I celebrated the Eucharist at St Catherine's yesterday morning. Paul and Ann were back again after a sailing holiday in the Ionian sea. They showed us some lovely photos of blue sky and ocean afterwards at coffee, a cheerful antidote to a another day's unending rain showers.
I had a phone call after lunch from Pidgeons about a another funeral at St John's on the Tuesday morning when we leave for the Gower. Last week, I agreed to cover a different funeral at St John's the same day, but then it was re-scheduled for the following day, so I had to pull out. The one I have accepted to do is earlier, apparently the only time slot available for cremation following that day, or else the family has to wait for another week. This time is actually better, as we can have lunch before we travel in good time to take possession of our holiday bungalow.
With the arrival of autumn the number of calls on clergy and the churches for funeral services tends to increase. With Emma approaching maternity leave, in and out of hospital at the moment, and our new team Rector not yet installed I'm happy to help as needed until we go away. It'll be rather tough on Frances to start work in a completely new environment, and be faced with this kind of demand on her own as soon as she arrives. Thankfully Emma's still around on the end of a phone to support and advise her, even if reception in UHW is sometimes flaky.
Another glum day today, low cloud, bursts of rain, but I walked to St John's to celebrate the Eucharist without getting wet. I was missing taking photos, and hand't done so since since Sunday, so when I walked into town in the afternoon, I took my Panasonic DMC-LX5 camera with me, set to take black and white photos, to see what kind of results I could get in the day's lighting conditions. Although it came out nine years ago, it's still a capable camera that takes sharp pictures. I was lucky to buy this one in 2014 for a quarter of its original list price. I wasn't disappointed with the results (see here).
On reflection, I realised this was the first time in 45 years that I last took black and white photos. Clare had a Zeiss Icon film camera, and it stayed with us until we were in St Agnes Parish, when it was stolen from where it was hanging on the back of a door in the Vicarage by someone we invited in for a cuppa, or perhaps a playmate of one of the kids. It was several years before we could afford to replace it with a Praktica SLR, and by that time colour photography was more affordable, and I never looked back.
I still have an unused Praktika and set of lenses, the second of its kind, since the first developed faults due to humidity when I was travelling around Jamaica in 1982. By that time I'd acquired an excellent small 35mm half frame Ricoh which I took as well. I was developing films in a Kingston photo-shop using my travel grant money, as I didn't need to spend it on hotels. Just as well, as I discovered a shutter fault had ruined many of my pictures. The little Ricoh came into its own in this crisis, and I was able to re-trace my steps and fill in some gaps in a photo collection, which was destined to serve as an educational resource when I returned home.
I can't tell which photos were shot with the Praktica and which with the Ricoh. Foolishly, I got rid of it when I bought an equally pocketable but more sophisticated Olympus Trip. This was the only camera I took with me to Mongolia in 1999. Then in 2001, on a return visit to Geneva from Monaco, I bought the first of ten Sony digital cameras each of them increasing in power and sophistication, with three of them currently in use.
Another glum day today, low cloud, bursts of rain, but I walked to St John's to celebrate the Eucharist without getting wet. I was missing taking photos, and hand't done so since since Sunday, so when I walked into town in the afternoon, I took my Panasonic DMC-LX5 camera with me, set to take black and white photos, to see what kind of results I could get in the day's lighting conditions. Although it came out nine years ago, it's still a capable camera that takes sharp pictures. I was lucky to buy this one in 2014 for a quarter of its original list price. I wasn't disappointed with the results (see here).
On reflection, I realised this was the first time in 45 years that I last took black and white photos. Clare had a Zeiss Icon film camera, and it stayed with us until we were in St Agnes Parish, when it was stolen from where it was hanging on the back of a door in the Vicarage by someone we invited in for a cuppa, or perhaps a playmate of one of the kids. It was several years before we could afford to replace it with a Praktica SLR, and by that time colour photography was more affordable, and I never looked back.
I still have an unused Praktika and set of lenses, the second of its kind, since the first developed faults due to humidity when I was travelling around Jamaica in 1982. By that time I'd acquired an excellent small 35mm half frame Ricoh which I took as well. I was developing films in a Kingston photo-shop using my travel grant money, as I didn't need to spend it on hotels. Just as well, as I discovered a shutter fault had ruined many of my pictures. The little Ricoh came into its own in this crisis, and I was able to re-trace my steps and fill in some gaps in a photo collection, which was destined to serve as an educational resource when I returned home.
I can't tell which photos were shot with the Praktica and which with the Ricoh. Foolishly, I got rid of it when I bought an equally pocketable but more sophisticated Olympus Trip. This was the only camera I took with me to Mongolia in 1999. Then in 2001, on a return visit to Geneva from Monaco, I bought the first of ten Sony digital cameras each of them increasing in power and sophistication, with three of them currently in use.
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