A lovely morning

The photography group last night was very good - about 20 people, mainly parents, but a few interested teachers as well. It is being run by a teacher who loves photography and another parent who is a whizz at Photoshop. I was surprised to find that the school has a small studio in their art department, which is available for use by the pupils. Many of the props and backdrops have been made by the pupils. We had a session of converting a colour landscape to mono, a la Ansel Adams style, and then another session on lighting of a still life display in the tiny studio.

This morning I missed the sunrise, (I was waiting for the builders!) but I went down to the river a little later and the sky was still beautiful, with some lovely texture in the clouds. I was not sure which photo I preferred, the one here or this one.

Gray's of Westminster (the Nikon retail specialist) have a good trade in deal at the moment and I am considering upgrading my nearly 3 year old D800 for a D810. I figured that if I wait for the next upgrade it could be another 2-3 years and that is quite a while to wait. I did not realise that cameras have a 'mileage' record like a car, and the trade in depends on the shutter count. There is a website that when you upload a jpeg taken from your camera it instantly tells you the shutter count. They thought my shutter count for a nearly three year old camera would be around 10000, when in fact it is already 23000 - a very well used camera!