Introducing myself ... dunk from Peterborough UK

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dunksargent
Posts: 251
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 2:50 pm
Location: Cambridgeshire UK

Introducing myself ... dunk from Peterborough UK

Post by dunksargent »

Hi, My forst post on the forum - I discovered the website yesterday when searching for a book and I wish I'd known about it previously. My main photographic interest is macrophotography and in the past I've entered club competitions and UK exhibitions with some success. However, since the advent of digital imaging my film photography output has declined - but now I'm attempting to make amends and learn to post process digital images. Much of my work in the past has been with shells and small fossil specimens in home studio environments and I particularly enjoyed transillumination on a relatively large scale using home made apparatus. I've also done my fair share of 'in habitat' natural history photography eg stalking mainly butterflies and odonata - and also baiting moths with curious potions made from eg treacle and fruit juice. I've also done a fair bit of crawling about in forests during the autumn erecting translucent tunnels above fungi and photographing them. I'm now of the opinion that macro photography 'in habitat' can be a rather masochistic pastime - unless it is done in my own back yard. My next 'habitat' (sort of :-) ) project planned is to investigate and photograph the fauna in my garden compost heap including infrared images of same. I'm waiting return of two DSLRs currently being converted for IR photography. I'm also waiting for a refurbished Olympus stereo microscope to arrive from USA which will be used for preparing the specimens when required ie dead specimens.

I have a set of Photar lenses and also a set of Micro Summars which will be used for the compost fauna photographs. But I'm also planning some more shell photographs. And I have to decide which stacking software to use with my iMac.

Looking forward to sharing some images with you soon - and will post some scans from prints of my dark field set-up for shells asap.

Best wishes

dunk
And now for something completely different.

DaveW
Posts: 1702
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:29 am
Location: Nottingham, UK

Post by DaveW »

Hi from Nottingham, UK Dunk.

DaveW

dunksargent
Posts: 251
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 2:50 pm
Location: Cambridgeshire UK

Post by dunksargent »

Hi Dave, I don't know Nottingham that well but bought a 'pig in a poke' Linhof Technika 70 from Brookside Photographic some years ago! Do you recall his adverts in AP? Cost me a fortune to get it repaired.

Cheers

dunk
And now for something completely different.

Aynia
Posts: 724
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:42 am
Location: Europe somewhere
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Post by Aynia »

Hi there Dunk.

Now if you are into potions and bait... Banana bait might work for moths.. it certainly works for butterflies. (I too tried some stuff with wine and sugar but banana bait is a wee bit better.).

I shall ask for the recipe - I haven't made it myself. When I get it, I'll post it here.

My potion attracted moths, wasps, bees and flies.

dunksargent
Posts: 251
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 2:50 pm
Location: Cambridgeshire UK

Post by dunksargent »

Aynia wrote:Hi there Dunk.

Now if you are into potions and bait... Banana bait might work for moths.. it certainly works for butterflies. (I too tried some stuff with wine and sugar but banana bait is a wee bit better.).

I shall ask for the recipe - I haven't made it myself. When I get it, I'll post it here.

My potion attracted moths, wasps, bees and flies.
I guess banana bait would work for moths and butterflies and if it was an actual banana it would look fairly natural ie an insect scavenging on an over-ripe fruit. I stopped using treacle and fruit juice bait because although it worked very well and attracted lots of moths after dark, the resultant photos taken with flash looked terrible ... because the flashlight caused very distracting reflections from the treacle/sugar/juice solution which had been painted on the tree trunks. Also on occasion I interrupted courting couples in the car park in the forest when they were having some nooky. I overheard one young lady in the car say to her b/f as I got out of my car with a bucket of sugar solution and a paintbrush... " 'ere! 'e's paintin' the trees! '... e's paintin' the b----- trees! ... Wha's 'e doin' that for?" ... As I reinforced the coat of treacle/juice solution applied earlier. And on another evening following a teenagers' rave party the previous night in the forest , I was interrupted by a police officer who wanted to know what I was doing and why I had rigged up the car battery powered security light (to attract the moths) in the middle of the forest. ... the light was too visible from the road so he thought there was another party going on. And then there were the deer hunters in the nearby road with very powerful searchlights firing rifles at deer in the forest from their vehicles where I was taking photos - it was a bit dangerous as I could see their lights and hear the rifle shots. Moth photography was an interesting experience but there are probably easier ways of attracting them eg ultra violet light traps.

These days I prefer to take photos under more controlled conditions rather than 'in the field' or 'forest'

Cheers

dunk
And now for something completely different.

DaveW
Posts: 1702
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:29 am
Location: Nottingham, UK

Post by DaveW »

Don't know them Dunk. were they a camera shop or a photo firm selling off some old equipment?

DaveW

dunksargent
Posts: 251
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 2:50 pm
Location: Cambridgeshire UK

Post by dunksargent »

DaveW wrote:Don't know them Dunk. were they a camera shop or a photo firm selling off some old equipment?

DaveW
Brookside Photographic was situated at 138-140 Derby Road, Canning Circus Nottingham - opposite a police station. The owner, Dave Brooks died about 10 years ago. He advertised his wares in AP most weeks. He specialised in used medium and large format film cameras and darkroom equipment . He sold me a faulty Linhof Technika 70 and he sold another faulty large format Linhof to a club colleague. My colleague warned me after I had bought my Linhof that he was rogue - my colleague used a barrister friend to act for him legally in order to get his money back. I was unlucky and Dave Brooks refused to refund me .. and refused to accept recorded delivery letters from me demanding the refund. Had I known of his reputation beforehand I would not have bought from him ... when I bought the camera he carefully demonstrated it to me disguising the fact that the baseboard clip lock was broken - thus the baseboard fell down when not in use - and it cost over £250 to repair as it needed stripping down completely to replace the clip lock.

Cheers

dunk
And now for something completely different.

Ken Ramos
Posts: 7208
Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:12 pm
Location: lat=35.4005&lon=-81.9841

Post by Ken Ramos »

You know "dunk," you make photography sound really dangerous. :shock: Welcome aboard! :lol:

dunksargent
Posts: 251
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 2:50 pm
Location: Cambridgeshire UK

Post by dunksargent »

Thanks Ken ... I'm looking forward to learning here and improving my digital skills.

Cheers

dunk
And now for something completely different.

DaveW
Posts: 1702
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:29 am
Location: Nottingham, UK

Post by DaveW »

Think I know where you mean now Dunk. I seldom went up to Canning Circus so only saw that photo shop there once. How long it lasted I do not know as next time I was up there it had gone.

I wonder where they got the faulty stuff from, ex trade or even Ministry of Defence and public sector auctions?

I presume you bought it in the days before the Sale of Goods Acts or they could not have wriggled out of a refund because now it has to be "fit for purpose" when sold or Trading Standards would take up the case for you if you got no joy.

http://whatconsumer.co.uk/the-sale-of-goods-act/

Trouble is it only applies to sales by firms and not sales by private individuals, though I believe it is illegal to pass yourself of as a private seller if in fact you are in business selling such products.

DaveW

Harold Gough
Posts: 5786
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 2:17 am
Location: Reading, Berkshire, England

Post by Harold Gough »

dunksargent wrote:
Aynia wrote:I stopped using treacle and fruit juice bait because although it worked very well and attracted lots of moths after dark,
As a teenager, I tried published brews based on molasses and attracted little other than ants in any quantity. It was a suburban garden but I was expecting more moths. That was in the days before the rapid decline of thhe insect populations in the UK.

Perhaps I should try it here. Our garden backs onto farmland and a stream.

Harold
My images are a medium for sharing some of my experiences: they are not me.

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