The Girls of St. Brides

Reading is a passion of mine and it is not uncommon for authors  to write a whole series of stories that are self contained and over time start again which does make it hard pick a series to work ones way through.
In the instance of Dorita Fairlie Bruce, she actually wrote five whole series so I've cherry picked this the start of the St. Brides/Maudlsey series to work my way through.

 Originally written in nineteen twenty-three and long out of print, this introduces to Island School of St. Brides on Inchmore far away from industrial west coast of Scotland and introduces us to its main characters although it obviously was not conceived as part of the "Nancy at St.Brides" seires at the outset as Nancy doesn't make an appearance!
One strong point of this book is the inclusion of a disabled girl, Winifred who was disabled in early childhood and uses a wheelchair which is very rare for the period and how it touches on the idea of intergration, talking about the sense of isolation and lack of acceptance showing how in this school and through the friendship with Morag, she emerges becoming very much a part of the school community.
Integrated education is as I know from direct personal experience as a disabled girl is still controversial and indeed for a period many did not have what would be recognized as a (appropriate) academic education.
Because it was written in nineteen twenty-three, Dorita does use the term "Cripple" to describe Winifrid which would jar many today but we need to remember that it's from the German term "Krupil" and one of the meanings of that word is "lame" which medically speaking is true as her limbs are indeed just that as are mine. It also is the case cripple don't acquire the common abusive undertones it did in the nineteen fifties and sixties as did "spastic" both of which went on unofficial blacklists of terms not to be used from the late seventies onward but Dorita in fairness uses cripple with sensitivity.
I wouldn't damn a person for a choice of word when used correctly and moreover the content clearly is progressive.

Elton John on vinyl

A good few years back, going back the last dying days of my original laptop I did post something about my collection of Elton John cds and his "To Be Continued..." box set of 1990 of which my copy is Canadian.
During a period in the late 1980's through early 90's much of my original vinyl and tape collection of his got converted into cds some of which are specialty gold re-masters of better than regular cd quality.
Feeling the need as I got back into vinyl for some of this prolific singer/songwriters output in that form, I decided to add a couple of well chosen compilations.

 My original copy of this the 1974 Greatest Hits album was the MCA edition that had a different track selection but it was an album much played growing up and to which I have the DCC gold remaster that over twenty years on still stands out.
What's on it ten essential tracks including such vignettes as Crocodile Rock, Candle in the Wind and plaintive Border Song.
I got the UK lp which sounds like he's almost in your room singing.

 That compilation was followed up three years later by another that because he had just switch labels required some cross-label licensing that has caused issues with the US cd edition since to the point I remade the selection digitally.
The strength of this compilation was it housed on lp form a number of non album 45's such as Pinball Wizard, Philadelphia Freedom and Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and his Rocket Records duet Don't Go Breaking My Heart with Kiki Dee which was a British #1.
I decided to get the UK version as it sounded better and between both volumes of Greatest Hits I was only missing one song, Levon, and that didn't matter so much.

Extreme wide angle lens for the Olympus camera

For a long time I had considered  the advantages of so-called ultra wide angle lenses as I found the 24mm lens a focal length  that didn't seem to offer too many advantages over a 28mm  for the inevitable extra weight of lugging it about without offering some of the advantages  in terms of getting heaps more into the frame or its creative uses building on the perspective distortion when shooting subjects such as cars close.

Around  2000 Vivitar and Cosina had out a 19 through 35mm ultra wide-angle zoom lenses in a variety of manual focus camera fittings including Olympus OM that appealed but tracking down the OM fitting proved difficult and some other options such as the Centon/Sirius 18-35 while plentiful used had terrible reputations for image quality.

As had been a while since I'd bought a 'new' lens, I ordered the Tamron 17mm F 3.5 Adaptall 2 in the high performance SP series

This is the later 151B version that dispensed with the built in black and white photo filters to simplify construction as well as reducing costs and adding a more modern feel to this longstanding lens.

Independent lens tests put this at the same quality as the Zuiko 18mm F3.5 which is some 60% more expensive used and exceeding it's equivalent by Minolta in the MD system.

As with all Adaptall 2 lenses, armed with the appropriate attachable mount they can mounted on nearly all manual focus bodies.

Keeping your records clean

As anyone who reads this blog knows music is a big thing with me not least having a actual record collection so I thought I'd post something connected with it.
Anyone who has records know like a cd,  they can get a bit dirty but while you only normally tell if a cd is dirty if say it skips, with a record you may hear crackles or a rustling sound even if it looks clean because while surface may be, the groove the music is stored in, isn't.
So it isn't long before you start looking at how to clean it, often scratching ones head as you see anything that looks like a automobile windscreen wiper to big machines costing several hundred pounds being offered that proper to do it
I have tried many ways to do it, sometimes mixing my own cleaning mixture up but there's a simple kit that just does it and it's inexpensive cos you provide the elbow grease!
The Vinyl Revival cleaning kit available on Amazon and Ebay provides all you actually need in simple box.

You get two spray bottles available in different quantities one being the active cleaning solution that you spray on to the disc and wipe on, the other is a spray to rinse that off taking the dirt and dust away together with any trace of the cleaner, wiping it dry.
Between two to four sprays of each work out fine.
The cleaner doesn't contain any alcohol so doesn't dry or risk damaging through frequent use your records vinyl.

It comes with two cloths, although you buy spares easily, the green one is for putting your record on and the blue one has even thinner micropores for spreading the cleaner and applying after rising it off.
I find this very effective, using it to cure the rustling noise between tracks on my recently acquired Abandoned Luncheonette lp from the early nineteen-seventies leaving sounding quieter than some new records!

Moderate Telephoto lenses for the Olympus cameras

This is the classic Zuiko 135mm F3.5 moderate telephoto lens good for sports, isolating people at events and air shows.

Although this is half a F stop slower compared to the regular F2.8 version the viewfinder is such you can't notice it and you save quite a bit of weight together with the advantage of using the same size filter thread (49mm) as your wide angle lenses. It makes for an easy to use lens handheld as well as on the tripod.

200mm lens are not the sort of thing you use everyday that's for sure but they have their place in the photographic scheme of thing such as Landscapes - mountain images - where their stacked perspective is easily recognizable 0r for sports photography.This is the Zuiko F4 which as such lenses go is quite light so you can use it handheld although support in the form of Monopods or Tripods really is best as the greater magnification increases the risk of camera shake.I bought mine in May 1997 and really like it's quality

Tom Petty

The last time I mentioned TP was in 2014 with the Hypnotic Eye album although I have a lot of Tom Petty's albums on cd.

 This album originally came out in 1993 remaining a favourite of many although though their have been other compilations such as Playback box set and 2000's Anthology: Through The Years and it recently (July 2016) came out on double vinyl.
More accurately for people living  my side of the Atlantic, it's a re-issue as there was a very limited vinyl release for Europe and the UK and that edition is like much early 90's vinyl very expensive when you see a copy.
The strength of this set is its brevity containing only the 45's and two new recordings such as Mary Jane's 2nd Dance and that the running order makes for a highly enjoyable play starting with such early tracks as American Girl running through such gems as I Need To Know, Refugee, Don't Come Around Here No More and I Won't Back Down with a lack of anything resembling padding so in just over 68 minutes the case for Tom Petty is made convincingly in song and arrangements.
The four side splits are chosen well so you get the opportunity changing them to reflect on what you have heard and in non technical terms the sound and pressing quality of this European lp set is really high with the grooves cut by Chris Bell.

 Before the Heartbreakers were formed, there were a group of guys who played with Tom Petty In Gainsville, Florida and that band was reformed for an album in 2007 and this, Mudcrutch2, is their new offering also bought on vinyl issued May 20th with shared song writing between the band and Tom.

Summer playtime

Summer for me always brings back memories of vacations of the past typically in traditional seaside resorts with beaches, long shore lines to walk on and playing in the sand, making big sandcastles with moats.

It's also days out at the fair, visiting the amusement arcades, eating ice cream, going on the Dodgems and riding the Merry-Go-Round with its distinctive rhythms without a care in the world.

It's also the place adult but child me really feels at home in, doing what I understand the best having fun.