Well things are quiet again, and not a lot is going on at the moment.

I have a feeling I am going to have to set-up a new wireless router soon, I hope that goes without too much hassle.  I had to set-up my Mum’s freeview box on Sunday, and although there were no issues with the installation, the picture was very dark, and you had to adjust the TV brightness to maximum.  This cant be good. Also you didn’t seem to be able to untag programmes that you had previously tagged for recording.

This is always aggravating when you buy a new product and spend time installing it, only to find it doesn’t work properly.  I had a similar issue when I re-installed broadband on my new pc.  Despite the fact it was an XP machine, the same as the old one, do you think I could get it set up using USB? No! Plugged it in via the ethernet connection, and away it went!  Hope I don’t have a similar issue with the new broadband installation.

Well the craft fair on Saturday turned out rather well, despite the torential rain we had.  I actually did better this year than last, which probably wasn’t difficult. So I was quite pleased concidering.

So no more fairs this year now, unless there is a cancellation at the Maltings, so I can have a rest from all the craft stuff until next year.

I guess now I just concerntrate on Christmas, and relaxing.  Finish work on the 16th so I have a nice long break.

Well tomorrow is craft time again.  It’s at the Rural Life Centre in Farnham. 

I think I will be doing this on my own again, and this time it is a little more tricky due to the setup there.  It’s the last one I have planned at the moment this year, as the Farnham Maltings xmas fair is full.

It has been an unusual and busy week, both at work and at home.  I am hoping that the weekend will be less chaotic.  When the craft fair is over, I can relax a bit more.

Maybe Sunday will be relaxing, maybe I’ll go out!  One thing is certain in life, and that is, that nothing is certain.  So many things have happened over the last month, some sad, some happy, some dissappointing and some surprising.  What will happen over last few days of this month? Any more surprises?!

PS, I ordered a few bits for viewing stereo photos yesterday, so I have made a start, just need to take some stereo photos now!

I went to the NCC last night. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it stands for Nokia Camera Club.

I haven’t been there for a long time, so I had many images to show. Hawk Conservancy, Elstead Nature Reserve and the recent trip to Poleden Lacey. I also had images from my last trip to Finland.

We vote on everyones images to see which one will be selected for the end of year exhibition. Out of all of my hawk & autumn images, they choose a night shot of Helsinki.

Now Stereo Photography.

A club member has taken quite a few of these types ofimages, and they always make me want to try it. It can be done very cheaply, middle priced or with a proper stereo camera.

The basics are that you take images as if seen through each one of your eyes. So for example, the cheap method, which is what I will try initially, is to have a standard film camera (preferably an SLR with slide film), find a suitable scene, like an open gate with something in the distance, lean slightly left, take a photo, then with the same settings, lean slightly right and take a photo.

Now the good bit, once you have your slides developed, get hold of a cheap viewer that has 2 eye pieces, with a dual slide holder (one slide for each eye), put the left and right slides in (don’t mix them, you get wierd results), then look through the viewer, and wow, a 3D photo where the gate is standing out towards you and some nice trees, fields, or whatever dissappearing in the distance.

I have got to give this a go, it is great fun. We projected some onto a srceen, with mixed results, but the viewer method is cheap and really quite good.

The middle option, is to fix 2 small cameras side by side, This removes the leaning when taking photos. Then you just take a shot as normal, releasing the shutter on each camera at the same time. This work really well too.

This only really issue with these options, is that you can’t really do moving objects.  The second option is a bit better as long as the shutter can be release at the same time.

The last option, a dedicate camera, of course gets around any shutter issues and exposure discrepancies.

This time it is difficult to think what to write about.  I know I have my regular readers, so it’s nice to try and put in regular updates and try put something interesting.  But what??

Well it was lovely to speak to a certain lady again last night, she knows who she is.  Thank you for talking. I’ll look forward to the next time.

I’ve now been sitting here for 10 mins trying to think what to write, and just can’t think of anything!  So I’ll have to call that it.  A bit lame I think!

Ah, just thought I’d add this.

I got some good feedback from the talk I gave yesterday.  Apparently, normally the people at the club are a bit restless and chatty during these events, but they were totally silent when I gave my presentation.  Also, everyone seemed to enjoy it and thought it was quite professional.  I am really pleased they liked the photos and gifts.

Today was good. I gave a talk on my photos to a group of people belonging to a local club, and had the chance to setup a stall as well. My slideshow was about 45mins, then spent the next 45+ mins on the stall.

It’s a lot more intense when you do a stall in that way, as everyone wants to buy and it is condenced into just 1 hour, but I took more then, than I did in 5 hours on Saturday. I probably more than I would have as people were buying for christmas, but then they were mean’t to be on Saturday!

Maybe that’s the way forward, shorter sessions and talks instead of day long craft fairs. Gives more spare time for other things. However the big craft fairs, like county shows, are probably still worth investigating and they are not every month but are very difficult to get into.

Training now for the rest of the week. Atleast this is the last training course now.

Well what a busy weekend and still more to do tomorrow.

I had friday off in preparation for Saturdays craft fair, and despite it seeming quite slow, it actually turned out to be a reasonable day.  It seems just recently that when you are at the end of the fair and you are packing up, you always get a few people wanting to buy things.  This time was no excepting getting the largest sale when half the stuff was packed away!

So today was a mixture of trying to relax, getting things together for tomorrow and keeping myself busy.  I also met up with an old mate from work.  Apparently I’m famous, or infamous in the Lotus Notes world, as his new girlfriend, who I’ve never met, knows of me through another old collegue!  The Notes world is small! The other day, someone said they had bumped into a person in South Africa, who when they mentioned they worked at Nokia, the person asked, do you know Lee Orchard?  They did! This is frightening!

So, a talk tomorrow, then on a Notes course for the rest of the week.  Hopefully next weekend can be craft free, as sometimes it even gets too much for me!

I also bought myself my first Leica. It wasn’t a new one, I don’t need any new cameras.  It was a 1936 Golden Olympia Replica, I not sure if that means it isn’t a genuine Leica, but even so, it caught my eye.  It had a small German eagle & cross on it, I thought it was a bit different.  So, I treated myself!

It looks like the Malting Christmas fair is full, since July! so the Rural Life Christmas Fair on 25th November may be my last one this year.  I was looking forward to the evening Maltings one.

Oh well.

Well I have a day off today, so I am going to finalize all my stuff for the Craft Fair tomorrow, then hopefully get out to the local park and take some photos.  If the weather holds that is.

So, lots to do, better get on …

It would seem that someone doesn’t want me to get myself sorted out yet.

I have been on a training course this week in Woking.  This has mean’t a lot more driving than usual in the morning, in traffic, which in turn has also mean’t that my calf of my right leg was sezzing up.  I was concerned it might have been a bit more than just muscle strain, and these days, when you hear about DVT from just sitting at a desk, I thought, something might be going on.  So after a doctors appointment, an A&E visit and a blood test the all clear was given. Muscle strain.

So, that was going on and I’m still without a computer, nearly a month! I dont know how I am copping, with another craft fair in 9 days, and a talk 2 days later to prepare for and data still scattered across a few places! Argh!  Originally the PC should have arrived on Monday, 29th Oct, but I had the delivery delayed until today, as I was on a course.  Last night at 5.25, they called to say there was a problem with the build and I wouldn’t get it today.  Well, 2 things, firstly, ringing me at half 5 on the day before I should have it, hmm..  bit late I think.  I would have thought it would have been on the lorry then!  Also, apparently the delay was no hard disk in stock.  Again, this should be one of the first things to know you are missing.

Anyway, I’ll get it monday now, but it means I loose yet another weekend for preparing for the “double event”. Nevermind, I’m sure I will cope.  It would have just made it easier.

Just can’t seem to tie up these loose ends at the moment. lots of thing on the go.

One good thing, it nearly the weekend again, and that can only be a good thing!