Both taken whilst waiting for the weekend rain to stop.

Not a perfect photo by any means, but I don’t care: he’s perfect to me.

And similarly, much room for improvement but I think this one captures the character of my ‘oh so bored’ dog whilst it was pouring outside.

Sorry, did a quick search and found out it attaches at the lever so will work with the giant dropper. Guess I’ll be buying one!

Does anyone know if that Bonty lever fixes the cable with a grub screw or the metal cable end? Just wondering if it would work with a Giant dropper.

Born 82. First bike was a second hand Raleigh special. Got into riding properly when I was 11 and at secondary school, eventually convincing my dad to buy me a second hand Kona Cinder Cone. Rode that until I went to uni but couldn’t afford to keep it going so took up running XC. Post uni I bought a road bike for fitness but when I got sacked from my first graduate job I found a job working in a bike shop where I bought a Stumpy FSR and properly got back into riding. Like Wrecker, I joined up and as a commissioning present bought a heckler which I continued to ride until last year when I bought a blur from a chap on here. I’ve raced on and off but my heart is more in just getting out and enjoying it. I’m now MIAS qualified and ride for one of the Army’s teams at a few events.

I also own a road bike but only bought that whilst drunk…that turned out to be an expensive night on the pop!!

Oh, and I’ve still got the Kona :D

All, thanks for taking the time to offer guidance and encouragement. I think I’m going to try to get hold of a technical book so that I can better understand the basics; start playing around on manual some more instead of relying on program; and work on the whole composition thing by identifying good sources of photography and critiquing them; and finally, start identifying locations/scenes/animals/birds I want to photograph and work out how best to achieve the photo. I’ll also have a look at some of those online courses if I can commit the regular time.

Wish me luck!

Example: I quite like the chilly drama of your Hartland Quay shot, for instance and I wonder why you choose to compose the image in two halves with the horizon-line bang-centre ?

I’d never really thought why I compose an image as I do, other than just getting a composition which I instinctively think looks good. Very good point about Hartland Quay and the frozen lake pictures, I’ve never asked myself the question. Maybe it’s time to become a bit more objective and less impulsive…

As for what I want to portray or what sort of photographer do I want to be…a difficult couple of questions but certainly ones I need to answer.

All fantastic advice so far so thank you! I love this forum :D

Thanks for the advice, guidance and encouragement – all of it taken on board. I suppose it’s like asking how to become a good MTBer – it’s easy to understand how a bike works and read about how you should approach different situations but whilst useful, it’s no substitute for actually getting out to ride and enjoy it. Experience & enjoyment = improvement.

I’ve just asked the same question of a couple of people at work who are keen photographers and they’ve reminded me that we all get an annual learning allowance which can be used to offset the price of a course, and would cover a 5 week evening course in town if I can commit the time. I’ll also be digging out my library card and visiting exhibitions too.

Trailwagger – I’ll have a go at editing out the line in the orangutan photo. The second landscape photo actually illustrates my original point about not knowing why it worked: it was taken at 5.30am whilst on exercise using a shockproof compact. I’d been living in a shell-scrape for a week and was just in the right place at the right time. It with no real clue how to secure the right shot!

Barkm – I’ll look you up when I get out so you can pass on some tips!

Army officer, and yes I do enjoy it. I’ve had some amazing opportunities for which I’m very grateful. Most of my time currently is spent doing administration within a reserve regiment but any given day can range from a welfare case, medical issues, discipline, career management, event organisation etc etc etc. Hopefully the next step is an MSc before moving into technical projects. However, i reckon I’ll be out before long as having a wife and child makes the prospect of going away for extended periods of time hard to deal with: I signed up for this, my wife didn’t so it’ll be soon time to get a proper job.

(Goes back to page 1 of the thread for inspiration!)

Riding my bike, carving on empty pistes or playing in powder, playing with my dog, getting away from the general public & crowds and stuff that stresses me out, being in the middle of a wood surrounded by bird song, doing stuff for friends and family which makes them happy.

But most of all, listening to my 5 month old son giggle whilst being tickled.

My mate Rich lead Chipps round a route further down the valley near Chepstow a few years back. It was featured in STW and you could download the gps file I think. Might be worth having a search for that as well.

How little I appreciated what was on my doorstep whilst growing up!

Looks mduncombe is keeping RAB in business!

Picked up the vapor rise alpine jacket today. Fit is the best of any jacket I’ve had (skinny body, long arms)…I reckon it will quickly become a favourite. Not bad for a total cost of £27.50!

Oh, and points noted in the base layer thing – I run fairly warm so I reckon a short sleeve helly should do the job.

Which vapour rise jacket do you have dragon? RAB make various versions in a variety of material weights with some more robust than others.

Just bought a Vapour Rise Alpine jacket for the grand total of £27.50 thanks to winning a £100 Cotswold voucher from Badger Beer and applying MOD discount on top. Can’t wait for the postie…hopefully it’ll be as good as I hope!n :D

Ahhh….it all suddenly makes sense. I tried reading the posts which are left to see what happened but it makes even less sense than usual, probably because a load have gone AWOL!

4 hours and no one’s posted?! What’s happened?

I know where you’re coming from with the frustration. Mini Alpha is nearly 5 months old and it took me a while to resign myself to the fact that I didn’t have the liberty to go riding or go out with mates when I wanted. However, the turning point was when I realised that this doesn’t mean I don’t have the opportunity, I just need to be organised and plan as far ahead as possible.

In my opinion it’s important to continue doing the things you love as it’s mentally and physically healthy. Healthy, happy parents = healthy, happy kids etc etc. But you’ve got no choice but to accept that you have other more important things in your life at the moment, namely a 6 week old child that is entirely dependent on you. I’d also argue that your partner is also pretty dependent on you as well right now too.

Remember as well that 6 weeks old is still really, really, really young and if you are anything like me, you’re still in the ‘where the hell’s my normal routine gone?’ sort of stage. It’ll settle down, your frustration will dissipate and you will be able to get out. But for the time being, stop looking at your little one as ‘that damn 6 week old’ and make the most of being the most important thing in his/her world right now. Relax, the trails and glens aren’t going anywhere.

33 miles on the road bike starting at 0830 from Bristol out to Sherston and back. My toes were so cold they hit the stage just before numbness where you can just about feel them as blocks of ice. Grim. I’ll stick to the rollers or just go for a run next time I think.

Something for the whisky drinkers

That’s it go for the Trump solution, ban him. He adds the element of justification of your own views, you scared that you’ll be won over by his considered arguments?

Maybe my intended hint of irony wasnt strong enough?

I will stay out of all EU or Western politics if you lot, EU supporters or EU nations/govts, can stay out and stay gone of all affairs in Asean and S.E.Asia.

As much as I am sure there are some on here who would like to see the back of you, I’m not actually advocating a ban for you.

That is quite a brilliant idea

Why, thank you. :-)

Genuine question, how do I block seeing all posts by that chewy fella. His jibberish ruins threads, adds no value, I ignore them anyway but its every second post ffs.

Instead of just blocking him from appearing in the thread, why don’t we just arbitrarily ban him for until we figure out what’s going on? How does 90 days sound? Fair?

No real need to justify why, other than the fact he has different views to most people in here. Plus he’s in another country. Plus there are other MTB internet forums where he can hang out and annoy people.

I’m sure he won’t mind. :wink:

Didn’t take long to get away from the OP’s original question did it?!

It’s not immoral: it’s sensible.

Tax evasion on the other hand is immoral. And illegal.

Chewkwk is purely a comedic foil for this thread. Which is not to disregard an opposing point of view as comical, but he is obviously contrary just for the sake of it.

Not sure about comedic but it’d be boring if we all just agreed all the time.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-muslim-deportations-stay-federal-judge-a7551546.html

At least someone in the US has a grasp of their own constitution.

Actually, I was taking issue with the fact that you accused me of “knee jerk mouthing off about something using phrases that you’ve head of but don’t understand”.

you usefully point us to examples where combatants from Afghanistan etc were judged to be combatants, but that’s in the past and does not necessarily bear relation to the cases where it may be used in the future

The Supreme Court’s ruling was not that they were lawful combatants (in contrary to the US administrations claims of being unlawful) but that as unlawful combatants (your domestic/international terrorists) they were covered, at the very least, by the common Article 3.

And as for your claim that what’s happened in the past doesn’t necessarily bear relation to the future, you’re right: it doesn’t ‘necessarily’ but I’d argue that legal precedence is a pretty solid basis for informing any prediction.

Anyway, as fun as it’s been, I’m tapping out as I’ve better things to do than argue with you.

Major Alpha

Ah yes, ‘alternative facts’: it must have been those alternative facts that I had heard of but didn’t understand that caused me to knee jerk mouth off earlier…. :D

Sorry for jumping back a few pages, but…

Wonderful Alpha, then you’ll know very well that GC don’t extend to domestic or foreign terrorists, and the importance of words like perfidious.

That’s not quite right though is it, unless you choose to believe those who are trying to find the wiggle room to justify torture? In an international armed conflict, the 3rd Geneva Convention protects combatants and affords them POW status when captured if they are lawful. If they are not combatants, then they must be civilians, right? So the 4th Convention applies. However, before you cry foul and remind me that terrorists are unlawful combatants so occupy a murky middle ground, and they are not taking part in an international armed conflict, it’s irrelevant: they are covered by Article 3 common to all of the conventions. Even the US Supreme Court, on four separate occasions, has found that unlawful combatants held at Guantanamo Bay are being held in violation of the Geneva Conventions. This is backed up by international consensus. In any case, it doesn’t matter: combatant or non-combatant (legal or not) they are all covered by international human law aka the Law of Armed Conflict which, like the Geneva Conventions, prohibits the use of torture.

Legal case aside, torture is ineffective, unreliable and most importantly morally wrong.

Moving on, as for your ‘perfidy’ comment, I am familiar with it in the context of war. Care to elaborate why you draw attention to it? Unless you’re trying to suggest that I am claiming to be something I’m not?

Ninfan: a decade in the Army (and counting) gives me a bit more knowledge about this than just reading headlines.

The man is unbelievable. He thinks that in spite of having the world’s most capable military he can’t fight on a level playing field and instead he’s fine to resort to war crimes and defiance of the Geneva Convention?? It beggars belief.

And it’s gone.

Oh my God! What a prick!

Yeah, like I said, I can’t blame people for freezing and not helping as the shock of seeing an accident often overwhelms individuals into inaction. I’ve trained over 300 soldiers in the past and you put every one under increasing pressure to ensure that they develop the ability to continue to work under challenging/dangerous circumstances. For some it’s natural, for most it needs to be developed.

It’s when individuals carry on regardless, unaware that in doing so they are hampering efforts to get a grip of the situation, help casualties, link in with emergency services, control traffic etc etc…that’s what I just cannot get my head around.

It’s not real.

Damn it. Can’t believe I failed to see her transparent arm. Bollocks.

Jesus…that Princess Breanna picture made my jaw hit the floor. Utterly shameful.

@anagallis: seriously?! That’s unbelievable!
@chestertockwell: ditto. I don’t know how you argue/reason with stupidity

“I need to get to the swimming pool”
“You can’t mate, the roads blocked”
“But I want to get to the swimming pool”
“You can’t, the road…” Etc etc etc

On the flip side, it’s encouraging that most people have experienced either inaction (not knocking it, some people are overwhelmed and freeze) or positive action to assist.

Sad times but there’s a lot of good folk too.

@Takisawa2: completely agree. I was there first by virtue of being the car immediately behind. But almost immediately I had a nurse offering assistance, then a doctor, then a theatre practitioner, then the assistant from Tescos came out to offer any food/water if required plus cones to block the road, then someone else volunteered to go down the lines of traffic to turn them around… plenty of gawpers, but at the same time plenty of people stepping up to the plate.

I just don’t understand the narcissism that leads some people to think that getting to a swimming pool on time is justification for causing inconvenience to the emergency services whilst they are dealing with a bloke trapped in a car! Frustratingly, I was in civvies; I’d like to think that a 6ft2 soldier would be a bit harder for these morons to ignore.

Hats off to the emergency services though, not sure I could deal that day in day out.