CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Yesterday was the first opportunity for over a month to grab a sunset shot here in Dunbar.  I have been in Austria, France, Germany and on the West Coast of Scotland and when I have been home the weather has not been kind. As the clock was approaching 45 minutes before sunset I grabbed the camera bag and tripod and headed out to the beach below Winterfield Golf Club.  With the tide out the rock pools left at the edge of shore line provided a perfect mirror for the fiery sky as the sun sank lower in the west out of sight behind North Berwick Law. I set one of my Fujifilm X-T1s on the Manfrotto tripod with the Fujinon 10-24mm f4 fitted to it.  I fitted the XF50-140mm f2.8 to the other X-T1 to capture some long telephoto shots of the clouds and the fiery seascape. Here are the results from last nights sunset over Belhaven Bay in East Lothian. All images taken on the Fujifilm X-T1 + XF50-140mm f2.8 or X10-24mm f4 lenses ----------------...

The Edinburgh Festival, the world's greatest arts show, which lasts from the 7th to 31st August.  Living in Dunbar we are lucky enough to be just 30-miles from the centre of Edinburgh and this year we have decided that we are going to take in a few shows. Yesterday we spent the afternoon walking the Royal Mile and Grassmarket picking up leaflets and watching some of the street entertainers.  We also took in a comedy show before heading home. The amount of shows is bewildering and you could get overwhelmed by the sheer number of acts that are available to see across hundreds of venues in the city.  The Edinburgh Fringe have a brilliant APP available for IoS and Android. I would recommend downloading this if you are attending the Festival, it certainly helps sort out what is available and where everything is located. You also have to be careful with your money, it can be expensive.  Even the free shows expect a donation, which is only fair if the act ...

I have been using the XF90mm f2R LM WR telephoto for the past two months and I have to admit that when I received it I was left wondering where it fitted in my lens line up.   I currently have the wonderful XF50-140mm f2.8R LM OIS WR, which is one of the best telephoto zooms I have ever owned, and I have the XF56mm f1.2R with its brilliant ultra fast maximum aperture that produces bokeh to die for.  So why do I need a slightly longer telephoto prime which was just one stop faster than the 50-140mm and only one stop slower than the shorter telephoto prime?   Well after two months I am here to tell you that I am sold on the 90mm.  It is fantastically sharp with brilliant bokeh and, with its quad linear motor, the AF is quick and accurate on both the X-T1 and X-T10.  The build quality is also top draw, as you would expect from a Fujinon XF lens.  So what has changed my mind? The 135mm equivalent focal length is perfect for a lot of subjects that I ...

The pont de Bir-Hakeim in Paris crosses the River Seine at the eastern end of the Ile aux Cygnes and connects the cities 15th and 16th arrondissements (suburbs).   Built between 1903 and 1905 to replace an earlier bridge, the structure was originally known at pont de Passy but it was renamed in 1948 to commemorate the Battle of Bir-Hakeim when Free French forces fought against the German Afrika Korps in 1942, helping to turn the tide of the war in North Africa and causing the Free French to be known at the Fighting French after the battle.  Pont de Bir-Hakeim is on two levels.  The lower level is for cars and pedestrians, while the upper level carries Line 6 of the Paris Metro. Just in front of the arch on the end of the Ile de Cygnes is a statue of a figure astride a horse with a sword held out in front.  This monument was once meant to represent Joan of Arc, but was changed, and inaugurated with the name of Monument de la France Renaissante. Th...