Black & White Photography-Getting That Grainy Look

I've learned through trial and error, lots of error, how to get that grainy look I love in black and white images.
The three top ones were taken with my digital camera. They were all greatly underexposed (too dark). When I lightened them in IPhoto you could see all the colored pixels, which doesn't look good in a color photo. Unless you're trying to do something funky, which I very well may try at a later date!
But after changing them to black and white, the pixels now give a grainy look. I'm very happy to have stumbled on this, since I love, love, love a grainy b&w photo.
The bottom three were taken with true black and white film. And now that I'm comparing the two, the bottom ones are grainier. Is that a word? Should it be 'more grainy'? I still have one roll of b&w film left which I'll soon shoot. It's just too bad that the processing will be over $20.
And now that I've gotten used to instant feedback on a digital camera, it'll be hard as the dickens to take photos and not know if the exposure is correct. For me, that used to be the fascination of a film camera. You know, it's like being pregnant and not finding out the sex of the baby until after it's born. But now I want to know immediately! And I'm talking about photos, not babies.
*What is the dickens, and not Charles? That's just one of our 'southernisms'. But who knows what it means? We also say, "He's mean as the dickens." That doesn't make much sense either.

Sunset Tide Pool, Bandon Beach

Last week we were out in Oregon and Washington to visit Jessica's family. While the focus of the trip was to spend time with family, we did make it out here and there to see the sights and get in a little bit of photography time. These shots were on Bandon Beach in Oregon, one of my favorite areas along the entire coast. Bandon is a rather well-known beach and a favorite of photographers because of the large variety of "sea stacks" that are all along the beach. At sunset the place is a photographer's paradise, especially on evenings where the tide is low and receding. Many of the sea stacks were high and dry, others had pools of water around them. Several were covered with star fish along the bottom edges of the rocks. We had a glorious sunset during our evening at Bandon. It was one of the highlights of the trip for sure!

Putting a face to a name

One of the things rarely (if ever) mentioned about cycle touring, is trying to visualise a route in the planning phase. I'm not talking about picking out hills with a topographic map, or scouting the amenities in various towns along the way (as much fun as this can be). I'm referring to the more basic things, such as the terrain and scenery.
Last weekend two of the roads I used were no more than lines on a map. I had a 'vision' of what I'd be riding through, of course. It was based on other things I'd seen in the vicinity, yet when I actually arrived, I was astonished by just how different things really were. I knew of course that there would be a Clarence River gorge, but I had just imagined it looking completely different to the way it appeared on my arrival.
The thing is, now if I look at a map of that area (as I may do again when planning future long weekends), I actually have a clear picture in my mind, based on the experience of having ridden that road. The picture now seems to much clearer than the 'vision' I had before. This was especially true with many of the places I rode in New Zealand last year. Already I'm poring over various maps before my Scotland tour later in the year (even if I'm highly unlikely to stick to any route plan that I make now). I've even seen a few altitude profiles, but the excitement comes from wondering what I'm actually going to see when I get there, and just how things will pan out when I put a 'face' to those place names.

• In other news, it seems I have to update my blogroll again. I thought it was a bit of a gee-up when someone turned up with the same blog name that I'm using, but apparently it's for real. More importantly, Zen Rao has a great writing style, so go over and check it out.
  
• In other news, someone else has a blog. This guy doesn't write much, but I can't escape the fact that back in 1990, he was my hero.

12 kuvaa/photos - my walk to work

Two Finnish bloggers, Krisu and Mari, have started a year-long project of posting photos taken in the same spot each month. I was thinking along the same lines, of tracking the progress of the seasons through my morning walk to work, so I'm slipping in a month late with October's post. Photos from September and October are already up at 12 kuvaa/photos, with the idea that the photos accumulate within each successive post to give a lovely time series effect.
The photo above is taken on the Water of Leith walkway, which runs from the port of Leith through the heart of Edinburgh and up to the hills. Much of it is on former suburban railway routes, now converted to bike and foot traffic. I took this shot at 7.50 a.m. on 1 October.
I may be bending the rules a bit by posting more than one photo in this first post, but there are points on my walk where I always notice what's changing, day by day, and so I've decided to include them too. In future I'll do an overspill post for these other shots.
Here I feel a hundred miles away from the city. The traffic is only a very distant hum, with birdsong and bikes to the fore.

Here's part of the grandiose wall where the walkway passes by Warriston cemetery.

When the tree-lined section of the path ends, the skyline of Edinburgh appears. Arthur's Seat and Calton Hill in the shot below, and then Edinburgh Castle in the first shot above.

Over the course of the year I hope to see an improvement in my photo quality. I have a photo course coming up as a birthday present, when I'll be initiated into the mysteries such as how not to have a white-out sky.

Another Gilia Tricolor

A bird's eye flower that opened just after a rainstorm.

Inside for winter

The older blocks of flats in Edinburgh have a basement floor reached by a stone staircase from the street. Estate agents call them 'garden flats', because they most often have a back door which opens straight out onto a garden, sometimes a private garden, and it sounds better than 'basement'. Strolling along a street peeking into these basement areas and the interior of the flat is a great diversion - I'm sure I'm not the only Edinburgher who enjoys this. Here's one I came across where the owner is well prepared for winter weather - the garden gnomes have been tempted indoors, but are still keeping watch on their property.

Listening Sessions

Thursday afternoon/evening I attended the last county-wide trail planning "Listening Session". The session was sponsored by Pottawattamie County Conservation and the County-wide Trail Planning Committee in partnership with the National Park Service's Trails and Conservation Assistance Program (RTCA).
The county is starting an effort to build a county-wise master plan for recreational trails. The session started with a slide presentation briefly outlining the benefits of trails and the goals of the meeting.
There were about 25-30 participant in the session (last of the series) I attended. Each of the 6 tables had a large map of Pottawattamie County, Out task was to draw lines on the map showing where we would like to see trails. Pink markers were used to designate "hard surface" (gravel, asphalt, concrete, etc). Green designated dirt (equestrian and/or mountain bike) trails.
Maps from the 4 sessions will be overlayed, to see the most desirable locations for trails. From there the trails group can start developing the county-winde trails master plan.
We were cautioned that this was a long term process. (But its a start!
Above photo is of the trails our table lined out.