I wasn't very optimistic about getting any good shots for this MSA. Jan/Feb here in the UK is a pretty dismal time for photography if, like me, you shoot handheld with slow colour film. It's not light for much of the day, and a lot of the time everything is grey and gloomy. But - partly thanks to the Magic of Velvia - I seem to have got a whole mini-portfolio out of it that I'm quite pleased with.
I also found out that I don't use my Canon EOS 5 enough to understand all the features. After burning an entire roll of film wishing I had brought a flashgun along, I realised that it had a pop-up flash built in all along...
Shots below (not intended as MSA entries, but posted for interest):
Spidersweb - the lake in my local park had partly frozen over, making a lot of interesting textures. Velvia 100, EOS 5, 135/2.0L.
Microjungle - I was intrigued by the fact that this little stream near Bath, UK, could be made to look almost like a diorama illusion... Velvia 50, EOS 5, 135/2.0L.
Many Fingers/Downstairs - my home town of Bristol, UK has one or two interesting water features in the town centre, and there was *just* about enough light to freeze them with my fastest lens. Velvia 50, EOS 5, 50/1.2L.
Luminous - also taken near Bath; this pool of water had at least three distinct planes of focus available, and concentrating on the water surface with really low DoF leaves an interesting background effect. I think this is actually my favourite shot - the original transparency has a fabulous 3D sort of effect, but I couldn't capture it in the scan. Velvia 50, EOS 5, 135/2.0L.
Isolation - yes, I know this one is keeping to the letter of the theme but not necessarily the spirit! However, it's definitely the kind of mental image the words "H2O Isolation" conjure up for me. Taken at Sheringham, UK, in the middle of a pretty powerful storm - my long-suffering partner was not terribly impressed at being instructed to go stand out on the edge of the land and try not to be blown off until I got the photograph... Velvia 100, EOS 5, 135/2.0L.
Ghostly Figure - this is a close-up of another water feature back in Bristol that offered both texture and enough colour to get the Velvia magic working. And in this frame, a hint of a figure somewhere beneath the surface. (Well, I think so
) Velvia 50, EOS 5, 50/1.2L.
And finally, my actual MSA entry: "Fireworks". Which comes from the same water feature as the previous shot, but from a very different perspective. The light is actually late afternoon sunlight, with exposure dialled back a stop or so. Velvia 50, EOS 5, 135/2.0L, slight crop top and bottom.