Monday, 30 March 2020

Lifeguards (again)

Every time I'm up on the dunes on Portstewart Strand I turn and look out over the lifeguards hut.  For some reason I have the urge to take a photograph - even though I've taken several before (here, for example).   I think it must be one of the nicer beaches to be working at, if you're a lifeguard.  Although like all beaches around the coast, it has its dangers.  The Atlantic Ocean and excited kids aren't always the match made in heaven.

The Lifeguard Hut on Portstewart Strand, March 2019.  On Barclay graded paper.

Taken on the FM3a with the Vivitar 35-85mm zoom (actually, an auto-variable focussing lens, if you're a stickler for accuracy, which means you have to re-focus every time you change the focal length.  Not a big deal).   It has a strange screw-in lens cap which I find also unscrews any filter you might have left on the lens when you take it off, which is a pain.  But I tend to take the cap off as I leave the house and don't put it on again until I'm back home, so again, no big deal.  It's an f/2.8 across the focal length range, so has a nice big 72mm front element on it - care is required!  Apparently, it has some 'cult' status, whatever that means for a mass-produced 1970s lens I'm not sure - it's not big bucks to buy, anyway and I've had a lot of fun with it.


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6 comments:

  1. Jim Grey30 March 2020 at 16:35

    72mm front element? That's one big honking lens!

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    1. Michael McNeill1 April 2020 at 10:35

      Haha it is on the large side, Jim - it's a beaut!

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  2. Roy Karlsvik31 March 2020 at 05:53

    Seen it before, but will absolutely manage to see it a few times more! It's a lovely spot, and it's easy to see why a snap is mandatory as you pass it on your way.
    It's a bit strange when you think of it, that we keep on spending film on subjects we have shot a hundred times before...? Anyway, that's what we do, and it makes perfectly sense to me anyway... and probably to a few others out there too. It might have to do with the difference in light or whatever, 'cause they never look the same anyway. The prints, that is.

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    1. Michael McNeill1 April 2020 at 10:39

      Thanks Roy. I used to be down on the dunes pretty much every day, with the hound. That's no longer the case, of course - and more so due to the 'lockdown'. But that will pass, eventually, and the dunes will still be there I'm pretty sure. Of course summertime approaches and that means they are over-populated (a relative term, of course - we're not talking Tokyo standards here ;) ).

      The dunes are good for the legs and the heart, I find - all that up and down.

      Again and again - John Blakemore/tulips...need I say more?

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  3. Marcus Peddle3 April 2020 at 12:26

    That's a great photo and a great spot. I could easily spend a week there exploring and wasting film/card space.

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    1. Michael McNeill6 April 2020 at 11:40

      Thanks Marcus - I like this beach a lot, as you can tell. As you say, perfect for a bit of a dander about with a camera.

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