It was a very Merry Christmas

and the most relaxed that I can remember in years. We ate well and took it easy (the rain meant that we didn't even venture out for a walk after lunch) and with ongoing rain/snow today, it looks as if we may be stuck inside all day again.

I am exploring my new Adobe Lightroom software and I think that it will be a big improvement over the old stuff which I was using. There is some sort of a learning curve but I am in no big rush and want to get it right.

Tune of the Day:  She's Got Balls     by AC/DC

Lucerne was fun

and I was happy with the way in which my photos turned out. It is always interesting to shoot film (especially Medium-Format) alongside someone who is shooting digital. I think that during the course of the day I took nearly 30 photos whereas he had shot 150 by lunchtime  :-)

Went shopping today for some new photo software and grabbed another external drive whilst in the store and my order from ars-imago arrived in the Post. Just like Christmas!


Looking forward to taking it easy tomorrow and getting a few things done around home. Can't forget that tomorrow is Dr Dan's birthday!


Tune of the Day:  Mannish Boy    by Muddy Waters

Off to Lucerne in the morning

to have a look about and take some more photos. Meeting a mate in town nice and early for a wake-up coffee before heading off to try our luck. It should be fun and as I haven't been to Lucerne in a little while, it will be good to try to get some more shots.

I am planning on taking a big, old camera and a tripod..... so if you see me out there, please be kind.

Not a lot of news- caught up with some friends this morning for a very interesting chat about photography and I'm looking forward to seeing Big Dan for a beer on Thursday evening. Christmas is getting closer!

Tune of the Day:  Orange Claw Hammer    by Captain Beefheart

I've met more interesting people, had a great little dinner party

at home, lunch-set-match, been to the Tricky concert and done a bit of running about. Full steam ahead this week as well. After shopping today, things look to be organised for our guests on Sunday evening.

One more photo to shoot for my Week 50 Challenge which ends tomorrow. Depending on the weather in the morning I may even shoot another roll of film and try to get something out of that.

Not too much else to report..... if anyone is struggling with Christmas gift ideas for me, please feel free to drop me a note  ;-)

Tune of the Day:  Sympathy For The Devil

Thanks Masi and Walti

we both really enjoyed the day out. Lunch was great and the company was terrific as always. Just a shame about the weather  ;-)

I have a busy week ahead of me- a concert tomorrow night, visitors for dinner on Tuesday night, a magazine launch on Wednesday morning and then lunch with some mates.... I could go on.

My Week 50 Photo Challenge started today- I was happy enough with my first photo and will be trying to shoot quite a bit to make sure that I have more pics for the rest of the week.

Very Tricky!


Tune of the Day:  Crime in the Desert    by Eno and Cale

Not a lot to report

but Tricky is getting closer, lunch with Ralf and the lads is looming and Carina's new magazine is going to be released next week as well. Look out!

Plenty to do with Week 50 on the horizon as well- that will mean taking plenty of photos with a 50mm lens (I have a few to choose from) and sharing one daily on Nikoncafe. It is always great to see what the others are able to produce and there will definitely be some inspiring stuff.

Tune of the Day:  Can I Sit Next To You Girl    by AC/DC

Foto Museum Winterthur is well worth a visit

and it is nice to find somewhere else to spend a cool December day. I really enjoyed having a look around there today and even became a member. They will see me again soon!

Thanks to Catherine for a fantastic dinner (yet again). We enjoyed a great beef and vegetable pie topped with mashed potato and accompanied by a bottle of Il Bruciato. Brilliant!

Tomorrow is back to work. No! Wait! Hahahahahahahahaha.....


Tune of the Day: Out Of The Blue   by Roxy Music

The swim can wait until tomorrow

but I am up and about and will be heading off to a meeting shortly. It will be good to get back into the swimming habit again and I should have a little time to get stuck in during the quieter times in the pool. It is certainly no fun trying to swim in heavy traffic when you are struggling.

Shot a roll of 120 film yesterday and I was very impressed with the way the Ilford HP5+ turned out. Looking forward to doing more research as long as the sun is shining.

Dinner tonight. Will be fun!


Tune of the Day: San Francisco    by  The Mowgli's

It makes a difference when the sun comes out

the temperature can be 5° cooler, but the world seems like a warmer and better place. I enjoyed taking a few photos in the sun today and will try to get some more tomorrow. Did some running around and cooked dinner- someone was appreciative!

Tomorrow is tidy up my desk day and I will put some loud music on and try to sort my whole office while I am at it. After that I have a few nights out planned- it will be luxury to be able to sleep in afterwards.

Another Viewfinder show on Friday evening and I'm looking forward to it. Sunday is a visit to the Winterthur Foto Museum.

Tune of the Day:  Eight Miles High    by Leo Kottke

Imagine going all the way to München to eat Vietnamese food with other Australians

well...... I did and it was most enjoyable. Thanks Jac and Tom for coming out and being great company- I hope that you both had a good time as well. Strangely enough, I also managed to squeeze in a couple of beers  :-)

Took some photos as well- it was very grey and foggy, so not the best conditions but I have some film to develop tomorrow in any case.

And I bought one of these.....

Tune of the Day:  Son Of A Preacher Man   by Dusty Springfield

Collected a roll of colour film today

which had been sitting in the camera for quite a while and was only dropped off on Saturday for developing. I really like the pics from Italy which were on the roll and a couple of the shots from Zürich were ok as well.

I have packed up some black and white film to head to München tomorrow- expecting grey weather and great beer. Anyone going to be about?

Held something very exciting in my hands today...... hopefully more (good) news at the end of the week.


Tune of the Day:  Mysterons    by  Portishead

A productive, wet Sunday

I have developed a roll of film and scanned the negatives, had a couple of great meals (thanks Cookie!) and generally listened to Tom Waits and taken it easy.

We ran the gauntlet yesterday and visited IKEA. It was a pretty shocking experience on a Saturday and luckily I only wanted to get some photo frames and not spend too much time there. I can imagine reading about some whackjob shooting a bunch of people in an IKEA store one day.

Thinking about heading off to München for a quick visit next week. Will check the weather report and see how things look.

Tune of the Day: Sixteen Shells From A Thirty-Ought Six   by Tom Waits

Tickets to Tricky have been ordered

and I'm starting to get excited about Oktoberfest this Friday evening. BTW- how can they have the audacity to call it "Oktoberfest" when it runs into November?  :-)

The wine ships are on at the moment in Zürich and I may even manage to make a quick trip down to the lake to check them out. I haven't been these past couple of years, but it would be nice to find the time....  That means, of course, that the Whisky Ships will also be on soon. Now that might be fun.

As much as I dislike the idea, I need to visit Ikea soon. I have lots of photos which I would like to frame and that seems like the best option for finding a variety of frames at reasonable prices. Sadly there isn't a lot of reclaimed timber to be had around here (and if there was, it would be priced similarly to unicorn hair, so I will go without). Thanks.

Tune of the Day:  Walk On The Wild Side    by   Lou Reed

It is about time that I got back to work here

as it won't be long and I won't have another job to go to!

Out today and took a few photos on a roll of film- if the weather co-operates tomorrow I might try to get that finished and in the developing tank. I also have a half roll of colour film sitting in my Hasselblad which is left from Italy and needs to be finished and developed as well.

Aelplermaccheroni and wheat beer for dinner this evening was fantastic, but we are both so tired that there won't be a movie night. Perhaps tomorrow?!

Welcome to Marissa Barnard!


Tune of the Day: Bigmouth Strikes Again     by The Smiths

A weekend of not getting much done

is not a bad plan from time to time. We each did our own stuff on Saturday but met in town for an early dinner of tacos. They were pretty good and better than Catherine remembered from last time, so it should be easy enough to convince her to go back to that restaurant.

I developed a roll of film this morning and shot some more digital stuff for my Oktoberfest Challenge. It is coming along nicely and with only another week and a half to go, I'm pretty confident that I should be able to bring it home in good shape.

Tune of the Day:   Spanish Key    by Miles Davis

A tough week. In more ways than one

Time to go to bed.

Tune of the Day: Rehab   by Amy Winehouse

It has been difficult

settling back into the idea of getting up early and going to work each day after such an enjoyable holiday break.....

Although it wasn't hot in Italy, we are certainly moving on towards winter here and there is snow expected tomorrow down to 1000m, which means rain and cool weather around these here parts.

Enough to make one look forward to the weekend!

Tune of the Day:  Hurricane   by Bob Dylan

It doesn't get much better....

The food has been great, the wine most enjoyable, the company exceptional but the highlight of the week has been Dan's t-shirt.

Tune of the Day:  Rocker.  By AC/DC

It was fun having visitors over the weekend

and I'm looking forward to catching up with the gang next week on holiday. I have been busy with my cameras and I'm looking forward to shooting lots more MF film in Italy.

Safe travels everyone and bring your laughing boots!

Tune of the Day:  Move On Up   by Curtis Mayfield

Shot some colour film on the weekend

and had it developed and scanned to test the results. The Kodak Ektar was good enough to make me glad that I have some in 120 Format ready to take on holiday soon. I have recovered from my birthday week but was run over by a dreadful cold on Saturday and really feel like rubbish now.

It is raining, the days are getting shorter and I can definitely say that summer is over. Which means that the start of Octoberfest is imminent (as is the start of Oktoberfest)! Polish up your prime lenses and your drinking boots...... if you know what I mean!

Tune of the Day:  Orange Clawhammer       by Captain Beefheart

One of the great surprises of the modern era

was foisted upon me on Wednesday. Catherine had organised for me to have the day off (which I first found out upon arriving home at 1.45 on Wednesday morning after a night out) and being promptly sent to bed to get some sleep and told not to get up for work in the morning....... After something of a lie in, we sorted a few things around home and then went to town for "lunch". Little did I know that Catherine was having lunch with a couple of friends in the restaurant and that she had arranged for 11 mates to meet in the cellar for a small birthday celebration! Many thanks to Lord and Lady Hobbs for making the trip from London and to Ralf, Enzo, Pipo, Giorgio, Tomaso, Dan, Scotty, Pete, Andreas and Eric for joining us as well.
Lots of fun, great food and wonderful wine..... who could ask for more? Thank you xxx

Tune of the Day: Orozco    by Tosca

It is raining and whilst

that might not surprise many of you, we have had a run of warm, dry weather. I guess that this will mean the end of the summer proper and we won't see any really hot days again, but there are no complaints from my corner.
Catherine should be sitting in the plane on the way back home at the moment and I am not far from heading to bed. We could be in for another busy week.


Tune of the Day:  Nocturne   by  DJ Food

Living it up in London

Hawksmoor, Scott's...... how are you left? It's nice for some!

I enjoyed a good night's sleep last night after a couple of days on the road and with the place to myself again this evening, I am hoping for a repeat performance. Heading off shortly to take some more photos and sort out a few things in the city.

Tune of the Day:  Brass Neck    by DJ Food

Fuji is OK as well

but it is dying out too. Heard today that a long-established broking company in Frankfurt will be closing their doors at the end of the year- times are tough (and not just for the makers of photographic film).

Tune of the Day:  The Caterpillar    by The Cure

Testing new films

and I really like the way this Ilford FP4+ looks. Reminds me somewhat of the old Kodak PX which is no longer in production and it is (to me, at least) much preferable to the Ilford Delta series. I shot this in my Hasselblad (for which there is a smaller range of available films than for the 35mm cameras) and I will be happy to stock up on some of this stuff to go along with my Kodak Tri-X. Once the Tri-X is gone, it might be a case of loading up on a different Ilford film (HP5+)  to fill in at medium-speed for when the light is not so great.


Tune of the Day:  Midnight Train To Georgia   by Gladys Knight

Looking forward to the show tomorrow night

and if you have no plans, feel free to pop in to Viewfinder Center in Winterthur to check out the latest in the "Your Viewfinder" Gallery Series. Should be a great bunch of land and cityscapes on display tomorrow evening and it is always good to catch up with the friendly crowd.


Tune of the Day: Big Tree, Blue Sea   by Golden Earring

Congratulations to Enzo and Cornelia

on their 20th Anniversary and many thanks again for the invitation to Grill and Chill.

We had a very pleasant and pretty relaxed weekend with a nice walk for 90 minutes or so this morning to shoot a few photos and see what was happening around the place. Saw a stupid, small kid almost bring down a cyclist when he dived out of a driveway on a scooter and it was only quick reactions on the part of the cyclist which helped to avert disaster. One can only imagine how the parents of the small kid would have reacted had an accident taken place....

Catherine is off to see Bruno in the morning..... I hope.


Tune of the Day:  Rehab   by Amy Winehouse

I was quite shocked this evening

to walk past this advertising board in the railway station. Something tells me that someone is looking over my shoulder. I wonder where it is leading?

I scanned some more black and white film this evening after developing it last night. Really enjoying the process and the results are becoming more and more pleasing as well.

Catherine is looking forward to her trip to London and is getting excited about the variety of restaurants. Lucky her!

Tune of the Day:  Price Of Love   by Bryan Ferry

It has been a busy week and I am still tired

from last night's adventures with Bea and the Black Prince. We had a most enjoyable dinner and Manny and I followed on for the obligatory beers at Long Johns. I luckily grabbed a quick kip when I arrived back home and didn't have to attend the Street Parade.

Tomorrow should be another nice day and we plan on being up early for a walk and to finish off a roll of film.


Tune of the Day:  Boss On The Boat   by  Tosca

A little on-line shopping

and the world is a better place. I have just ordered some film cases which hold 10 rolls of 35mm film or 5 rolls of 120 film and which will be very handy for travel. Our upcoming trip to Italy has me thinking about what sort of photo kit to take and at the moment, I am thinking Hasselblad and iPhone as my two different outfits which will obviously entail carrying some film.

Had a great bbq dinner with Matt and Dagmar Anderson last night- very good food and pleasant company. Hope that we can catch up with them again soon.

Catherine and I are planning on going for a walk in the morning before the heat of the day arrives- it would be nice to shoot a few photos whilst we are out.


Tune of the Day: Nookie Wood    by John Cale

A cool change and a little storm this evening

certainly made things more pleasant for us and our visitors. It should also make sleep this evening somewhat more enjoyable!
I'm looking forward to another photo walk tomorrow evening and then getting a few things done this week before hosting a bbq on August 1st. Rockford Day has become something of a tradition.


Tune of the Day:  I'm Not Sorry    by Morrissey

We are in for a hot weekend

but it will seem a lot hotter for the guys and girls competing in the Zürich Triathlon (tomorrow) and the Ironman (on Sunday). I can imagine completing the swim leg, but getting out of the water and pumping around in the heat is not my idea of fun.

Catherine is headed to the hills hiking tomorrow and I will be taking things pretty easily and trying to grab a few photos.


Tune of the Day:  Singapore   by Tom Waits

A couple of spots of rain, a little lightning and thunder

hasn't yet added up to a thunderstorm. Things have cooled down somewhat but I'm sure that it will start to rain when I walk out the door in the morning.

I'm really looking forward to our visitors coming over in September- it will be great to catch up with them all and take it easy together for a week or so. We will certainly drink some of the better stock from my cellar and may even go crazy and cook something special as well.

Tune of the Day:  Rock Lobster   by the B52s

It's been another busy week

and with not enough sleep, it was easy to grab a quick nap this afternoon after a few beers with lunch  :-) I took some photos in town, dropped the colour film off for developing and then shopped before coming back home. The great weather continues and I will be out and about again tomorrow.

Went to another great Viewfinder event on Friday night. Pedro was not only impressive for his photography but also turned out to be quite the musician as well. Bravo!

Catherine is away and won't be back until tomorrow afternoon. I can play the Dead Kennedys as loud as I like.


Tune of the Day: California über Alles   by Dead Kennedys

We have had a great variety of meals this weekend and a nice

selection of drinks to accompany them. I really enjoyed a couple of large glasses of Pimm's and Dry last evening whilst cooking fish tacos for dinner. Today has been relaxed and after cooking a quick dinner on the bbq, I will be into bed pretty early.

It was a nice day to walk about in town yesterday and after buying my new FCZ t-shirt, I took a few photos, shopped for dinner and then headed back home.

Nice to speak with Gazza, Helena and Campbell earlier- I hope that they are as excited about the upcoming trip as we are!

Tune of the Day:  Metropolitan Glide    by Tom Waits

What a beautiful weekend

Very pleasant weather, a couple of barbecues, plenty of photography and generally relaxing. I could live like this all of the time  :-)

Nice work Mr Murray on picking up the Wimbledon title- now he is going to start to be considered as one of the greats. Much better to be a British Champion than a Useless Jock.

Tune of the Day: 16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought-Six     by Tom Waits

The new camera is a winner

and I really like the first set of negatives which came out of it. They were certainly enough to tell me that the metering and other parts are all in order. It will be a much more compact and lighter package to carry about than my other film cameras and the manual functions mean that I still need to concentrate to take good shots.

Looking at hats again. Does the word optimo mean anything to you?


Tune of the Day:  Unfinished Sympathy   by Massive Attack

So, I was weak.

And after lusting after one of these for quite a while, I found the right one at the right price and I am looking forward to seeing the results from my first roll of film. Tomorrow being 4th July, we may get out of the office a little early and I will try to finish the roll and get it developed to see how the camera functions.
Zürifäscht is on this weekend and the Tourism people are expecting 2,000,000 visitors to the city. I'm only disappointed that I must head into town early on Saturday morning for an appointment..... otherwise they could have the whole weekend without me!


Tune of the Day:  Hurricane Drunk   by Florence And The Machine

My photo exhibition kicked off last night

so we did the appropriate thing and made a party out of the occasion. Thanks to everybody who came along and a huge thank you to the kind souls who purchased prints! I certainly hope that they bring you many years of happiness.

After arriving home late this morning, I haven't managed to achieve too much today, but the highlight of my activities was certainly a little snooze in a comfortable chair in a bookshop in the city. Wonderful! I won't need much rocking to get to sleep tonight, but I will probably wake at 3 tomorrow morning.....


Tune of the Day: Transmission   by Joy Division

Very nice to be home again after a couple of days away

and I'm really looking forward to sleeping in my own bed this evening. Catherine had a good trip to Poland and was happy to receive a phone call half an hour back saying that her missing suitcase had been located and will be delivered this evening.
We sat out and had a drink on the balcony this evening- it was beautiful and not too warm. I could get used to summer like this  :-)

Tune of  the Day: Mood To Burn Bridges      by Neko Case

A quiet weekend and it appears

that summer has arrived at last. We have had a few warm days, a couple of heavy rainshowers and it will be hot this coming week. I need to get out and take some more photos!


Tune of the Day: Say It Loud, I'm Black And I'm Proud      by James Brown

It has been tough getting back into the swing of things

after our holiday, but I'm hoping to get a good night's sleep this evening and be really ready to attack in the morning. Tomorrow evening is the ACI Football Tournament and seeing as we are the defending champs, it would be rude not to go along, drink a few beers and cheer the guys on.
Catherine is off on a business trip next week. It should be interesting for her in any case.


Tune of the Day:  China Pig    by Captain Beefheart

It has been a good couple of weeks off

but that all comes to an end early tomorrow morning. The alarm will go off at some silly hour and we will be wakened and hopefully ready to get moving.
Read a news report earlier about the flood waters arriving in Budapest- lucky that we were there last week and not now. It is a shame and I hope that the poor people in the way of the flood waters are not too badly knocked about.

Tune of the Day: Great Balls Of Fire  by Jerry Lee Lewis

On holiday, at home for the past week but very slack on the blog front

at least I have been out taking a few photos!

We had some friends over for a bbq on Tuesday evening- lots of laughs, good food and wine and an enjoyable evening and we will be lighting the bbq again tomorrow night. It appears that, for this week at least, we may be having a little summer after all  :-)

I am planning on shooting some more colour film tomorrow and then continuing with my b/w work in the hope of getting something worthwhile to add to the selection for my upcoming show.


Tune of the Day:  Rock Lobster   by   The B52s

I have almost caught up on my sleep and I'm very much looking forward to

my next week of holiday. There will be some photography, some bbq, some reading and listening to music and I hope to get a few other things done as well. Finished processing my photos from Hungary this morning- I took more than I realised!

Off to Sunday dinner with friends shortly..... and it doesn't really matter when we get home  :-)


Tune of the Day:  Get It On   by Grinderman

We had a very nice time away

and enjoyed wandering about the city. Budapest is an interesting spot and communication was a lot easier than I expected now that English is compulsory in schools.  We had a couple of great meals and generally took it easy- the weather wasn't great, but it appears that it was much better than what our friends have been suffering through in Zürich  :-(

Still editing photos and looking forward to the second week of our time off.


Tune of the Day:  You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You    by Dean Martin

Sometimes you feel really busy but don't seem to get much done

and I guess that I am at the end of one of those weekends. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing and I am certainly looking forward to a couple of weeks off. The photography show on Friday night was a lot of fun and I'm excited about my upcoming exhibition.

Disappointed to see Bayern beat Dortmund last night in the Final of the Champion's League.... but in the end, it is very hard to beat MONEY.


Tune of the Day:  Temptation   by Holly Cole

My colour negatives are pleasing

and after learning a little more about scanning since my last efforts, I am happy with the way they have turned out. Today was very relaxed and we are both off to the office tomorrow in spite of the holiday. One more week until our holidays.
If anyone has experience of photography in Budapest...... should I take a film camera or a digital camera with me?

Tune of the Day:  Against The Wind   by The Highwaymen

Nice hat!

I enjoyed wearing my new straw hat today- the sun was shining, it was comfortably warm and the world appeared to be a more pleasant place immediately. I shot a roll of colour film in the city, dropped it off for processing and I'm looking forward to collecting the negatives tomorrow.
Catherine is going to a show tomorrow evening, but we are planning on seeing a photo exhibition beforehand and then maybe grabbing a quick bite before she heads off.

Tune of the Day:  Avalon   by Roxy Music

Zürich is a mess at the moment

with the Bahnhofstrasse having been torn up for new tram lines, paving and re-planting of trees. It must be some kind of nightmare for the retailers, but it is probably more interesting for photographers. I went for a walk yesterday and shot a roll of film with my Hasselblad- also managed to miss the rain!

Continuing our series of classic movies, Catherine and I watched The Magnificent Seven last night- great show.

Today has been pretty quiet- I developed and scanned my film and spent some time on skype and we squeezed in a walk this afternoon.

Tune of the Day:  I Follow Rivers   by  Lykke Li