Photographs, Video and Stuff
The air temperature here in Banff (Aberdeenshire, Scotland) is 9C (48F) today. The water temperature is 4C (37F). They must be mad!
These brave ladies were swimming in the sea at Banff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland today. The sea temperature here in Banff today is 10C(50F).
Now, it being Halloween and all, I thought I would take an image of an ancient Scottish grave (bottom image) down at the local mausoleum here in Banff, Scotland . Then, much to surprise, when I processed the image in Photoshop, what should appear but a spooky pair of hands coming at me from behind the gravestone (top image).
The question is, of course, do you believe me or do you believe Photoshop!
Happy Halloween!
Living where we do, it isn’t unusual for us to see one of these ships when we look out of the kitchen window.
Please see my previous post and then join me as I try to record the tranquil sounds of the River Deveron, near to Banff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It clearly isn’t my day for field recording! Today is a public holiday and I would expect any self-respecting farmers to take a day off. Not in Banff. So please enjoy the tranquil sounds of the River Deveron passing you by and the delightful sound of a f**king tractor pull a rake around a nearby field. Using my directional parabolic mic (DM), I can hear the sounds of tractors and other industrial noises several kilometres away.
Join me as I try to record the sound of birds today. It is public holiday here today in Scotland. There is no wind. It would have been a perfect day to record bird sounds in the woods near to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duff_HouseDuff House in Banff, Aberdeenshire. Wonderful bird sounds but oh my, the noise of a f**king tractor on Banff Golf Course provided unwanted background noise to the recording of the birds who were really going for it in the woods today. Pah!
We’re firmly back in Scotland!
Join me as as I tried to record the sounds of a crow but then a tractor came along and ploughed the nearby field. The field was close to the woods at Duff House, Banff, Aberdeenshire. You can hear the tractor driver lift the plough, rotate it and lower it again before turning round in order to plough in the opposite direction.
Join me and enjoy the sounds from our dog walk in the woods near to Duff House in Banff, Aberdeenshire, this morning. You’ll hear the sounds of woodland birds, including a fine woodpecker, streams and all the other sounds (including, if you listen very carefully, golf ball hits from the nearby Dufff House Royal Golf Club.)
All sounds recorded on my parabolic (directional) microphone using a ZoomH6 recorder (My Zoom F6 still hasn’t arrived!). The sound was mixed (using adaptive noise reduction) using Adobe Audition.
The Walk in the Woods…
Join us in our back garden where, because we live on the coast, we have seagulls swirling about over our heads all day. After a while, you stop noticing their shrieking (about a minute into the recording, the seagulls really shout out loud!). You can hear the tiny birds tweeting away. They sit in a tree in the garden waiting to be fed…always hungry.
A new microphone system!
I have purchased a parabolic microphone from the Parabolic Microphone Company.
Today was the first day I ventured out into the woods with the ‘para-mic’ to test it out – results below.
Briefly, the parabolic microphone is a directional mic. Basically, point it at a sound source and press the record button (listen to the babbling brook recording above).
On this first try out down in the woods close to Duff House, I forgot to put the ‘wind condom’ on the dish (second image below) and so I picked up quite a bit of wind noise. Moreover, there was a gentle but steady wind through the trees in the wood and that gave me a small amount of background noise which I’ve managed to reduce in post-processing using Adobe Audition.
I used my Zoom H6 to record the sound. I’m still waiting for my Zoom F6 to arrive.
The first recordings will be coming up shortly. Please stay tuned.
The Trawler Departs – Richard Broom Photography
I like looking at these wooden hull fishing boats…
You can’t beat having your bottom scraped…
More images of Portsoy here.
For those people who remember Andy Capp and his creator Reg Smythe. The fungus is the right shape for Andy’s cap!
The Voe Jarl is back in the harbour at Macduff
The Voe Jarl Returns – Richard Broom Photography
A regular at Macduff Harbour
See a large versions of the images below here.
A cross between a barge, a tug and a dive-support vessel. The C-Fenna is currently helping to connect offshore wind turbine cables to a shore station close to Banff, Scotland. The wind turbine are way out there in the Moray Firth.
…or the Blue Hour, whatever you wish it to be…
You just can’t beat having a new coat of paint on your bottom…
This image taken way past midnight. Up here in the north of Scotland and, at this time of the year, the sun tries to stay with us for most of the day…
The Slipway at Macduff is open again…
The action end of a modern trawler…
The Friendly Isle departs Macduff Harbour
Don’t jump!!!
