I spent my formative years in Middlesbrough; an industrial northern town situated next to the North York Moors National Park; one of the most beautiful areas of England. Sadly, the same could not be said of Middlesbrough, at least not when I lived there. The city was a centre for the steel and chemicals industry; and the latter in particular was responsible for levels of pollution that would never be tolerated today outside of China.

The culprit was a company called Imperial Chemical Industries, or as they were known locally, The I.C.I. I can still recall walking out of our front door into a foul-smelling yellow mist that would irritate the throat and water the eyes; and would linger for days. The abuse was tolerated because the I.C.I. was a significant employer in the area. If you didn’t work for them, you knew someone who did. My father didn’t, he was a salesman for a nut and bolt distributor (oh, the glamour); and when I was not choking on my way to school, I would spend my holidays working in the nut and bolt warehouse which was conveniently located opposite an abattoir.

The stink of the abattoir, mixed with the yellow mist from the chemical works, ensured an asthmatic and stinky childhood.

And why am I reminded of this? Well. as is so often the case, it’s thanks to Nik. Tired of purchasing crap lenses from eBay, he is now purchasing ancient and rather tatty photographic texts, like this one:

Apparently there is an event in the UK today involving a member of the monarchy. As this does not involve a wall and a firing squad, I have no interest.

Not so she who must be obeyed. She is currently glued to the BBC iPlayer and is busy celebrity spotting. She has already fired off some Facebook updates, including:

…with the pithy observation “Hat! Hat! Hat! Just like in Pet Society Game”.

My $17 macro solution is all well and good if you want to take photos really close up in the studio; but bugger all use in the real world. There is the Panasonic Leica 45mm macro; but that will set you back around $800. Alternatively, you can choose from a wide range of legacy lenses and buy an adapter for micro four thirds. Nik had struck lucky on eBay and found a 55mm Yashica macro; and was very happy with his purchase. So I waited for another one to appear and snapped it up for 4,000 baht.

She who must be obeyed decided we should go for a walk this afternoon, so we did.

We saw roadworks, half completed building projects and hundreds of signs for building projects that will probably never start. There were piles of rubbish, motorbike taxi boys on drugs and assorted hookers of both sexes. Just the normal Pattaya street scene and nothing special to photograph.

As I had a macro lens on my camera, I was hoping for something small to shoot, like a really tiny hooker; but the best I could manage was a thumbnail-sized spider that was leaping around on a brick.

This morning was to be dedicated to the noble pursuit of finishing Portal 2. My endeavours were disrupted by the return of the Pioneer TV, and it must have been surprised to find that it had been overthrown during its absence by the arrival of the new Samsung monster screen. Never mind, the Pioneer now rests in the second bedroom where it will no doubt be used by The Son and his girlfriend on their return from their current travels.

Please try not to be too upset; but the Polo season finished yesterday. This means no more photos of leaping horses for another six months. Here’s a final offering from the last game:

To celebrate the occasion, I went to Nong Nuch this morning, carrying only my GF1, the Pinwide and a tripod. Took a few shots before collapsing in the heat.

Whilst some of the world are celebrating something to do with Jesus and his amazing egg-laden bunnies; there’s a hard-core of crazies who recognise today as Worldwide Pinhole Photography day.

A pinhole photograph is created by using a tiny hole to allow light onto the film or sensor. There is no lens, just the hole. The principle was discovered by the Chinese (who else?) about 500 years before Jesus and his bunnies appeared; and pinhole cameras have been around for more than a hundred years.

Nowadays, if you want to take pinhole photographs, you make your own camera. Pringles cans are popular as the basis, or you can just poke a hole on an old lens cap and stick it on your regular camera. Or, if you have a Micro Four Thirds camera, you can now buy a custom designed pinhole, called a Pinwide, from Wanderlust Cameras.

Why pay $40 when you can make one yourself? Well, the hole on the Pinwide has been etched to an exact size to give the best possible image; and the Pinwide hole is recessed deep into the camera so you obtain a very wide field of view and gather the maximum light. Plus it comes in a very attractive tin box, and you can never have too many attractive tin boxes.

I have known Billy for more than thirty years. I don’t recall our first encounter, but it was probably in the bar in the office in Aberdeen. Back in the swinging seventies, it was not unusual for a company to have a pub for employees on the premises; and Shell in Aberdeen had a very good one (i.e. subsidised). Being a loyal employee, I felt it was my duty to frequent the bar after work so I could get tanked up before attempting to drive home.