T Glyn Davies & Son, Newport

T Glyn Davies & Son, Newport, originally uploaded by John the Monkey.

I think we'll start today with a bit of a quandary - does this belong in the "White Suit" set, or not?

I'd had the idea of a couple of establishing shots to give some background to the portraits, and to this end snapped a couple of shop fronts whilst we were in Wales. I'm not sure whether the project needs them though, given that the people in the portraits, and their surroundings place them quite well (in my opinion).

Sadly this establishment appears to be long gone, the sign appearing on a rundown building at the top of (I think) Church Hill in Newport.

Parrog, originally uploaded by John the Monkey.

At heart, I think digital cameras are sensible creatures. They look at a scene, ponder the appropriate white balance, and output an image that no reasonable person could fail to find pleasing.

Parrog, originally uploaded by John the Monkey.

It goes without saying that film cameras can be sensible too.

Of course, you can also load them with Velvia and stick a polariser on their lenses.

Whatever rendition of the scene you prefer, I'm sure you'd love Parrog - such a beautiful place, best when walked to along the coastal path from Newport. The channel across the middle of the photographs appeared to be pretty deep (people were crossing it in boats to get to the spit of beach you can see mid frame). Number one son was convinced we could all swim across after lunch, but fortunately wiser heads prevailed.

In Memory Of, originally uploaded by John the Monkey.

These last two photographs are both from the churchyard of Saint Mary's Church, Newport, where the interior shot I posted yesterday was taken.

In Memory Of, originally uploaded by John the Monkey.

The churchyard is fascinating, with stones recording lives lived to a span that would be considered a good innings even today, and also those tragically cut short. The permanence of the stones, and the sense of life going on around them was part of what I wanted to convey in these.

People following my progress in the Photo a Day challenge might be interested to know that I've resorted to my first "midnight macro" session. I had a couple of these last year - they come at the moment you realise you didn't actually take anything good that day, and start to ransack the house for things to make a halfway interesting picture, e.g.

Work and Play, originally uploaded by John the Monkey.

Of course, I don't know whether I have interesting pictures or not until I develop the film[1], and this bout of close up Rolleicord photography was merely to ensure that my daily frame count is met. As of now, the counters stand at;

Nikon F3 (Agfa APX400) 16
Nikon FE (Arista Pro 50) 17

I'm ahead by one frame on the FE, and on target on the F3.

[1] That is why it is so fun, obviously.