CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

One hundred years ago today, on the 4th August 1914 at 23:00,  Britain declared war on Germany and so plunging this country and the rest of the British Empire into a bloody conflict that lasted over four years. I was born in 1964, 50 years after World War One began, and I was lucky enough to know my Great Grandfather, John Herbert Hayes, who survived through the war.  He died when I was 9 years old but I still have some great memories of talking to Grampy John.  However the one thing he would never talk about was his experiences during the First Wold War.  One day, just before he died, he gave me his campaign medals, but he would not talk about that time.    My generation, and the generations that have followed, are very lucky.  The 'war to end all wars' did no such thing but since 1945 Europe has enjoyed relative peace and war between Germany, France, Great Britain, Austria, Hungary, Italy etc is unthinkable in the 21st century. How can we un...

A lot has been written about Fuji's X-Series 60mm macro lens.  It was one of the original trio of lenses launched with the X-Pro1 back in 2012, and has since been joined by a whole arsenal of Fujinon lenses, but remains the lens with the closest focusing ability. I have to admit this lens is the one that initially got left in the bag but recently I have been rediscovering the abilities of this short telephoto lens for landscapes, the recent car photoshoots and, of course, macro work.  I recently added some extension rings that increases the magnification to true macro (ie 1:1 rather than 1:2 of the 60mm Fuji lens in standard form). I am working on a personal project to mark the 100th anniversary start of the Great War on the 4 August 1914 and I have been taking some close up shots of my Great Grandfather's service medals using the X-T1 and the 60mm macro.  The shot above shows the 1914-15 Star and British War Medal awarded to my Great Grandfather John Hayes...