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D800: Get thee behind me, Satan

 I watched some  of this video about the D800 . Not that long ago, it was £2000+. Now, you can get one on eBay for less than £300. Tempting. Very. Flogging the F4 and some other bits and pieces would cover the cost. And think what I'd save on the cost of film; and the time I'd save on scanning... But as I watched the video, the guy got onto the topic of menus, and my blood ran cold. This reminded me of work, which is precisely what my photography isn't.  Then I thought: it doesn't matter what gear one uses: the important thing is that wee negative or digital image. Once it's printed and framed and on the wall, the route it took to get there doesn't matter. What does matter is how many people look at it and think (or even say out loud) "Wow!"  Obviously, both film and digital photos are capable of producing that response. So what does it matter which medium the photographer employed. One reason that matters is, most good photographers (maybe everyone ) ...
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Fomapan + 50mm + F4 = 2027

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 Kentmere's ok, but it's not go enough contrast for my liking. This is where Flickr comes in handy, I can look back at film I've used in the past. I like the heavy contrasts I got in the past with Fomapan. Someone on YouTube suggested using only a 50mm lens for TWO years. That's a bit restricting but one-and-a-bit years will be fine, so that's this Autumn and all of 2027 with my 50mm D. On the F4, of course, with Fomapan, although I don't know yet about ISO.  
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260 deco

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God only knows how many times I've walked past this block of flats on Whitehill St, and only noticed how deco the entrance was few days ago. A sign, hopefully, that my eyes are opening. This was with the iPhone, but I plan to go back. There's the former Wills factory and offices just up the Parade from here, too, and I need to work out a way to capture its late-deco monolithic bulk.   
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ABC...

 According to Alex Kilbee on YouTube , his first practical exercise at Photography school was to go out and find photos of the entire alphabet from things that looked like letters. So, you couldn't use, say, the P sign that signifies a car park; instead, find a shadow made by a oddly shaped tree. I'm giving it a go. "M" from two hoops in the ground in the University for chaining up bikes; "K" from a gate with supporting struts; "A" from a piece of wood screwed into the wall at Whitehill swimming pool; "Y" from a tree; "Z" from tarmac overlaying services on the pavement... It's great fun, and I suspect it's doing its job of making one aware of shapes in the environment. Like learning scales on a piano. 
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The Nikon F4: a cure for GAS?

 I was thinking, perhaps an almost completely mechanical camera, able to shoot at least 1/1000s with a B setting, and needing a battery only to drive a needle-based meter, would help improve my photography. A Pentax K 1000, say, or, better still because I could use my Nikkor lenses, a Nikon FM. This train of thought was driven by a mind atrophied by Gear Acquisition Syndrome. I already have a purely mechanical camera with the F4 if I just switch it to manual. Duh. If it ever conks out entirely, then I might get an FM off of eBay, (and, as Don Corleone said, that day may never come). 
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Gestalt Theory and Photography

  This would be as good a place as any to start on this... 
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Not bad, but that was unintentional....

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 Same roll as I got the previous swan pic  from. So that was with the Nikkor 105mm f2.5, on Kentmere 400. I don't know where the vignetting came from, and the strangely antique look. I post processed it in the macbook's preview, keeping it simple... I just haven't got the hang of ON1 yet, bit I might have another go later. 
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