Out shooting a Border Collie

So, London doesn't have wild wolves roaming the streets. Trust me, I've been on the lookout. Urban foxes yes (I saw *one*) but thats about it for wild canidae. The next best would be Canis Lupus Familiaris. Already I've been to Eagle Heights as mentioned to sketch and photograph Huskies and Malamutes, so I've got a few more furballs on my list to get ref for like border collies and samoyeds. Few others as well but I've been gathering so much ref and not using them much so I think I'll be slowing down here.

This is Douglas, a rescue dog. He is unimaginably energetic. I literally got jumped on the moment I met him :) Such a nice dog.

Started with some gesture at the start of his walk, and I was like regretting not getting some shots of his motions. Some ways through I swapped the sketchbook for D200.

So much energy in a small package!

GW

Hanson SA-5 Saxophone: What's in the box :)

So I've been always wanting to get a feel of playing the saxophone for awhile. The last instruments I've played in recent years include the Piano (on a midi keyboard), Western Concert Flute and Native American Flutes.

After much deliberation, I decided to get a Hanson SA-5. They would have got a purchase much sooner from me had they described what exactly I'd be getting :P

This is the "metro" case option.

A touch I really like is the plastic buckles. Should the zip fail, those provide an added layer of insurance for the horn.

So you've got a compartment for the neck, the main body and a small section for misc odds and ends.

The odds and ends, include a letter with Hanson's name cards, warranty/service card, as well as a fingering chart. Lovely! The mouth piece included is a Vandoren Optimum AL-4 - which from the prices I see on the web, cost about a hundred quid. Again, judging from prices, this is not an entry level mouthpiece but at least a step up or mid range mouthpiece.

Inside the plastic box on the right, include necessary items like the neck strap, cork grease, 3 vandoren reeds of differing hardness (1.5 to 2.5), ligature, mouthpiece cap, patches, pad dryers, and a pull through cleaning cloth.

As of this post, I haven't even assembled the neck to the sax, much less blow on it (just had dinner - gonna shower then brush my teeth before I try it out).

Am looking forward to playing disney tunes on this baby :D

GW

Eagle Heights - cheetah day!

Another visit to Eagle Heights, I'm visiting it a little far too often. However, today I left my sketch pad at home and brought along my favourite duo (not like I have other choices lol) of my 300/4 AF-S and 70-200VR1, as well as my 1.4x teleconverter. Objective: Have fun!

My favourite thing to do is shoot portraits of the critters, so today's is going to be mostly closed in critter headshots. Enjoy!

Snowy owl, tried to capture the eye amidst the white.

Steppe eagle, attempting to capture a regal feel.

Heheheh I want noms!

Also, right now I'm still figuring out Bibble 5, trying to use it to get a feel as close as possible to Bibble 4.

Orly?

White faced scops owls are amazing - one of the keepers showed me that if you danced to 'em, they dance back!

Erm. Cheetah fursuit.

Doggy portraits :3

Water monitor. 'es a big one.

Tortoise for fund raising. Gotta love 'em.

Griffon Vulture.

And of course, the cheetah, Boumani. The reason I brought in the 300/4 + 1.4x. Even so, still had to crop in. Bleh.

Awesome day out, defo recommended for parents with kids, the shows are really good fun.

GW

Testing Bibble 5

Upgraded my OS to Ubuntu 10.04 thanks to me messing up the dependency system on my 9.04 install. At the same time made the move to Bibble 5. Here's some tests. A plugin I rely on for overlaying my borders isn't yet ported to B5, so I wrote a quick python script to do the comping :)

Goodwood: Festival Of Speed 2010

Only managed to make down for Sunday, it's a fair ride from London Victoria to Chichester (you may want to check using Southwest Trains down to Chichester instead from London Waterloo... for some reason I'm not a fan of southern trains)

It's a huge place, and you can cover it in a day if you are not into photography, but I got stuck shooting the rally cars taking corners sideways so didn't manage to actually cover the main area ;-)

Toyota GT1: Venture Safenet livery

My plan was to explore the map, then visit the areas I'd be keen in. As mentioned, I found the rally cars, and between the hill climb and hearing the turbo anti lag, getting showered in grime.... easy choice :D

My first time shooting rally, and it's far more difficult than I thought. How can you portray a car in motion doing something exciting? That's... kinda tough I think.

Feet killing me. I'm going to be slacking the rest of the night....

GW