Dripping Taps to a plumber represent a potential for earning, however for myself they represented an opportunity to check out the alignment of a lens and camera, and once I started trying to capture it, it became a fascination in what is actually happening. I know it all has to do with surface tension and a battle between those forces and gravity, but to see it in action is endlessly intriguing; what to our eyes is an intermittent stream is often fast moving globules of water, that as they start their downward journey stretch the surface envelope to breaking point.
Where was I whilst watching all this unfold? Well, it was a 300mm lens on a Canon 7D which meant the first major issue was getting far enough away from my subject, and yet be at the closest focussing distance of that combination, and the tap was in the downstairs shower room basin and in order to be low enough and distant enough I was seated on the closed loo, pressed firmly against the wall behind me and handholding the camera. Hardly ideal from the point of view of my study, but at least I was able to check whether what I was viewing was represented in the image file, and it was!
The rest of the shots in this small gallery represent a trip, possibly my last to my sister-in-law at their pile near Cliveden, as it has been sold, and is scheduled for demolition – it will then truly become a pile; this time, of rubble. Sad, as the house has seen some happy times over the years of Richard and Glory’s ownership. Daughter, Virginia was over from India and we all sat around the kitchen table chatting in low warm light in the late afternoon, and Joshua who is fascinated by my cameras and in fact anything mechanical or technological was hell bent on taking some pictures so I positioned the camera on the table to so he might be able to look through the viewfinder and once he found the shutter release went at it as if it were a machine gun – the scatter approach managed to capture one shot of Gloria and Virginia as they patiently awaited the release of the shutter, that was both correctly focussed and steady, and the patience in the subjects’ expressions is fairly obvious and rather nice!
Big Al who was against the large window was less easy to capture but is an interesting study of concentrated disinterest. Taking any shots of Joshua under such circumstances was impossible short of flooding the area with light and trying to keep him far enough away to be able to be able to focus on anything more than a pointed sticky finger or a snot-laden nose!
It was a short but enjoyable visit along with Lizzy who is wishing the arrival of my next grandchild will hurry up and arrive!
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