A fun and amusingly frustrating half hour

[Rob MacKillop]

Earlier today. Rain and sleet outside, and the Christmas tree decorations about to be pulled down. I started with trying to capture something of the small metal lute. The first version came out this way, I will not say deliberately so, but I love it:




And then this version, which I do not like at all, though it does contain a self in the lower left glass bulb:




Then I turned to a different skein of things altogether:




And finally drove myself mad trying to get an in-focus selfie with a 12-seconds timer:











Well, it kept me off the streets for a while. Monochrom Typ 246, with the Minolta M-Rokkor 90mm f4.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

These are all very nice pictures, Rob. Of the two of the Christmas tree, the first one is more interesting, but the second one also has a nice rendering in my opinion, even though it occupies a completely different expressive realm. Then there are the self-portraits, very effective and at the end of the story also self-ironic!

 

[Rob MacKillop]

And there was me thinking you would recognise the Italian wool

 

[Gianluca Drago]

How could I possibly know that it is Italian wool from the photo? (Or, am I missing a joke?)

 

[Rob MacKillop]

I'm just joking. You weren't to know. My daughter has three jobs, one of which is Saturday manager in London's premier yarn shop, with imports of the best wool Italy has to offer...other places too.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

I'm just joking. You weren't to know. My daughter has three jobs, one of which is Saturday manager in London's premier yarn shop, with imports of the best wool Italy has to offer...other places too.

OK. I didn't know Italy could provide good wool.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Try Loro Piana: https://www.loropiana.com/textile/publicyarns

…although their business address is in Shanghai!

 

[Gianluca Drago]

Try Loro Piana: https://www.loropiana.com/textile/publicyarns

…although their business address is in Shanghai!

I confess I am not familiar with this brand, but I have no say in the matter. What I do know is that I still use jumpers made by my mother maybe 60 years ago and they keep me warm, but when I buy something new today in Italy (no matter how much it costs) 100% of the time it is a bad experience.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

That’s the same the world over.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

That’s the same the world over.

My wife, who knows more about wool than I do and whom I asked for information, says that Loro Piana is definitely famous (and Wikipedia says it's the top), but since 2013 it is no longer Italian, it is a French multinational.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Ah…c’est la vie.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

Ah…c’est la vie.

Indeed, monsieur...

 

[Gary Ayala]

I enjoy the selfie's ... well done. I'm still on the judgmental fence between the images with glasses and the image sans glasses.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Yes, that’s a tricky one. I mainly use them for reading, but my eyes are so puffy these days (thanks to a steroid I’m taking) the glasses cover it up somewhat.

I get what is generally referred to as a moon face. Some days it’s so big, when I look in the mirror I can see Neil Armstrong’s boot print

 

[Gary Ayala]

I think a Moon Face is much more of a romantic description than Pumpkin Head.
I don't see a Moon Face ... yet.
We have a friend who's been on steroids for months (a severe back ailment) ... definitely a Pumpkin Head.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Oh, it's not in these photos. It comes and goes, maybe four days a week. I have myasthenia gravis.