About
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I post photos and observations of my surroundings, from time to time.
Mostly I am surrounded by my garden, family, neighbourhood, Victoria (Canada) and northeastern parts of the Pacific Ocean. You are unlikely to meet my family here, but you might find the cat. In fact, by clicking here you will meet the cat, she has been featured.
Most pictures are taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II. I am most likely to use a ~40 year Nikkor-N pre-AI 24mm/f2.8, a Canon EF 50/f1.4 or a Canon EF 100/f2.8 macro. Other lenses that sometimes get used, especially for timelapse photography, are old screw mount (m42) Pentax lenses including a SMC Takumar Macro 100/f4, 35/3.5 (m42) and 200/f4 (m42). Can you tell I used to shoot with Spotmatics? I bought all the Takumar gear in the 70′s and 80′s – the first Spotmatic in 1974, the last lens ca 1984. I also use a Canon FL Bellows unit with a Canon FD mount 50mm 3.5 macro and other bits and pieces for higher magnification macro work. I am very pleased to have a DSLR that will take many of those lenses, and allow me to buy for not much money old high quality manual lenses that suit my needs.
I love getting comments and will do my best to reply quickly, when I am near a functioning computer. I welcome criticism of my photos as well, I have a lot to learn and appreciate people helping me make my pictures better.
I also really like subscribers – so please click on the follow button in the lower right corner (if you are not logged into WordPress). Enter any alias you want for a name (which is what the world will see), but you will have to use your email address (which only I will be able to see).
I get reblogged from time to time, and rarely has anyone followed my request that I had posted in multiple places to ask me first. While I find it rude and a violation of my copyright, I have decided to get with the times. I no longer ask rebloggers to take down my posts, unless I dislike their blog or they appear to be profiting from my work. I will even let the reblogged notice show in my blog, but only when I like what they are doing – such as it includes orginal content and they are just complimenting my blog by inserting it amongst their own work, or there is some genuine element of creativity where the collection or “curation” of other blogs has some apparently deliberate consistency and purpose or is in some other way interesting. For the rest my readers will never know if someone has reblogged me.
If you want to use my images, ask me. I am usually going to say yes, and can supply better resolution files for many of them. Email to ehpemm_at_gmail.com for permission.
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Nice blog! I found it when reading another blogger’s site as they had it listed as one that they follow. I look forward to following your posts.
Hi Fred – thanks for coming by, and for the follow! I have had a quick look at your blog and will be back for more. I especially like that New Year’s Day picture.
Yes, I recognized the name Takumar. A Pentax Spotmatic, which I bought in 1969, was the camera I learned on. I still have one that I bought at a yard sale here in Austin a decade ago ago, but I confess that I haven’t run a roll of film through any camera for years now.
Hi Steve – my spotmatics are still getting some use from my son and daughter, though not much – they both learned on them through a class in school. Last time I used them on a field project was in 2006, so they put in a long service (I first owned one of them in 1974, bought it used, and it too was the camera I learned on). I would get them cleaned after each field project which kept them going. I am not using the Takumar lenses on the Canon DSLR too much anymore as I have got a Canon macro now. I do use the 200mm and the 35mm from time to time, and occasionally the 50mm sees a bit of use, and less so the 100mm macro.
Beautiful images I can really feel the cold. I used to use a spotmatic too, it was my trusty friend for 20 years. Thanks for liking my ‘Grey’ post, I really got into that!
Hi cowgirl, somehow I missed this comment when you posted it. Thanks so for your comment. The spotmatic was and is a very solid reliable camera and the Takumar lenses were more than good enough. Mine have been dropped, immersed, banged, survived sandstorms and freezing and spend years out and about in the temperate rainforest. They were always there ready to go when I needed them. And simple to use. My DSLR still has features I don’t use and don’t understand either.
I used to do a lot of photography in college, and your B&W photos remind me of that time.
Lovely angles and interesting subjects! What a great blog!
Thank you Denise. Maybe the reminding comes from me being fairly new to this kind of photography, and trying out the same kinds of things that college students go through? I am glad it brings back nice memories for you.
Yes, maybe so…also I think most people were working in color, but I was always drawn to B&W. There’s something very appealing about it to me!
Well, if you poke around my blog you will see it is very appealing to me, ever more common in my posts, I think (not that I keep track, it just happens).
Hi
I sent you an e-mail, just in case I haven’t found your correct address I’m also posting here… let me know either way 
Hi Anne – I pm’d you, hope it got through to you OK – I was away for a few weeks, hence the delay in getting back to you.
Thank you so much for the package
We have been enjoying it in many different ways. Even some small dolls have got in on the pleasure, as you will see in the days to come.
Here is the proof
http://quimperhitty.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/apple-pip-in-august/
Stunning work! I’m going to enjoy following this blog!
Hi Allan – thanks so much. And welcome to my blog – thanks for subscribing, and for your nice comment. I hope I can live up to your expectations.
I’ve nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award. You don’t have to play along, but I wanted to give your work another shout out because it’s so good.
Hi transparentguy – thank you so much. I am so surprised to get awards and very honoured. I am feeling a bit guilty because this is not the first, but I have so far not managed to finish a post acknowledging the first of them. I feel like I should be doing it properly and just don’t seem to have the time to check everything out and so on, on top of maintaining this blog, which stretches me a bit of late. That is my excuse. But, I will ge there and reciprocate with posts about this. And I have been checking out your blog lately, and have passed it onto into the local transgender community that I have some contact with. You tell some very funny stories. So, thank you again. And don’t be surprised if it takes me some time to clear my backlog.
Thanks for the pass along. I’m not sure that I’m writing anything helpful, but it seems like seeing the humor in the situation helps humanize our community.
Re: the blogs and awards … you’re too busy putting together quality work while I’m sorta just surfing the ‘net instead of doing something truly productive.
We added you to our blogroll: http://thebackgroundstory.com/the-library/
I hope that’s fine!
Fine?! Its fantastic! I am honoured. If I had a blog roll, The Background Story would feature prominently. Thank you so much
Congratulations, I nominated you for the ‘Versatile Blogger Award’! Check this out for more details: http://shotbykellyvandensaffele.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/the-versatile-blogger-award/ I’m a fan of your work and I’m excited to see more of it!
Kelly – thank you so much! I am very honoured. I was just finishing a blog about a previous nomination, which was weeks ago now. I promise (to try) to be faster in response to yours.
You’re welcome
and there’s no need to rush, take your time!
Beautiful shots!
Hi Ella – its very nice to have you visiting my blog, from so far away as well! I am glad you have used your Dominca blog as a link with your name – I had not seen it before, even though I have been following and enjoying your Uganda blog for some time now. I love your pictures of people.
Love these plants against the wall…. it looks like a watercolor painting. What a beautiful touch you have with the lens! I’m so impressed! So glad we met!
Hi Judy. thank you very much. It is one of the first pictures I took with my Canon and I still like it enough to have it as my gravatar image.
Hey … your photos just get better and better. I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with in 2012. All the best to you and yours.
Thanks spur – Happy New Year!
Hi,
I just discovered this blog work! You do truly amazing art and make magical pictures. Nearest example is the shadows portrayed in the photo above! A real wonder to see such frames!
Another thing that moved me was your header photo! It reveals a style untold before and I instantly felt the need to connect you.
I had great time. Still more to check inside…
Cheers
firasz – it’s great to have you come by, and thus introduce me to your blog in return, which I am enjoying exploring. Thank you for your very kind words. I hope you have fun poking around in my blog.
I chose that header out of one of my pictures because my old takumar lenses often give that effect somewhere in my photos. I am glad you like it, if you look at the macro shots in particular you will find lots more. For instance my fennel fall post.
I just discovered your blog and really like what I see. I bought my first Nikon many years ago but I always admired the Spotmatics. They were built like tanks. Glad you found a use for the old lenses, they seem to be doing a fine job.
Hi Ken, thanks so much for coming by. I love your idea of a “100% fact free blog” – still trying to figure out what is the basis for your ummagumma photo, though perhaps it does not really matter. It sure is an interesting shot.
The old lenses, and the spotmatics, saw a lot of good service – I used them in field work for many years, they got wet, banged, dropped, and dragged through forests and across beaches. They reside(d) in an old pelican case I got in 82 (pale blue, probably a collectors item) – which served as my seat in a leaky inflatable boat for several years. I always made it a condition of using my cameras on a project that they would be fully serviced at the end of the project and that is part of what kept them going, that and being built like a tank. So, I am fond of those lenses from such familiarity and it is really nice to have them doing the job once again. Not to mention the price is right.
Hi, thanks your passing by my blog
I just had a little time (before going to work) to see few very beautiful pictures on your blog … I’m following your photos now
Bye,
Mathias
mathias – welcome to my blog as well – I love yours – you have a great looking blog, and your photos are so rich in their colours and contrasts.
Thanks a lot !
I took some more time to visit your blog !!! I really love it !!
With pleasure
I came to thank you for stopping by my blog with your thoughtful post, and I find… this! Really wonderful photography, intelligent, interesting posts. And a cat, too! I’ll be back. Thank you!
lapeerclik – thank you for such nice words. The Cat purrs in your general direction – she likes verbal stroking almost as much as the real thing. Your blog drew me in with a picture of an arborist up a tree as there is an arborist in my family. But I was taken with your observation that those who are responsible for infecting ecosystems with foreign harmful species (such as the emerald ash borer that is wreaking havoc in the forests in your area) never seem to have to pay for all the costs that they cause to people like homeowners in your area that need to have dead trees removed. Also, I like the local nature of your blog and the light it casts on Lapeer County, though I have not been to Michigan since about 1966.
Thanks for liking my blog….and for directing me to yours, I’ve really enjoyed looking around it and I LOVE you profile photo; its exactly the sort of photo that I enjoy painting from, or even turning into embroidery or fabric design, lovely juxtaposition of colours – gorgeous.
Hi Helen, welcome to my blog and thanks so much for your compliment. I have been enjoying your blog as well. I love the mix of thoughtful writing with terrific paintings and photographs along with your other projects. You appear to be wonderfully busy with these things.
A shout out today to Toadhollow who featured two of my posts in a weekly photography round up. I really appreciate it and welcome the many new visitors to my blog, I hope you find something here to interest you. Toadhollow’s blog has a lot of interesting Vancouver Island stories – lots of information in them, and really well illustrated so they make a very satisfying read.
What a gorgeous blog. I especially like the mood of the images. I’m glad to follow!
p.s. I’m in Seattle. Love BC, especially Vancouver Island. We’re practically neighbors!
Hi xinapray – thank you for following my blog. I hope I don’t disapproint in the future. Seattle is a great city, I get there infrequently but it is a place with a comfortable feel.
Thanks for following my blog and leading me to yours! You take beautiful photos – I even thought your photo above was a painting at first glance because of the colours and framing. I’ll be following – your photos give me ideas and inspiration!
http://www.takebuseleven.wordpress.com
Thank you takebuseleven, comments such as yours inspire me to keep on blogging. Your posts are really interesting – you get to places I would love to go and take great pictures when you get there, even with a wet lens!
Thank you for your subscription.
You produce some interesting images.
Calvin, thank you very much. Your blog has the kinds of pictures that make me both wince at many of my own, and aspire to do better.
Hey…Thanks so much for stopping by & leaving me some good tips. It is by design why I lay mine out like that. I’ll have to admit…yours does look good like this with the big pictures, but my laptop is a widescreen (not sure everybody has one). When I read blogs at my work, our monitor there isn’t & you have to scroll over to see everything. I tried the wider layout & didn’t like that part of it. It also takes a long time to download all the pictures…yours still hasn’t loaded all the way for me now. I’m scared that if people have to scroll to see the pictures or wait a long time for the page to load, they might be aggrevated & leave. Thanks again & I’m sure gonna subscribe to yours now…beautiful pictures….Jason
obrienspix – I had not considered download speed when I chose my image display size. The software I use to create the files I upload (picasaweb) seems pretty random in the resulting file size, which I only noticed because of your comment – so thanks for your comment. I expect it is related to how much I cropped the original. The first few I did, which I checked the file size for, were between 120 and 400k and so I assumed that was what I was getting all the time. I see now that some of them are actually a bit over 1 meg in size, including from today’s post about the cat (The Cat I should say). So, I will have to keep an eye on that. After I upload an image I then try to make sure it fits the monitor I use at home (I have notice on other monitors that I might need to go a bit smaller) – the portrait oriented images I reduce to 70% of the upload size so that they should be able to be seen all at once without scrolling through the image. (I use the feature in WP that you get when clicking on the image in edit mode). If they don’t display well on your set up let me know – I might need to consider making them a bit smaller.
I use the WP thing to load all of my pics. You have the option of what size to load..thumbnail, small, medium, & large I think is what they are & it gives you the numeric size too. I use the medium. I tried the large & with the wider layout & I had to scroll over to see all of the pic & all my sidebar info. Your top one (The Cat) loaded right up, but it took a while for all the others to load so it took a while before I even got to see the “follow” button at the top for you. I live in a pretty rural area so my internet here at home is pretty slow…not many options here. I try to do alot of mine at work because it’s in Memphis & so much faster. I can’t always get on at work though…feel bad doing it there too since I’m supposed to be working so I try to do it at home as much as I can. Thanks again. I added my response to you on my “About” page in case anybody else was wondering…you opened me up to a good point.
I use the same process – I upload using large (full size and large for my images are the same). Then, when inserted in the draft post, I click on the image. That displays two icons – one for editing the image and one for deleting the image. In the editing area, I then select 70% for the portrait orientation images and save. You can go back and make it larger after that. If you load it as small or medium (or large) you can’t make it any bigger in the blog display afterwards, but once you have made it smaller you can go back. But, I am suspecting that it only affects the size of the display, and not the amount of data that has to download. Your method would affect the download size of the blog I think. Fortunately for me I no longer have internet speed issues to contend with. But I should keep in mind that many people in the world do, and if I want to make it easy for them to read my blog I should consider their needs.
I am going to experiment with picasa to see if it can produce a smaller output file that I can still display full width in the blog without too much loss of quality. I also need to remember to use the “ctrl +” and “ctrl -” key combinations to adjust the display size when I a reading blogs in firefox (it also works in Chrome, and in IE too, not sure about safari and those others). At least that way, one can see a whole picture that is otherwise displaying larger than the screen.
So, I have had a look in Picasa and now I know better. I am choosing images that are 1600 pixels in their longest dimension as an output size (the largest on offer). The resolution defaults to 80% and if I use that my images are in the 100-200kb size range, and if I choose 100% it jumps to around or over a meg, with neglible difference in quality on my monitor. I will be making smaller files for the same size images in the future. That way also I will reach my storage limit in WP much more slowly as well. I recommend if you have speed issues to stay away from my Moss Street Market blog – it has 81 images, most of them around 1meg. If only I had noticed earlier.
Hey…just pulled your blog up here at work. The pics did load alot quicker than at my house, but I do have to scroll over to see all of the pictures. Just wanted to let you know since I said I would check it out for you.
Hey, thanks for doing that. I will have to look into this a bit more. I had thought the problem was most likely in the what fits in the screen from top to bottom, not what fits side to side. I will track down some other computers and have a look to see what I can do.
This strikes me as almost like an embroidered scene – very nice!
Mike – thanks for dropping by my blog. And for your compliment on this photo. I am going to have to spend more time on your blog – there are some terrific photos there.
Good stuff and good luck
Hey David, welcome to my blog. When I compare the amount of work I know I put into one of my images (not very much) with how much must go into any one of yours, I am astonished at how much you have up on your blog, and its uniform quality too.
hey, thanks for the comment!
nice blog
… and thank you. I love the extraordinary cloud pictures that you have been featuring.