Frozen tomatoes

click photo to enlarge
The tomatoes in the greenhouse are green and growing nicely. Those outdoors are ready to set but mainly have yellow flowers showing where each fruit will appear. And in the kitchen the tomatoes of last year are regularly being turned into bowls of soup.

Today's photograph shows some of those frozen tomatoes, out of the freezer in a bowl, thawing out before being prepared for soup making. I always like to see them with the brightness of their shiny red skins subdued by the covering of frost, so I thought I'd photograph them before they're all gone and newly picked tomatoes take their place.

© Tony Boughen

Camera: Canon 5DMk2
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 100mm Macro
F No: f2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/13
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  +0.33
Image Stabilisation: On

Fruits, vegetables and names

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A shopping trip to Stamford found us in the market buying buying a couple of items. Whilst my wife made the purchases I headed over to a stall selling fruit and vegetables, attracted by the bright colours and the arrangement of the produce in stainless steel bowls.

As I looked at what was for sale I was somewhat envious of the flawless quality of each item. Though we have grown items of produce that equal the standard on display, we do end up with quite a few less than perfect pieces. I comforted myself with the thought that such perfection comes at a price, often in terms of taste, and commonly with regard to the environment. "Give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees, please", as Joni Mitchell put it. Moreover, the distorted and deformed examples that we grow and happily eat never make it to the market stall but are separated out to be used in sauces and prepared foods.

A further thought came to my mind as I looked at the peppers and aubergines (and potatoes) shown in the photograph. Though they are undoubtedly fruit, biologically speaking, they are often - at least in the UK - regarded as vegetables (and called such) because of the way they are used with savoury rather than sweet dishes. Moreover, we are somewhat confused in these islands by the English name(s) that we call the sweet Capsicum annuum. Most commonly they are peppers. However, that causes misunderstanding because chili peppers are often called by this name too. Capsicum was used more commonly in the past but seems to have fallen out of use. That name was specific and gave rise, as far as I know, to no misunderstanding. Sweet pepper is also commonly used, probably as a deliberate attempt to prevent the confusion with chili peppers noted above. It's not one of the most problematic linguistic quandaries, but precision in names is helpful and it would be convenient if we settled on one explicit name and used it to the exclusion of all others. However, in a country that perversely uses both the metric and the imperial system for measurement, I'm afraid there's absolutely no chance of that!

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Sony RX100
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 14.2mm (38mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5
Shutter Speed: 1/100 sec
ISO: 125
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Who knows where the time goes?

click photo to enlarge
I turned off comments in January and February because I was rather busier than usual and I found that I couldn't devote as much time to the blog as I usually do. Then, at the beginning of March, feeling that things were easing off a little, I turned them back on. That proved to be the wrong thing to do! Things are busier than they were earlier in the year! In fact, the other evening when I glanced at the clock and noticed that a couple of hours had passed in what seemed like a few minutes, I found myself reciting the title of the Sandy Denny song, one that I recall her singing on the Fairport Convention album, "Unhalfbricking", of 1969. "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" will be known by many through Judy Collins' version. I like them both, but of the two singers' voices Sandy Denny's is the one I prefer: her version of "She Moves Through The Fair" (on the album "What We Did On Our Holidays") is one of my favourite songs by a female vocalist.

All of which has little to do with today's photograph. It's an exercise in applying natural lighting and burning that I did a while ago. I'm not a fan of flash, though I do use it occasionally when I try to make it mimic natural light. Here I wanted "Caravaggioesque" lighting i.e very directional light with deep shadows. To achieve it I arranged some curtains to so that a shaft of light from the window fell adjacent to darker areas in a room What better to use as the subject in this exercise in trying to achieve the lighting that one of the Renaissance's greatest painters made his signature effect than the subject used by countless other painters down the centuries - a simple bowl of fruit. In fact - and here I'm consciously trying to establish a link with the title of today's post - a timeless subject. I post it with an apology. This photograph was one of my rejects. I've run out of fresh photographs due to having no time to pursue them. So, if my posting rate declines further you'll know the reason why.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 100mm macro
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/15 sec
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.67 EV
Image Stabilisation: On 

1500th PhotoReflect blog post

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The other day, looking at Blogger Dashboard, the place from where I begin each new offering, I noticed that the post count had reached 1,498. It's a wonder that I spotted the approach of the milestone of 1,500 posts because 1,000 sailed by unseen. What, I wondered, could I present on this auspicious occasion? The answer came to me in a flash - multiple raspberries!

Not, I hasten to add, the sort produced by sticking your tongue a short way out and vibrating it noisily with your bottom lip. I'm not SO rude. No, the first real picking of the season's fruit had appeared from our garden, and I thought they could be the subject. As I write the raspberries in my photograph have been eaten with a little sugar and a generous dollop of crème fraîche, and my mind is set on covering the strawberries to protect them from the birds because the first few are starting to show faint blushes of red. There's something satisfying about producing and eating food that you grow yourself, a satisfaction that is only increased when it can be turned into the subject matter for a photograph. Carefully arranging some of these unco-operative raspberries into concentric circles I reflected that I'd be a hopeless food photographer. I simply haven't got the patience for it. But, it seems, I do have staying power.

At the time I began this blog in December 2005 I had no idea that I'd still be doing it six and a half years later. I didn't envisage producing more than 1,500 photographs, still less that number of written "reflections". So I suppose, yes, I must have staying power. It's either that or a mixture of madness and monomania! The other thought that I had as the raspberries rolled in every direction but the one I wanted was this: as long as PhotoReflect continues to provide me with a little regular entertainment, interest, challenge - call it what you will - and offers an outlet for my photography, I'll carry on presenting my idiosyncratic thoughts and images from my small corner of the world.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 100mm macro
F No: f10
Shutter Speed: 1/5 sec
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Strange fruit and Old Etonians

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The early life of any plant, animal or human is crucial in determining what it becomes. If you plant a cabbage seedling and restrict its water, nutrients and light you'll end up with a weedy specimen that's only good for composting. Similarly, if your dog doesn't get a balanced diet but is indulged with treats far too often then it will balloon, become lethargic and die younger than it would otherwise have done.

And so too with politicians. The leader of the Conservative Party claims that it is irrelevant that a large number of his shadow cabinet (and prospective government) were educated at Eton, an elite, expensive "public" (i.e. private) school, saying "It's not where you come from, but where you are going" that matters. He's right of course, unless, your privileged background and expensive education lead you to formulate policies designed to enrich and protect the interests of people like yourself. And that, it appears, is precisely what these Old Etonians are doing. So, in this instance it most certainly does matter where you come from. It always amazes me that many of the British public do not see that private education is just as much about protecting or securing position in society as it is about learning; is expressly designed to support the privileged; and is counter to the wider interests of our country.

Today's photograph of an over-exposed Physalis-variety fruit prompted this reflection. The spherical orange seed container has grown in a protected environment, insulated from its surroundings by the enveloping pod that I've prised open for my photograph. It isn't from a Physalis franchetii (Chinese Lantern), but a variety with blue flowers that produces black (not orange) lanterns.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 35mm macro (70mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/30
ISO: 200
Exposure Compensation: +2.0EV
Image Stabilisation: Off

Home-grown produce and flashguns

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I own three flashguns but I've never liked using flash. Every now and then I used a T20 with my Olympus OM1n, usually for family snaps, but occasionally for church interiors. I have an old Nissin 360TW that has both a small fixed flash and a large moveable head. I used that on the OM1n too, and on a couple of other film and digital cameras that I've owned, for portraits, architecture and more creative images. And finally, a few years ago I was given an Olympus FL-36. I suppose for some that might seem an embarrassment of riches as far as flashguns go, and you might be wondering why I have that number despite my protestation that I don't like flash.

The truth is, I think I should be able to take advantage of the possibilities that flash offers. The fact is I don't, in fact can't; and for two reasons. Firstly I'm not very keen on, in fact I'm hypersensitive to, noticeable flash effects. The shadows that a flashgun can produce spoil many images for me, as do the unnatural highlights. Bird photography is particularly susceptible to the latter, and can make a shot look very artificial. It's something you see less of with the better high ISO performance of cameras, but it's still around. The second reason I don't like them follows on from the first: because I'm not keen on the effects I don't use them often enough to improve my technique. I recognise that some photographs aren't possible without flash, and I used them for that reason in the past. And, if you trawl the photographs on thos blog, you'll find examples - often still life images - where I've worked at improving my handling of flash. But, by and large, I prefer natural light.

The other evening I turned on the lights in my kitchen and a beam shone into the adjoining utility room and illuminated some vegetables and fruit that we'd picked from the garden. A photograph suggested itself so I got a reading lamp and a flashgun. I took several shots with both, and found I preferred those lit by the reading lamp. It was more directional, with deep shadows and contrasting highlights, more Caravaggioesque, and so I prepared a shot for posting on the blog. The following day I looked more closely at the flash shots I'd taken, all of which had the light bounced off a piece of white corruflute. Closer inspection showed them to be more subtly lit, with more detail, better colour accuracy, and more attractive. Most importantly, they didn't look like they'd been lit by flash. I processed one of them, increasing the contrast a touch, and I have to say I'm very pleased with it. It is, of course, no longer Caravaggioesque, but is more of the Dutch school; perhaps van Beijerenesque. Which is quite appropriate really since I now live in the area of Lincolnshire known as Holland!

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 35mm macro, (70mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/80
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On
Flash: Olympus FL-36