Following the sadness of last week, it was good to have a normal week, with just Alicante life around me. My wife came back from the US on Tuesday, and one of the things she brought back was a Ricoh GR II camera I had bought at B&H Photo and shipped to my son in Colorado. I have long been very satisfied with the original Ricoh GR but wanted this one for some of the added functionalities. So there are some test images here too–my kind of test images.
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On Monday I went to a restaurant near the Mercado Central for lunch, and walked through the empty market–most of the stalls close around 1:30-2:00 in the afternoon:
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The memorial to the 300 victims of an Italian bombing of the market on 25 May 1938. This was one of the worst crimes of the Spanish civil war but is relatively unknown outside Alicante:
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One of the modest neighbourhood bars has a cook with a philosophical bent:
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On Tuesday I got my new Ricoh GR II. My first test subject were the three little statuettes of the Three Kings in my wife’s collection, of course with the lens wide open at f2.8 and at the closest focusing distance:
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I continued my testing at the local supermarket where I had gone that evening to buy some salmon for dinner:
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On Wednesday evening I met for dinner with the newly appointed Chief Economist of the European Patent Office in Munich who had come to spend the day with me on Thursday. We went to Taverna del Gourmet, one of Alicante’s best restaurants in the 30 Euro per head price range, and I continued my camera testing:
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On Thursday we spent most of the day in this setting:
The remaining photos are all from one day, Saturday the 19th. They give a very good picture (no pun intended) of a typical weekend day for me.
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Before breakfast, I walk Cheeta. I always have a camera around my neck, just to photograph little scenes that catch my fancy:
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After breakfast, a bike ride in the mountains. This particular morning it was cloudy and there was even a bit of drizzle in the mountains, but it made for nice, delicate light over Busot, both in colour and in B&W:
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In the afternoon, I went to the Eden Bar to watch Chelsea against West Ham in the Premier League. Part of the enjoyment is that there are invariably other people, often more involved than I (in this game, I was neutral). They watch intently:
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They comment:
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They react:
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I took a little walk along the beach:
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In the evening, dinner at Cani and Nereida’s. The women drink wine:
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The host toils, here preparing the first dish:
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A roasted artichoke. They are in season right now, grown within 50 km of here, and simply fabulous:
Then I put the camera away and enjoyed the rest of the evening.