different sets of films and lenses on the app! OK I’m a geek.

These were taken using the Bruno Lens & Claunch 72 monochrome film.

Pelaw Metro Station
Pelaw Metro Station
Pelaw Metro Station
Pelaw Metro Station
crumpled cone
crumpled cone

I walked home through the wooded back pathways to find some colour..

red green & blue (Emma Lens,Big Easy film)
red green & blue (Emma Lens,Big Easy film)

The John S Lens & Kodot Grizzled film combination is one of my favourites for the deep blues and rich colours.

head in the clouds (John S Lens,Kodot Grizzled film)
head in the clouds 
Lone tree
Lone tree
undercover path
undercover path
abundance of berries
abundance of berries

I also have an app I only use for iPhone macro shots, I got it in error as I thought I was getting ProCamera but it isn’t, it’s called Camera+. It’s a really annoying app to use, not intuitive at all, but the macro setting is fab so I just leave it on that!  It is a very popular app so maybe it’s just me being dim. 🙂

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spidey!
spidey!

and now to do the washing and mop the floors..

laters gaters

😉

more about Autumn/Fall HERE

ProCamera app (Iphone) can be got HERE, can’t find one for android phones.

Hipstamatic app HERE, there isn’t one for android phones.

Camera+ HERE  for iphone, HERE for android.

 

 

65/365 ~ black beauty

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Maybe not as visually engaging as my previous vintage camera’s, nor as old, but this black beauty holds a special place in my heart. She was my first ‘big girl’ camera, way back, when I didn’t have wrinkles and love handles, and the one I had got damaged beyond repair by orange juice during a trip to London with my ex boyfriend.  Several years later and I married that guy, and now I have my first love too 🙂 Gotta love ebay. AM scared to use it, as I haven’t had time to buy a battery for it, so am not yet sure if it’s fully functioning, but I love looking at it and remembering the days out to London…..