Jonathan

Clifton Suspension Bridge at night

I happened to be in Clifton the other night, so I made a panorama of the bridge. It’s made of three frames, shot handheld.

Corners

This week’s Photo Challenge is corners. I went out in search of interesting corners. There weren’t many, but I quite like this composition. I think it’s the way to square right angles of the sun shield contrast with the angle of the rest of the building.

Snow on Troopers Hill

Today it snowed! We had quite a few inches, which is unusual for Bristol. After I had performed my Snow Warden duties I headed up Troopers Hill into the nature reserve to take some pictures. I started out early while there weren’t many people around and took some pictures of the unspoilt snow. Later on, thereContinue reading “Snow on Troopers Hill”

Jupiter – more magnified than ever before

I’ve photographed Jupiter before with my 5″ telescope. Its focal length is 1500mm which means Jupiter is quite small on my camera’s sensor when using the prime focus method. For Christmas, Hannah bought me a 5× Barlow lens which gives me an effective focal length of 7500mm. Now, Jupiter is 5× wider and 5× taller,Continue reading “Jupiter – more magnified than ever before”

Light box

For Christmas, I asked Mummy and Daddy Father Christmas for a light box, to help me review slides and negatives before printing and scanning. Today’s the first day I’ve had a chance to try it out, and here it is. It’s a box… with a light in. Who’d have thought! It works really well andContinue reading “Light box”

Touchdown!

I spent this morning at Bristol Airport, watching aeroplanes take off and land. It was cold enough that nearby puddles were frozen though, but it was the first sunny day this year, so I braved the ice and waited around with my camera. I think the wait paid off, as I caught this jet burningContinue reading “Touchdown!”

Making a battery box for my Celestron telescope

Background I have a Celestron NexStar SLT 127 telescope. For those who don’t know, it’s a battery-powered telescope which has a small computer to navigate around the skies and steer the telescope. It’s quite hungry for power – the telescope takes 8 AA batteries. Depending on the type of batteries you use and the temperature,Continue reading “Making a battery box for my Celestron telescope”

Lancaster Instantograph

Released 1887 The Instantograph is a quarter-plate view camera, first introduced in 1887 and produced until 1910, although it underwent several evolutions in that time. I think my example dates from about 1897. It takes glass plates in the quarter plate format, although you can use sheet film or photographic paper too. I’ve written someContinue reading “Lancaster Instantograph”

First picture from the Instantograph

Yesterday I posted excitedly about my newest (and oldest) camera, the Instantograph. I discussed three options for getting film into it: cutting down glass plates, cutting down film, or cutting down printing paper. I don’t currently have large enough film to cut down, and I found that the glass plates I had hoped to useContinue reading “First picture from the Instantograph”

Lancaster Instantograph

For Christmas, my father-in-law-to-be gave me a Victorian mahogany and brass view camera. It’s an Instantograph, manufactured by J Lancaster & Son of Birmingham. Despite its name, there’s nothing instant about this camera! The Instantograph was first introduced in 1882 and evolved through various design iterations until the last ones were made some time in the earlyContinue reading “Lancaster Instantograph”