St. Clements Church graveyard…
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Christmas Day 2008 on St Agnes Beach
Yet another Christmas has come and gone (pretty much)!
We got to the beach a bit late this time, so I didn’t have any time to change lenses (so all these are taken with the 50mm f/1.4).
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Some late arrivals:
Most people leaving at this point…
I quite like this shot, some people still in the (cold) water, others on their way in and the man and child drying off and watching.
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Terry Pratchett Opening the new RICE Building
I have finally had time to upload some of the photos that I took during the official opening of the new building for RICE
Mr Sheppard, Chairman of Trustees with his opening speech.
Terry talking about RICE:
The unveiling of the plaque (most important bit)…
The audience…
Terry being presented with some gifts from Roy Jones, the current director of RICE.
Tricia Mugridge being presented with flowers for all her hard work for RICE
Tricia presenting Terry with the wizard-like veil used to cover the plaque.
Some shots of the new building, inside and out…
the reception area
the lunch spread
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PhotoSoc “Facebook profile picture photo shoot”
These are some of my shots from the photo shoot I organised and opened up to all students at Bath University; only two people actually attended, maybe more advertising and persuading were needed.
We had Ieuan juggling etc.
Along with Alex
Nicole
Had a fun time doing a photo shoot with Nicole! I will let the pics speak for themselves. If anyone else is interested in having something similar done, let me know :)
Love the texture of the jeans in the photo above :)
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Photos Jamie Oliver’s Italian Restaurant Bath 20-11-2008
I went back to Jamie Oliver’s in Bath for some shots for Impact (Bath Uni newspaper). This time armed with a tripod (and selection of lenses although I only used the 50mm f/1.4). Thanks to the general manager, Tom James, for permission. Here is an interview with Tom by Francesca Brkic along with the pictures I took while eating there.
front…
back…
Service :)
On the way out…
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(Latter half of) A Sunset - 19/11/2008
This was a really nice sunset, but I was driving back from Uni while the sky was ablaze, orange/red coloured clouds filled the sky. When I eventually got back I grabbed the camera and tripod and rushed to my near-by sunset-picture-taking spot.
Whipped out the 70-200 after the following shot because there was too much difference between the orange sunset band and the gradually darkening sky for it to look good with a wide shot.
Started to get darker from this point on, so I thought I would head back and take some pics along the way.
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Jamie Oliver’s Italian Restaurant Bath 06-11-2008
Three of us went to Jamie Oliver’s Italian Restaurant. The food was great and we had a good time. These are a collected of some of the images I took while there. I have more photos of Jamie’s Italian here.
Interview with Tom James, General Manager
by Francesca Brkic
FB: Why Bath?
TJ: Jamie has been coming to Bath for many years. He likes the look of the city, the ambiance and the fact that there is a real buzz about food.
FB: What do you think is the restaurant’s aim and purpose, with regards to the choice of customers and culinary dishes?
TJ: The main mission of Jamie’s Italian is to provide world class Italian food in a relaxed, informal, and accessable environment. One of the key factors to its success is the fact it is so reasonably priced for the quality of the dishes. I don’t know any other restaurant where you can get a truffle tagliatelle for less than 8 quid! We wanted a totally non-exclusive restaurant where 4 students would be equally as comfortable as 3 people having a business lunch.
In terms of the menu, that all comes from Jamie with help from his mentor Gennaro. Its a combination of classic Italian dishes and some more contemporary dishes inspired by Italy.
FB: What do you think sets Jamie’s Italian apart from the many other Italian restaurants that can be found in the country?
TJ: I think the products the chefs have to work with. The mozzarella is made exclusively for us, as is the olive oil. The pasta is made fresh each morning, using a recipe that took 6 months to perfect.In fact the sourcing of produce has probably been the most time-consuming aspect of opening, but we weren’t prepared to compromise anything. Every supplier knows how passionate we are about our food and so they know they have to deliver, from the day boats that supply our squid to the Devonshire red chickens.
The other key factor was staff training. Before opening we had all the staff together for 2 weeks; eating, cooking talking about food, talking with Jamie. That 2 weeks was very special and has helped create a real family atmosphere.
Someone else’s food I thought looked like it needed a photo of it taking.
Our starters
(Two of) our pasta dishes
Before, After:
FB: If you had to describe the restaurant’s atmosphere, what would it be?
TJ: It’s a real family Italian. Full of atmosphere, smells of fantastic food, and warm rustic surroundings.
Some spilled water made an interesting shape on the table.
FB: What were the reasons behind the architecture of the restaurant? It’s quite a melange of styles, from the large glass windows and the modern lounge feel to the wooden bathrooms and tables.
TJ: A lot of the design has come from Jamie. Its a combination of features he has seen and ideas he has had. I think the restaurant works really well and we are getting a lot of customers coming back to sit in the different areas. A meal on the terrace in summer is a totally different ambiance to a December night in the cosy Georgian room. The only thing that doesn’t change is the quality of the food and the great service!!
Taking a look upstairs…
FB: Has the presence of two populous universities influenced this decision in any way?
TJ: Yes definitely. We were looking for a vibrant city and Bath is a fantastic university town. We employ a lot of students and love the fact that we have a great reputation with the universities.
FB: What are the reasons behind an open and exposed kitchen?
TJ: It’s to create that link between the chefs and the customers. The chefs love to be able to talk to customers and let them see what they are doing. Also we like the transparency of letting customers see exactly how we make the great food they are eating. It’s why we put in a 8ft projector screen of the chefs too!!!
FB: Would the restaurant be willing to give special discounts to students, on a certain day, to market the restaurant within the university with the help of Impact?
TJ: It is something we are certainly considering for the future!
Lights outside as we were leaving.
Fin.
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The first Bath PhotoSoc session of the year (Saturday 11th Oct)
Finally got 5 mins to put up some of the photos I took while out with this year’s PhotoSoc members on our taster session.
We took a walk from campus thorough the forest at the back of the Uni near the golf course. It was probably one of the best days we have had this month.
Fellow PhotoSoc’ers
Minimalistic shot:
Bath Abbey:
We all went for food at this point and then most people went home afterwards; I stayed out with Fran while the light was still good.
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javac is not available for sun-jre-bin-1.6 on x86_64
When trying to compile some java code on my x86_64 (amd64) 64bit Gentoo machine I was greeted with the following error message:
* javac is not available for sun-jre-bin-1.6 on x86_64 * IMPORTANT: some Java tools are not available on some VMs on some architectures
This can be fixed by installing and/or setting the jdk to system as below:
To see what VM’s were available:
# eselect java-vm list
Available Java Virtual Machines: [1] sun-jre-bin-1.6 system-vm
sun-jre does not contain tools such as javac and jar, so we need to install sun-jdk:
# emerge sun-jdk # eselect java-vm list Available Java Virtual Machines: [1] sun-jdk-1.6 [2] sun-jre-bin-1.6 system-vm
and then selected as the system wide VM:
# eselect java-vm set system 1
The end.
Another Walk one Evening
I went for another walk the other day when the days were clear and sunny; the weather is slowly getting worse now :(
Never Eat Shredded Wheat…
Autumn is on its way…
More rubbish being left behind.
This place is quite nice during the evening sun; next time the weather is nice I think I will bring my 70-200mm instead of the 50mm.
Yet more rubbish!
Moss.
Some flowers :)
Sunset flare!
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Keep Britain Tidy
I have started a little photo project as of the other day. My photos for this are basically “interesting” documentary shots of litter/rubbish/trash which has been dropped or otherwise made its way into the world. Oh yeah, also once you are done taking photos, pick it up and bin it if you are able.
I have chosen the name “Keep Britain Tidy” for a few reasons, some unknown to myself. Other reasons were: I thought it good to again raise the awareness of the “Keep Britain Tidy” campaign. It was the only name I thought of that summed up the project and was available as a group (Keep Britain Tidy) on flickr.
My idea started the other day when I went on a walk on a lovely evening when I took this one and thought I should probably pick it up.
Then I took a few more photos with this theme in mind:
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Using the GIMP
I was going through some photos I took the other day while at home and found one I quite liked. The only problem was either the sky was blown or the red tractor etc was too dark.
So, the solution was to take three (-1, 0 and +1.25) “exposures” from the RAW file and combine them using the GIMP. I simply create three layers and erase/cut out (using the “Free Select Tool”) the appropriate areas; to aid the erasing I created a brush with radius 100px. Add a touch of dodging and burning and there we have the lighting sorted out.
Now for the rest of the image, as it was taken using an ultra wide angle lens, namely the Canon 10-22mm, the horizon was a little distorted (as was the rest of the image but I quite like that).
I did a little Google search and found this page: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~hodsond/gimp.html which contains some nice GIMP plugins. I used the Correct Lens Distortion (and then a small rotate by -0.15) to straighten the horizon.
Finally a crop, a (very) small curve adjustment and a little bit of sharpening and there we go.
St Agnes Beach (Trevaunance Cove)
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Images of St Agnes taken with a Praktica TL5B
While at home last week I used dad’s film camera to take images of St Agnes, Cornwall. The camera was a Praktica TL 5B, I was using a 50mm f1.8 prime lens and some expired, ISO 200, 35mm colour film.
My first shot (that came out) was of Stippy Stappy, a famous landmark in the village. My actual first shot was of the box that the film came in, but, it only half came out. It wasn’t print it or put on the CD, it was just on the thumbnail printout.
St Agnes Beach (Trevaunance)
St Agnes Parish Church
A few from/of St Agnes Beach (Trevaunance)
St Agnes Harbour (Well what’s left of it)
And now for something completly slightly different.
Back to the sea (and cliffs)
Some pictures from Watergate Bay
Back home: router + PC @ f/1.8
Back to St Agnes Beach (Trevaunance) on another day, the 19th Sept 2008 I think.
I got my feet wet after this photo, I was standing on top of the ramp down to the beach and I avoided one big wave that came a little way over; I went back to the same position only to have an even bigger wave (that I failed to escape) come and get my feet and bottoms of my trousers wet. At least it wasn’t cold but I did have to walk a few miles home with wet/sandy feet.
Anyway, more photos…
On the way up to the village (well the long way round, up Rocky Lane then along a small footpath) there is a nice view of the sea and various headlands up the coast from St Agnes.
I chose this way home as it led me past the Wheal Friendly engine house.
I did want to take one more picture after this, but alas I ran out of film. Never mind.
I finally got some batteries for the Canon EOS 300V the other day, so I shall endevour to take 36 portraits this week and get the film processed… maybe it will take longer than a week. It depends on how I go about taking the photos; if they are all of different, random people, it will take a while.
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