adetorrent; photography, lifestyle.

This year has come to an end. Before I go on, let me just take this opportunity to express my gratitude to whatever the mechanism is in existence that is responsible for the preservation of life. For indeed, I am incredibly grateful to be alive today. 2015 has not been a good year for so many, and, some people that were close to me have ceased to exist, but, I am pleased to be here. Reflecting on 2015 - what did I learn this year? Family is everything.  'Family' includes those very true friends too. Money is nothing. Well, I knew this before, but I was particularly reminded of it this year. Money is everything. In direct contradiction to the second point above, yes, but true. Long story. Life is short.  In light of the above, here are some of the tweaks I aim to make in 2016; Grow closer to family than ever before. Make more money than ever before. Care less about money than ever before. Take more photos of myself. Be more consistent with everything I ...

Having been predominantly shooting fully manual film cameras for a while now, I had become a little bored with my Canon 350D.  I know it can be set to fully manual as well, but for whatever reason, I just wasn't that excited about using it that much anymore.  It was too easy to use, and the kit lens is basically rubbish. To be fair though, it is quite an old DSLR (11 years or so now), so it hasn't got most of the bells and whistles present in today's cameras.  So it is sort of vintage in its own right.  Still though, there's vintage and there's vintage. Normally when I fancy a bit of instant gratification in the form of digital photography, I'd reach for my iPhone, or my Sony NEX 5n.  Having recently lost the Sony however, I've been forced to dust off the Canon.  I found an M42 adaptor and swapped out the kit lens for the Helios-44-2 ; the kit lens from my Zenit-E. What a difference it made. Sure, there was no autofocus or shutter priority...

Here is the second half of the photos from my latest walkabout in Hackney. The sun was out and the colours were beautiful as usual. I only wish I had used the Helios lens with the Zenit-E instead to get the full colour impact.  I finished the day with some unhealthy, yet delicious, snack and brew at a café/bar that used to be a warehouse. I was quite taken by how nice the staff are there. The guy that made my coffee had a chat with me about film photography and how he's noticed more people carrying film cameras 'these days'. It's Hackney, I said to him, that's totally normal.

Is it me, or do reflections almost always make for a good photo? Here are some from my last walkabout with my Zenit-E with a 23mm Vivitar lens.   I find this lens somehow doesn't give the same beautiful colours I'm used to with the default Helios lens that comes with the Zenit-E, but I needed the wide view.

Many people around the world start their day like this; with a bowl of cereal. I for one really love anything with a bit of crunch, honey or nuts. Lately though, I've been a little concerned about what they are putting in these processed foods we start our days with.  The astonishing levels of sugar, salt, and unpronounceable ingredients that are aimed at preserving the food, and not us. Not to mention the 'milk'. This morning I made a switch to something I hope is at least healthier - a bowl of fruits.  It tasted infinitely more delicious, and I'm yet to experience the usual post-sugar-high 'ugh' feeling.  I may make the switch permanent.     

2015 is almost here.  I'm determined to make it the most successful year yet. This takes quite a bit of focus and planning.  You know what they say 'if you fail to plan...' Talking of focus, I'm always astonished by how St. Paul's Cathedral continues to be the gem of the London skyline despite being surrounded by much larger buidlings. Especially at 'golden hour', there's no match for the this majestic structure.

The Zenit-E is quite the conversation starter I find.  It was a normal late-summers day in a normal London park when this gentleman spotted my camera as I walked past him. " Are you a photographer? " He had a melodic caribbean accent.  Jamaican I believe, or maybe Bajan.  I can't tell them apart sometimes. " Me? ah, oh, no, well, sort of I guess. " I wasn't sure what his definition of 'photographer' was, so I wasn't quite sure what answer to give. " Go on, take a photo of me. "  He struck the coolest pose ever.   " I'd love to! " Of course! " You've never seen a better looking man anywhere in the world have you? "  He jested as I snapped his photo. " Most definitely not! " I agreed with him.  We laughed, I shook his hand, and carried on having a nice day.

The title says he's the coolest dog in Shoreditch , but really, he's probably the coolest dog in the world. Anyone that has spent any time in that part of London would have spotted this canine suaveness chilling out in random places alongside his human companion.  To be honest, I was a little shocked to see him without the usual sunglasses;   yes, the dog wears sunglasses . I guess it wasn't that sunny on the day, and he was just popping round for a drink.

We are accelerating towards Christmas at an alarming rate.  So many things to do before it gets here. I was going to do a countdown project, but I've apparently run out of time.  Maybe I'll plan for Christmas 2015 instead :) In the mean time, these days when I look up into the sky I'm having problems ascertaining whether it's the sun or the moon I'm looking at.  Yesterday morning they were both up there at the same time. Kind of reminded me of the tricks the sun played on me on my commute when I worked on the bank of the river Thames.

At first, it looks like Christmas came early for these trees.  However looking at the other trees, you will notice their leaves are still rich green.  That's because it was summer still.  For whatever reason, someone set fire to these trees in the middle of this very natural park in East London. The reason notwithstanding, it would have made one heck of a great photo at the height of the fire. Luckily these trees are quite isolated.  There could have been a bit of a disaster if the fire had spread.

We're having a sunny Sunday so far, and it makes me think of the lazy summer days just gone past. As summer morphed into autumn, we squeezed out every drop of sunshine we could find chilling by the ponds, watching ducks, drinking fruit juices.

Anyone that's been on the south bank of the Thames more than once would probably recognise these fellas.  They're one of the many acts on the bank that captivate onlookers almost every day.  Even though I've seen them a few times, they still seem to intrigue and entertain me.

Get it?  G.O.A.T  ;)

Happy November everyone.  It's autumn now and summer is truly gone. Mind you, following an original threat of having skipped autumn and gone directly to winter, we are now getting some last-wave warmth. An 'Indian summer' of sorts. Like many other people in the north, we are refusing to let go of summer. While some are still wearing summer clothes in blatant defiance, I keep looking at photos of warm days gone by.  I looked at a lot of photos from Spain today that made me so nostalgic of lazy days on the beach. More recently though, it's the time I spent on a Kent orchard that makes me dream of summer the most.

Just a month ago, this plant was leafless, apparently done for.  Today, it blossoms as if springtime was here.  Do orchids ever die?

I took some time out in late August and went to Kent, "The Garden of England".  This was my backyard for some time.  I was woken up every morning by the snorting and the galloping hooves. Having spent some time with this lot, I learnt a thing or two about them.  First, they are much gentler than I'd previously assumed.  Horses are the true gentle giants.  Extremely friendly creatures.  Second , they don't like apples!  What?!  I tried for hours to no avail, they just refused to eat it.  The storybooks lied!  Third, they do eat - A LOT.  They'd run around for a while, and just eat.  All day - nom nom nom nom nom nom, until sunset, and beyond.  Not even a thunder storm could interrupt their all day munching - they couldn't give two hooves about a bit of rainwater or lightning.

Flu season is upon us in the northern hemisphere.  Behold my flu survival kit.

An apple a day supposedly "keeps the doctor away".  Not unless it's covered in pesticides and coloured wax.   One of the things I love about the English countryside in 'harvest' time is you get to eat apples fresh from the tree.  Just after it rains, you can grab one off a tree, wipe it with your [clean] hands and eat it. Organic, healthy and extremely tasty. Bring back August.

They say “ birds of a feather flock together ”.  Yet, some birds are loners.  Just like we humans, we thrive in communities, and we were made to ‘be together’.  Many of us though, myself included, just love to be by ourselves for long periods of time.   As a kid, I spent a lot of time doing my own thing - playing on my own, letting my imagination take me to wonderful places.  Had I been a kid today, I may have been mistaken as being autistic actually, the way I would sometimes zone out. As an adult, I yearn for these times when I’m alone.  In a way I sometimes return to those times of childhood - letting my mind float around in an imaginary world.  Those are the times I get some of my best ideas. I am particularly attracted to the life of birds; their carefree ways and freedom to go wherever and do whatever.  I believe as humans we can never experience true freedom because we cannot fly.  To be truly free, you need wings. ...

Just like that, I was handed a  Zenit-E by an elderly Slovakian gentleman. It had been well looked after, loved even - obviously, and it came complete with it's original everything. I was happy. I was very happy indeed. The Zenit-E I believe was manufactured in western Moscow between the mid sixties to the early eighties.  It's a rugged-as-heck pentaprism SLR camera capable of shutter speeds from B to 1/500. The default lens is the Helios-44-2 58mm f/2. It also has an inbuilt selenium cell exposure meter, which means no batteries are required what so ever.  However the meter is not TTL, so it is somewhat equivalent to carrying a standalone meter. I let this camera sit on the shelf for a few months before even loading it with its first roll for two reasons.  One, I had a few other cameras ahead of this one to test.  Two, I found the exposure meter a bit baffling at first, and after playing with it for a few hours and figuring it all out, decided to ...