Focussing Inward for a While

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I want to write about my anger and frustration at the latest news that the Taliban are already reverting to type in Afghanistan by banning girls from secondary education, but I simply haven't the energy - all I can say is that none of this will pan out well for anyone. The reasons for their fundamentalist - and it is just that - attitude to women apparently owe as much to Aristotle and ancient western philosophy as to their partial, male, (mis)interpretation of the teachings of the Qur'an. But that is an entirely other and most complex (hi)story. Another day, another rant.

Rather more mundanely, I have fired up some of the kit that I won on eBay the other day and started to set up a small studio-flash rig (from that same job lot) to photograph the rather small thing (a Zenza Bronica waist-level finder) that should pay for the rest of the purchase (and some). Everything seems to function well and I'm getting decent exposures: I'm using a digital Nikon D60 body with a very old 35-105 Nikkor macro zoom lens (pictured), supported by a Manfrotto tripod (also from the same batch of stuff), with the subject supported by a light-box (also from the job lot!) to isolate it. There you go - the vast majority of the lot will find use in the studio and beyond, and that one small item pays for it all!

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