HMP/YOI Portland isn't the first place you'd think of as a subject for a photograph. It's hardly what you'd call beautiful and taking a close up photographic interest might get you - how shall I put it - 'noticed'. However, with a couple of horses in the foreground and bit of mist rolling over the nearby clifftops it seemed worth pressing the shutter button while the grandkids were giving some goats the benefit of their attention.

Q-S1 + 06 lens.

Thoughts, comments welcome as usual.




Steve

After 5 days, the grandkids have gone, all 35 of them. Well, it was really only 2 plus my eldest daughter and husband, but it felt like 35...

Steve

Only one thing for it then, Gareth - a lengthy holiday in Japan. You'll need it to get the camera. Your wife will need it for you to get permission to get the camera.

Steve

Good shot!

Must be the season for bug hunting again. Time to start creeping around the undergrowth and muttering about back ache ...

Steve

The waves might not be big, but there's power in that water pushing its way up the rocks in 1.

Plenty of waves at Weymouth this afternoon (a place not known for its waves). And c-c-c-cold wind off the sea.

Steve

A good haul from a first time out .

Hand held is definitely difficult with these sort of pictures but no more so than with any similar macro lens and, as you've shown, it is possible to get good results. Were you using manual focus or autofocus? I've wondered about trying catch-in-focus with this lens but never got round to it.

Steve

Thanks folks.
I mostly agree. Little of what I have seen enhances, much of it detracts and a lot just leaves me thinking 'So what?'. A few crazy things about this 'stone circle':
- Stone circles in Dorset are few in number and not characteristic of the ancient landscape, so why on earth build one?
- It's close to, and dwarfed by, a much more impressive monument on the highest bit of land - Hardy's Monument (National Trust), which is big, highly visible, much loved and has every right to be there (since 1844) as a memorial to Vice-admiral Hardy of HMS Victory fame (did he or didn't he kiss the dying Nelson?) who lived in the nearby village and whose family owned the land up to Black Down. They wanted a memorial that would be a landmark for shipping, which it most certainly is (and for landlubbers within a wide radius!).
- Not far away, National Grid is spending a lot of money replacing pylons by an underground cable, for the purpose of enhancing the landscape and preserving the setting of the truly ancient monuments.
I had to look up what that meant! Now to find an excuse to drop it into conversation...
I really had no idea what the date was when I posted it! But I see what you mean...

Steve

None of them smiling - you must live in a miserable place.

Your pictures are good, though.

Steve

You woz lucky! Wen I woz a kid we never 'ad views to find. It were smog every day. And we were grateful for it coz if it weren't there we'd 'ave to see the mess that were there!

Ah, those were the days... (as we say darn Sarf)

Steve

Artists, encouraged by the tourist industry, have discovered the South Dorset Ridgeway. A stone circle has been constructed near a car park at Black Down. Apparently, two of the 'windows' are aligned so the central stone is illuminated by the rising sun at the summer and winter solstices. It must be art because it was made by an artist.

Given the number of genuinely impressive, ancient constructions along the ridgeway, I really couldn't get excited about this new arrival. However, having the Q + 01 lens in the pocket, it would have been rude not to try a shot or two. Here are the best of the bunch (with the car park carefully out of frame :wink.

Thoughts, comments etc. welcome as usual.

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Steve