Currently in Lugano there is an open air sculpture exhibition, showing works by Arnaldo Pomodoro. The works are highly reflective and have many interesting shapes. I thought it would be interesting to play around with them a bit at lunchtime. I wasn't the only one...

Hmm. For the last couple of weeks, the weeks have seen wonderful weather (in both "normal" and "photographic" terms), and the weekends have had dull skies. A bit of a shame because it is magnolia season here and whilst I'm not usually much of a flora photographer, I like magnolias. There are white ones, red, purple, mauve, often in photogenic settings. Great for shallow depth of field work. So whatever the weather, I had to do something! Last year I got some shots with my Canon 135 F2.0 lens which I was pleased with. This lens is really nice, an all time favorite of mine. Weighs a ton, but the "bokeh" is really smooth. I wanted to see how the two Olympus lenses would compare. Obviously, being zooms, they're not quite the same thing. But they're not bad. I'll post some comparative shots next, but my feeling at the moment is that the 50-200 is a bit smoother. In the meantime, I HAD to post this. This is nothing like anything I've done before, and I doubt I would have tried it without a DSLR. This is the second version, using spot metering off the magnolia leaves. I really like the high-key effect combined with the shallow DOF Looks a lot better on an A3 print, mind you!

I'm not very enthusiastic about photography at the moment. Or more accurately, I'm not very enthusiastic about my photography, or taking photographs. Partly due to a recent flame exchange which I found depressing in the extreme (but I do keep reminding myself that the vast majority of Americans are not, in fact, pompous name-dropping self-important tossers).

Anyway. I really forced myself to try to do something with this camera thing on Sunday and I've finally got around to posting a result.

Late afternoon view over Lake Lugano from Bosco Luganese

Couldn't be bothered with a tripod and everything. Maybe things will improve... The real reason, I think, is first of all, there's only so long you can stay interested in anything in a complete vacuum, and, secondly, I simply don't have the time to immerse myself to take my photography to a level I would like to reach. Or possibly I'm just a pompous, name-droppng self-important - and talentless - tosser.

Who knows.

This is another accident... Had I not been at ISO 800 I could not have captured this combination of frozen motion and shallow depth of field. Normally I would have been at 100 or 200, and as my brain is still more or less set in the film world, I would not have considered the new variable - changing ISO. Having made the mistake I'm now repeating it as often as possible! It is hardly an original observation, but adding sensitivity to the traditional exposure / aperture adjustments really opens up a new world of creative possibilities. This DSLR stuff is just SO MUCH FUN!!!

Nice to see that the online photo magazine, 28mm, has reappeared. No equipment, no endless reviews of stupid, endlessly identical little digital boxes, just excellent and well curated photography. Highly recommended.