Dec 302012
 

All Packed and Ready to Go

My bags are actually all packed now, clothes and everything! I fly out in about 5 hours for London, where I hope to spend the day running around taking photos before meeting up with some old uni friends, and maybe current Bermuda friends, for lunch and maybe a pint or two. Packing for three weeks in Africa and one day in London is pretty tricky. We’re going to be traveling on a budget, so there will be lots of buses and trains and I had to keep my baggage to a minimum. My camera backpack is big enough on it’s own, not to mention whatever mammoth bag my travel buddy will be bringing, so I can’t bring too much else. As a result I’ve decided to forgo a proper jacket and I’m going with the layering concept. I’ll be wearing a long sleeved t-shirt, my trusty fleece and rain jacket. I’m pretty doubtful that this will do the trick when I’m out trying to take photos, so I’ve also packed some old thermals just in case. Oh yeah, and it’s supposed to rain all morning tomorrow. Hopefully it will be the typical English light rain, because if it’s pissing it down I’ll have a lot of time to kill with nothing to do!

Fat Santa on the Coffee Table

I meant to get this out before Christmas, but as you are aware I got a bit lazy moving into the festive season. I figure it’s still okay so long as it’s out before New Years, right?

Christmas decorations including fat Santa on the coffee table in front of fireplace.

 

Dec 162012
 

The tree is up and the stockings are hanging in the Peacock household, ready for Christmas.

I took this photo of my parents’ living room tonight. I also sat here and processed it, which is the first time I’ve processed a photo while still able to see what I’ve photographed.

A living room decorated for Christmas with fire in fireplace in Bermuda

Jul 222012
 

This is another shot of the amazing window displays at Bergdorf Goodman’s in New York. Every Christmas they have these really intricate windows. I wonder what they’ll be like this year.

Bergdorf Goodman's 2011 white Christmas window with lady, attacking bear and other animals while showing 5th avenue in the downtown direction.

Jun 142012
 

Today’s Photo: Hello Stranger

Another of Bergdorf-Goodman’s amazing window displays just before Christmas. I find the way that I got the mannequin to look into the camera in this photo a little unsettling. There’s an odd life-like quality coming from it. It feels like she could step through the glass out into the street. I wish I’d taken photos of more of the windows there. Unfortunately, this and the parrot are the only two that I took. By this point I was absolutely freezing (it was 5 in the morning) and my hands in particular couldn’t take it any longer. I had a long, LONG walk back to the hotel. I did stop off and pick up a delicious egg and sausage bagel from one of the street carts though. That made it all better.

Bergdorf Goodman's 2011 Christmas window in white of woman, ram, bear and other animals with Fifth Avenue view looking uptown.

 Something Interesting: Back to the Future

This is a really cool idea for a photo project. Irina Werning got people to dig out old photographs of themselves and then recreated them with the people replicating the poses,dress and activities even though they’re now considerably older: BACK TO THE FUTURE: IRINA WERNING

 

 

May 272012
 

My First Time-Lapse!

I know I told you that my first time-lapse would be of an ice cube melting and that you’re all really excited to see that. Unfortunately, I’ve got to disappoint you. Yesterday, I shot a time-lapse of my friends as we cruised through Hamilton Harbor, Bermuda. The intervalometer was set to take a photo every 10 seconds. The end result is a 30 second video. I feel like it needs a sound-track, but can’t think of anything.

 

Today’s Photo: The Parrot in the Window

As a happy side effect of buying a second camera body, I took out one of my backup memory cards. Happily, I discovered some photos from New York I thought I’d managed to lose. Early in the morning, just before last Christmas I decided to set out and take some photos without anyone else around. The streets were empty as I’d expected. It was also really cold. Colder than I’d expected.

Bergdorf Goodman always has pretty extravagant window displays, so I decided to try to incorporate them in a few photos. I had seen a picture someone took on a train, where half the photo showed what was outside the window, the other half showed what was inside. This made me decide to try taking a similar approach with this shot.

Bergdorf Goodmans 2011 Christmas window of golden parrots and other birds while looking downtown on Fifth Avenue, New York City at night.

 

Dec 252011
 

So, this is my first post. I didn’t plan on making my first post on Christmas day, but I’ve actually got time to go for it and I’ve decided to take it. As it’s Christmas I’ve decided that rather than uploading the photo I planned on posting (which you’ll see tomorrow) I should go with a Christmas theme. So, here you are, the angels and the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in New York.

I  took this picture at 5:30 in the morning. It was freezing and while trying to decide the ideal spot to frame this photo a very friendly security guard came over and asked what my camera cost. This seems to be a regular question when out photographing and I’m not sure why. The cost of my gear feels quite personal, like asking a lady her age. Following the question he suggested that I use the barriers behind me as a tripod. I thought this was an odd suggestion as I had my tripod visibly strapped to my backpack. I informed him that I had a real tripod and he informed me that I was not allowed to use it. The reason he gave me was that, once upon a time, a child tripped over a photographer’s tripod and the parents sued.

At this point I decided to highlight the fact that he and I were the only people there, and I’d warn him if he was on the verge of tripping, but it didn’t make a difference. So, I used the barriers as he’d suggested. I also used my tripod, but not in the normal methodology. The barriers were too low to get the Christmas tree in so I placed my bag on them for a higher base. The tripod strapped to the outside worked to support my lens. This still wasn’t quite right so the final stacking of equipment included my blackberry and a lens cap to raise the back of the camera. At this point I was thinking if anyone were to run past and grab anything this security guard had better be on his toes. In the end, I’m very happy with the results, tripod or no.

The website is pretty shoddy at the moment but it’s a work in progress. Hopefully it will be polished by 2012.

Night view of the lighted angels and Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, New York City.

 December 25, 2011  Christmas, New York, Travel 2 Responses »