*** This Week Through Your Eyes 2023.12.30 ***

Sorry to hear you've been ill, hope you're back to full health soon. The last few years I've had COVID and flu at Christmas, typically coinciding with my Christmas holidays, although I seem to have got away with it this year, with just the weather scuppering my photographic ambitions.

Is this shot with the shift lens? It looks like the sort of subject you could get square on with a regular lens, so I'm curious what movements were needed here.

That image wouldn't look out of place in a Martin Parr collection. Ethically interesting approach to marketing.

The only time I was ever asked for ID in a bar was on a business trip to LA when we were exhibiting our new game at E3. I was with a group of developers and out of the lot I was the only one asked for ID. The irony being I was the oldest in the group and 30 at the time! I suspect this is before my hair started falling out.

Having said that, I was asked for proof of age last year when a Morrisons online shopping delivery turned up at my front door which included a bottle of red wine. The delivery guy would not hand over the bag until I showed him proof I was over 25. I was 55 at the time, so I would have though my world weary face would have been sufficient evidence, but this guy was having none of it and I wasn't getting my wine without digging out a passport. This is the kind of critical thinking that makes Britain the country it is today.

Nice shots, I like the elk image the best, it's nice and sharp and surprisingly noise free for ISO1600. How are you finding the X-H2? I really enjoyed using mine, but found the autofocus could be a bit hit and miss, even with static subjects. When it was right though, it produced great images (in fact, the A2 prints currently dotted around my house were all taken with the X-H2).

A good one.

Yes, happens to me too on occasion. Ridiculous.

I wish you a happy new year.

Lichen. Seedheads and birch

Happy New Year everyone!

I really like the delicacy of the the first two shots.

Happy New Year.

I like it very much. I enjoy the larger grip than the X-T3 I had previously and I take full advantage of the customizable C1-C7 settings. I also have used the larger resolution to crop. I haven't noticed any issues with the auto focus but knowing me I'd attribute it to user error if I had a problem.

Very nice shot.Lots of character.

I like the last one best.

I am even more decrepit than you guys, and they asked for ID in a supermarket too, in the UK. From my visits to the UK this year, Jobsworthery and box ticking, seems to be a pretty rampant disease in the UK right now. We have been dealing with Probate and Power of Attorney, as well as a house sale. It has all been much slower than complicated than the same processes in Italy. Getting an Apple tree my mum planted twenty five years ago cut down, took us two months of tree surgeon reports and submission to the council. The tree surgeon believed the tree to be 100 years old!

I cannot remember if I shifted the lens or not, but probably the lens was shifted just a little, to get less floor and more ceiling. I agree this shot could have been done with my 14-30, but it is good to have those shift adjustments always at hand when doing this sort of photography. Some other shots taken just afterwards with the same lens needed much more shift.

Edit. The entrance brickwork mortar lines show more or less where the lens was centred vertically. There is indeed some vertical shift in this picture.

The panoramic format works well for the first. The following two are my other favourites.

"Christ Rising"