Peculiar Ponies

They'd been on my wishlist for quite some time, the peculiar ponies I sometimes pass on my way home from work. The previous session with them was not very successful, somehow I managed to screw up each and every picture of them. This time it worked as intended. I know they're often blamed for spitting and being unkind, but they look like really kind and gentle giants to me!

They didn't seem to mind me taking pictures. Although the little one seemed slightly confused:

"Pssst, mommy, why is she pointing that black thing at us?"

Plus I'll admit they don't always have the most elegant or intelligent expression:

Zombie apocalypse

The good news: I actually have brains!
The bad news: it was confirmed when I head-butted a wall, causing a concussion.
The big question: what to do when the zombie apocalypse happens?

So much to do, so little time

Gnomes are well-known for their expansive minds, broad range of interest and ability to multitask. Unfortunately Mother Nature does not find that enough reason to grant us more than 24 hours per day. So we must carefully think about how we spend our time: reading, photography, goldsmithing, blogging or hanging out with friends and loved ones. Not to mention this tiny little thing called work. Or sleeping, which is somewhat mandatory.

Lately I've been very busy spending time with my new best friend, including an actual course in photography and a new blog to capture (pun intended) my development (also pun intended) into a real photographer. So far my new hobby has been great fun, but rather time-consuming. However, the blog's up and running and all the equipment is sorted, I got my first grades and everything's going shiny.

Which brings me to the next excuse for blogging so little lately: a goldsmithing course! Not that I've actually touched gold yet, only brass and nickel silver. I haven't done any actual smithing either. So far it's been mainly cutting, filing, sanding and polishing, and hopefully we'll start with the topic of riveting next week. Naturally this required a shiny blog as well, which has also been quite a time-sink. Here's some of the home-made shiny stuff:

For the eagle-eyed nerds among us: yes, that is indeed the royal crest of Hyrule!

The great outdoors

After early autumn and Indian summer, we now have ‘how on earth is this supposed to be November?’ Not a mushroom in sight and temperatures of 21 degree Celsius, the highest ever recorded temperatures for November! Add to that blue skies and radiant sun and you have the perfect opportunity to go outside one last time without having to bring the wellies and brollies.

Having a new camera bag meant the camera had to come along, so behold: nature in all it’s glory!

It's heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere!

Luckily, I'm the patient type (*cough*), because the wait for my new camera bag took forever. I'll happily admit that was completely my own fault. After ordering my first bag, I decided I wanted another one as well, effectively resetting the timer on the combined order. So after a long long wait (and paying hefty duties imposed by customs, growl) I finally got to unpack my wonderful new travel companions.

This is how I received them, neatly boxed up and wrapped up:

And here's a review of the bags in full glory, basking in the sunshine of an incredibly beautiful November day.

Bag number 1 is medium sized with a full leather flap:

The leather is unbelievably soft and supple, and it has a metallic hue that makes it shine like copper. So pretty!! I have a matching camera strap as well, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

The remaining outer parts of the bag are made of water repellant canvas, which gives it a tough and sturdy look:

The inside is amazing as well. The fabric I picked is featured on the front pockets, as well as the separate compartment which can be used to store a tablet or paperwork.

The inner flap, the lining and the padding are made of a wonderful dark red (bordeaux) fabric. 

Bag number 2 is of the convertible type, and equally pretty:

The cool thing about this bag is that you can take out the padded interior that normally protects your camera, so you can use it as a regular handbag as well. Plus it doesn't immediately show that you're carrying around a fortune's worth of glass and plastic. I was a little concerned about the dark blue. I don't really like matte leather, but it's got a lovely shine to it after all.

The back is once again made of indestructible canvas, so I don't have to worry about dirt, stains or scratches. Which is always handy for a bag that has to follow you everywhere!

With the padded interior this becomes a lovely carrier for the camera and plenty of accessories.

Once again, the attention to detail and practicality is superb. The padded bits can be folded away to create exactly the shape required for camera/lenses, there are handy zippers, pockets and compartments for loose bits and the bag closes with a big zipper, so raindrops, dust and pickpockets don't stand a chance.

Lastly, there's a separate insert, meaning I can convert all of my handbags into a camera carrier:

Everything looks extremely well thought out, well made and durable. So all in all I am one very happy photographer!!