Dangerous Dave

Desperate housewife??

kimyfa — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:05:13 +0000

‘Desperate!!’ she said, ‘you call me desperate?!?! You b*****d I knew I should never have dated you, you ungrateful ….’
No this hot little potato is not desperate she is smokin, steaming and totally on fire geeze she only just gave a ‘look’ to one of those little men in the orange robes and he burst into flames, she does a little crutch pot cooking whenever I’m around; that damn HOT.
So desperate housewife NAH, however as she is with me some might think differently. She is not a housewife either for in order to be that not only do you have to have a house but also need to be a wife and although she has the former the latter, ring and all is missing, however the pixies have informed me she harbours secret desires to rectify that soon GULP!!!!
Anyway as previously established this is one hot cookie who just looks absolutely fab and is not afraid of the lens, well unless she is looking mumsy and then …..
So shot this with my new Canon 7D, trying out the remote wireless flash control with my 550 and 580ex; both wirelessly triggered in E-TTL by the on camera popup, sweet tech or what!! Makes firing those flashes just soooo easy. After reading Syl Arena’s Speedlighter’s Handbook its really given me some inspiration to go and get creative.
So anyways classic lighting; one in front right 45 one behind left 45 on roughly a 4:1 ratio if I recall, place on a coupel of layers in Photoshop one for B&W conversion one for exposure.
Decided to follow some good advice in the book and just ordered a 2m off camera TTL cord, going to give it the chop and add a rj45 female to each cut end, then use cat5 network cable to extend with so I can then use the 580ex off camera as if on camera; Extending TTL cord, figured you can get a 10m cat5 cable for £2 on eBay or a 20m for £4.

Its all in the ETTL baby!!!

In the shade

kimyfa — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:22:25 +0000

Got reading Syl Arena’s Speedlighters Handbook and it sort of got me creative, one might say his picture of some domino’s inspired me to get thinking so I came up with this. Its meant to represent idea of us mere mortals with our few pounds being left totally in the shade by big business, ok so the big business money horde might not appear so big in this pic; never had enough chips, the largest I had was a 100′s and I should have used a solitary 1 but but
but yada yada yada. Yes I’m waffling now just to wait for the 7D to arrive yes Yes YES!!

Anyways shot with a Canon 40D, Sigma 28-70mm f2.8 @ f11, a single Canon 580ex fired by Yongnuo triggers, I would draw a picture but I lost my crayons

Canterbury reloaded

kimyfa — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:37:38 +0000

Well its been a long time since I was in Canterbury last in fact so long I hate to think about it, Margaret Thatcher was probably probably in power if not Harold Wilson; think I’m showing my age
Anyways we (My Julie and I; no I do not have the windscreen visor or the shell suit and yes she is a fit bird hahaha) decided to go on a trip for a few days to the south coast and see some of the delights Kent has to offer and for all those doubters out there there are some lovely spots as long as its not around the Medway. Started in Dover taking in the new display at Dover Castle on Operation Dynamo which was very enjoyable, underground tunnels deep in the bowls of the chalk cliffs from where the repatriation of so many troops during the Dunkirk evacuations was commanded from. All very informative and the multimedia display was very good using the tunnels walls as a screen gave a great visual spectacle with footage of men wading through surf and ships charging through the waves, the sounds of wars echoing round the tunnels.
Took out a National Heritage membership whilst there, well actually extended the ‘my Julies’ and what a good decision that turned out to be, I’m not going to say that entry to the various attractions we would vist was expensive or excessive but if your going to visit a few of the places then it soon mounts up. I think I must have nearly recouped the membership costs in the few places we visited and I still have the whole year left to enjoy even more; a bargin if I do say so.

Anyways I digress so from there onto Deal and the castles of hmm Deal and Walmer which were well castlely and old and historic and all those good things.

Culminated with a visit to Canterbury and the cathedral, well I’m agnostic to say the least but one can only be inspired by architecture of such elegance; a truly magnificent structure and although not cheap and I don’t particularly agree with churches charging for entry (but then I guess thats capitalism for you and the need to make money) to get into it is worth the dosh to mix with all the tourists and feel truly foreign for a bit.

Shot with a Canon 40D, Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 at the wide end, 3 shots 2 stops apart and HDR’d with Photomatix.

Morning has broken

kimyfa — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:52:32 +0000

Just couldn’t resist these autumn morning are almost something to get up for, sadly I have little choice well thats not entirely true but what else would I do laze in bed all day?
Yep its pretty naff idea but I thought what the hell get the camera out and wander round the garden in my dressing gown, take a picture of that damn cockerel I swear it wakes me up every morning or is it those damn bats??
Anyways English autumn mornings are like well errrrm cold and usually damp but they do have glorious sunrises especially if your in Essex hahaha.
The neighbours probably think I’m a fruit loop anyways so why disappoint
Shot with my Canon 40D and a Canon 70-200mm F4

Warmth of summer or the autumn of despair

kimyfa — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 08:22:19 +0000

mmmm got up the other day looked out the window and it was foggy, damp and generally pretty dull with winter on its way but hey the weather man was predicting the record breaking temperatures for late September. So armed with my trusty Canon 40D in the car I headed to work and sure as my name is not Wilfred there was a picture to be had, as I was processing said image it somehow reminded me of the path the financial world is taking in particular the UK.
The warmth of the sunlight promising great things if it can get above the horizon whilst the signage points to tough and tight times for those that are not flexible and fleeting of foot, a single road, no turning back, not for the weak hearted I think especially when your not driving just a truck but a who country and the lives of 60 million people. hhh food for though or just a chance to catch the last few rays of summer before the cold of winter sets in??

Well as for me I think a vacation is in order

Two by 2

kimyfa — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 16:22:51 +0000

So another day and another guitar, this time its a 2000 Les Paul Classic Premium Plus, a rather choice instrument if I do say worthy addition to any rockstars collection

This is my second Gibson Les Paul Classic why?, is it the solid feel, the slim tapered neck, the gorgeous top, the oh so sweet sound? Nah I just like guitar porn, you know those obscenely beautiful instruments that you love to adorn your walls and make up for the fact that you drive a Subaru 2.0 GL tractor hmmm.

Not sure what it is when you collect pairs of everything,sure there must be an ism for it; dualism yeah that sounds good or perhaps I just got a case of bipolar disorder or split personalities, yes I like the idea of schizophrenia it sort of suits my personality I think but can’t always be sure.

Anyways it gave me reason to get the camera out, been too long. Loaded up the batteries into he speedlite, got the lightbox good and close dialled down the flash power and let the aperture do the work; its easy when you read the books.

Cambodia revisited

kimyfa — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 21:00:28 +0000

Started to dig through the pics I have taken over the last few years on my travels, I always fine at the time one is pretty dismissive of ones efforts but then you go back and revisit at a later date and it all seems to have been worth while and you even find the odd jem stuck away in some folder obscurely named. And so it has been a year and a half after my trip I look back with very fond memories and it brings a big smile to ones face, you wonder what your fellow travelers are now up to, did they keep going or did they return to suburbia and the mundane existence we call life.

I know I would rather be out there doing what I think I do best, capturing the world through the lens. The saddest thing about death is the loss of those precious memories and the history they encapsulate, I remember the stories my mother used to tell me as a child about growing up through WW2 and it saddens me to think that those memories are no longer with us and whilst we can never beat the process of time we can preserve those memories for future generations to look back and try if they can to understand.

Geeze thats all a little deep, hey ho next trip to plan me thinks

Been too long

kimyfa — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 06:40:22 +0000

Indeed sadly its feels like an eternity at sea since I last had my camera out, the vacuous period of feeling empty of creative drive and inspiration hits us all periodically I guess. But after having thrown the camera in the car for the last week or two I finally stopped and got it out; the camera that is, and buoy did it feel good. Wandered around the old abandoned doc area at Colchester a fav place of mine as I love the decay and decent into natural anarchy as nature eats into the very fabric of our achievements.

Also got to play with my new Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 that I purchased recently and yes I am impressed, used to love my Sigma 15-30mm but that went the way of the DoDo a year ago, way teasing myself with getting one of these Tokina’s since then and geeze I’m glad I did the above image was shot at 11mm f/11 hand held 2 stop bracket and then converted back in Photomatix. More on the Tokina in another post.

Got to test drive the newly acquired mini mac and that was pretty good as well, certainly felt like a little more horsepower than my PC laptop but then you know what they say about an Apple a day. It tore through several images in Photomatix HDR in no time I was rather impressed and its only a 1.83Ghz Core 2 Duo, still don’t mean I like Macs just they have their used like their PVC namesakes

Singapore

kimyfa — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:40:49 +0000

Ok so this is a bit late but hey better late than never anyways its not so much about Singapore but about my IPhone 4 and Autostitch. Autostitch is a great app that well stitches multiple images together in the phone and also does a great job with the variances in exposure of the different frames. This shot was from the waterfront in Singapore near the opera house, after travelling down through Thailand and then Malaysia I have to admit Singapore was a breath of fresh air; it CLEAN in fact so clean I could imagine eating my dinner of the sidewalk with the aid of a plate and a knife and fork but hey you get my drift and things there worked and it was just sooooo nice. The city is really sweet they have retained all the old buildings rather than bulldoze them, the cricket ground is right in the centre a perfect space to just relax. Yes Singapore is very nice miss it and its your loss, will have to go back one day and spend a little more time 1 day is really not enough.

Mount Bromo

kimyfa — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 06:50:47 +0000

Getting up real early to see the UNESCO temples of Borobudur near Jogjakarta, it’s about a 45 minute drive from the city centre passing some of the damage inflicted by the recent volcanic eruption. Well sadly the temple was closed, not totally closed they were still obliging enough to take our money and let us walk around the outside mmmm we already knew parts were closed for cleaning thanks to the recent eruption however it did not register the extent of exclusion until one got there and the temple is not very big one can walk round the base in 5 minutes so my advice is to pass until they open it again unless you really want to be disappointed.
However thanks to that very same volcano that caused above disappointment were got to see some truly awe inspiring sights; burnt ripped trees flattener like dominos, smashed and shattered houses; a few scattered bricks and tiles strewn around the only evidence of human existence, the earth scared and torn a canyon ripped into the ground like a jelly at a kiddies birthday party where Freddy Kruger was the guest of honour and he was out for some serious fun if you get my drift. All in all it was quite breathtaking and this was only a small eruption; one has to have respect for mother nature she can be one deranged individual.
Whilst one cannot fail to be impressed one also had to feel for those that lost everything, the very object that provided them with the fertile soil to grow their crops can so quickly turn it into a moonscape.