Quote from David duChemin

Working really hard to get an image only makes it a hard-earned image, not a compelling one. Shooting someone you dearly love makes it a photograph of someone you dearly love, not one that is necessarily well exposed, well composed, or otherwise emotive to anyone but you. Shooting a poor image of an exotic place or a man with a turban doesn’t make it a good photograph, just a lousy shot of a guy with a turban. Using a long lens and getting really, really close to a duck doesn’t make it a good photograph of a duck, just a really, really close one. What makes a good photograph is judged by other criteria entirely.

I like the "duck" bit!

Anger management for beginners

It's been a funny old sort of week. A most unpleasant contretemps in the City Plaza car park in TKS started it off on a bad foot. Two local thugs threatened me and started shouting "White shit" after I asked one of them to "fie dee" after he had tried at least 3 times to park his Jag in a space big enough for a London bus (some poetic license perhaps). I have his car number so if anyone knows how to track the trash down I'd like to introduce him to some friends of mine in blue. The so-called "security" guards in the car park feigned interest but claimed the CCTV camera, which was pointing directly at the spot showed "nothing suspicious'. Three cheers for this gloriously non-racist society. My wife, who is god bless her, Chinese, suggested I call them yellow dogs but I am very fond of Golden retrievers and I felt this would be unkind to the GRs.

A couple of days off on Thursday and Friday. The same wife, for I am monogamous - one can after all have too much of a good thing - suggested I should rename "holiday" as "working from home"-day. I see her point. Still, it gave me a chance to potter a little, run the moth trap for a few hours each night, take some more photos with the Leica, take some difficult decisions about pensions and spend more quality time with Lulu. I needed some rest after barely sleeping for several night after the CP incident due to a mixture of shock and outrage that morons like this are allowed to walk free in civil society. His plate starts MD so I guess the M stands for Moron. D is probably for Dick-head.

I confess I am struggling with the Leica. Having only a 50mm lens (in itself costing roughly the GDP of one of the smaller PIIGS) I have to see things differently. I have immersed myself in all sorts of sites and books, reading about Cartier Bresson, Magnum and looking at some of the classic work of iconic photographers. I am captivated by black and white and thoroughly recommend Michael Freeman's Complete Guide to B&W Digital Photography, which I picked up in Waterstones on London Wall 10 days ago. I am also building a fair number of links to sites that give me comfort that being "crap" is but a milestone on the march of progress towards being "slightly less crap". Sort of an experienced crap photographer.

I'd like to recommend two other works. Many people know Satyajit Das as the author of Traders, Guns and Money. However he has also written a wonderful eco-traveller book called In Search of the Pangolin. I have read this twice. Firstly before I had met Das and again after having met him for breakfast in The Mandarin Oriental. Having done many similar trips I can confirm many of his experiences are familiar. The Amazon trailer says:

A pangolin is an obscure species of scaly anteater. Prehistoric in appearance, it is about the size of a cat with a long tail, and is covered in large yellowish-brown scales. "In Search of the Pangolin" is a unique potted travel narrative focused on eco-tourism, from the point of view of two eco-tourists, as they search for the beast over a period of 15 years. The book combines wicked humour with passionate and often poignant insights into the natural world and the culture, games and deception of conservation. The book's central focus is to provide insights into the world of eco-travel and eco-travellers. Outlining the grand spectacles and magnificence of the natural world that the traveller seeks out, and exploring the promise of eco-travel (furthering conservation and environmental awareness), the book also addresses the shallow reality (eco-travel is in fact another form of consumption and harms the world that it is seeking to preserve).

This really understates it and it is one of my favourite reads. And Das didn't pay me to say that!

And then another of my all-time must read authors, Simon Barnes. An amazing writer on both sport and natural history he has a growing list of wonderful works behind him. My favourite remains "Flying in the Face of Nature: Year in Minsmere Bird Reserve". However I think any person with a reasonable interest in natural history and especially those with a passion for it will emerge from "My Natural History" a happier person. I seem to have missed out on the diversion into recreational drugs that Barnes admits to but otherwise I did find myself feeling oddly in harmony with much of what he wrote. He is one of the people I would like to have round to dinner - maybe with Das at the same time. If Charlotte Uhlenbroek were free to join us I am sure it would be a wonderful evening.

If I may return to the Leica for a moment, I find myself looking at the images and wondering if it really merits its reputation. It is hard to put your finger on but there is a certain difference from the typical DSLR output. The colour seems to be purer, the images sharper without any processing, they have a sense of light and harmony that I don't sense in others. The images seem to float rather than be static. And they do convert wonderfully to black and white. It is probably a personal deception, trying to convince myself that somehow just handling the Leica will rub off some of that CB magic, the defining moment will find me (or I it) each time I sally forth on my strolls into Sai Kung. I read somewhere that Cartier Bresson claimed that he often walked 30-40km a day when working a location. I guess I walk about 3-4km. Maybe if I walked ten times as far my photos would be ten times better. But perhaps not.

By close of play Monday I will have taken a significant step on the road to retirement, moving my pensions in to a QROPS and hoping I can make better investment decisions than the existing bunch of trustees. Giving up a defined benefit pension seems mildly crazy but you only die once and I am now the age at which my paternal grandfather died and my father passed on at 65 so somehow I don't feel I'm giving up a lot. If I get to 70 I'll be turning metaphorical cartwheels in my wheelchair. Some days I feel I'll do well to make it through to sunrise. As my dear old Dad used to say, "see you in the morning..... if I'm spared". And of course, on October 22nd 1986, he wasn't. I fell out with religion that day and have never looked back since.

So there we are, not much on birds and bugs but a few metaphysical musings and some books to read. Today I was cheered up by discovering something called the Gutenburg Project, which allows you to download out of copyright books for free and I immediately downloaded some P G Wodehouse. If a younger reader passes by and thinks "who he?" just google for PGW quotes and discover such gems as:

"As for Gussie Finknottle, many an experienced undertaker would have been deceived by his appearance and started embalming on sight."

I also discovered that the swallows in the garage have young and in the hedge opposite a newly fledged Tree sparrow was being stuffed to the gunwales with caterpillars by a loving parent. Hey ho. The Yellow dogs can bark but they can't take the joys of the world away from us.

Your devoted scribe

White Shit.

On Sai Kung sea front yesterday most of the restaurants had these horseshoe crabs on "display". They really are amazing looking things. I believe they are Tachypleus tridentatus.



People were fascinated by them and I have to say they remind me of a childhood game called "Magic Robot". Who remembers this?




I had gone down to see if there were any terns still about but I drew blank. I did however see a Black-crowned night heron, the first I have seen here. The light was just amazing - crystal clear. Today, back to normal - very hazy. All I have seen this morning, apart from some butterflies in the garden, is a flock of 30+ egrets flying in the distance. The sun was glinting off them and it was like a moving pattern of frost on the windows. They circled for ages without landing before disappearing out of sight. They cant be far away.

One of our garden plants has been stripped back to the stalks and stems by caterpillars. This seems to annoy Mrs. Ha and the good old gardener has immediately offered to nuke the lot of them. Sensibly I was consulted before death and destruction was let loose on the poor things so they are still there, munching contentedly on what is left. This is clearly their only larval food plant in the garden as all other plants are untouched. I sense the word "organic" is not in the local dictionary.

The pollution in Hong Kong seems to be getting worse rather than better. Yours truly has been diagnosed as asthmatic and it is all down, it seems, to inhaling the local air. I have no choice as far as I know. Not breathing can have dangerous side effects so I have decided that in my next incarnation I shall come back as a horseshoe crab and if anybody asks me a question I shall swing my tail and point to the answer. Just like the magic robot. Happy days.

Terns

Each Spring terns are regular off the piers in Sai Kung. How long they will stay this time I can't say but they certainly attract photographers and this morning I noticed a few dipping and skimming amongst the moored boats. I went home to get a 400mm lens and then returned to try and capture some of the Whiskereds and White-winged. The light was, as usual, pretty grey and I was dialing in at least +1 in exposure compensation. Not many came as close as I needed but I took a few shots that although not good are bloggable. These are beautiful birds to watch an d easy to photograph once they come within a reasonable distance (i.e to fill half the frame) . Most people ignore them and probably don't even notice them. One chatty American tourist had seen the White-bellied sea eagles from Yeung Chau but hadn't seen the contrasting brilliance of the White-winged terns. I don't have a decent shot of one in breeding plumage but some in non-breeding plumage are passable. I suspect they will hang around for a while and if I have time I shall try again tomorrow.

Wong Chuk Yeung revisited and birds in flight

Some readers may be aware that there is an election imminent in a remote, developing kingdom called "The United". And so my top image is the door to Number Ten, dedicated to nobody in particular.

Yesterday was my birthday (please send cake) and in the morning Mrs. Ha and I did a long ramble up the hill and on to Wong Chuk Yeung. Hazy on the way up and clearer on the way back the road was busy with walkers, dogs on (and off) leads, runners, mountain-bikers and the occasional motor vehicle. Everybody it seemed wanted a Saturday morning constitutional. The village itself hasn't changed much. I had already learned that the site is under option to a developer (very sad) but I was also told that as long as the last remaining resident doesn't sell up there is little chance of impending clearance.

There is a great deal of broken glass and both dogs and people need to tread carefully. The lizards were out yesterday, basking in the warmth of the May Day sun. I hope they avoided the shards. One letterbox remained with a hopeful bill (I suspect) from CLP stuffed into it. There is no escape. The other word of warning is that mobile phones may not work so as this is quite remote do take care.

I am not sure what the root in the (brandy?) bottle is and I found it slightly odd that such a thing would be left. Likewise the sole rubber shoe. Why would a single shoe be abandoned in this way. It is quite obvious that this is a beautiful location. I have not walked beyond the village but a neighbour tells me there is a marshy area that buzzes with dragonflies. Something else to explore. I can well see why people would want to bring the village back to life and I suppose it depends exactly what is intended. Small dwellings matching the height and footprint of the old ones would be fine. But expanding the village would mean more traffic on a very narrow road. I can see that the next step would be road widening and then perhaps a filling station for petrol, a 7-11 or a Park'n'Shop, a restaurant or two, and why not a "war games" area, where toy soldiers can pretend to act out the horrors of war - give them one of Don McCullin's books to read along with every ticket. Rumour has it they are already "invading" Yeung Chau at night and have driven away the breeding White-bellied sea eagles. Personally I'd put the lot of them on Lap Sap Chau.

I also mentioned birds in flight - a more demure version of Pigs in Space.





It is the season to be breeding and the birds are actively nest building. The swallows are building their mud-cup in our garage on top of the security light. Each evening when I park the car they are already roosting and give me never an "evenin' all" as I trigger the lights, unload the day's junk and stagger exhausted up to the front gate, maybe checking the mailbox on the way. They are very tolerant, far more so than I. The shots were all taken from the comfort of my home, where I can sit with a cup of coffee and the 400mm lens, patiently waiting for the next fly past. Swallows, by the way, are tricky. They don't fly in a straight line, they are small and they are more difficult to train than a dog. Shouting "heel" has so far had little effect. Strangely it does little for our Pomeranian either. So there we are. Enough for one afternoon. Goodnight campers.