Hi Everyone. First post in a little while. Poor photography conditions in February, plus a bit of a creative slum, meant that I haven't been out with my camera much. I also went away to the French Alps for a week on a ski holiday.
This was the first trip abroad since the first lockdown 2 years ago. It was weird being in a foreign country after such a long time. Even weirder given the stuff currently happening in Europe. I felt guilty leaving my home for pleasure, when people in a different part of Europe, were fleeing their homes out of necessity. 10 million people displaced. It felt wrong. However, the holiday had been booked well in advance, and not going away wasn't going to help anyone. We packed up the car, and headed to the mountains.
Here are a couple of phone snaps from the trip.
During the week, a dust storm blew in from Africa, covering parts of Europe in sand. The snow and sky turned slightly orange for a few days, and it looked uncomfortably apocalyptic. It also made the snow feel like porridge to ski on - sticky and unpredictable. Once the piste bashers had gone over it, it seemed to improve, although the snow kept it's slightly off white appearance...
Despite taking my camera to France, I didn't take any photos. The weather was mild, the snow melted quite a lot during the stay. The full moon was obscured by high cloud/saharan dust. I didn't feel inspired.
When we arrived home, I checked the forecast for the following morning, and it looked pretty promising. I set the alarm. I also packed my new lens. It makes my bag noticeably heavier, and I definitely won't take it out all the time, but I wanted to try some long focal lengths out on the brook.
Some photographs from Monday morning...
The last photo was taken with my new lens, at a focal length of 280mm. I really like the compression of the perspective, and I know I'm going to enjoy using this lens for both wildlife and landscape photography.
There has been more fog in the park this week, but I haven't been out since Monday, as work has been busy, and I'm still knackered from the ski trip. The forecast seems to be very settled, so hopefully I'll get out again in a day or two.
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