Weekend

[j4]

Went to fanf's birthday party yesterday. The weather was just perfect for a barbecue (where was all this sunshine in June/July/August, eh?); my STEAK was a bit on the chewy side but the salmon in Laphroaig worked fairly well. Could have done with more whisky though. Strawberries and cream went down well, as always, but the real hit was fanf's mum's garlic mushrooms. Mmmmmm.

It was lovely to see existing friends and make new ones. And very flattering to acquire a one-man fan-club for the evening, but since I only want him for his pinball machine (he has a Star Trek TNG pinball table in his room!) I didn't think it was fair to lead him on too much. It's fun to flirt sometimes, and K. is a lovely chap, but I don't have anything more than flirting available to give at the moment.

Today I didn't wake up till late; decided it would be a shame to waste the nicest weekend of the year, so sion_a went to wander round Cambridge with the intention of Seeing Interesting Stuff and incidentally teaching me to use my SLR camera. Before embarking on our expedition, we went for a very nice lunch at the Pickerel -- I had the biggest Caesar salad I've ever seen in my life (which I couldn't finish), and sion_a had a tasty-looking spicy beanburger.

And then, we wandered. Thankfully not past too many shops (though I did wander into Oxfam and accidentally bought some shoes and the video of High Fidelity) -- down to the river, and along the river, and then back up and round and at that point I lost track of where we were as I was just following sion_a. In the course of our wandering we took in Ridley Hall and Robinson College, as well as the surprisingly interesting architecture of the Sidgwick site.

It was strange walking along the deserted back streets, and campus-like university site, having the time and space to stop and stare at odd bits of buildings, or interesting effects of light and space, without odd looks from tourists and inhabitants alike. Everything was so deathly silent that at times it felt as though we were wandering around a long-forgotten city of the ancients, searching for clues to the people who once inhabited it. Without people around it's possible to abandon all sense of scale; the pattern of leaves against a low wall can acquire as much interest and importance as a towering building. The air felt heavy with sunlight and dust.

I didn't actually take many photos with the SLR (though I took a few with the digicam, which I may put up here at some point) as the battery for the light-meter wasn't working. Took one or two, though; it's all so complicated, but hopefully I'll get the hang of it one day. I will have to develop a steadier hand, though, or get a tripod.

Came home hot and tired.

I feel as though I am taking photographs of everything from a very long way away.

Comments

[imc.livejournal.com]

The flip side of this, of course, is that you have much less incentive to actually learn to take anything better than under-exposed photos of people without their heads.

Depends on how much pride you have in your work. If you're the sort of person who doesn't care ("and besides, it didn't cost anything") then that may be true; on the other hand, if you can see the results instantly then you'll be less likely to make the same mistake 36 times before getting the film developed and then saying "oh well, they didn't turn out".

The ability to take more photos almost cost-free surely means you'll get more practice, rather than that you won't care at all what the results look like.