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