As I wandered around the Palm House in Belfast's Botanic Gardens the other week (sheltering from the showers, as you do in August in Ireland), I couldn't see much to photograph with the Nikon F2 I had with me. (My F2 has a metered DP-11 Head (which makes it an F2A, I think, but I’m not really on top of the myriad of F2-Head combinations that exist). I really wish it had the simpler, non-metered, DE-1 head instead. That would save a little weight, which would be good and I don’t use the meter in the Nikon anyway. It’s hard to see and I'm used to metering with an external meter (usually the little Sekonic L-308 unless I'm feeling all creative & Zone Systemy in which case I take the larger Sekonic L-508 spot meter). I’ve looked at acquiring a DE-1 head, but it would probably be cheaper to buy a complete F2 with that head rather than the DE-1 head alone. No, I can’t quite figure that out myself either).
Anyway, as I peered a little more closely at the plants in the Palm House I noticed a figure sat among them. It was roughly carved but it was kind of just right the way it was, playing silent music for the Palm House flora and fauna:
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| Palm House Musician. HP5+ on Foma 133 paper. |
I found a second figure, in stone this time:
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| At peace in the forest of the Palm House, Botanic Gardens, Belfast. Not entirely sure about the ‘at peace’, though - the figure looks rather sad and maybe a little defensive posed as it is. |
I'm glad for the spot meters in my main cameras. It saves a lot of weight and things knocking about in my camera bag. But I think a dedicated spot meter is much more accurate.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos. I think the low-key approach matches the statues. Especially the second one.
Ta very much. I was pleased I went for another walk around the Palm House, as I'd missed them first time around.
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