Kevin Whitworth / Jacurutu

Well I've finally edited all the photos from the Val D'Isere snowboarding trip. You may have seen some of them on Flickr (either on my account, or on Jamie's, but I've pulled together the best of them, including the Audi Ice ParTTY shots and others taken in the chalet which you won't have seen and have put them up on the album on here ("Photos albums" on the right).

So, go have a look and enjoy!

• Val D'Isere 2007
  

Bored again today, so dug out the Kenko extension tubes and had a play at macro photography. This shot is taken with the full 68mm of extension using my Nikkor AFD 50mm f/1.8 lens, and off-camera flash.

Not the most interesting photo in the world, but there's definately some magnification going on - that little bud is probably about 4mm in diameter. No idea what the reproduction ratio is though!

Next step is to find something more colourful to try with - or head out into the garden for the snowdrops and daffodils.

So you want to use that old/cheap/whatever* flash you found in your attic/ebay/clearance bin at the local camera shop*? Great, but in these digital days, your camera's flash sync in probably electronic, rather than mechanical. Old mechanical circuits don't really care too much about the flash sync voltage (well, that's not strictly true, as you may end up getting sparking and electrical erosion if it's too high...), but your digital camera probably has lots of low voltage silicon chips in it, and stuffing a couple of hundred volts through it is probably not going to do it any good.

So, how do you know whether your old, dusty flash unit is safe? You could stick your tongue across** it like you used to do to check the voltage on 9v PP3 batteries, and if it kills you, then it's probably going to do the same to your camera. Alternatively, you could dig out a multimeter and test the voltage properly. But if you don't have a multimeter, and don't want to die, then check out the Strobe Trigger Voltage page that Kevin Bjorke has put together.

Unfortunately, it doesn't list my Hanimez TZ1. But it lists the TZ2 at 225 volts. And given the shock I got when messing with the sync lead whilst plugged into the charged TZ1, I'd imagine it's pretty similar.

Suppose I ought to stop plugging it into my Nikon D200*** then...

* Delete as appropriate.

** Don't try this at home. And if you do, don't blame me if it hurts, or you die.

*** And don't try this at home either. You'll void the warranty, possibly break the camera, and that's probably worse than dying.

Well, I looked for one, and there wasn't one.

So as I love this camera, despite having got a DSLR now, I started the Konica Minolta DiMAGE G400 group myself.

So, if you're a fellow G400 user, feel head over to the group, say hello, and share your photos.

OK, I know it's part of the set from the previous post, but I just love this photo. I know it doesn't have the coils and loops of some of the other photos from the set, or the drama of the smoke photos of Graham Jeffery. Perhaps that's why I like it - simple, smooth, elegant.

If this this is your kind of thing, check out the artsmoke group on flickr:

"Inspired by the artistry of Graham Jeffrey of Sensitive Light, this group is about the art of capturing smoke on film (or digitally). "

Right. Off to think up some new ideas, as someone else clearly beat me to this one!

This is the very first shot in a set done late one night after reading the Strobist Lighting 101 today. It's a set of shots that I've been meaning to do for a while now, but never managed to find the time. I didn't have time today either, but hey, who needs sleep really?

There's a whole series of similar (but different) shots from the rest of the shoot in my Flickr Smoke Set, or in the new Strobist Inspired section of the albums on here.

If you're a fellow Strobist, then check the photo on Flickr for details of the lighting setup.

I'm slowly wading through all the photos I took of the York Railway Institute Golden Rail Band during 2006. Members of the band probably think I'm a bit wierd, as they'll have seen me waving the camera around all summer (and at some of the Christmas gigs), but no-one's seen any of the photos yet.

Anyway, I came across this one, taken in May 2006 at the Poppleton summer fete. I know it's not of the band, but there was just something about the sun, the maypole and the storm clouds that just jumped out at me.

Hopefully I'll get through the best of the shots of the band before they kick off the 2007 summer season! Watch this space...

Just came across Tim on Flickr (as in Tim from the Christmas reunion). Most of his photos are on his own site, www.smellydog.co.uk, so I figured I should give it a plug here.

After some of the things we got up to in Val D'Isere and Tignes, this news story kind of brings it back home what the risks are. Further coverage says it was close to the Col du Palet, one of the areas we were playing in last week.

This makes you realise that even when messing around between pistes it's probably worth carrying avalanche transceivers and rescue kit. Be careful out there.

My thoughts go out to the friends and family of those killed.

What can I say?

No, it's not one of my photos. But it's a photo of my former boss, one Mr Gavin Sweet, and it deserves better than to be hidden away on Flickr where no one else will see it.

Amazingly for an embarrasing photo, it's actually a great shot.

Not sure Gavin's got quite so much hair these days though.

(And I'm worried I may live to regret this.)

PS If you're in need of some Technology Consulting, pop over to Gavin's website at:

www.gavinsweet.com

and I'm sure he'll be able to sort you out. Don't let the hair put you off!

Apart from taking pictures of the Audi Ice Party, we did actually do some snowboarding whilst out in Val D'Isere. I'll get the photos sorted properly and onto the album soon (maybe at the weekend), but in the meantime I've put some of the best ones (or at least, the ones which don't need editing) onto Flickr.

Take a look at the Val D'Isere set for a sneak preview. The photo on the right shows one of the routes we did - which involved climbing through the Aiguille Percee complete with boards (but nothing useful like axes or crampons). Complete insanity, but what a buzz!

Just returned from Val D'Isere after a week's snowboarding. Whilst there, Audi held and event (the "Audi Ice ParTTy") at their ice driving experience to show the new Audi TT Roadster for the first time in France. We were staying just over the road, so I popped over with the camera to take a few shots.

(In case anyone is interested in commercial use of them, please post a comment on the story and I'll get in touch.)