Mounting Pictures.

I have been reading about mounting pictures for when I finally get around to submitting a panel for the LRPS. It works out that to buy readymade mounts can be quite expensive and will really start to (excuse the pun) mounts up when non-standard sizes are required. 

I have deceived to make my own mounts. Mounting card and a kit to cut the mounts is not too expensive. 

I decided to go for the Logan Mount Cutting Kit 

from here for 60 quid.

It cuts straight and bevelled edges and most importantly I will be able to make mounts any size and shape I like!! Bonus!!

Mounting card is not too bad a price; you can pick it up for around £25 for 10 A1 size sheets. To help pay for it I will start selling custom mounts on ebay !


For my LRPS panel I plan on making mounts 40cm High, 50cm wide and cutting a window to the size of my photographs. That way no matter if the picture is Portrait or landscape the mount will still sit the same way around. I also plan to mount the pictures so that the top edge of the photos on the top row is aligned and the pictures on the bottom row are aligned to the bottom.  The four corner pictures will all be portrait while the rest are going to be landscape.

The nasty world of camera envy.

Ahhhh, good old camera envy, But let’s face it, it does not stop at the camera...

Driving to where I am shooting in my trusty 02 plate 1.8 Vectra (the old shape, the new shape one came in later that same year), If I need to overtake a idiot in a micra hogging the middle lane doing 56 mph I have to force my way into the BMW/Merc/Audi lane. Next thing I have some fool, who will need a new car within 2 years because they will write it off, or trade it in because next year’s version of the car has a better voice on the sat-nav, will be right up my exhaust pipe sarcastically indicating to turn right. Not that I have anywhere to go mind you, I am still going past the micra and allowing a safe gap before I move back over. I begin to grind my teeth... Asshole!....

The next thing, I arrive in the car park to the location where I am shooting and the same fool who was trying to get intimate with my car on the motorway is taking up two parking spaces. The idiot is there with his ray-bans on the top of his head, pulling out the back of his car all his kit. Cases, bags, boxes, all with CANON in big red letters all over everything... Asshole!..

Well before I start getting my kit out, I decide to take a leak. You do not want to be caught short while trying to take photographs. Low and behold, Mr BMW/ray-ban appears in the next urinal. With a big shit eating grin on his face, looking me up and down, he all but gets a ruler out for some sort of dick measuring contest or some sort of challenge to see who could piss higher up the wall.. Asshole!.

So, I make my way to the area for the upcoming event to get set up. I scout out for a good location then check all my kit. Battery, lens, spare memory card, all correct. Give the glass a final clean. Fire off a few test shots. Adjust white balance... Next thing, Mr BMW/Ray-ban appears... starts to unpack. First thing out is a chair. An expensive foldaway affair. It looks like the same guys who make precision Swiss watches made it. Next, out comes the tripod. My god, you could hold up a space shuttle ready for launch on the thing. Next out comes the Camera, a shiny new Canon (I think it may still have the plastic protection over the viewfinder). Next the lens. My god, look at the size of that thing! You could tell which way Mr Armstrong was dressed the day he landed on the moon with that thing. I am sure he must have stolen it from NASA... Asshole!

So, the show is about to start, the announcement is made to listen out for the aircraft as they approach. So I switch on my trusty Nikon d40 with a 55 to 200 zoom. Just as I suspected, from over the buildings they came, I quickly turned around and got half a dozen shots off as they came swooshing right over my location. Mr BMW/Ray-ban as he tried to swing around with his camera on the tripod missed the shot. All I heard as the engine noise faded was a string of expletives. I allowed myself a slight giggle. As I thought of his wonderful shot, he would have of the exhaust end of the jets. Asshole!

The show progressed for the next 30 min or so, I was getting shot after shot of great photos. No matter what they did, I could zoom out or zoom in, spin around to catch them whatever direction the jets flew in from. Mr BMW/ray-ban on the other hand was struggling with his telescope and tripod. In the end, he gave up. I could hear him rooting around in his cases for something. Muttering and swearing. Next thing I hear, oh dam nit, this will have to do... Detracted I had to look, as he was frantically attaching a 55mm prime lens. I could not help it, I did actually laugh out loud as the show finished just as he pointed his camera skywards. Asshole!.

Later that day, on my way home along the m55, Mr BMW/Ray-ban came flying passed me; He must have been doing 120mph! A few miles along, there he is again, on the hard shoulder, with officer dibble issuing him a ticket for speeding... Asshole!

After I got home and sorted through my photos, I selected maybe a dozen particularly good photos, and posted them to the red arrows group on flickr. While clicking through some of the other pictures, I noticed one other photo, a quite reasonable wide angled shot of the closing stunt of the display. Looking at the profile picture, I noticed it was Mr BMW/ray ban. He had posted some other pictures, some very nice close up shots of the planes. Some of the comments that were attached were asking how he got ground access to the planes for the close-ups. You honestly could not tell the jets were in the air. The comments started to flood in on my pictures. Saying how good they were, and how they captured the speed of the planes and the atmosphere of the event.

I have many friends who always look at the model numbers before the photographs. They always assume that because they have a d5000dx-si-ultra that it takes better pictures than my d40. It’s not just cameras, its phones, cars, computers, penis. I am well aware that my D40 is getting old; do I plan on replacing it. Yes. When? When my photography skills outperform the camera or the camera will not do something I need it to do for a job or it breaks. Which I believe is a long way off.

Any likeness to any person, living or dead in this story is entirely intentional. You know who you are !

Shooting against the calender.

After taking my moon shot the other week, I have thought of a good shot that I want to capture.

I want to capture the moon as it sets over the Irish Sea. There are a few issues go with this shot to consider while setting up for the shot. The first thing is a full moon is not the best to photograph. The Moon always looks flat when you photograph it full, but if you catch it three quarters or half even a small crescent then you will catch shadows on the craters, mountains and valleys. It will look so much better and show off some of the lunar landscape. As I want a bright moon, I plan to get it just a little under full moon. So about a week before a full moon suits me fine. The next thing to sort out is the time the moon sets. I want to capture a series of shots as The Moon sets below the horizon so I need to find a date when The Moon sets during nighttime hours.

The next date that everything falls into place is going to be Tuesday morning at around 3.30am on the 19th October 2010. Therefore, I am going to have to be on the beach and all set up by 3am. Let’s hope it won’t be too cold. I will be checking the weather forecasts closely and for a few days ether side if the weather conditions are favourable I will take that opportunity to get my photographs

If the weather is bad then the next opening will be around 19th November 2010. The problem then I will be running out of time. I will have opportunities each month until March after that, the next time I will get a full(ish) moon set over the sea at night will be August 29th 2012. 

Time is running out