Heavy chains

After the London Marathon had passed through, I took a walk through Greenwich as the weather was so nice.

Sometimes it's hard to get into the mood to "find" photos, especially if you're near home, or near the office. I'm not sure exactly why this is...partly familiarity and perhaps also due to "near home" or "near office" being associated with a transitive section of the journey, rather than an end-point.

Either way I struggled to get into the right mood at first.

These heavy (anchor) chains reflect my mood when I am not able to find suitable subjects.

Clippy

I'm still struggling with my cold and the day I had the opportunity to take any photos was a rainy-weather day, so I stayed indoors.

The macro mode on the X100s is the subject of heated debate over at the DPReview forums. It certainly isn't as good as the Ricoh GRD cameras - but then again I don't think anyone expects that of a larger sensor camera.
The GRDiv could focus ~1cm-1.5cm whereas the Fuji focuses down to ~10cm.
Still, it's good enough for me although it will take some adjusting not to move the camera so close to the subject.

Spring...

Today felt like the first, permanent sign of Spring (also as reported by many people on Facebook, Twitter, etc).
I think we had a few false starts this year and although I won't say "definitely", if Spring won't start soon we will have a typical British summer and we will be back in Winter again.

Needless to say, I spent the day outside (after a friend's stag weekend intoxicating ourselves with C₂H₅OH).

When you looked closely, there was a carpet of bluebells below the daffodils.

Due to the position this was taken from, this one reminds me of triffids...

Dandelion fluff.

Cherry blossoms are a sure sign of Spring?

Herman Ze German

We went to the Norman Parkinson exhibition at the National Theatre today.
It wasn't huge but it was still impressive, from black and whites from the 30s, ranging to colour in the late 80s.
Before we got there though, we made a customary stop at Herman Ze German to have a Currywurst with pommes.

Not your usual Easter Egg

I've always wanted to do some "different" pictures but being (first and foremost) a photographer, I normally stick to "the way I saw it" rather than "the way I imagined it to be".

As we grow older, the surprises in life become fewer and fewer and part of me still likes to cling on to the notion of ghosts, the super-natural, other worlds and aliens...

I couldn't resist this one.
Happy 01-April!

Worn

I've decided to keep the X100s after all.
Fuji wrote back to me to say that I should test the on/off switch against other cameras in the store where I bought it, with the offer to fix it if the resistance turns out to be different. Somehow I think the other cameras will exhibit the same characteristic.
Nevertheless, I have found an accessory grip by RRS (Really Right Stuff) that should resolve the issue, as it will provide a further surface to shield the switch, once installed.

Today, I went out briefly at lunch. I'm still familiarising myself with the camera but I came home with one acceptable result.

Jelly Belly

I finally caved in to a camera purchase last Friday - the FujiFilm X100s.
Since then I've been a bit busy getting to grips with the camera, doing a photoshoot on Sunday and being back to work on Monday.
At the moment I'm having some second thoughts about the X100s, not to do with its image quality or ergonomics but because the on/off switch is so easy to inadvertently toggle whilst in a jacket pocket or bag.

Anyway I have written to Fuji to see if they have a fix for this.
If it turns out that they can't tighten it, I may either return the X100s and continue hunting for the right camera or just return the X100s for now.
Whilst there may be other ways (small bag, DIY, etc), I feel that I should be able to put my camera in any bag without having to worry about it being on and draining the battery, etc.

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