Hi again @Holly Saunders I just took these pics on the beach without flash and in pretty much zero light, just candles on the tables. They were all taken on the automatic programme setting, which is what I use 99% of the time to be honest. It's remarkable what this camera manages to pick up in poor lighting conditions, virtually none of this detail was visible with the naked eye. There are two later models than mine both with a viewfinder, but the latest one MK VI is a tad pricey at over £700, the MK III should be ok for what you want. I paid just under £400 in a sale at the end of my models run. I had three previous Fuji cameras which were good in all but poor light conditions. Like you I suspect, I am not a photographer, more someone who takes pictures to capture the atmosphere of the scene, so fiddling with aperture and shutter speed settings is not attractive. You can use this camera as a completely manual one with a focus ring as well if you want, but the auto settings work remarkably well anyway. Hope that helps you decide whether or not to invest in one. My healthy option, fries by candlelight, I fancied some bad carb lol
Amazing pics as always! I notice they serve bananas with almost everything…the birthday cake (your first day there), at least one of your meals I noticed, and this ice-cream dish. They always leave the peeling on (which makes perfect sense for the sake of freshness). I believe in bananas…look at how strong and healthy gorillas are…I'm being serious!
Yes Lara bananas are everywhere with about 7 different varieties evidently, I bought a bag full about 2lb on our way back today for 20 rupees about 15 cents
What an adventure the two of you are on, and what wonderful memories you'll have to look back on. That is one of the things I like about SO, we can have threads that we share our lives with each other, without being made to feel as if we are trivial. I have learned so much about the world outside of my own country from those of you that are willing to share your lives with friends. So please don't stop.
A couple more interior shots of the apartment, you can see the rock of the cliff in each room The camera Holly
Brilliant Terry...that's exactly what I'm looking for...so you recommend I get the mark lll and not the mark ll that you have?
The main difference Holly is mine lacks the viewfinder of the III which you mentioned is important to you
While in Sri Lanka I got close to several ex pats who for various reasons were living there, Gerry the one running the hotel we stayed at near the airport, was born in London to Dutch Sri Lankan parents and has lived in Sri Lanka for some 17 years. I never really handed in my old psychotherapists hat when I retired and still ask the questions you use to get a person to open up, I discovered as in the case of all the others I had conversations with while on vacation, that though they loved the climate better than the UK or the way of life, they were not really happy living in Sri Lanka. For various reasons they were trapped there, or at least that is how they saw it. It confirmed my belief that happiness is within you, and cannot be found by moving to another place however much it looks like paradise, you take all your baggage and issues with you. The last place we stayed at the "Penthouse on the Rocks" was run by a Dutch born Australian called Tony, who had lived in Sri Lanka as a hippy during the 80s and had various business ventures on the sea front at Unawantuna. Over the years he became disillusioned with the commercialisation of the fishing village and decided to build an apartment unit on the cliffs. The locals thought he was mad but he found one local who had built a meditation room for someone. Though this guy had no education whatsoever or building experience the room so impressed Tony, that he asked him to design and build his apartments. This he did using local materials being given only the dimensions of the rooms by Tony. My take on this man's remarkable skills is that he is a savant on the autistic spectrum, I met him while there and though he spoke little English, I could sense his unusual ways of being with people, he was gentle and very attached to his dog but had no people skills. Tony has no family and when he dies he will leave everything he has to this man and his sister, he has even got his burial place sorted in the grounds under a catamaran. Here is a short promotional video though it doesn't really capture the scale of the place Savant syndrome is a rare, but extraordinary, condition in which persons with serious mental disorders, including autistic disorder, have some ‘island of genius’ which stands in marked, incongruous contrast to overall handicap. As many as one in 10 persons with autistic disorder have such remarkable abilities in varying degrees, although savant syndrome occurs in other developmental disabilities or in other types of central nervous system injury or disease as well. Whatever the particular savant skill, it is always linked to massive memory.
I managed to watch 5 movies on the flights home from Sri Lanka, 2 French a Spanish a Russian and a US one. The first French one was an amazing coincidence in that it concerned a Savant and both Lisa and I loved it. If you get a chance try and see it, the music the photography and the storyline are all excellent. Le goût des merveilles ( The Sense of Wonder ) The trailer on this link doesn't have English subtitles but gives a flavour of the movie
I love the paintings of the Moscow born painter Dima Dmitriev Dima Dmitriev was born in Moscow, Russia, and is the second generation of artists in his family. He moved to Prague, Czech Republic, where he graduated from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design. As his paintings gained attention and praise at fine art exhibitions throughout Europe, Dima became one of the most talked about young artists living in Prague's flourishing artistic community. Dmitriev has participated in solo and group exhibitions in Europe, North America, and Asia. Dmitriev's paintings represent forms of "visual paradise". He describes this as the process of extracting the color, light, and texture from real places and distilling these onto his canvases as idealized worlds. Dima rarely uses a brush. His preferred tool is the palette knife. Dmitriev also adds depth and color saturation to some of his works by starting with black, rather than the traditional white, canvas. Dima's Impressionistic composition and style combined with his mastery of the palette knife create oil paintings that are vibrant and sculptural. His works often include themes of childhood, nature and the sea.
Now this painter impresses me, but I admit to having no art history in my education. I am going from doing portraits with charcoal, chalks, and pan pastels to weaving on a ridged heddle loom. Although I have had to give up many of my endeavors into the arts such as horticulture, pottery & kiln firing, quilting, embroidery, sewing, and lastly my profitable portrait work of which I have been bemoaning the loss of, I can still see color very well. The color work in this wonderful painter's compositions has inspired me concerning my new endeavor into the world of weaving. I was trying to think of colors that would do well in woven products. My 48" ridge heddle loom will allow me to make cloth after I master the manual actions. The colors that Dima Dmitriev composes will give me a good start.
I've never heard of this artist either, Ina. I have seen the works of other impressionists like Renoir, Monet, etc. and I was on a Renoir kick in the 70's but now don't even like impressionist Art but I do like these and not just because of the color....which is beautiful. Maybe because he used a knife mostly instead of a brush....I didn't even think impressionist when I first saw the pictures.