Morning walk photos-2

 It's a week since I posted the collection of photos I took on my one hour walk in Terrigal with my revived X1. I've walked every day since but I forgot to take the camera with me until today. Here's today's haul.

A morning walk

My 'vintage' Leica X1 has been restored to health thanks to friend Wayne fitting a new internal battery. It's not a straightforward task so many thanks Wayne

Last Monday I gave it a shakedown on my early morning walk here in Terrigal. It's been 5 years since I'd used the X1 and I'd totally forgotten how small and light it is and how simple the controls are. I'd also  forgotten how good the image quality is and particularly the quality of the jpeg files. It may only have a 12mp sensor and it certainly lacks the frills and bells and whistles of later digital cameras but when measured on the only criteria which really counts it's still a top contender.

A few days ago Wayne had pointed me in the direction of an outstanding photography website  A Cambridge Diary  The outstanding quality and consistency of the photos on this site has really motivated me to keep taking photos even here at home.

So I set out on my beachside walk at 6.30 on a really beautiful morning. I'd set myself the target of taking  three acceptable photos on the one hour's walk. The plan was to walk at my normal exercising pace and not to go deliberately seeking photo opportunities. In fact I came back with a bigger haul of worthwhile photos than I had hoped. Here they are-all taken within the hour and all jpeg files.

 

The Italian Grand Prix 1981

 

Last Sunday was the Italian F1 Grand Prix at Monza. It was an exciting race run in very hot conditions in front of a huge crowd of Tifosi-Ferrari fans. It was as if the spectator areas had been sprayed red.

And to their absolute delight they got what they wanted- a well deserved Ferrari victory by Charles Leclerc.

I would have loved to have been there for this year's race but sadly my days of crossing the world to go to the big races are over but I was very fortunate to go to the 1981 Italian Grand Prix. It was also a very hot day but that year both Ferraris were out by lap 7 so a large part of the crowd went home or headed to a bar at that point. So different to this year.

Monza is a special place with an atmosphere like no other track. Back 43 years ago-is it really that long ago-it was all very casual and chaotic and with a pit pass I was able to wander down pit lane taking photos as the mechanics-they were called mechanics back then, not technicians-worked on the cars.

The photo above is one of my all time favourite photos. Closest to the camera is the Ligier Matra of Patrick Tambay and in front of it is the Ligier Matra of Jacques Laffite.

The photo was taken with an Olympus OM2 camera with a 28mm Zuiko lens on Kodachrome film.