|
|
||
|
|
24 Mar. 2008: I've settled into my new home, but have changed broadband supplier, so I won't be updating this site anymore. It'll remain online, static, for visitors to enjoy (I hope). For new photos, please visit Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24929622@N04/ 18 Dec. '07: I'm moving house (my first ownership), but I'll try to get back to this as soon as possible! 2 Dec.: Being the shortest policewoman in Pirates of Penzance was great fun, with several comic turns; and then I was awarded Best Actor in our fun after-show party! Thank you very much. Just a week later I went on holiday to northwest Mexico, with most of the family: Copper Canyon (deeper than the Grand Canyon), train, El Fuerte, Chihuahua - see my photo gallery (highlights of the nearly 800 photos; I'll give a full talk to the Camera Club). 16 Oct.: I've won, I've won! After 5 years, I got 1st Place in a Kidlington Camera Club competition: Water theme. I took the photo on a work visit to our office in Edinburgh in the spring. I was staying at the Malmaison in Leith for my first time, and the evening was gorgeous, with late slanting sunlight, so I was exploring, and next to the Scottish Executive I found a red bridge reflecting wonderfully in gently rippling water. I spent a v long time taking all the compositions I could think of, capturing colours and shapes and light. Loved it. 14 Oct.: I didn't expect to not find time to update this for nearly 2 months! In between I've had two visits to parents in Hampshire, including steam-fairground-at-night photography, Roman enactors, Selborne nature, and their own lovely garden flowers. Plus G&S, panto and other events closer to home. Also tried buying a house, but my offer was pipped at the post. The Pirates of Penzance rehearsals are going well, and the production is fab, of course. I'm loving being in the police (2nd half) as well as the women's chorus (1st half); there's a little height humour (note that I'm 152cm/5ft) ... 22 Aug.: I'm going to be an E[lectronic] Product Development Editor! Interviewed yesterday in Edinburgh (but will keep working in the Oxford/Kidlington office) and got the good news at lunchtime today. I do enjoy visiting Edinburgh - the city and the colleagues; didn't see any of the festival this time, except the traffic! Did have tales to tell after both flights: going up I thought Caroline and I were on the same flight, didn't watch the monitors for about 5 minutes, and the flight boarded in that time! I realised my confusion and went to the gate just as they announced my name as the last passenger. Then last night, late at night already, I was nearly at the carpark exit when I was asked to help a family start their dead battery; so I pulled out the manual and still couldn't find the lever for the bonnet under the dash in the pool car - but we charged it up in the end, and I eventually got home to bed (where I thought about the interview/job, of course). 12 Aug.: Kidlington Camera Club and Historical Society had a joint outing to Lacock (Wilts.) yesterday, with perfect weather. It was a lovely relaxing day, taking photos with fellow enthusiasts, including brother Owen, who joined in since he lives in Chippenham (though he takes such good photographs that I'm a tinge jealous!). In fact, O and I are rivalling each other with how quickly we splash our photos on the web too (his are on flickr)! I didn't make it into the Abbey (have been before); it was mostly flowers that caught my attention, though the ford was good for dogs and water (but not for great photos, it turned out). 28 July: Enjoyed a tour of All Souls College in Oxford with some members of both Kidlington's Historical Society and Camera Club today. All the various river routes are running high and fast, though almost all the flooding has gone down. A week ago Louisa and I missed all the excitement while in Prague for Veronika's wedding and a long weekend. We had a hot and sticky 2 days first, in the 30s deg.C, but the wedding day was perfect (till about 2am, when the heavens opened). The church in Strahov Monastery was beautiful, as was the bride. 3 July: Following Owen's suggestion, I'm adding an eye symbol on my photo gallery page to indicate pages that I've recently updated: for instance, there are new photos in Crete, Santorini and abstracts. I have yet more dahlias, plus fungi, etc., that I'm working on. I do think my Tamron 18-250mm lens isn't getting me good enough macro, even with the close-up +4 lens; there's too much softness for a large part surrounding the centre, unless I'm doing something wrong (easily possible). But I'm happy with the lens for other pix! 16 June: I bought a beautiful, colourful pink/white-flowered dahlia plant this morning, to put in a tub (to avoid slugs!) and to photograph. Started the photos this afternoon while I could have it indoors, out of the wind (bane of my life for photo'ing flowers). Loved the colour and making abstracts with different depth of field, but even with checking the photos after downloading quickly onto the computer (that's a digital benefit!), I still find it tricky to get the right combination of light, focus, etc. Then I watched Doctor Who. What a show! 10 June: I've realised that since I'm still sorting out my Crete photos, I haven't written about the holiday here yet! Early May was pretty good for temperature (not too high), tourists (not too many) and flowers (plenty). Lovely sunshine. Although Irakleio is central, I found it less interesting/attractive than either side, and it still took some time to drive to other locations. I liked Rethymno and the drive/countryside there, and the Lasithi Plateau and the drive/countryside there. An extra highlight was discovering that we could take a ferry to Santorini for the day, which we all loved; photographically, I'd like to go back for a short stay, to get early morning and evening light, but I was very happy with the trip. I'd also go back to Crete sometime, as there's a lot more to see! I've begun to put my photos in my gallery, but there are more to come! 17 Apr.: The KCC had a huge 10 slides entered for Slide of the Year last night; I got 2nd place! Sunset at Bosham (near Chicester). Didn't place in the Digi of the Year, but two of my pix got 18/20 points with good comments. Now I have to get ready for the AGM next week, which I have to chair, speak about the year as chair, and speak about the year as Programme Sec.! 15 Apr.: Had a great day out at Windsor yesterday - see the new page; the Queen was in. I finished the slide film in my old camera too, so I'll scan any pix from those after I get them developed.... Lovely warm, sunny weather; ah, cream tea. Re: my previous note about the 400D - it's just possible that, because I'm left-eyed when I photograph, my nose is knocking the ISO button... 1 April: I missed any Fools today. But yesterday I enjoyed Morris dancing in Oxford, before taking rugby photos for the first time. It was a pleasant day, if windy, and good fun seeing what different angles I could get on the game - I missed some, so I could go again... Great Tamron 18-250 mm lens so far, doing just what I wanted in one lens without having to change. I did notice with the Canon EOS 400D, though, that I accidentally changed ISO too easily. 25 Feb. 2007: I've clearly been too busy rehearsing and performing panto to keep blogging! Humpty Dumpty went really well last week, was great fun, and raised money for charity. I want to see the performance DVD to see what the cow actually looked like, especially our tap dancing, and the dances from the audience view. And the UV scene (I was a star). And the three blind mice (I could hear the laughter while waiting in the wings to go on). Most of the cast were sick during the performance week, and the rest of us got sick at the end, so I had flu afterwards, but recovered now - and it's worth it. At the same time I was making a photographic study of an Amaryllis, which I've now added to my photo gallery here. I had to miss the Club's Three on a Theme competition, but I think my flower trio was Highly Commended; I'll put them up in my next update. The views expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Elsevier. 18 Dec.: Finally got my latest slides developed from Fuji; one reason I'll go fully digital sometime in the next few years is the concern that my film could go missing in the post between me and Fuji (and it's not instant gratification!) - but I still love their quality. One more day till I'm on holiday, for nearly a fortnight - can't wait. We recorded most of the panto dances last night, so we can all have DVD copies for watching and practicing! 3 Dec.: I've finally been able to set up a page with photos of Switzerland from my 4 years there, and dotted a few new photos around the gallery. Panto rehearsals are great fun, as usual, and this year I've taken over the maintenance of the website (Launton Village Players): see the Humpty Dumpty Photo Diary, where I've taken many of the photos (when not dancing, or from the middle of a scene!). 22 Oct.: I've got good slides of the Gherkin, but not had time this weekend to show them here yet. I have put up a few photos of my interesting Glasgow & Dundee trip, taken with my cameraphone; and started a page of pix where I've played with the cameraphone. We had the panto launch party last night, so that'll be keeping me busy; tap-dance classes have stopped until Jan., but I'll definitely love learning tap again then. Must go; more another time. 24 Sept.: Laughed through Miachel Frayn's 'Donkeys Years' yesterday, in a great day with family. Also saw the Gherkin for the first time, but taking slides isn't instant gratification, so I have to finish the film first. I am excited by my latest flower photos, though, which are the arty look I've been trying for for a while. Next project is Glasgow and Dundee, after author meetings at the end of this week... 9 July: Just finishing off the programme for the Camera Club, and getting ready for the Kidlington Gala Day on 22 July. 24 June: Had another fab hol, this time a week's cruise with the family to celebrate parents' wedding anniversary. We took a river cruise with Page & Moy, with a National Trust connection, from Amsterdam down to Rudesheim and back again. Very lucky with glorious weather (the previous two cruises had been rained on). I can write more later - but see my photos in the meantime! 30 Apr.: Had a fab hol in Prague, where 4 1/2 days turned out to be a good length of time to see most of what I wanted - and take 360 photos. I loved the colours especially. I enjoyed two concerts on my first day, international accordion orchestras then oboe+organ, in different Baroque St Nicholas churches, as well as wandering round Stare Mesto, in lovely sunshine and perfect low 20s C; in the early evening I took photos of lights from the castle grounds of the other side of the Vltava. On Sat. I had a late breakfast in Cafe Savoy (lovely building inside and out) in the middle of exploring Mala Strana, where I wholeheartedly began a photo theme of building colours, using faces as my main features surrounded by each colour. I roamed through Nove Mesto, having a few small filled puff pastries for lunch, only to realise with 15 minutes before the guided walk I was aiming for that rain was beginning. I'd left both my jacket and my brolly in my room! So I asked the guide first for the nearest shop selling brollies - luckily not far and reasonably priced. In fact the rain was brief, so I enjoyed the 2-hour architectural tour (which included the Old Town Hall tower). Tea in my room - conveniently near the end of the tour, a nap, then out to a nearby restaurant as it was raining again. On a cloudy Sun. morning I found a garden with peacocks - a few photos ensued - on my way to Josefov (where the queue for the Jewish cemetery persuaded me to visit the Jewish Museum the next day). I looked at the Art Nouveau Obecni Dum then had a lovely lunch of Prague cold cuts plus delicious honey cake in a Cubist cafe. Down Wenceslas Square to see the Art Nouveau Hotel Europa, at which point lightning began striking! Luckily, I was next to shelter that turned out to be part of the pasajes, so I could carry on exploring under cover (I also had both my brolly and jacket this time). Into a rare Gothic church interior, then over to the Charles Bridge and up its east tower, where I was lucky to get some late-afternoon sun in between rain. After supper I went back to the bridge to photograph the castle lit up. On Mon. I got to Josefov a bit earlier and went into several of the synagogues. And finally I was ready to explore the castle, including getting views from there with afternoon sunlight - it was a perfect sunny day again. Had a good lunch in a cafe in a garden area, then down to Golden Lane; this became another photo project, trying to capture the lane without the crowds, by photographing an item in each coloured wall. Then back up, into St George's church and on into St Vitus' cathedral (lovely stained glass), including its tower. Went back to the cafe for apple strudel and tea. On Tues. morning I was able to check out fairly early, so I had time to walk over to the New Town Hall (to see a bit of medieval), then back through Mala Strana to the Vrtbovsky garden. And finally, while I had a farewell plate of pancakes (yummy), I had great fun photographing reflection of St Nicholas' church in my cup of tea! (And someone asked to photograph me photographing my tea!) And back in England Fuji did a brilliant job of developing and returning my slides to me in 1 day (with good post taking 1 day each way also). 18 Mar.: I was able to participate in a video shoot for work this past week (3 days, optician-type procedures), which I enjoyed, and even had my own eye filmed as part of it. 29 Jan. 2006: In the middle of the final rehearsals for a great panto, I've started going to a ballroom-and-latin dance class, so I'm pausing on other singing for now. It's tricky keeping photography, singing, dancing, etc. balanced! 4 Dec.: I enjoyed giving my Seeing Things talk to the KCC last Monday; though I think I could have done with another practice run-through. Digital projection really can fit in more images than slide projection; I ended the first, digital, half a tad sooner than I'd intended! Now I'm looking into starting dance class of some sort; I've loved that new-to-me aspect of staged performances (such as panto, now rehearsing). 1 Oct.: Austria was exactly what I'd looked forward to, if not as sunny as I'd have liked; mountains, alps/alms, food, music, costumes, castles, chalets - and family! Just before the holiday, the Digital Photography Made Easy magazine published the colour version of my shadowed doorway photo (they cropped it to the top part), having looked at my public album at www.photobox.co.uk and selected my work! (Then after my holiday, my b/w entry to Amateur Photographer was rejected; mixed fortunes.) 22 Aug.: Silverstone and the British Superbikes day was brilliant. Fab weather, access, bikes; my four films went in today's post, so slides later this week.......... 20 Aug.: Although I've missed doing Stowe Opera this summer (Cosi Van Tutte without chorus), I've actually enjoyed having a break! I've begun shadowing Malcolm in the KCC to take over as Programme Secretary next year, so we've spent some time arranging dates with speakers and judges. I'm also well on the way with preparation of my own talk (Seeing Things), for Nov. 28 (just after the My Fair Lady performances). My new computer is helping immensely, as part of my talk will be digitised from my 1990s prints. More immediately I'm looking forward to watching/photographing British Superbikes at Silverstone tomorrow, a Sept. weekend with Claire and Owen (and Ruth), then Austria!!! I'm also on tenterhooks about a submission of my b/w window/shadow to the next Amateur Photographer competition. 8 May: More Photoshop payoff - experimenting with black and white got me 20/20 points for my classical window+shadow and my selected shadows - wow. Great end to the KCC year with a 3rd for the shadows and Highly Commended for the filler/radiator cap that I think looks like a rocket shooting into space. Now working on horses, bluebells, my next talk, Elijah, and Launton Players' summer show... 1 March '05: Whew! I've been doing so much, I haven't managed to update my blog! The talk went down well, and I enjoyed giving it; so that evening I decided what I would do next year ('Seeing Things'...)!! I won 2nd place in the Newcomers' Competition, with a framed goat taken at Cotswold Wildlife Park; it took me ages to try different ways of framing in Photoshop, but it seems to have paid off! The panto was also fab; I particularly enjoyed learning lots of dance steps. Now for Barcelona... 9 Jan. 2005: I'm enjoying putting together my 1 1/2 hour slide talk for the Kidlington Camera Club on the 24th, 'Location, Location, Location'. I think I have too much! 23 Oct. '04: I might actually opine that north Wales is even better than the Lake District. Same fab scenery plus oodles more things to do, like castles, seasides, etc.! And Portmeirion. 30 August '04: I hadn't realised how long it's been since I last added news! This year I've sung the Verdi Requiem in Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre with OHS, two masses with BCOS, summer songs with BCOS, and last but not least performed with the chorus in Carmen at Stowe Opera (we chorus are amateurs, but everyone else is professional). I loved it - and so did the audiences. Also had a wonderful family holiday in Tuscany and the Cinque Terre in April; I took a few photos, there and elsewhere. More words I've looked up: muggins- [Partridge] mug (Scand.) with face painted on it led to English use of mug for face, then, perhaps since many of the faces were foolish, muggins developed pudding- [Oxford] animal's stomach or intestine stuffed with meat, etc. 13C; then food with basis of flour boiled in a bag 16C 18 Jan. 2004: [off the web] POPPYCOCK = Nonsense, rubbish. It's a fine-sounding expletive, but hardly heard on anybody's lips these days, and with a dated feel. It seems eminently English: think of elderly ex-Indian-Army colonels in retirement in Tunbridge Wells exploding in wrath over some supposed mismanagement of the country's affairs and writing disgusted letters to The Times about it. And most of the citations for it in the big Oxford English Dictionary are from British sources. But, as the OED reminds us, the word is actually American in origin, first turning up there about 1865. The OED is silent on its origin, but most modern dictionaries know well where it comes from: the Dutch word pappekak for soft faeces. The word was presumably taken to the USA by Dutch settlers; the scatological associations were lost when the word moved into the English-language community. The first half of the word is closely related to our pap for infants' soft food; the second half is essentially the same as the old English cack for excrement; the verb form of this word is older than the noun, and has been recorded as far back as the fifteenth century. So there's no link with the vulgar meaning of cock. Nor is it linked to the sense of cock for rubbish (as in phrases like that's a load of old cock), as that's a shortened form of cock and bull story, which comes from a fable concerning a bull and a cockerel. Now the preferable origin of the cock-and-bull story is actually that the phrase may have originated at Stony Stratford in Buckinghamshire, England. The village has two pubs, the Cock and the Bull. Coaches between London to Birmingham changed horses at one pub or the other. The banter of the rival groups of travellers, from England's two largest cities, resulted in exaggerated and fanciful stories. Helen and I ate at the Cock last Sat., in fact. 10 Jan. 2004: Having just had a fortnight's holiday, I'm now looking forward to another fortnight's holiday, in April, in Tuscany! Got a new tripod at Xmas, so will be weightlifting that around - but not slowing down the family walks (hmmm). 29 Nov.: Photos by and of me were indeed in Amateur Photographer. Since then I enjoyed singing, dancing, acting (slightly) in the chorus of The Gondoliers. Next event looks like the Kidlington Camera Club exhibition in Exeter Hall during December and in Kidlington Library during January, where I might have one or two prints showing. And I won a Minolta 5400 film scanner recently, which I'm beginning to play with, so I should put more photos up here sometime! 14 Sept.: Even more exciting photo news, as I should have one or two photos published in Amateur Photographer magazine on sale 23 Sept.!! Not ones I submitted (I've been rejected from a number of competitions so far this summer; boohoo), but ones from the Maloney Challenge that I was able to join, with three other readers, on 3 Sept. We were given five films and 2 hours to take photos at Chiswick House in London - good variety of architecture, birds, flowers... Then after the films were developed, we had just 15 minutes to view them and pick our three best images. Mike Maloney then looked at all our films and picked any he thought were better. I didn't get the best photo of the day, but thoroughly enjoyed the outing. Next on my agenda is a week's photographic holiday in the Lake District, at a B&B run by photographers, with guided walks, film developing, discussions, etc.! I'm terribly excited. 9 May: More photo news (I'm really getting into this!) - the Kidlington Camera Club has an exhibition in Exeter Hall (glass cases in main reception), Kidlington, for the month of May, and the club included three of my prints! I'm honoured. 5 May 2003: I'm spending a gorgeous Bank Holiday inside because there's so much I want to add here. What to start with?! I've had photos published! See my Publications page. Coincidentally, I also scanned in a few more photos here: visit my Photo Gallery. And, besides my two choirs' concerts in June, I've been invited to join the women's choir for Stowe Opera 2003: Humperdinck's 'Hansel and Gretel' in early August! 26 Jan. 2003: It's been a while since I updated this, eh?! There's plenty more that I want to do with it, but for now I've updated my choir info, and of course this diary; I've also added a link to a website I recently learned about, which shows off a fun/silly video that friends and I made a few years ago! The Lagomorphs... early 2002: I've accepted a job as Development Editor for the Versioning Unit in the Kidlington/Oxford office of Elsevier (internal move), starting 2 April. "What do you want?" "Information." "Right then. Titbit of the moment: The origin of 'sterling' was probably either from the 'Easterlings' (Ostomanni) known for pure coinage in north Germany, or from Anglo-Saxon 'star', which adorned some early Norman coins. The sterling coin, a silver penny, was first used in Norman times. Now you know." Previous titbit: The dragon types on Smithfield Market are actually wyverns, guardians and symbols of the City of London." 1 April: On Sat. I said my farewell to London as a resident with my usual Kim-type day: in the morning I dealt with forms, bank, etc. as part of the move. Then after a quick lunch I went in to Piccadilly for an eye checkup, went off to the V&A to see the new British Galleries (too interesting for just a couple of hours), having used my new tripod to take photos of a tulip on the way, bought a slice of cake (most important), asparagus quiche and tea at Patisserie Valerie nearby (one of my favourites), which I ate in Hyde Park as the sun set. Finally I walked across the park to the tube to St Paul's, where I walked across the Millennium Bridge for my first time, now that it's reopened (boringly stable). About 15 minutes too late by then to take photos at dusk, though I did take two of part of the Globe's iron gate nearby, again using my lovely tripod. Finally home by about half-eight! 10 March: enjoyed singing in the Barbican Centre's 20th Anniversary Opera Gala last night with the Goldsmiths Choral Union; brilliant! The views expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Elsevier. |
|
This site was last updated 24-03-2008 |
© Kim Benson 2007 |
