What a wonderful weekend!It was a wonderful, sunny weekend and the weather had just a bit of a nip in it. Saturday, after heading home from the Liongate, I decided to go for a ride. I went all over the area. It was nice to have no destination in mind. Just me, my bicycle, and my map. (Just in case...)
I returned home around five o'clock and made some quick snack, showered, dressed for the night and went down to the pub. Around eight o'clock I was trying to decide if I was hungry or not. I thought about grabbing a curry, but decided that I was not hungry so instead I took a train into Vauxhall to go to a dance club I had heard of.
To say that I was probably the oldest person in the place would not be any exaggeration. I would have to say that the average age of the clientele was probably about twelve. Okay, there I am exaggerating. It was more like sixteen. But the music was good (if a bit on the loud side) and the drinks were only slightly watered. One girl asked me to dance. She reminded me of the famous "Jeannie" of the limerick fame:
Her costume was essentially a pair of fish-net hose a skirt that could not have been more than four inches wide and a skimpy little nothing of a top. I guess that I am showing my age here, but the first though that came to mind when I saw her was: "It's a bit cold to wear that out on a night like this. She'll catch her death!"
I returned to the house some time after midnight and went to bed after checking my email.
To steal a line from my favorite book (The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul): "You wouldn't say that I slept the sleep of the just. Unless by that you meant that I was 'just asleep.'" But I did sleep well.
Sunday morning, I awoke around six thirty and did not hear anyone in the house stirring so I decided to stay abed. It was truly nice. I stayed in bed until nearly eight o'clock just reading and thinking about nothing; no cares, no worries! Ah, Bliss!
When I finally did drag myself out of bed, I showered and dressed and headed downstairs to discover that my housemates had been extremely quite when getting up that morning. (Either that, or I had so lost myself in the book that I just didn't notice the house beginning to stir.
After a quick cup of coffee, we went to the store to do our shopping and then I made a quick breakfast and grabbed my camera gear. I wanted to head over to Middlesex and try some wildlife photography. I always want to improve my skills and the attempt to shoot moving subjects is good at trying to get your speed and skills up.
As you will see in the Shutterfly album at the above link, I still have some practice to do. I do not really worry too much about the failures. We learn from failure as well as success.
I also have an old friend, Ian Scott, who is a professional photographer. I once bemoaned the fact to him that I took so few "Good" pictures. Ian told me something that I have always remembered. He asked me why I thought he went through so much film. He said that he expects to get two, possible three passable shots per roll and perhaps one "good" shot per roll.
I guess if a professional accepts such a low percentage of good shots, I have no room for complaint. I guess that is one good thing to be said about digital photography, I am no longer burning film, paying to have it processed, etc. It is, after all, much cheaper to practice.
I hope that wherever you were this weekend, you had the opportunity to spread your wings and try something new!
Don Bergquist - 06-February-2006 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, United Kingdom
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