Here is a shot of a beautiful rapeseed field in full bloom.  The picture doesn’t really do the landscape justice.  Fields and fields of bright yellow flowers are quite stunning, especially with the contrast of some dark green crops.  Unfortunately I was unable to capture quite what I wanted to, but I did pull my car over and climb the farmer’s fence in order to snap this shot from within the field so I’m still happy with the story that goes with it.

1/250s f/8.0 100mm ISO 100.  Cropped. Au revior until next week.

Foto Friday snuck up on me this week because the bank holiday on Monday has my schedule all out of whack.  I brought my camera in to the lab to take some pictures, but strangely enough none of the ones that I planned turned out anything like how I imagined them in my head.  I took this one on a whim and I liked it the best.  I like when things happen like that.  Pictured are the shelves of the lab benches to my right.

1/100s f/3.2 60mm ISO 500.  Contrast  adjustment. Au revior until next week.

I have seen a show at the O2 here in Oxford before, but this event was upstairs in a much smaller room.  The picture above is from the back of the room when I first walked in.  I would estimate that only about 250 people were there, which makes it one of the smallest most intimate concert that I’ve been to.  On stage above is the opening band, The Cast of Cheers.  These guys have a very fast-paced sound, and even used pre-programmed beats from a keyboard in some songs.  It is a group of four guys from Ireland, and from what I could tell they enjoy drinking on stage and dropping F bombs.  They sounded great and really got the crowd going.  On to the main act.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is just a short clip of their most popular song at the moment, Cold.  This is the lead single off their new album, In Time To Voices.  I only recorded a minute of it because I didn’t want to be the dude who holds his phone up for the entire song and blocks the view of the people behind him.

After a few songs I managed to snake my way up to the front for a closer view of my newest rock crush.  I guess there is something about chicks who play guitars.  Their show had plenty of energy and even a few little anecdotes while they caught their breath between songs.  They rocked out and thanks to it being such a small show I nearly got to cross an item off of my bucket list (party with the band) but there wasn’t much of an after party going on in Oxford on a Sunday night.

Absolutely worth seeing live, and also worth just listening to their albums.  I’ll be curious if any songs from their new album get any airtime back home in the USA.  My current opinion is that their first album, Box of Secrets, is their best, but this may change as I continue to listen to them.  Let me know if you are interested, I have all three of their studio albums.

Foto Friday turned into Foto Saturday this week because I was busy preparing and presenting my semiannual group meeting.  After taking two weeks off from running due to injury I decided to go for a nice run today, my last one before my race next Saturday.  My normal training grounds has become a bit of a mud pit because of all the rain (see previous post) and I thought it would be good to go for a run in the cold and rain and mud to see how my clothing performed before I go for a run in the cold and rain and mud.

1/100s f/4.0 60mm ISO 100.  Contrast and Vignette adjustments. Au revior until next week.

Fast forward to April.

Above is the path that I take to and from work everyday.  I laughed out loud at the six inches of standing water that greeted me as I came around the corner on my bike.  Each stroke of the pedals put my foot underwater.

This is the view of one of the bridges that I cross just after the path mentioned above.  I would say the water levels here are very near two feet higher than they were last month.  The nearby University Parks and other common walking grounds are definitely flooded.  Also, definitely the strangest drought I have ever been a part of.

Here are some quotes from official spokespeople relating to the hosepipe ban:

“We are well aware of the irony that heavy rain set in after the hosepipe ban was announced. In fact, it hasn’t really stopped raining since we and six other companies imposed hosepipe bans on 5 April “

“The irony of talking about a drought at the end of the wettest April on record is not lost on us”

Indeed this past April has been the wettest on record since they started keeping records 109 years ago.  So although the surface is obviously saturated with water, the problem of low groundwater supplies remains.  This is especially true for the deeper aquifers.  Plus, the trees and plants are drinking up as much water as they can, so even less water makes its way down to refill the wells.  The good news for the underwater stores is that the temperature is still biting cold for May so not much water is evaporating, increasing the chance of replenishment.

All I know is that I got hosed riding my bike in and out of work for the past month and am ready for spring and some sun to show up.  22 of the past 24 months of lower than average rainfall have spoiled me to believe that the weather here isn’t so bad.  I guess I was wrong.

I’ve been busy the past two weeks and haven’t had a chance to take a new pictures or sort through some old ones properly, so this week’s installment of Foto Friday is a bit of a cheater.  This picture was taken back in October when my macro lens first arrived and I took pictures of every flower in town.  Looking back at those shots it is obvious that I didn’t (and maybe still don’t) know how to use that lens correctly, but the power of it should also be apparent.  I like all the detail in the flower above from the red and pink fan to the seemingly crystallized pollen and the subtle green star in the background.  The only trouble is that I don’t have too many photos like this tucked away, but I guess that just means I’ll have to start shooting again.

1/100s f/4.0 60mm ISO 500.  Cropped. Au revior until next week.

We all work in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine.  That is what I think of every time I go by this lab late at night.  It is located in Physics right around the corner from me, and I pass it frequently on my way out of the science corridor.  Yes, the lab really does emanate a bright yellow light in the evening and even looks funny during the day.  This is because the glass has been treated to protect the solar panels that are studied inside.  Still, every time I see the workers inside in their space-suit clean room PPE glowing in the yellow light I can’t help but sing the Beatles to myself.

Taken with my HTC Incredible S, 4.6mm ISO 1519.  Cropped. Au revior until next week.

Yes, that is right, even though Tupac has been dead since 1996 he once again performed on stage with partner Snoop Dogg (above).  And this wasn’t just some recorded concert footage played back, this was movie studio trickery.  I read somewhere that whoever put this on used a firm known for high-class computer generated imagery (CGI) in movies.  The figure for such animation is rumored to be between $100-400K.  I also read that Hologram Tupac might be going on tour with some of his old friends, not surprising given the initial investment.

Of course this new technology got me thinking.  Is this cool or creepy?  How real and believable would a performance like this be?  Many celebrities raved about the realism of the digital Tupac, but I wonder.  I suppose it can either be seen as a money grab, or a celebration of his life – probably a little of both.

Will the likely success of this “ghost tour”  inspire the estates of other dead artists to do the same?  Would you ever pay to see a hologram in concert?  Who would be good candidates?  Michael Jackson?  Kurt Cobain and Nirvana?

My thoughts are still out on the issue, although I’m leaning toward not liking the idea of seeing a digital interpretation of an artist on stage.  What do you guys think?

This was taken near one of my favorite trees in Oxford, and if you have been around the University Parks on the path you have probably seen it.  It is pretty massive and has a circular bench surrounding the trunk.  I think of it like and old grandpa tree, and like to take a break on it’s bench sometimes.  Among the long low-hanging branches were these danglers, probably seed pods.  I don’t know enough about trees to identify this one, but it always makes for a good picture.

1/400s f/8.0 155mm ISO 100.  Brightness and contrast adjusted. Au revior until next week.

The picture doesn’t quite do the view justice.  The sun was at just the right height to bathe the tall buildings of downtown London in yellow light, giving them a little glow.  The high resolution image might look better, I’ll link to it once I get around to merging the photos together.  Anyway, I like this spot and took a few minutes to sit and relax and think about life.  From this point to the tall buildings in the background is about seven or eight miles, and Ally Pally is only in Zone 3 of 6 that the London underground covers.  Quite a remarkable city.

I jumped on the Tube and headed in to the heart of the city, and by the time I got to my destination (above) the sun had set and my next photography subject was perfectly illuminated.  If you aren’t familiar with the landmark above look at the image for a hint.  This area is the equivalent to Times Square in New York, full of tourists and touristy places as well as plenty of stores.  I’m just happy that I figured out how to make the colors of the bright electronic billboards reproduce so well with my DSLR.

This is a real sign that was located about 25 feet from where I took the previous picture.  There was some road construction in the area, so I’m guessing that this sign used to say “Controlled Driving Zone” before some cheeky hacker got a hold of it.  It made me laugh at least.

I also thought that I’d end my city adventure with a little nightcap before the last train home.  A quick Google search showed that one of the best whisky bars in town was just down the street, so I ventured to check it out.  The Athenaeum is a swanky building with hotel rooms and apartments for rent, and a whisky bar that boasts 270 different choices.  I tried a few old single malt scotches that were excellent but then something else caught my eye.  On the page of the menu with the American bourbon was none other than the elusive Pappy Van Winkle 20 year.  If you are a fan of American whiskey, you will likely have heard of this.  If not, I’ll fill you in quickly.  This is supposed to be the best American bourbon you can find.  Partly because of the recipe, and partly because it is aged so long.  Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve has won numerous awards, including Best Whiskey and Spirit of the Year.  This is the second most expensive whisky I’ve ever purchased (Port Ellen being #1) but I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to try a rare bourbon of this caliber.  It was pretty good.  Very well balanced, sweet and a lot of flavor.  Although to be honest I prefer scotch.  This is supposed to be the best bourbon in the world and it doesn’t hold a candle to the complexity and expressiveness of a fine Islay scotch in my book.  To each his own.

All in all, my trip to London was a success.  I’m always excited when I go in to the city, and always ready to leave when I’m heading out.