Owner: Dave's Photo Blog URL:http://davelicence.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 15:48:57 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: My favourite photos as I take them from my travels and general life, plus various musings Site statistics:Click here
No Parking 2007-09-29 17:14:00 This appeared sometime in the last week and I spotted it the following day on my walk to the train station on the way to work. It is perhaps most pointless set of double yellow lines I have ever seen. OK, so it is next to a driveway and it is opposite the (footpath) entrance to a church, but this is a tiny road and here is the only stretch with any form of road markings. Either a resident has taken it on themselves to police highway code item 243 or our local council doesn't have enough to worry about. Made me chuckle anyway.Nokia N73
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A Milestone and a Conspiracy 2007-09-24 17:12:00 Dave's Photo Blog is (or very soon will be, depending on when you are reading this) 5000 visitors old! Blimey.Like many bloggers I pimp my site a little: pro-actively trying to reach a larger audience. Sites like Blog Explosion get me quite a few hits, as does commenting on other sites that I find interesting. However, the majority of visits to the blog come from Google, and its been quite interesting monitoring the statistics to see how people find my posts.Unfortunately, I'm not able to see the search-term used when a hit comes through Google Images, but here are some examples of web searches that often find me:Dave Licence - before I started blogging, a search on my name would only have returned you with instructions on how to install a piece of software onto your Macintosh. The same search today will return my sites first, although this blog has actually dropped to third for some reason (see my conspiracy theory below). Unfortunately, a search for David Licence only returns my Li Read more:Conspiracy
Creepy 2007-09-21 16:31:00 I was out doing a bit of tidying in the garden the other weekend - just cutting back all this year's growth rather than doing anything amazing with an herbaceous border or installing a shrubbery (OK so that's two links for shrubberies. Sorry. I did look for something amusing on herbaceous borders but am easily distracted). There is a bramble on the lane behind my garden, which keeps trying to loop its way over the fence and find an extra foothold. As I was battling with it I noticed another plant that seemed to be thriving by winding and tangling itself around the bramble and pretty much everything nearby. The shapes and patterns made by this plant are quite interesting to look at as it really does wriggle around to cling on to whatever its near. This observation resulted in some more macro shots (I'll try to photograph something full-scale soon, promise). The plant could be some kind of creeper, hence the title of this post, but I really have no idea. Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Mi
Rope Light 2007-09-10 15:43:00 I have a rope light strung up along the handrail of the stairs in my house. It looks pretty cool when it is switched on, but that tends to be only for parties - most of the time it just sits there not doing much but collecting dust.The other night I had the lights on while taking photos of moths - seen in the background of the first picture in last week's Creatures Of The Night post - and wondered what the rope might look like on its own. Here are a couple of shots from my experiment. Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR1/200sec, f/7.1 1/80 sec, f/8
Oak Bush-Cricket 2007-09-06 15:34:00 Here is another night-time interloper into my household. An oak bush-cricket - a male (noted due to the lack of a pointed ovipositor).This guy is less common and certainly more unexpected than the moths of my previous post, given that I don't live too close to woodland. I did spot a speckled bush-cricket in my back garden last year though while pruning the greenery so maybe the speckled bunch invited some of the oak gang over for an intra-species parley and this one got lost - photographed here hanging upside-down off my ceiling a few nights ago.Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR, SB-6001/80sec, f/20, ISO-200
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Creatures Of The Night 2007-09-04 11:55:00 Having a new baby in the house has meant that I have recently become familiar with some hours of the night that I haven't been acquainted with for a while. This also means that I have seen many of the creatures that roam the halls when the lights are normally dimmed - the most common of which are moths. They seem to find a way in no matter how tightly you draw the curtains or shutter the blinds, just to be near an energised light bulb.Here are some photos of a couple of recent visitors. Unfortunately, there are nearly two and a half thousand species of moth in the UK alone, so I haven't been able to identify them. Any lepidopterists in the audience?Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR1/100sec, f/5.6, ISO-220 Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR, SB-6001/250sec, f/22, ISO-200 1/200sec, f/25, ISO-200
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Roses 2007-08-30 12:17:00 My wife received some roses last week for (nearly) being a bridesmaid at her friend's wedding. I appropriated them for a short time for some photos.The spiral pattern you get with the opening petals is quite cool to look at, but - even better - they seem to have their own inner light making the centre brighter, which I can't explain. This can be seen especially well in the image below but the photo on the right is my favourite. Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR1/200sec, f/14, ISO-200Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR1/80sec, f/16, ISO-200Lastly, thanks to LivingSword for nominating this blog for the following award.
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Monday Mystery Matter - Revealed 2007-08-28 15:35:00 Here's the answer to yesterday's little quiz. Congratulations must go to Neil who got the answer spot on (although I'm wondering whether it was actually his wife's suggestion) - the mystery object was indeed the inside of a petal of a lily - an auratum or similar. Below is a photo of the whole flower.Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR1/60sec, f/18, ISO-360
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, Mystery
Monday Mystery Matter 2007-08-27 03:38:00 Here's a small quiz for this Monday
morning. To the right is a close-up photo of something in my house at the moment - any guesses as to what it is? I'll post the answer in a day or two.Click on the image to get a larger version, which might help. Nikon D200, AF-S 105mm Micro VR1/50sec, f/25, ISO-450
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Visitors - the aftermath 2007-08-22 10:03:00 After all the visitors we've been entertaining over the last few days, both Matthew and his Dad are tired and take a nap.Nikon D200, Sigma 30mm f/1.41/30sec, f/4, ISO-450
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Visitors (2) 2007-08-21 11:20:00 Of course the Granddads are just as excited as the Grandmothers when there is a new baby around (although maybe they try not to show it as much). Here are a couple of shots of them so they don't feel left out after seeing the last post. Nikon D200, Sigma 30mm f/1.41/30sec, f/5, ISO-500 1/20sec, f/2.8, ISO-360
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Visitors (1) 2007-08-20 03:47:00 When you have a baby you get a lot of visitors and in our case the first were the new grandparents. For both my parents and my wife's, this is the first grandchild, so there is a lot of excitement all round. Lots of presents for the new arrival too - Matthew probably now has more stuff than me, we'll soon need to move to a bigger house.Here are a couple of shots of Granny and Nanny (names they have chosen themselves). Nikon D200, Sigma 30mm f/1.41/80sec, f/2.2, ISO-640 1/40sec, f/5.6, ISO-100
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Matthew Has Arrived 2007-08-17 09:36:00 A while back I mentioned that I was soon to become a father. Well that day arrived on Monday with the arrival of Matthew
Christopher (which might help to explain the lack of posts in the last week - been a little busy).After a bit of um-ing and ah-ing about whether he really wanted to be born on the 13th, or try to leave it for a few more hours, he decided he would enter the world on his exact due date after all - looks like he has his dad's sense of punctuality at least. Lets just hope he doesn't suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia. I've also been told by a number of people that he has my nose, but I don't see it myself.I guess there will be many more posts in the coming months with photos of my little boy, but for now here are the first couple - one taken just after we got him back from hospital on Tuesday and the other on Wednesday. Nikon D200, Sigma 30mm f/1.41/60sec, f/3.2, ISO-800 &n
The Fly II 2007-08-10 14:55:00 Here is another image of the same housefly as shown in my previous post - this time much closer. Be afraid, be very afraid.Click on the image to get a larger version, and you'll be able to see the pattern in the eyes. This image almost makes it look like the fly is some kind of robot - the front of the head at least looks like it is made of metal.Nikon 105mm VR1/60sec, f/22, SB-600
Bug Month 2007-08-08 15:13:00 It must be bug month or something - here's another insect image. The other day I spotted a fly sitting on a curtain. After thirty minutes or so it was still there, so I got the camera. I think it was getting old - it didn't seem to want to move very far, much preferring to walk than fly anywhere. This is a common housefly - a female. The way to tell its a female (according to Wikipedia anyway) is by the eyes - females have a much larger space between their two eyes than males. Its amazing what you can learn on the internet.Nikon 105mm VR, 1/60sec, f/11, SB-600
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Monday News Story 2007-08-06 05:13:00 This is a bit of a departure from the norm, and I promise the next post will be back to photography, but I just spotted this news story on the BBC and it has made my Monday
morning a little more bearable - hopefully it will do the same for you. Just think, only a few days left until the weekend.
File it Under Crazy? 2007-08-02 15:39:00 Quite often when people find out you're about to have your first child they offer some advice - a common piece of which seems to be 'cram in as much sleep as you can now, you'll need it!'Now, while you can't actually store sleep as this advice might suggest, it has made me think about sleep in general. Sleeping lots more than necessary wastes time and usually makes me just feel really drowsy for the rest of that day. I often sleep too much at weekends and am never good at getting up in the mornings. However, whenever I do wake up later than 10am I always feel a little guilty and I don't really 'get into' the day as I would like.So I've been wondering whether its possible to train yourself to need less sleep. It's known that some people need more sleep than others, and the recommendation is eight hours. But ... if your body knew it was going to get less sleep, maybe the sleep you gave it would be better taken. Hmmm. I found this story after a quick search and it seems that it Read more:Crazy
Arachnophobia 2007-07-28 18:09:00 I was busy the other day with some DIY - putting together some new furniture - when I noticed a spot on the wall ... only small but it hadn't been there before. I guess it depends on the size of your monitor, but the spot was probably not much bigger than this O. As I got closer I realised it was a spider. I'm not a big fan of spiders, but I don't mind them too much - just don't want them crawling over me. This one looked friendly enough though, so I thought I'd get in closer for a better look.I could be wrong, so excuse me if I'm mistaken, but I think this is a jumping spider - they are the most common type of spider in the world though so maybe that's a safe assumption to make. It never moved while I was watching it though - let alone leap in the air - so I can't confirm that.Nikon 105mm VR, 1/60sec, f/20, SB-600
Splash (staged attempt) 2007-07-26 13:45:00 My last post about trying to capture a rain drop as it hit the ground reminded me of a similar shot I got a couple of years ago. I had just got my first digital SLR and was playing around - so this shot was staged in a pan in the kitchen sink with the tap dripping constantly. I think I only took ten or so attempt
s to get this one and it turned out lovely. That time I did pop the flash so froze the action completely.Nikon 18-70mm at 70mm, 1/500sec, f/16, flash
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Splash 2007-07-24 16:43:00 What with all the rain we've been having in the UK recently there hasn't been the opportunity for rambles outdoors to capture nice summer images. So, instead, one day last week while the rain was hammering down on the conservatory roof I sat just inside the door for a while and attempted to get a shot of the raindrops splashing onto the patio outside. This really is just pot-luck - its very difficult to time a shot like this: by the time you register a moment it's gone. It's simply a case of firing off a load of shots and reviewing them later. So, how did I do? Not great - this image was the best of over one hundred clicks, and the drop is just out of focus. Next time will be better - and maybe I'll remember to use a flash.Nikon 18-200mm VR at 200mm, 1/90sec, f/5.6
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Crane Skyline 2007-07-23 16:01:00 Cranes dominate the skyline over Somerset House - I liked the pattern and the colours at sunset.
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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club 2007-07-21 11:09:00 A while back I had a little rant about the additional charges applied to ticket prices when buying from somewhere like Ticketmaster. Well, the event for which the tickets were purchased finally arrived this week - BlackRebelMotorcycle
Club at Somerset House. For some reason I neglected to put a reminder in my diary and I almost forgot about it. Fortunately I was reminded in time. We were (again) pretty fortunate with the weather - Somerset House is an outdoor venue - and we had a perfect evening with not a cloud in the sky. The gig was amazing - an hour and a half of all BRMC's best tracks.As seems to be happening more often these days, I didn't have my camera with me, so had to make do with the Nokia N73. It did surprisingly well considering it was dark.
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, Motorcycle Club
, Black Rebel Motorcycle
Raspberries 2007-10-15 15:47:00 Looks like we have taught Matthew his first lesson - how to blow raspberries at people. It's all very funny ... for now. He currently thinks that sticking his tongue out at people is one of the greatest japes in the world. Are we naughty parents? Maybe, but its still fantastic to see him smile and laugh. It might just be a little embarrassing if he decides to parp at a passing pedestrian.Sony DSC-T200
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Autumnal Eye 2007-10-18 13:51:00 It's good to see that Autumn is back where it's meant to be - last year the season started very late, but this year the leaves had started falling and mornings had become cold and misty by the start of this month. I do like a good Autumn.Last week on one of the aforementioned misty morns London remained shrouded even after I arrived at the office. Working on the 25th floor of one of the highest buildings in the area makes for some fantastic views. I took this photo of the London Eye and it came out a bit noisy and blurry - so I converted it to black and white and added a bit more noise for effect.Sony DSC-T200
How To ... 2007-10-24 17:21:00 In what may or may not become a series - depending on future inspiration and opportunity - I would like to unveil the first, and possibly last, post under Dave's new How To ... brand. These nuggets of momentary wisdom may (or may not, the author accepts no responsibility for what you do with the information) provide valid and useful life-lessons for the otherwise uninitiated.*The photo below demonstrates, quite nicely I think, How To Look Intellectual While Sleeping.Now go and practice. If you cannot find someone to help mark your efforts and offer advice and tips for improvement you could either set up a time-lapse camera so that you may rate yourself 'offline' or train in front of a mirror, one eye at a time.* I've recently been writing lots of technical and sales-y documentation at work and am full of caveats and verbosity. Does it show?**** That's a rhetorical question.
Autumn Morning 2007-11-05 15:23:00 We went for a walk in our local park on Saturday morning and saw some of the colours that will be around for the next few weeks. Last year the trees all seemed to change overnight - almost like they had all been waiting for each other and then started a great race. This year they are taking their time, changing one at a time, which means the colours last for much longer. The photo below is my favourite from the morning (yeah OK, I mucked around with the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop a bit, but it looks good). This is from the same stand of trees that I shot last November. Last year all the trees were at the same stage, whereas this year you can still see green in the background.Nikon D200, AF-S 18-200mm VR1/320sec, f/7.1
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, Morning
BBC iPlayer Without the Dowloads 2007-12-13 12:03:00 Time for a tangent ...Back in July the BBC launched the iPlayer, a piece of software that would allow you to download and view programmes from the last seven days. There were two problems: the player was only available for Windows, shutting out anyone with a Mac or Linux and a lot of people (myself included) are put off these days by having to install yet another client to watch/listen to locked content - most of the major channels seem to have their own versions of these things (e.g. Sky, Channel4), yet we're supposed to moving into a Video on Demand world in which we can watch anything at any time through our set top boxes.Today, the BBC has launched a new version of the iPlayer. This time it's online. No dowloads (apart from upgrading Flash if you still have an old version) - the videos just play in your web browser, like YouTube. This is great for me as I often find myself forgetting about things I meant to watch until shortly after they have ended.OK, so it's nowhere near HD qu
The Great Fire of (East) London 2007-12-09 16:53:00 I've been really bad lately - only one post in November, and now here we are almost a third of the way through December! I have some catching up to do. Well actually that's not really true - for some reason I haven't been taking many photos recently so there's not much to catch up on. Various things have been getting in the way - busy at work, busy at home, it's dark now when I leave the house in the morning and when I get back at night, I've been doing some extra curricular work designing a website and when I have had some free time I've been playing Crysis.Even the photos I did take last month went untouched until today when I finally got around to downloading them onto my PC and playing around with them ... Back in the middle of November there was a large fire in the East of London on the site of a future Olympics venue. From our office we had an amazing view of the huge plume of smoke and could see the flames when they were at their highest.So, even though they are four week Read more:Great
How to ... Chuckles 2007-12-22 12:03:00 This second in the How To ... series is on a less serious topic than the first. Unlike the previous instalment it can be easily practiced on one's own, although for the sake of all-round amusement I would suggest attempting simultaneous rehearsal among a group of like minded individuals. Lastly, while the previous lesson was demonstrated through the use of an instructive image, this one requires a video to convey full tutelage.Dave's Photo Blog is proud to present How To Make Full Use of Your Laugh.
Where's Dave? 2008-03-11 15:49:19 Here I am! It's been over two months since my last post, and over three since my last photo. I could blame it all on my home PC having blown a gasket (or whetever it is inside these things) or on being too busy achieving my New Year's resolutions, but one of those is a cop-out and the other is a lie. I'll leave it to you to decide which is which (although I had the boiler fixed so I haven't been completely idle).My PC has really broken though. I think it was partially my fault. Before it went I started building a new one, and got far enough along to not want to go out and buy a completely pre-built new one that will work straight away, but not far enough to have finished it yet. This leaves me with no PC on which I can download and edit photos.The new PC won't be done until at least the st
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