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Author Topic: The 'Open Source' Footpath  (Read 11218 times)
folderol
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« on: July 29, 2016, 02:05:44 PM »

Many years ago I discovered a hidden footpath that meanders down a hillside through a variety of woodland. It is definitely not the quickest way to get from the top to the bottom, sometimes almost doubling back on itself, but is perfect for a gentle meditative walk.

I say hidden, well that's because the start of it looks just like a narrow animal track going over a mound and into the trees. At the bottom end, it joins up with a deeply rutted abandoned forestry track, and that bit of the path looks like it's a weathered ridge once thrown up by the machinery.

On one occasion, to my great consternation I saw there was forestry work going on in that area, and while I fully appreciated the need for this work, I was afraid the path would be lost. A few weeks later, with the work completed I found that, indeed, large sections, if not most, of the path seemed to have been destroyed.

However, I managed to cross one damaged area and re-find the path, so to remind myself, found some broken branches and laid them along the route where the path must have been. Next, I went round the, umm, 'quick' way to the bottom end of the path and did the same again, so there were now two sections marked, if not actually restored.

It was a month or two before I visited that patch of woodland again and I was pleased to see my markers were still there. Intending to try and do the same for at least one more damaged section I carried on along the path. To my great delight I found someone else had found and marked this, and had gone so far as to move some of the churned up undergrowth revealing the still present well worn path underneath.

It was now several months before I visited again, and by now the entire path was once more traceable, although you had to look carefully in a few places. The disturbed earth and undergrowth was also showing signs of repeated footfalls, so I was well pleased. I might add, that at no time did I actually see any other people along the path.

Fast forward a couple of years before I was able to visit 'our' path again, and all the markers had either gone or been covered with new growth, but now they were no longer needed. The path was clear and well worn, but still sort of 'private'. Also, about half way along, someone had placed criss-crossed logs over a very wide but shallow stream making it just that bit easier to negotiate without interfering with the flow of the water.

These days I do occasionally see other people on the path, and exchange greetings. Recently, catching up with an elderly lady (who apologised profusely for her dogs) I walked along with her and we chatted about the area and the restoration work being done on the woodland. Needless to say, the damage to the path got mentioned, and it seems after someone noticed the first few markers, word got around the regular walkers. I didn't tell her it was me that laid those first ones, but every time I walk there now, it's with a bit of pride.
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If you have a poem, I have a tune, and we exchange these, we can both have a poem, a tune, and a song.
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MarioD
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« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2016, 06:56:55 PM »

EXCELLENT!

Yes you should be very proud.  My wife, brother and myself like to take hikes and take pictures along the way.  Do you have any pictures to share?
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folderol
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« Reply #2 on: July 30, 2016, 06:37:17 PM »

Good point! After all this time I didn't have a single picture of this area. I but that right today Smiley

It was bright and sunny this morning... but that soon changed Sad
Nevertheless I did take some pictures and also had a bit of a surprise.

Rather than risk collapsing the forum, I'll just list them here as direct links.

http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_01.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_02.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_03.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_04.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_05.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_06.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_07.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_08.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_09.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_10.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_11.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_12.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_13.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_14.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_15.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_16.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_17.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_18.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_19.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_20.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_21.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_22.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_23.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/HiddenPath_24.jpg

As you can see the sunlight had more or less faded out by the time I reached the end. The air was also feeling a bit damp, so instead of following my usual route back to the car park I took a short cut, which brought me to a track back to the car park I've not been near for ages.

At this point I noticed another bit of cleared path that I sort-of dimly remembered, so off I went again, camera in hand. It seems people have continued to be busy. We lost this section of path a little earlier than the 'main' one but nobody bothered about it... till now. If you look closely at picture number 9 of this set, you'll see the same tree that's in picture number two of the first set Smiley
As this also most certainly doesn't take the quickest route (but starts closer to the car park) I'll be using it in future!

http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/PathExtension2016_1.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/PathExtension2016_2.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/PathExtension2016_3.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/PathExtension2016_4.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/PathExtension2016_5.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/PathExtension2016_6.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/PathExtension2016_7.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/PathExtension2016_8.jpg
http://www.musically.me.uk/Photos/BredeHiddenPath/PathExtension2016_9.jpg

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If you have a poem, I have a tune, and we exchange these, we can both have a poem, a tune, and a song.
- Will
MarioD
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« Reply #3 on: July 30, 2016, 11:05:25 PM »

Thanx Will for posting these.

What camera and lens are you using?  These are great shots!

If anyone is interested I can post some of my pictures.
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folderol
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« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2016, 09:32:09 PM »

Thanx Will for posting these.

What camera and lens are you using?  These are great shots!
Thanks Mario. It's actually a quite elderly Olympus mid-range jobbie and uses the well and truly obsolete 'smartmedia' cards. I bought it around 2000-2001 I think. The lens is not interchangable but is motorised for focus and 3:1 zoom. It has several point-and-shoot settings, but also a 'pro' mode where you can change the usual things, aperture, time, focus.

As soon as the cards started to go out of fashion I bought half a dozen of them! I've thought about getting something more modern, but this suits me. The icing on the cake is that it takes 4x AA batteries so I never have to worry about running out of power.
Quote
If anyone is interested I can post some of my pictures.
I'd certainly be interested Smiley
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If you have a poem, I have a tune, and we exchange these, we can both have a poem, a tune, and a song.
- Will
MarioD
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« Reply #5 on: July 31, 2016, 11:29:35 PM »

Will, my first good digital camera was the Olympus Ultra Zoom:

https://www.amazon.com/Olympus-C-2100-Digital-Camera-Optical/dp/B00004Y2MM

My son has it now.  My niece still is using hers.  I have a number of good looking 8"x10" pictures hanging on my walls that were taken with that camera.  I only had one smart media card and one card reader so I bought a Canon 3Ti camera and an 18-300 mm lens for it.  I also have a 150-500mm lens for it.

But that Olympus took some great shots.  Like yours does.  Olympus had great lens in their earlier cameras, don't know about today though.

I will gather up a few pictures and up load them.
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bvdp
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« Reply #6 on: August 01, 2016, 12:41:42 AM »

Despite the fact that the lens' don't focus, get grungy with who knows what, etc. modern cell phones take amazingly good pictures. I think that if you look at a dept. store camera counter for point-and-clicks you'll see very little.

Of course, the higher end stuff is still around ... don't know how much longer ... Today, if it's not on a phone it doesn't exist Smiley
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MarioD
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« Reply #7 on: August 01, 2016, 01:31:44 PM »

Despite the fact that the lens' don't focus, get grungy with who knows what, etc. modern cell phones take amazingly good pictures. I think that if you look at a dept. store camera counter for point-and-clicks you'll see very little.

Of course, the higher end stuff is still around ... don't know how much longer ... Today, if it's not on a phone it doesn't exist Smiley

The latest phone cameras have 8-10 or more megapixels.  That is 4-5 times most of the consumer digital cameras had.  In fact my wife took some great shots with her phone.  Thus I think the consumer cameras are a thing of the past.  But I think there will always be a market for the higher end cameras as you can do a lot more with them.  But the market will be only for intermediate or above amateurs or semi to full professionals.

Just my thoughts.
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folderol
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« Reply #8 on: August 02, 2016, 04:28:58 PM »

The problem I see with the way people take pictures these days is that it's so quick and easy the don't think about it at all.

There are times when I'll take a rapid series of shots to try and capture something in motion, and on those occasions I could wish for a more modern unit, but mostly I have time to think about exactly what it is I want to photograph - as well as what I specifically don't want in the pictures.
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If you have a poem, I have a tune, and we exchange these, we can both have a poem, a tune, and a song.
- Will
MarioD
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« Reply #9 on: August 02, 2016, 06:12:44 PM »

The problem I see with the way people take pictures these days is that it's so quick and easy the don't think about it at all.

I agree.  Plus many shots are the same, such as selfies and pictures of what they had for breakfast!

There are times when I'll take a rapid series of shots to try and capture something in motion, and on those occasions I could wish for a more modern unit, but mostly I have time to think about exactly what it is I want to photograph - as well as what I specifically don't want in the pictures.

Will, you hit the nail right on the head.  Composition is the one of the ingredients, if no the most important, in a picture.

Burst mode and faster shutter speeds are two of the things that higher end cameras are much better at than point and shoot cameras.
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MarioD
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« Reply #10 on: August 02, 2016, 08:46:43 PM »

Here are a few of my hiking trail pictures.  I have a lot of things that I saw on these trails like waterfalls, creeks, etc if anyone is interested.


* DCP01080.JPG (282.84 KB, 1152x864 - viewed 520 times.)

* PA141152.JPG (1201.24 KB, 1600x1200 - viewed 529 times.)

* DCP01141.JPG (502.96 KB, 1152x864 - viewed 502 times.)
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MarioD
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« Reply #11 on: August 02, 2016, 08:49:29 PM »

and some more pics:


* PA141159.JPG (1351.67 KB, 1600x1200 - viewed 508 times.)

* PA201205.JPG (1334.91 KB, 1600x1200 - viewed 526 times.)

* PA251243.JPG (1258.1 KB, 1600x1200 - viewed 536 times.)
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MarioD
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« Reply #12 on: August 02, 2016, 08:51:00 PM »

I can only load three pictures at once!


* PB011499.JPG (1316.38 KB, 1600x1200 - viewed 541 times.)
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MarioD
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« Reply #13 on: August 02, 2016, 08:53:05 PM »

So I thought I would mess up and only load one the last time!


* pic 001.jpg (3384.12 KB, 5202x3465 - viewed 496 times.)
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MarioD
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« Reply #14 on: August 02, 2016, 08:59:27 PM »

I'm a slow learner!  I should have put these in Dropbox and just listed the links.  Will is much smarter than me!


* pic 001.jpg (3384.12 KB, 5202x3465 - viewed 441 times.)

* pic 002.jpg (3043.62 KB, 5184x3456 - viewed 456 times.)
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