Ken Anderson’s Weblog

Last week I bought the Nikon 14-24 F2.8 wideangle zoom.  It is nothing short of amazing.  I have never owned a super wide angle before.  I do have the DX 18-55 Nikon and use it the most of any in my bag.  I wanted to add a lens that took advantage of the FX D3, this does just that.  For such a wideangle lens the 14-24 has little if any picture loss at the corners.  I can’t see any.  As the F2.8 would suggest it is an excellent low light lens.

Because of the front scalloped shade the lens does not accept any filtration.  The lens is very sharp.  Minimum focus length is 9″ and from there to infinity the lens performs flawlessly.  As Joe McNally says, the lens is  commitment, it isn’t light, but it is easy to hold, especially on the D3.  

Having spent time shooting around Chipping Campden this weekend, I took a lot of shots with a foreground subject and huge skys.  At f22 the depth of field is nothing short of spectacular.  If you like landscapes that have foreground subjects or broad expansive panoramas this is the lens for you.  It is easy to fall in love with and as I found this weekend, hard to put down. 

I bought the lens from Grays of Westminster.  This is the second purchase I have made there.  I don’t get a discount and am not connected to the store in any way but have no hesitation in recommending them.  It is a wonderful store to just browse, and I am not a browser by nature.  There are three floors of camera equipment, and if you are cheap like I am, they have a fantastic selection of used equipment and a knowledgeable staff as well.  Highly recommended.

I will post photos taken with the the 14-24 this weekend on my website.

(must be read with a New York accent)

The grass has riz

I wonder where dem burdies iz?

The birdies iz on da wing

But ain’t that absoid

Da wing is on da boid.

Well it is Spring in the Cotswolds and the Bluebells are out in force.  With the coming of Spring my thoughts also turn to my favorite place to spend a warm summer afternoon, Blenheim Palace.  What a wonderful place, and Spring at the Palace is something really special.  Blenheim is one of those places where you can spend days shooting details.  With gardens created by Capability Brown, there is no end to wonderful sights and unlimited great photographs.  

I shot the Bluebell this morning.  Used a D3 with a 18-55 F2.8 lens.  I love how sharp the Nikkor is.  My only complaint is that the DX format does not allow me to take advantage of the D3’s FX.

The rape fields are almost in full bloom, it does not get much better than this for landscape photographers who want colour in the shot.  If the sun is out don’t forget the polariser.  It is one of the few filters that really can’t be reproduced in Photoshop and adds so much to a sunlit scene especially if there is cloud.

If you are ever out this direction and need photography supplies, I just found Morris Photography.  Great shop with an unbelievable inventory.  Friendly knowledgeable staff as well.  They also sell over the internet.

Enjoy the weekend.  Suspect it will be a very busy one for the shopkeepers of Chipping Campden! 

I have been shooting photographs for more years than I care to remember really.  I started out with an old Pentax my father gave me.  It was used, he didn’t believe in buying new stuff!  As kids, my brother, sister and I received all kinds of things at birthdays and Christmas that had seen slightly better days!  Having said that, the Pentax was a joy.  The 50mm lens seemed to be all you really needed from a focal length standpoint.  Back then; as it remains today, it was the film choice more than anything that gave you the most latitude while taking photographs.  The standard colour films were all Kodak with the kodachrome and echtachromes being the most popular for high quality images.  Ilford was in the process of introducing their new black and white films that never really replaced FP 4 and 5 as the standard.  There was much more trial and error, and it was a little like having a baby (maybe not today with the proliferation of ultrasound) you really didn’t know what you had until you got it out of the tank and printed a contact sheet. 

I bought my first Nikon not long after I got my first real job.  It was on old FE with a 35mm and 50mm lens.  I later added a 135mm.  The camera took great photographs.  Even though light meters were not what they are today, it gave good across the board readings that were for the most part accurate and gave a good representation of the scene.  I remember the day I bought my first “pro” camera body.  It was a used F3.  I loved that camera, took thousands of frames with it, carried it everywhere.  It was a solid piece of kit.  Not like the Pentax or even the FE.  I dropped it on more than one occasion and it kept right on taking incredible pictures.  There was a noticeable difference as well in the capabilities by that time.  On camera flashguns were just coming into their own.  Until that time you just about had to have some large press head with a battery pack to take flash photographs.  It must have been a little like putting headlights on cars, it opened up a whole new world to photographers who had to stop taking photographs at dusk.

I still use my older Nikkor lenses on my D3 and D200.  One of my favourites is my 35-70 f2.8.  It is push pull zoom, doesn’t have the ability to send the D3 distance information but still is a wonderful, bright, and sharp workhorse.   My old 80-200 f2.8 still serves as one of my primary lenses on both the D200 and D3.  Great glass, still a very sharp lens.  They also give me full frame on the D3 unlike the DX lenses I bought to go with the 200. 

Stepped inside of Gray’s of Westminster for the first time a couple of weeks ago.  What a great shop.  One of those places you can spend an afternoon, see all the new equipment, and reminisce with the old stuff.  Very helpful/knowledgeable staff.  They have EVERYTHING Nikon, and know about all of it! 

Beautiful day today.  Yesterday and today are really starting to signal a real change in the weather.  Only problem with living in the Cotswolds is that the crowds start to appear at the first sign of good weather.  As you might imagine, today is busy!

For those of you who like to shoot landscapes with a lot of colour, the next few weeks will provide the years best opportunity.  The rape fields will be in full bloom over the next 2 to 3 weeks.  Bluebell woods will also be at their best.  Later in the year is the turn of the lavender fields around Snowshill, not to be missed.  My favorite time of the year, can’t believe I am indoors typing this so, I am out of here!  Enjoy!

I hate travelling, and yet I seem to spend far too many hours each week doing it. Travelled to Stockholm this week and had to use the infamous Terminal 5 at Heathrow. I entered with not insignificant trepidation. This is the place the press have proclaimed to be our nations greatest blunder. People disappear as soon as they enter the door – forwarded to Italy with their bags, never to be seen again.

I kept expecting to hear the twilight zone music as I walked into the terminal through its new revolving door. Got inside, stood there a minute. Nothing happened. Couple more steps and I was still in the land of the living, actually the accurate balanced British press were wrong for a change. The place was not deserted. Dogs were not sleeping with cats. I couldn’t find any parties being thrown by British Airways top brass. People were polite, helpful, friendly. Okay, I might have gone a little far with the friendly bit. It was nice though. The new building is very open and gives the impression of a reasonably tranquil environment unlike other airports where you are faced with long queues, hundreds of displaced confused people in a relatively small area, and worst of all, rude inpatient staff.

It was like stepping into a large elevator where you are serenaded by easy listening music and there is calm. Yes Terminal 5 is an oasis. I didn’t check a bag however because I was going to Stockholm, and that pillar of British society, The Mail newspaper carried an article that said all bags were sent to Italy regardless of their destination. Last thing I needed was a fashion conscious Italian critiquing my Lowepro.

 I have to admit, I am a fan of T5. I think everyone forgets, especially the newspapers because telling the truth does not equate to sales, that other large new terminals all had their own issues. Dallas/Fort Worth, at the time the largest new airport in the world, took months to sort out problems, as did Hong Kong, Denver and several others that no longer come to mind. But our wonderful uplifting and always truthful press had decide it was the worst job ever and as a Nation we should be ashamed, hang our heads and kill ourselves safe in the knowledge that they, the press, never exaggerate, lie, or in any way attempt to stretch the truth to sell newspapers. The fact that most are no more than a pox on our society has gone unnoticed it seems.

Stockholm is a very beautiful city. It is set around multiple rivers and inlets. It’s hard to walk for more than 5 minutes and not encounter water. For me it had a very sophisticated feel on the surface and yet you could tell that Sweden was a country with a harder almost wild west feel. It is not a very populous country. Stockholm, in European terms is fairly small. There substantial areas of the country with little or no human inhabitants, which for me, gives it the same attributes of some of the American northern tier states like Montana.

This time of the year is also a wonderful time to visit as spring comes late to that part of the world.

Have you ever had a conversation where you knew you were awake but were sure you needed to actually be in a place where you could wakeup and confirm that what you just saw was a dream? Well I had one of those days on a First Great western train travelling from Reading to Paddington in London.

It was a normal commuting day for me, I had even bought a first class ticket to try and insure that I didn’t have to stand. Unfortunately, on that particular day the policy was ineffective. The train arrived and along with my fellow first class passengers, the majority far more adept at getting to the front of the queue than I, we boarded an already overfull train. Propped up next to the seat I had hoped to occupy along with several other fellow first class seat less passengers, I began to daydream about actually getting what I paid for, a large seat in an un-crowded coach. Was that too much to ask in return for £40 one way? That’s right, not a misprint. The fare equates to about £1 a mile to London from Reading. More than £1 per minute on the 25-minute trip. Why should anyone expect to get a seat at those rates? Well it turns out that if you work for the train company you actually get to collect money as opposed to pay it AND sit in a seat.

As I stood next to the seat I had hoped to occupy over the loud speaker system came a strange announcement in a quiet welsh tone, “Would all those train employees travelling in first class on their company pass vacate their seats and give them to the paying passengers? If you don’t I will ask you to vacate the seat when a come through the first class carriage to check tickets.”
Had never heard that before. Plenty of “We apologise for the delay to your journey, the reason for the delay is (fill in the blank here, leaves on the line, the driver overslept, yep they really said that one day, it’s too cold, it’s too hot……….) You get the picture. I have always thought they should just post a card in the carriage that had all the excuses listed against a number and then the conductor, oops sorry, Train Manager, could just come on the speaker system and say, “ladies and gentleman I am sorry to report that today we have been delayed because of excuse 12, 23, 14 and 16 twice.” Much quicker than the old system.

But I digress. To my surprise 10-12 people got up from their seats and sheepishly made their way back towards second class where even standing room was cramped. I was stunned. I recognised most of these folk. They travelled the route as frequently as I did. Enough people left the carriage that all the paying customers got a seat.
By the time the conductor got to where I was seated, I was incensed. The guy next to me and the one across from the two of us were also amazed and visibly angry. The conductor, oh sorry Train Manager, got to where I was seated, I showed him my £40 ticket and asked, “so all of the people who just left this carriage work for First Great Western?”

Conductor looks up and says, “Yep, afraid so”

“And they are not supposed to be in this carriage if paying customers don’t have a seat?” Says I in an increasingly angry voice. I had noticed that by this time, the two guys who had been as adamant as I had been about the seriousness of the offence had begun to turn and face away as I became louder. I looked at both for confirmation that I wasn’t the only distraught passenger but both had found the Eurostar maintenance facility the train was passing much more interesting.

“Those are the rules.” Said the monotone mid level functionary.

“Do you realise that most of those people sit in those seats most days, and this is a chronic problem?

” By this time the two passengers sitting with me were actively trying to vacate their seats. “That’s theft by deception pure and simple!”

In a very sympathetic voice the Train Manager explained. “I agree sir and can only apologise. Most of my colleagues know they will be sitting up here one day and don’t want to get moved so never challenge the rule breakers.” Instantly my two former comrades were back in the game. The Train Manager had actually admitted guilt giving them permission to be able to complain! One English trait we need to change with immediate effect. Do you think a Frenchmen would have tolerated this behaviour? The Americans would have shot the guy and thrown the body from the train. We on the other hand, had to wait for a mid level functionary to give us permission to complain. Self-inflicted comes to mind with regards to the current state of public services in the UK.

As he made his way to the next row of seats, the Manager turned to me and added these final words. “You should write the company and complain.”

Well, I took his advice and the next day a letter was winging it’s way to the MD of FGW. Several weeks passed and then through the letterbox came an envelope with FGW logo. I opened it with glee, happy that I had even received a reply, expecting to find some pat form letter. It was worse than that. The explanation from the MD was that the people who I was talking about could not have been employees but were in actual fact fee paying customers that had been given free first class upgrades. Did they read the letter I had sent? It gave a very good description of what happened and confirmed through one of their own staff that these folk were indeed FGW employees.

I wrote back again, have never had a reply, continue to see train employees sitting in first class, and continue to pay the price of a small family car every year for the privilege of travelling with an people who think nothing of stealing from their customers because depriving a paying passenger a seat, even if it’s not against the rules, is theft.

Or not as the case may be!  

Can’t remember such a cold April, even in England!  Rain, sleet, snow, and not much sunshine.  Long term forecast????  Well they say it will be a cold and wet summer.  Great, just like the last one.  What happened to global warming?  We should all be in swimsuits now according to the Green Lobby.  Speaking of green; went into the local shop,

lady behind the counter says, “don’t need a bag do you?  Not handing them out as much these days, trying to do my bit for the environment.”

I say, “Go to China and get them to stop building 2 coal fired power stations every week, now that would begin to solve the issue.”

Lady behind the counter, “Makes me feel good.”

Good for her, but I wanted a bag to put the food I had just bought in, so, expect long hot days and fewer great crested newts. 

It’s a very English trait to do as little as you can get away with and them proclaim you have done your “bit” for the planet.  Only problem is that the laws in our once great country tend to reflect the squeaky wheel crowd who are definitely in the minority.  

Look at the guy who sits in front of parliament - Brian Hoar. First, he is a father of 6 I hear and seems to have deserted his kids.  Second, what gives him the right to scream down a bullhorn into everyone else’s ear?  Don’t you think that’s turning the legal system on its head?  Not like people are discriminating because he is a deadbeat and won’t spend time with his family or even try and support them financially.  He hasn’t even been discriminated against for being an unwashed beggar who routinely leaches off the local good will of shop owners.  Interesting guy; interesting treatment………

Posted a photo of a path that leads to Chipping Campden.  This was taken at the beginning of the month quite early in the morning.  There was a morning mist that the sun was trying to break through, and the light was magical.  As you can see the sun was camera left.  I framed the shot so as to keep it just off frame.  The effect you can see for yourself.  It was shot with a D200 and a 17-55 Nikkor, which I must admit is my favorite lens.  I grayscaled it in photoshop and added a duo tone tint that i learned at Scott Kelby’s website www.kelbytraining.com Great website for everything photoshop and more. With the likes of Matt Kloskowski and Joe Mcnally among the instructors you get a great deal of practical help as well around shooting photos. If you haven’t taken the time to look at McNally’s book The Moment it Clicks , I highly recommend it. The book is very well written, and if you are like me and I hope you are not with a short attention span, you will like the fact McNally gets to the point and does not waste your time.

Great book from a great photographer, and from what I can tell, a very down to earth famous guy!

Have you ever changed platforms? You know, from PC to Mac. Well I did a couple of months ago, should have done it years ago. Lightroom moved across on its existing serial number but CS3 could not. Contacted Adobe and asked what I could do. Simple, was the answer. Send us a form we will email to you and return it with £6 and we will give you a cross platform licenense. Simple! Or not? 4 weeks on I am still trying to get the license. My 30 trial copies of CS3 I downloaded from the web have now run out so I can’t do any work.

I called Adobe and asked where my new license was that had to be mailed and the answer that came back - returned to them, three weeks ago!

Me - Why?
Autotron - Not sure, is your adress the one I just read out?
Me - no
Autotron - well there you go! wrong address!
Me - I gave you my new one
Autotron - Well we failed to update
Me - I need the software
Autotron - We will send it out again you should have it in a week
Me - I can’t do my work, make a living, can’t you give me the thing electronically like you do when someone purchases software online through a download?
Autotron - No
Me - Why, it was your mistake and I can’t do my job because you screwed up?!?
Autotron - it is not in the procedures manual
Me - you call that customer service!!!!!!!! Your mistake but you can’t correct it!!!!!!! !£@$%£%&*^%@£&*^(&£*&^%!£*&^!!!!!!
Autotron - It is not allowed

There is a show here in the UK called Little Britain. In it there is a skit where a lady (well a man dressed like a lady) sits in front of a computer and is asked reasonable sensible questions, consults the computer and then answers “computer says no” in a very mundane toneless voice. Interesting to find that the person exists in reality.

Oh well gives me more time to write in this blog. Too bad I can’t pay a credit card or mortgage payment with it!

I bought a D3 last week and must admit that since that fateful day my life has changed for ever, and for the better.  I had read many reviews about this latest Nikon offer. Poured over the posts by the “If ya ain’t got 22546 megapixels you ain’t got a pro camera”!  A lifelong Nikon shooter, I had even contemplated a complete shift to Canon since it appeared they were walking away with the digital market.

I started reading the reviews, did pay attention to the folks who seem to think that only megapixels equal quality and found that most of the better know and well respected commentators liked the new camera and made very compelling cases that the D3 was indeed a contender for the Canon title and from a picture quality standpoint was much better.  Noise was significantly lower in D3 photographs at high ISO.

It would appear that digital photography has entered a new phase, one where pixels might not tell the whole story and one where the days of picking a camera based on a megapixel count have gone, and the technology that supports the collection of the image becomes the most important part of the complex ingredients that go into making a modern digital picture.

I won’t lie to you, for those who have not picked up a D3, it is not a light piece of kit or as the great Joe McNally likes to say - it’s a commitment.  Once youv’e done some bench presses and strengthened your camera arm, things start to fall in place.  It is a great camera to hold, feels natural when in shooting position.  The eyepiece is clear and large and contains all the information you need to compose the shot.  The real treat is when you get home and look at the photos.  WOW!  It does a great job.  Complex lighting is no problem.  Checkout the shot of the Criterion Theatre on the website.  

I will update both the website and the blog in coming weeks with pictures and observations.  As of now, i can’t put the thing down.  What a great camera, Canon must be concerned given the apparent lack of picture quality in the their latest offering even with 22 megapixels on demand and the focusing issue.  I hope Nikon will forgive me for doubting them after 30 years of patronage.  The D3 puts Nikon back where they belong - on top of the professional DSLR offering!

Pam and I visited northern France over the weekend.  We have been making regular trips to France for some time.  This weekend we were enticed by a stay in a French Chateaux and some excellent French food.  We had been asked to join a friend and his wife on what for them was a fact collecting trip so that he could begin a book on a WW1 subject.  I had agreed to photograph the areas of interest.  We visited several sites where fighting had taken place, it’s hard not to find battlefields in this part of France.

Towards the end of the day we literally stumbled on a WW1 American cemetery.  This is a land defined by its cemeteries marking the final resting place of millions of French, English, and German soldiers.  It was unusual to find one that was American from the WW1 era, not hard at all to find graves of fallen Americans from WW II though.

It was one of those moments in life when you have to stop and acknowledge a significant debt to the thousands of men who fought what they thought would be the “war to end all wars”.  It was a humbling experience, one I will never forget.

Let me start by saying I used to think these things were a passing fad. Having been hooked by several friends blogs, I decided that 2 to 3 people might even like to hear what I had said. I hope you will visit frequently and that the content of this site makes you want to do that!