Waffle & Whinge.

  Well, looky loo, I’ve changed the name of the blog. I liked Twilight Tales but in all honesty, I’ve always preferred Waffle and Whinge so I’ve been toying with the idea for a while. Then the other day I searched for Twilight Tales on Google and there were hundreds of results, maybe more, I didn’t count them. But I was a little disappointed to think the title was so common. Waffle and Whinge, on the other hand, didn’t have any significant results. There were lots for waffle and some whinge, but nothing specifically for waffle and whinge together. I like that little bit of  individuality. So I changed the title.  

  Incidentally, the picture with the title is a photograph I took some years ago. It’s a lake in South Weald Park which is a short drive from where I live. It was taken at around 6am on one of my more enthusiastic photo jaunts. When I was more involved in my photography I used to take photos of chimneys. Somewhere along the way I noticed that there were some very ornate and adventurous chimney styles out there and I started looking out for them wherever I went and before I knew it, I had a hobby on my hands. I have chimney pics from all over the place. So okay, it isn’t the most riveting photo collection you’ll ever see but I had fun taking the photos and, really, isn’t that the aim of any hobby - to enjoy it?

  When I started blogging all those years ago it was a popular pastime. Not so much these days thanks to Twitter and Facebook etc. But there were lots of blogs around and some revolved around photography. These were great for me as they often set assignments and they were fun. The topics would be quite varied. One week it may be night photography, another week it may be portraits or even trick photography, sometimes it was just a colour or maybe a shape. There were never any prizes for  the best images, it was all for the enjoyment and it was great in encouraging me to get out and use my camera more.

  I was a postman at the time and I was used to getting up in the early hours for work. So, on my days off I would quite often take my camera out at 5am looking something to photograph. Sometimes I would visit a place several times at different times of the day or even different times of the year. But the light of the early morning is my favourite time for photography, as that top photo will prove. Reet could never understand that I would get up so early on my days off to go out when I’d had to get up early all week. But I figured that if I could get up that early to do something that I HAD to do. Why wouldn’t I get up early for something I wanted to do? 

  During my more enthusiastic days of photography I did a couple of weddings for friends. I didn’t charge other than for the film and developing. One of those weddings took place in snow and if you know about photography you will know that all that whiteness can mess with your light  metering. I kinda knew how to overcome it but since this was a wedding I was terrified that I’d mess up. I reckon I was more nervous than the bride and groom on that occasion. Thankfully though, the photos turned out okay. Phew!

  I also took some portfolio pictures for a friend who was trying to get into acting. They were quite fun to do as they needed to be in black and white and I had my own darkroom setup at the time. So I developed them all myself and was quite pleased with the results. Sadly though, he didn’t make it to stardom. In my blog of the time I used to take photos of extreme close ups and see if anyone could guess what they were. That was fun and quite popular.

  I figured, seeing as I’ve been talking photography I ought to include a few photos. I have thousands of pics that I’ve taken through the years and, to be honest, many of them are rubbish. I was never one to sort through them and throw out the trash, especially since I went digital. So, for this entry I’ve chosen just three. The subject matter varies but they are similar in that they are all firsts. 

  First up then is the first photo I ever took of Honey, our golden lab. She’d only been with us for a day or two and we had to go out and leave her. We shut her in the kitchen because we didn’t know if she’d chew the sofa or rip the cushions up while we were out. When we got back, this is what we saw. She looked so sad but at the same time pleased to see us. My camera was to hand and I quickly snapped this pic.  (I had to crop it a here a little because the original had most of the door in frame.) It wasn’t the best  photo I’ve ever taken , not by a long chalk and I tried to recreate it somany times in order to get it more photo-correct if you know what I mean. But I always come back to this one as it was so natural and it means so much to me because I think this was the point when I fell completely in love with her.

  This next image is not quite an original, it is a retake of the first photograph I ever developed myself when I was taking an O level evening class in photography. The first lesson introduced us to all that the classes would hold and then we were told to go and take some photos for developing next week. The theme was unusual angles. This was my effort, or rather, as I said, a retake of the original. The original was in black and white and I’m sure I have a hard copy of it somewhere. Years later, for one of the photo assignments I mentioned earlier, I retook the pics in colour. As it happens, this turned out almost monochromatic in any case. I have to say though, that I prefer the original black and white version. If only I could find the darn thing.

  The last photo I’m going to bore you with is the first one I developed for my O level exam. This was a series of seven or eight pics I took of a local multi-story car park. This copy as you might guess has been edited and framed in Photoshop as I uploaded it to my  Flickr  account and just wanted to tidy it up. Mind you, it was good enough to help me win a pass in my O level exam so maybe it didn’t need tweaking at all. I spent two years learning photography at evening classes and came away with an O and an A level.

  Not something I ever achieved in my school days, not for any subject. It was Reet’s idea for me to go to night school as she could see I was deeply interested. And I have to say it was the most enjoyable time. It also gave me the incentive to take other night school classes. I  did two years learning French and that too was good. I love French and France. I even tried to convince Reet that we should move there in our early days. But alas, it wasn’t to be. 

  I didn’t get any certificates or anything for French but, I did get an O and an A level in English. I’d always enjoyed English at school but I didn’t take any exams before leaving. So it was nice to know that I could do it, even if I had to pay for night school classes to do so.

 Well, I believe I  might have run out of wind so I’ll bid you goodbye for now.

  More soon, if you’re lucky.

  B. x