Jonathan Gazeley

That Doesn’t Fit: Make an image where something doesn’t fit. An odd one out from a set of objects. Or a situation containing a visual version of a non sequitur.

After reasonable success with my first roll of film, I’ve now had my second roll developed. Here are the best shots from that selection.

I’m rather pleased with the compositions and the way the lens behaves. But I’m not so keen on the noise in dark areas of the film, so next time I will try a lower ISO film. These were shot with ISO400, and next time I will try ISO200. Watch this space!

Since I took the picture of floor tiles yesterday for Stu’s black themed photo challenge, I’ve been trying to come up with something I like more.

Here are two photos I took this evening that are also candidates for the final submission…

This is my first attempt at a black themed photo for Stu. I’m not sure if I like it or not, so I’ll see if I can come up with something better by Monday.

Today my fisheye lens arrived. It’s not a whole lens for an SLR camera; rather an “add-on” lens that screws into the filter thread on my Fuji S9600 or any other lens.

I’ve tried a few ideas with it, and been as creative as one can possibly be in a boring flat on a lazy evening.

First, a badly-focused self portrait:

And an uninspiring shot from my balcony – a view that has appeared on this blog many times before.

I think I’m going to have fun with this lens.

Last night I was woken by noise and flashing blue lights, so I immediately went to the window. I saw a car on fire in the street below my flat, so I whipped my camera out. It was a bit dark for decent photos, but this is what I saw. I’ve no idea how long the fire had been burning when the fire service arrived, but I guess not long, given that the fire station is about 200m from here.

At one point the flames reached about twice this size but unfortunately I was fiddling with my camera’s settings to try and get a sharper image.

The fire service quickly brought the flames under control and eventually put them out.

You can see the ghostly outline of a fireman in this picture, backlit by the blue lights of the fire engine.

The car is still there this morning, just a shell of its former self. I hope they remove it soon – it’s an eyesore on an otherwise pleasant street.

Last week I was given a Canon 35mm SLR. I’ve already shot a roll of film to test out the camera and today I received the prints and a photo CD. Here are my favourite shots from the roll.

The colours are nice, and the lens is nice.

This indoor portrait of Hana is somewhat underexposed. I could have done with some more light really.

This shot of the physics department was disappointingly grainy given that it was taken in sunlight.

In my opinion, these shots are all rather grainier than they should be. I don’t know if it’s because I used an old film, or because they are underexposed, or for some other reason. But I will keep trying!

An unusual Tuesday Challenge from Stu this week…

This fortnight, your mission is to draw a giraffe. And submit it to OneMillionGiraffes. And post it here under the usual rules.

Having just read this article about the phasing out of 100W light bulbs, I decided to take a photo of one.

Unfortunately I don’t have any traditional light bulbs (I’m a good boy!) but I found a desk lamp with a 12V halogen bulb. I took this photo using an infra-red filter.