I love a bit of rough!

Oh yes, I do like it rough.. and so does my car!

I took my Landrover out for some greenlaning today in Wiltshire.
Of course I took a few photos along the way, although not to many.

Here we are on the A417, stopped to double check my route, make sure all the lanes I was planning on driving were legal.





Then we head off to find the start of the first lane.  It was a lovely small lane, through a woodland with a bit of a ford halfway through. The traction control came on a few times, so it must have been pretty muddy.
After that small lane, I drove through Minety to find the next.
Again through woodland, and quite overgrown. Thankfully I dont value my paintwork too much!!

This lane is made up of 3 parts, the first two parts are much the same, although sadly some morons had decided to make their own route and have carved a massive set of ruts alongside the true path. Its people like this that will be the death of any Byway or UCR and people like me who enjoy the gentle surroundings will have them taken away.
If you want to test your car, book it into a pay and play site, dont riun our ancient byways!!
Also just before this was a burnt out van... Nice.

Anyway, the 3rd part of the route opened up into a logging area, perfect for a few photos!





Thiss where I was heading.





The sun was shimering through the trees, fantastic!







I had my GoPro Hero camera with me and filmed some video, which I will link up here.

All in all a great day out!.

On the canal

On the canal, a photo by TCR4x4 on Flickr.

Another taken at Purton, but this time from the Lumix GF1. I love black and whites from this camera!

A frosty morning!!

It was a very frosty morning today, and rather than waste it, I thought I'd go for a photo walk back to my favourite location..
Yep you guessed it, the Purton Wrecks!






The place never fails to inspire me and relax me. Ive been there many many times, but always find something new and interesting to photograph. I could spend hours there just wandering around.
The walk started at the bridge, a light mist was just starting to rise thanks to the morning sun.

























I walked further down the towpath towards the wrecks and just had to shoot this scene, even though Ive shot the exact same image on several occasions!

I continued walking down to the gate where the wrecks are. It was surprisingly busy, with many other photographers there, people walking and early morning fishermen.


I started looking for some interesting places, I already know most of the good spots, but wanted to find a new one. I found this couple, fishing.. Well they were fishing in between the kissing anyway!

I couldn't walk past and not shoot this next shot.. It the same composition as one I took before at sunset, that won me a competition.









Never shot this angle before, I really liked the big barge in the foreground, and the skeletal remains of one in the background. Plus all the graffiti just adds some texture.

The skeleton from the background above.

I then came upon this one. Ive walked past it many times, but just never saw the shot. For whatever reason it just jumped out at me today.
I knew before I even set the tripod down, I wanted this in black and white. I shoot RAW, so knew I'd have to get it right in Lightroom. I wasn't sure if I could capture the depth between the two walls of wood, but I think I got it.







I took a few more landscapes which can be seen on my Flickr pages, but I wanted to try out my Sigma Macro lens, as I haven't really used it in anger yet.
Unfortunately, this meant getting wet and muddy!

That was quite enough of that.. Far to cold to be rolling around on the floor.
Out came the Samyang 85mm f/1.4 manual focus lens. The sharpest lens I own by far, and the best value *read cheapest!* This things doesn't get used a lot, but when it does, it never fails to disappoint.










Well, that was pretty much it. I headed home and got editing with the new Lightroom 4 Beta, which is really good!  I'm loving the new highlight and shadow sliders, and its so hard not to whack the clarity upto 100 for that uber cool HDR look.  Some of the photos I took, would have ended up in the bin I reckon, but LR4 came to the rescue!

Exactly 1 year today....

I had my spinal surgery!!

http://tomsspinalsurgery.blogspot.com/2011/01/op-day.html

I cant beleive how qucikly the year has gone.
I had 6 months off work, which flew by, and then the last 6 months back at work have been a challenge to say the least.

I'd love to say Im 100% fit and healthy, but sadly thats not the case. I still have major back pain, pretty much 99% of the time. Its different now though, more muscular than what I had before.  The area of the op is still very tender, and I also still have quite a bit of nerve damage in the area.

Im Planning on getting back into running this year. In 2010 I ran 3k for sport relief and raised over £250. Considering I could barely walk, I thought that quitean achievment!!

This is the year things will start to change I hope. Last year was just recovering and taking things steady. I never had a chance to actually acheieve or strive to anything, so fingers crossed!

Here is to another year!!

What a wreck!

Took the dog for a walk today, down to one of my favourite places to photograph. Its in a small village called Purton, on the bank of the River Severn.
The River started to erode the ground and was at risk of joining with the canal that runs along side. So to strengthen the banks, Old boats and barges were run aground and left to fill up with silt to create a wall.

Many of the boats are long gone, but the battered shells of many remain, and it makes for some very interesting photos.




There were at least four other people there, all with big rucksacks and DSLR's. Ive been there and done that, so on this occasion, I had just my Panasonic Lumix GF1 and the rediculously small 14mm f/2.7 lens.








It was so liberating being able to enjoy the walk, without the backbreaking load of DSLR gear and lenses. The only thing I did miss was my Lee Filters, as the afternoon sky was a good few stops brighter than the foreground.
Thankfully, Lightroom managed to provide some rescue.

The best camera is the one you have with you!

A lot of emphisis is put on having the latest a greatest gear.
Today this is especially true as Nikon have just anounced the new D4, and the internet is rife with people already lining up thier exsiting gear to sell.

Its true, I have tried to buy the best I can when it comes to photography gear, however Im in no rush to to go out and but the latest and greatest.
Im still shooting with a now aging D700, and 16-35mm f/4 VR. I sold my 24-70 f/2.8 as it wasnt getting used.
I also just bought a Panasonic GF1. This is now also getting on a bit, but its simply outstanding, and matched with the 20mm f/1.7 and the 14mm f/2.5 prime lenses, its a compact but utterly powerful setup.

However, there are times when even this is too much to carry around, so Im left with the camera on my phone.
I have an iphone 4S, and the camera on this is good as far as phone cameras go, but when you are greated with a scene like this, its simply the best camera in the world.

Restfull

Restfull, a photo by TCR4x4 on Flickr.

Sebbe

Sebbe , a photo by TCR4x4 on Flickr.

Sebbe with the GF1 and 14mm f/2.5

Its 2012!

Is been a long time since I last posted, but Im going to try to keep this upto date at least once a week, if not more..
So to start, Im going tp post a few photos from my new Panasonic GF1 and 14mm f/2.5 lens.
A cracking little combo which really punches above its weight.
Its brought the fun back into photography.