Archive for March, 2012

Project 52 Week 14

Posted: 26/03/2012 in photography, Project 52
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Happy Monday people,

I’m forcing myself to be a little more punctual this week as we’re going to be busy for the rest of the week but wanted to get my post done anyway.

As I mentioned last week I was initially very underwhelmed by the low-light performance of my FUJI HS20EXR but I’ve persisted and managed to come up with a couple more night-time shots for you this week that I’m pleased with.

My other news for this segment is that I have acquired a new toy, it’s an old Canon EOS 650 film camera from the late 80′s, It’s going to be a while before I get to share some shots from it with you as I have yet to acquire any lenses and am loath to do so until I can verify that it’s in reasonable working condition. It was a steal on eBay so if there is anyone local (London) who’d be willing to let me try it out with one of their EF mount lenses I’d be very grateful.

anyway back to this week

The shot I chose to share with the Google plus project crowd was this one of some bent fence posts which I was quite pleased with. It’s even in colour

Camera: FinePix HS20EXR
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/3.6
Focal Length: 8 mm
ISO Speed: 800

 Below is a selection of some of the other shots from the week that I’m happy with.

The Dark Tower

God know's what sort of car this tacky hubcap fell off but I think it's safe to assume that it wasn't an RS model Ford as it proposes. Still I found it an interesting distraction as it was propped up in a dilapidated flowerbed.

I’m sure that plenty of you will have seen photo’s I’ve taken of this church before, I’m not sure of its exact history but it’s now an apartment block and full of interesting angles as well as some garden space to walk the dog in. 

Next weeks theme is Easter and or Fire, until then I hope you have a great week and don’t break anything while I’m gone

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

Project 52 Week 13

Posted: 23/03/2012 in photography, Project 52
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I’ve been very quiet this week, unfortunately I have been struck down by that most deadly of diseases Man Flu.

Luckily the kids thus far seem to have avoided it so I can’t even blame them for being disease carrying pests as I would normally do when I’m sick.

The poor dog has also suffered as whilst I have walked her a couple of times this week it’s not been as frequent or for as long as I would do normally.

Anyway moving on from my sympathy gathering attempts I’d like to talk about this weeks photography theme which was playing with light. I was really excited about this as the majority of my free time for photography is at night anyway but the battery in my little Canon IXUS died and the charger is buried under a whole bunch of kids stuff that we’re planning on selling but haven’t gotten around to doing yet. So I decided that I’d take out my other camera my bigger and much more obvious Fuji HS20EXR, something I have historically avoided during my nocturnal wanderings for a couple of reasons.

One being that we don’t live in the nicest of area’s and I’m not that keen on being mugged for it, not that I’ve ever personally felt threatened but I know plenty of others who have.

Two it’s pretty bulky and difficult to shoot single-handed which is something I need to do with the dog being held by my other hand.

With these thoughts in mind I was pretty nervous about taking this weeks shots but I must strike a pretty imposing figure in my bulky coat, baseball cap and heavily muscled Staffordshire Bull Terrier Straining at her leash as I’ve still not had any issues with the drunken yobo’s who inhabit our neighbourhood. It’s taken my a while to figure out the best settings for night shooting with the Fuji, the automatic settings that I initially tried (one-handed and looking for a base to work from) produce incredibly unacceptable levels of noise even if I limit ISO to auto 400 (capped at ISO400).

The shot I submitted after playing with the settings is below

Camera: FinePix HS20EXR
Exposure: 0.357 sec (1/3)
Aperture: f/5
Focal Length: 29.1 mm
ISO Speed: 400

 As you can tell the noise levels are still pretty high but I liked the varying aura’s around the lights enough to decide that I could live with it.

I’ve still not dug out the charger for the little Canon and have continued to tempt fate and play with the larger Fuji during my walks, I’m still not happy with the levels of low light performance that I’m getting but my shots are definitely improving especially if shooting in black and white.

Will you still love me will you still need me....

colour's also improving but I'm still not that confident with it.

a different perspective

This coming weeks theme is Night so I’m going to have to keep focussing on my low light skills to provide you with something I’m proud of. Until the next time TTFN Mr Bunny Chow

Please can you pass this on

Posted: 15/03/2012 in Croydon Riots, Oiks
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As some of you may know I am also running a small blog for my local community and it has come to light that Murder has occurred in our road.

We’d like as many people as possible to publicise this fact as we have long been complaining of antisocial behaviour and something needs to be done.

More details available on the community blog page.

Many thanks and TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

Project 52 Week 12

Posted: 15/03/2012 in photography, Project 52
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Greetings to you all,

It’s that time again, all be it a little later than is perhaps usual for me to share with you my photo of the week.

This week the suggested theme was Planes, Trains and Automobiles, something that I initially thought I would find easy but then I realised that being the geek that I am I have already photographed all of the interesting cars that are regularly in my area, trains are boring as all hell and despite visits to the airport this week I failed to photograph any planes.

Fear not though as I persevered and have gone back to my roots with a rather dark and grungy picture of a BMW that whilst I certainly don’t lust after I cannot help but admire its cold efficient german industrial lines.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

As is my prerogative I’m going to include a couple of also ran but didn’t quite make it shots for you to contemplate and share your thoughts on. 

as you can see this is a boat so doesn't quite fit the theme, I think it's a pretty boat though so I'm going to add it to the mix.

the antithesis of the cold hard German, the building in the background is The Bank of England, I like the photo but it missed out on the top spot as I don't think that it's technically a very good photo despite the emotive response it generates.

again not technically a great photograph but the guy on the bike was so friendly, he noticed me trying to take his pic when another biker pulled alongside him and blocked my view then when the lights changed he stayed back and hooted so that I could grab the shot before he pulled off. Unfortunately my focus was slightly off in my rush not to inconvenience him.

Next week we’re playing with light so until then. TTFN Mr Bunny Chow

Spring Streets

Posted: 13/03/2012 in iPhone, photography, Project 52
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For those of you out of the loop Grandma Bunny Chow normally resides in my home country of Zimbabwe and had travelled to the UK as the Zimbabwean representative of Alzheimer’s Disease International at their annual conference. I don’t profess to be an expert on the disease or it’s challenges but I do know that ADI do excellent work in overcoming prejudices and providing support to those suffering from dementia so please do show them support if you ever come into contact with them.

On Saturday afternoon I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to spend an afternoon following my mother and a group of representatives from Alzheimer’s Disease International as they embarked on a walking tour around The City of London.

it was the vibrant colour of these tights that made me decide that I couldn't stick to just black and white

Strictly speaking I wasn’t supposed to be there as I wasn’t part of the party so to speak but they allowed me to follow them around without complaint whist I took pictures of the group, as well as passers-by and The City.

this guy had such knowledge etched into his face

Street photography is a style I greatly admire and one day hope to become proficient in but for this walk it was really just me playing with my camera settings and seeing what worked best. The pictures I have chosen to share in this post are some of the ones I thought worked out best although they vary hugely in style.

just look at that hair

I definitely appreciate any creative input or idea’s from my readers as to what you like and also what you think of when you think street photography, are you all about the gritty black and white or do you prefer to capture the vibrancy and colours of springtime in the metropolis? I know it’s something I’m torn about which is why many of these photo’s work individually but I’m not so sure how well they work as a collective.

I have no idea what she was up to either, she just stopped did this funny move and then carried on without a by your leave or care in the world

anyway I’ve only been waffling on this long so that I can break up the pictures a bit and keep you reading, but I’ll just let the captions do the talking from here on in.

I don't know if this guy had Tourette's syndrome or was just a nutter but he kept marching up and down swearing to himself and muttering threats of intended violence.

Self importance is always an interesting subject

am I casting the next Doctor Who or just being a RayBan fanboy?

no story here I just like this picture

why so serious?

Looking back I'm beginning to think that my walk might have taken place further back in the past than Saturday.

Bob Geldof doing the funky chicken?

Happy Birthday Conita wherever you may be

completely out of context and definitely not street photography but I like the shot and couldn't think of anywhere else to use it.

She's listening intently

I told you Granny Bunny Chow was here, she's also listening intently unlike the bloke in the background who just looks bored.

deep in thought

and back to colour, this guy was just too cool for school

so cool that he deserved two shots

another completely out of context random architecture shot but I liked it so it's here.

I was taking some Macro shots of the blossoms when I noticed this young lady out of the corner of my eye and switched focus, sadly I was a fraction too slow and her mouth is almost hidden but I still like the shot.

Lomo girl rocks

so the kids do still skate, last time I got on a skateboard I ended up in a cast (15+ years ago) so have stayed away ever since despite thinking that they always looked cool.

somehow this lady transmagorfed herself from a Parisian cafe in order for me to take her picture.

an attempt at artistic blur

something to smile about

I wonder if they'd noticed that they were sitting in bright sunshine on a beautiful spring day or were just on their way back from Siberia.

 such attitude, makes you wonder if he/she was actually throwing a hissy fit or I was just lucky

well that’s it from me for now, as always I love to hear from you and know what your thoughts are, should I stick to one style or keep flitting between or just give up on the street thing altogether?

Many thanks for looking and TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

Project 52 Week 11

Posted: 07/03/2012 in photography, Project 52
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Howdy all,

yes it’s that time where I’m going to waffle a little bit about my Project 52 and the suggested themes from Google+ and I’m not going to break the mould as it works for me.

The suggested theme this week was Spring/Autumn and as I mentioned last week I didn’t really want to just share an image of a daffodil, so despite the fact that I took some pictures of daffodils this week I’m not going to share them with you, instead I’m going to share two images that take the term “spring” a little more literally than was perhaps intended.

The first image is of a motorcycle of unknown provenance stripped back to almost its component parts attached to a Swallow Side Car which just has fantastic patina.  For those of you who indulge my geeky tendencies the Swallow Side Car Company morphed into Jaguar Motor Cars after the second world war when their initials became unacceptable in polite society.

Spring has Sprung

Because I like to spoil you I’ve got a second picture to share with you this week again taking the interpretation a little bit too seriously its of the high lift spring underneath a heavily modified Suzuki/Range Rover Hybrid.

Spring has Sprung again

Next week the theme is Planes, Trains and AutoMobiles, I wonder how badly I can stray away from that seeing as I’ve stuck them in this week.

Until the next time

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

and now for something completely different

Posted: 06/03/2012 in idiots, Oiks
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This is just a quick post as I wanted to let my loyal followers know I have set up a completely separate blog for the residents in my area.

I know the followers of Mr Bunny Chow are from all over the world and that my posts here are sometimes rather flippant, irreverent rants but something that I’ve only vaguely touched on in these pages is and increase in anti social behaviour in my road and the surrounding roads.

This increase can largely be linked to the opening of a YMCA run and funded hope for disadvantaged adults. You can read that as they would like us the local residents to read it or as I a local resident does, in other words “let’s lob a bunch of degenerate scumbags into a building together on a quiet residential street and see what happens”

This building is largely unpoliced and full of adults with drinking/drug and mental problems, its residents are pretty much free to do as they please although they are not supposed to drink outside, this just means that they drink outside other people’s houses instead.

Anyway this is quickly turning into one of my usual rants and I was only trying to tell you that I have set up a blog to help local residents coordinate efforts to remove these degenerate scumbags from the area.

I may link further articles from there to these pages but won’t be doing so in the other direction. The site will not have the same feel as Mr Bunny Chow but is intended to make change as opposed to being somewhere for me to rant.

Please feel free to wander over for a nosey though www.croydonlansdowne.wordpress.com

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

P.S. my project 52 post this week is delayed through laziness (I have the photo’s I’ve just not uploaded them to the computer yet so expect that tomorrow or the day after)