Long distance trail photo galleries coming…
13th July 2007After my various trips along its length this year, I am now putting together a section in the online photo gallery dedicated to this daddy of British National Trails. Completing it is an ongoing project of mine, though I have to admit that I haven’t been moving things forward that much in recent times. There is a gap between Gargrave and Haworth that remains to be walked and the logistically more challenging northern sections are next. Two or three day outings sound like a good way to deal with these and who knows what I could be doing when I get a window of walking opportunity that extends for more than one day, as it does at the moment. The Pennine Way gallery has led me to consider having galleries dedicated to other long distance trails and the West Highland Way is definitely one that falls into this category. As it stands, I have photos from my excursion from Inverarnan to Drymen to add and creation of the West Highland Way gallery would happen then. On the walking front, I have done most of it and completing the part between Inverarnan and Bridge of Orchy is another idea for a few days of fine weather. We’ll see…
More Welsh photos
11th July 2007I am continuing to make good use of my new scanner, and photos from an outing to Harlech last December have finally made their appearance in the Snowdonia section of the online gallery. What I saw of the wildness of the countryside that day has caused me to make one return already. However, day trips up here don’t seem to do it the justice that it demands (for me, they involve a lengthy train journey that limits the length of my stay) so the prospect of a spending a few days in the area to sample more of its delights has occurred to me. While I must admit that I haven’t developed it very far, I have considered making Porthmadog my base, an option that allows exploration of Eifionydd as well, but the Rhinogs should keep me occupied in any event. In fact, it might even be an idea for a summer break when the weather offers such an opportunity.
New scanner, new photos
9th July 2007I don’t normally mention computer technology on this blog, but I encountered some trouble with my scanner while trying to add new photos to the online photo gallery. As someone who continues to use film in these digital times, a scanner remains a very useful asset. I also have a digital camera, which is how most of the photos you’ll find accompanying the trip reports on this blog have been captured, so I am keeping a foot in both camps.
With the inclement weather being visited upon us recently, my mind turned to some photo uploading, and I was staring with a few from trips to Wales. It was then that my usually reliable four-year-old Canon CanoScan 5000F played up. When I turned it on, the output returned was solid black. Re-running the thing a few times by hitting the preview button in Scangear saw the black turn to red and eventually the image came through but with a strong red or magenta cast that never quite went away. I fired off a query to Canon, but only got the usual stuff about drivers and cable connections. From that, I foresaw a few weeks of tick-tacking and was unconvinced that the conclusion was worth awaiting.
So, I picked up an Epson Perfection 4490 Photo from Dabs.com and gave it a workout with some photos from a trip to the Brecon Beacons last November. The setting up was the usual shuffle, but the software installation took an age to complete. It all works well, better than the Canon ever did, and that was a big improvement on the UMAX Astra 1220U that preceded it. A quick spot of image processing, which I always do to clean things up, was all that was required to get more than acceptable results. I was scanning prints, but negative/slide scanning is another option that I have yet to explore. Having an on/off button on the side of the scanner is a nice touch that I haven’t seen before, and may even prolong the life of the machine and save a spot of energy to boot.
A spot of reorganisation: birth of a Southern Highlands gallery
15th March 2007I have finished adding photos from my break in Highland Perthshire last July. Initially, I thought that I wouldn’t have enough photos to share, so a gallery amalgamation resulted. The new section has the Perthshire photos but also includes the previous section that I had devoted to Loch Tay and the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. It’s all built on the scaffolding of the Rob Roy Way and, if I ever get to explore that trail a bit more, there should be more photos from areas that I have not visited a great deal. And for all my fears, that visit to Perthshire yielded a good number of new pictures…
Gallery Updated with Photos of Southern Scotland
9th March 2007Last year’s visits to Southern Scotland, Scottish Borders as well as Dumfries and Galloway, have yielded photos to my online photo gallery. As a result, what was formerly the Scottish Borders gallery has become the Southern Uplands one following a considerable overhaul. Please drop by to take a look.
