Say cheese

Coupla folks in the comments box expressed wonder and amazement at how I was able to take a photo of my own hands. A more reasonable question might have been "Why?", but moving on... I did briefly like the Bionic Man/Steve Austin idea, until I remembered that didn't the action figure have a hole in the back of his head so you could see through his "bionic" eye? Or was that an Action Man? Either way, I went from "Cool" to "Eewww" pretty quickly. Anyway, it's not that, although the answer is because I actually do have the technology.

I have two (okay, three) words for you: "Tripod" and "Self Timer". Or as I call them "Camera stand thingy" and "Timey thing". I'm all about the techno speak, me... I think I tend not to call the tripod a, well, a tripod, because of being scarred (and scared) in my youth by that Saturday afternoon Doctor Who wannabee, The Tripods. I don't think it's very likely that humanity will be enslaved by a camera accessory, but better safe than sorry, eh?

A tripod is pretty much the first step to take towards workshop picture nirvana; makes a heap of difference. Plus, even if you don't intend to bore the rest of the woodworking world to death with your pictures, a tripod and the video mode on your digital camera pointed at you while you plane, chisel, saw etc, can provide surprisingly useful feedback on your techniques. Try it; you might be surprised at what you actually do rather than what you think you're doing. Pretty sure the car boot/flea market trawlers among you could pick one up for a song - or maybe not even that much. Perhaps just the first verse and half the chorus...

Anyway, here ya go - visual proof of how it's done, and not a bionic eye in sight:

There, all the magic is gone forever.

Or is it...? For how on earth did I take that picture?!

No, there was no-one but me in the w'shop at the time.

No, I do not have a prehensile tail just out of shot. But gosh, wouldn't that be handy for those tricky glue-ups?

You want to know?

Sure?

Positive?

Okay then:

Boring, innit? A borrowed camera on a nifty Ilford camera holding thingy, clamped to the WoodRat. The alert and long-memoried reader might remember it arrived chez Alf, somewhat bizarrely, among the contents of the coachbuilder's tool chest. All cleaned up now, and really very good. It can even take the weight of my, much larger, camera. I'm thinking I might rig up something to clamp it to that I can drop in the bench dog holes and have nifty, on-bench, camera-holding ability at the drop of a dog.

And before I go, still time for UK folks to drop their name in the hat for a copy of the 2011 Lee Valley catalogue! Details here. Although the standard of grovelling thus far is, I have to say, patchy.