Out & About in February Lockdown

Those sensitive types among us who can hear the weather and listen to the wind will have just started to feel the difference in the evening atmosphere. Just gone is all the snow and ice but with a coolness certainly remaining, there is starting to be a difference. Rain starts to fall and water that is unfrozen feeds the wind dried soil that has been totally dried. Blackbirds can notice this change too and their calls inform everyone that rain is on the way but also something else, Spring.

Getting ‘Out and About’ during lockdown is challenging to say the least. However with all this enforced stillness nature has already made its way right to our doorsteps. The living beings are all starting to get ready to move with purpose, although the time is not right now but soon it will be.

Sadly one of the things that cannot be replicated in the backyard are the grand sweeping vistas and wide open spaces that we find in the upland environment. Neither can we replicate the damp mystery of a large forest or woodland. So perhaps use this time to focus on the macro and see what you find. Why not take a stroll with a camera with an interesting lens and see what you discover?

I do enjoy using odd lenses and these are normally manual focus primes from yesteryear. Using an adapter you can successfully mount most vintage lenses to a mirrorless camera. This is the safer alternative than to try to mount to a DSLR, as you can potentially damage the mirror but using non native lenses. Using a Sony mirrorless and the corresponding adapters I have got some unique results from these old forgotten lenses. I find the results are more lifelike, ‘real’ as well as displaying a hard to describe quality. This quality is most pleasing, far more so than any ‘modern’ lens.

So take a stroll and see what you notice. Follow your instinct and curiosity.

-Sunny