There's other things on my mind right now and today's been a bit of rollercoaster but if there's anything I've learned it's that change is never permanent and digging out those things you loved the most help you though things.
For me just getting away from whatever that is, going for a walk, watching the world go by maybe taking the odd picture or two helps.
This picture was taken on a camera I've had for getting on for 19 years, when I first realized I wanted to take good pictures and what I had was getting in the way of that.
In that time I've gotten better lenses for it, learned along the way more about how to to take the pictures I had in my mind, trying different films and getting used to the different ways lighting alters the scene.
And in some ways at least it's the same sort of thing when it comes to adapting to life, trying and reviewing different strategies to make the best of the situation as is and it's all coming together.
There are some things you buy that last a few years before you ultimately replace them having either fell apart or technology has moved on and there's those that you keep and this is one.
I've had these Sennhesier HD560 II "Ovation" headphones for a good while having been introduced in 1991 but in the intervening years a lot of work was needed on them.
Starting with the leads to each headphone, the red right hand plug had become badly frayed at that plug end and needed replacing as the sound just cuts out.
The connections are actually on a plug and with a pair of pliers, you can pull them out and I was able to get a replacement lead set that also had better quality oxygen free cooper and gold plated connectors and have them fitted which solved that problem
This part, the centring insert and foam inner pads was a bigger problem because the foam inner pads had chemically become unstable disintegrating into a sticky powdery mess so not only had the pad fell apart, it had left deposits on that insert that needed to cleaned off.
I ordered some generic circular pads for them and inserted them and then refitted the outer cushion pads having given them a clean.
They now sound a little more open and deeper than they originally did which baring in mind at the time these were very expensive new,now not only have they been restored but are better than ever.
Phew, it isn't half hot which is why I'm in reality working on this tonight as cools a little rather than first thing tomorrow.
I got a film back and this picture taken locally is one I thought you'd quite enjoy of a couple of horses stabled within walking distance of home one morning early last Month.
I've always loved horses with living in the country and I'm sure you can see why.
Taken with Minolta Rokkor PE 300mm F5.6 telephoto lens, on Minolta X500 (aka 570 in North America), supported on fence.
Film: Fuji Superia 200 colour print.
There are somethings you don't anticipate doing but then for reasons best known to themselves, it just happens like having being using for a good two and a half years with one pair of headphones they are picked up by a n other and you find the wire has broken.
You repair that only to find the transducer that makes the sound in that ear seems to be damaged too.
With that in mind, you've only one real option here, replacing it and as I have have a small female face many bigger headphones just don't sit right on my ears which leads to a bass light sound your options are a bit limited.
One I did find was Beyerdynamic's DT235 which is quite a smaller fitting model with a soft piece over the plastic headband rather than anything chunky.
One big improvement is the lead which is quite a bit thicker than similar models around this price (about GBP £45), wired from the left with internal connections to the right unit which is less likely to break off.
Looking around I spotted a vendor selling a pair off at substantial discount as a unused catalogue return less than what most wanted my previous pair for for I bought these instead.
The sound is a good deal less congested on busy tracks sounding very open, the bass while extended doesn't over dominate proceedings and the transients, those very fast sounds often associated with percussion are surprisingly good.
I'm impressed by this unplanned for upgrade which works well with my Fiio X1 digital audio player.
If you were wondering why all this photo talk but where are the pictures the reason was a big delay at the lab as, given this is 2015 I actually wanted them scanning to jpeg digitally using a professional scanner rather than the cheap and cheerful sub $60 offerings you can get.
Here we have a moored Narrow Boat (aka a "Barge in Northern British) along the Trent and Mersey canal in the North-west Midlands of England.
Taken on Minolta X500 (aka 570 back in Canada and the States), Tamron 28-80 F3.5-4.2SP on Fuji Superia 200, handheld.
One of the good things about digital download sites is sometimes albums that aren't currently available on record or cd are made available in that form.
This is a good example of one, the tenth Commodores album form the Fall of '83 which was not issued on cd in the UK or States and to whom had been long deleted on tape and record featuring the hit Only You.
Well as part of the Apple's Mastered For iTunes program all the Commodores albums have comeback out, freshly mastered and in with them was this, which I've only ever owned on pre-recorded cassette and my only digital copy was that copied to MiniDisc several years back.
Also included in it are the Caught In The Act and Movin' On albums the latter does sound a lot better than the PTG cd taken from a rather distorted record and the classic Hot on the tracks,Zoom,Natural High and Midnight Might albums, the home of hit 45's Brick House, Sweet Love,Just To Be Close to You,Three Times a Lady and Still.
Naturally I topped up on titles I don't have on cd for my music collection as these AAC 'lossy' encoded versions do sound rather good.
Did someone say Snap! last week?
Hmm the film is off to the lab and I'll be shortly test driving another "Those have loved" item fairly soon.
Going cheap and I mean cheap was this the type 27A Tamron 28-80mm F3.5 thru F4.2 variable aperture across the zoom range lens complete with Minolta MD mount that needs a bit a clean externally and required front and rear caps as they're MIA.
The main advantage of it is you can go from a fairly wide 28mm to a practically portrait short telephoto 80mm focal length with a twist of this two touch zoom's zoom range knob without change lenses on your camera.
Opinions seems to vary about it's quality, it appears to be potentially more troubled by flare for having the sun to the side of the front element than some (although I've bad memories of the mid 90's Centon 28-70 F3.5-4.5 which was very prone to it!) and it appears to benefit from used past F5.6 more being a bit soft wide open but if used hand hold with ISO 200 film in good light shouldn't be a problem for general 'our day out' photography where changing fixed length lenses in the street may not be easy.
The close focusing is good so while not the equal of dedicated macro lens for close ups is serviceable in the field.
It takes a 67mm filter which is a bit on the big side and usually dear but I managed to track down a UV one cheaply.
