The Limbo Connection's photos

Nikon D2Xs and AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G lens at 112mm, Poor light, therefore 800 ISO, and with a maximum aperture of f/5.3 available, the shutter was limited to 1/15th. I switched to a 35-70mm f/2.8 lens after this experience, and eventually picked an f/1.4 lens for the necessary speed. Yet this particular picture, although an accident, is not altogether lacking charm.

Nikon D700 and Tamron SP 35mm f/1.8.

Celebrated only by me, I shouldn't wonder. Photographed with a Micro Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 lens.

Photographed with a Micro Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 lens.

There are many proponents for using just one lens, often a 50mm prime. They argue that it improves your ability and liberates you from heavy bags and opportunities lost in switching lenses. I started out with a Zenith and a 58mm Helios lens, and it wasn't long until I added a cheap 135mm - a Hanimex I think - which added greatly to what I wanted to do. So I'm not convinced by the hair-shirt ideology of just one lens, but that doesn't prevent my seeing its attractions. On this occasion I took only a Fuji X-E1 with a 35mm f/1.4 lens (equivalent to a 50mm on a full-frame camera). 800 ISO; f/5.6; 1/340th.

Fuji X-E1 with a 35mm f/1.4 lens. 1600 ISO, f/2; 1/125th.

I was searching a hard drive for something else when I rediscovered this. On a whim I put it through the processing mangle again; it's a bit more ethereal than previously, and a bit more concentrated. This was taken in that strange Covid time which changed so many things. Nikon D2Xs with a Nikkor AF-S DX 18-200mm lens.

Nikon D2Xs + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens. Then much cropped. Then converted to B&W.

The V&A Museum sell souvenirs and this coaster and mug is a typical example. The mug does not take kindly to black tea; it would have benefitted from a better glaze in production. I'm not adding milk simply to spare the crockery. Thus I try to use this mug for coffee only (and instant at that). I used a Fuji X-E1 and again noticed how it has a problem rendering blue shades - the out-of-camera picture was a strong blue, whereas the V&A product is decidedly blue-black, like the old Quink ink shade. I tried to make it like that colour in post-processing, not altogether successfully. The coffee was brown, but you wouldn't know it here. A bit of a waste of time really.

It was black and white. I photographed it in a black and white simulation JPG. Spookily there was a yellow bit. Under strong interrogation in Lightroom the yellow bit became more forthcoming. A new picture emerged.

Frank Black remarked in his song 'Jesus Was Right' that 'I like distortion when I bar chord' and whereas I mostly agree with Frank, on a photographic level I dislike distortion quite a lot. So this picture has been sorted out and its predecessor deleted.

Imagine a house with foundations provided by Peter Pan lingerie, a six-cylinder engine up front, quad headlamps, and a luxurious interior. And then someone says you can have overdrive! (Whatever that might be).

Nikon D2Xs and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens. ISO at 800 and overlooked, thus mad exposure of 1/8000th at f/2. Shutter actuations: 82,469.

I used a Nikkor-O.C 35mm f/2 lens to make this close-up photograph of part of a calendar. The calendar manufacturers had reproduced a poster for 'The Penny Magazine' of circa 1896. That poster had been printed from a lithograph which was the work of Ethel Reed, an American graphic artist who lived from 1874 to 1912. The poster in question belongs now to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, although it is not permanently on display. Ethel Reed's relatively short life ended through drink and drugs after disappointment that she could not find paid work. If you look up her poster advertising 'The Quest of the Golden Girl' you might be puzzled as to why she was not even more successful.