Selection

Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens on a Fuji S3 Pro camera set to simulate Velvia slide film.

Photographed using a Canon EOS 20D with a Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm f/2.8 Tessar lens.

Two people walking in step photographed through the classical porch added incongruously to the front of the Georgian building in Corsham housing the Methuen Arms hotel. I used a Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 20D. This lens is a Tessar design of just four elements and was a lower cost option to a Pentacon equivalent on a Praktica camera in the 1970s. It was slower of course; f/2.8 compared to the Pentacon's f/1.8. Yet in good light the Carl Zeiss was every bit as good, better maybe. Certainly a sharp lens, and capable of closer focussing than many other standard lenses. I bought mine second hand for £12. I doubt if a lens in good working order and engraved with 'Carl Zeiss' could be found cheaper.

In 1989, when this photograph was taken, work was well underway to restore the Kennet and Avon canal as a recreational amenity and tourist attraction. Stretching from the River Thames at Reading to the River Avon at Bath, the K&A Canal was closed to navigation in 1955 and reopened in 1990. The Heritage Lottery fund subsequently provided a grant of £27 million to secure the long term future of the Canal. After 10 years the project had resulted in an increase of visitors by some 22%, and increase in expenditure by 59% and an increase in boat activity by 40%, to some 1,400. Pentax P30.

Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 G lens at 65mm on a Nikon D2Xs at 200 ISO. 1/320th at f/8.

I used the Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6 G lens on a Nikon D90 to make this photograph. It's cheap and plentiful on the secondhand market. Optically it is quite good but the quality of construction is not the best. It's also slow, especially at telephoto settings. It will focus as close as 14 inches. It weighs less than seven ounces. I have used Lightroom to improve the photograph. The D90 and the 28-80mm lens were sold some time ago. A fast prime lens will always out-perform a consumer zoom like the 28-80mm. This picture absolutely needed editing assistance: it lacked clarity and contrast and the edges were blurry from being shot at maximum focal length of 80mm and maximum aperture of f/5.6. Just to guarantee softness I shot at 1/50th. I would like to think that I have learned something in the six years since I took the photograph but the rate of attrition suggests otherwise.

Corsham, Wiltshire, an obstacle course of A boards designed to inconvenience and injure the unwary or short-sighted. I like this photograph because I perceive similarities between the model depicted on the A-board and the smiling woman in the background, namely gender, generation, hairstyle, blue/purple hue, and perhaps even facial features. I don't know if she saw me raise my camera and sportingly posed or if I am being fanciful and just got lucky. I very much like the juxtaposition, whatever the explanation. Photographed with an AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D lens on a Nikon D2Xs set at 100 ISO. 1/125th at f/6. Edited in Lightroom.

Nikon D2Xs and Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 Series E lens set at 105mm. 100 ISO. F/7.6; 1/250th sec. In 'The Nikon Compendium Handbook of the Nikon System' by Rudolf Hillebrand and Hans-Joachim Hauschild, it is remarked of the 75-150mm Nikon Series E f/3.5 lens, 'The image quality of this NIC-coated lens is so good that it would have fitted perfectly into the Nikkor programme.' Moose Peterson said of the 75-150mm Nikon Series E f/3.5 lens: 'for a time, this lens was "the" lens in New York for fashion work, especially in the studio'. Bjørn Rørslett said of the 75-150mm Nikon Series E f/3.5 lens: 'This modest lens, harking back to the Nikon EM glorious days of the early 80's, has deservedly got a reputation for its excellent quality. It is a one-touch zoom design where the focusing collar moves freely with little or no resistance at all to make working with the 75-150 fast and easy. In common with many other longish zooms it's a splendid performer when close-up lenses are added to its 52 mm front thread. I prefer to set the apertures in the f/8-f/11 range to obtain optimum sharpness. Beware of flare when it is pointed towards the sun, though.'

At Caen Hill, Devizes, a flight of 29 locks was built to lift the Kennet and Avon canal 237 feet over a distance of two miles from the Avon Valley to the Vale of Pewsey. It is one of the major engineering feats of the canal era: the gradient is 1 in 44. The middle section, where this photograph was taken, comprises 16 locks in a straight line. It was the last section of the canal to be built and was completed in 1810. For 30 or 40 years, the canal flourished, but the coming of the railways eclipsed its usefulness and it fell into a state of neglect. I used an AF Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 lens on a Fuji S3 Pro camera. 400 ISO; 1/350th; f/4.8.

A chance encounter. I asked if I might take her photograph. She did not object. She wondered if the picture would be improved by some sweeping action. Of course she was right. This was easily the best of the three photographs I made of her. How wonderful it is when strangers agree to be photographed. Nikon D2Xs + Sigma 15-30mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. Typical for many ultra wide-angle lenses the Sigma AF 15-30mm EX suffers from very heavy barrel distortion at the wide end of the zoom range. The situation eases continuously towards the 30mm where the lens is almost free of distortion. This photograph was taken at 22mm. Distortion was very noticeable and difficult to correct in post processing.

The HST was introduced in 1976 by British Rail and is still the backbone of express services on several British main lines. The power cars have new engines, and the Mark 3 coaches have been refurbished, but despite that, this attractive design continues to be a great success and as iconic as the old Routemaster bus. The HST necessitated realignment of the track in some places on the western region, where it was first introduced. At Chippenham station there was a straightening scheme to allow the trains to go through at over 100 m.p.h. and the effect was to orphan one of the platforms and make the remaining platform do double duty for the trains which did stop. One HST service was timetabled to do the journey from Chippenham to London Paddington in 59 minutes. When the critics of the nationalised railway tell you how much better the services are under privatisation, tell them about Chippenham to London in under an hour. The packed perspective in this picture was achieved with a focal length of 102mm on a DX camera. The photograph was taken in Sydney Gardens, Bath. Nikon D90 and Nikkor 55-200 VR zoom lens.

'How much of human life is lost in waiting?' (Ralph Waldo Emerson). Nikon D90 and Sigma 15-30mm EX IF lens.

Some photographs seem improved in black-and-white. Canon PowerShot SX120 IS.

It is New Year's Day. Let us consider the future and reflect on the past. The subject is a Nikon FG-20 and a Soligor C/D Zoom Macro 80-200mm f4.5 lens Photographed with an AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D lens on a Nikon D2Xs set at 100 ISO. I resolve to make much greater use of 50mm prime lenses. I have sold the FG-20 and the Soligor zoom lens.

Acorn was a brand name used by J A Chapman for a line of metal bodied planes from 1934. Stanley took them over in 1936 and carried on using the name. Nikon D2Xs and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens. 100 ISO; f/8; 1/40th.