FastFreddy2

Does seem to be the case.

I think it's about 'critical mass', having enough traffic/posts for people to bother responding. Not that men wearing heels are particularly overt in their views/expression or activity (it seems to me). It's not called "staying in the closet" without good reason. The other aspect is that with possibly a single exception, this place targets men (only) as it's membership base, where HHp has a small but active female membership. It's more of a regular environment than say a 'gentleman's club' like this might be viewed. Also, activity (posts and or pictures) of cross-dressing men is not encouraged here. It still goes on, but it's not discussed or demonstrated here as it is at HHp. I wonder how popular it would remain if all CD activity on HHp was stopped? If it sounds like I might be a bit 'anti' about the cross-dressing, be assured, I am far from that. Farrrrrrrrrrrr from it. But they are some "outfits", even women (who the clothing may have been designed for) couldn't look good wearing them. Examples of clothing that shouldn't (IMO) be worn by anyone: A line skirts, and culottes. If you wanted to make an otherwise slim girl look like she's got disproportionately big hips, have her wear an A line skirt. If you want to make an otherwise long legged girl look like she has short legs, have her wear culottes. I'm old enough to have seen people with (what looked like) mild disabilities having shoes built up so each of their legs appeared and worked as if they were the same length (although they weren't in fact the same length). Platform shoes and boots that don't have a high rise, look like the shoes have been built up to hide/help a mild disability. Foe example: nice legs, shame about the (clumpy) shoes.... And the jacket looks (to be intentionally) a size too small.

Over a year later, I've had another problem ... Though someone in South London will have had a nasty surprise when they logged into their Ebay account this morning ...... I've done as suggested, and not bought any used shoes or boots. Sadly, a designer pair I bought at a shockingly cheap price in "new" condition, were delivered in a used condition. I approached the private seller about a return, and explained why. By way of mitigating their unwanted return, I had (generously I thought) offered to pay return carriage. Nope, the seller would not accept a return claiming they were unworn. I even sent a link to an identical pair offered for sale as 'worn twice', that were in better/less worn condition than those sent me as 'new'. Still, the seller would not agree a return!!?? The problem got escalated to Ebay to sort out. My pictures clearly showed the shoes needed work doing (repaired) before they could be used. Consequently Ebay decided in my favour and sent me a pre-paid returns label this morning. Not only will I get a full refund from Ebay, but now the seller will get charged by them for the return carriage costs, and have a strike on their seller record. Where does 'reluctant' turn into 'stubborn', or worse still, 'stupid'?

Hello and welcome! Any help keeping the place 'lively', always a great addition.

Sadly, me too. I think any government "income" should be means tested ..... It might cut down on the abuse. I don't agree with complete funding of anyone from overseas who claims 'asylum' either. So many times found to be abused, but a bit of a contentious view so I'll not speak of it further. .... Beau legs .... very good!

The 70% stuff may well have been the grade I tried and couldn't eat much of, like a couple of squares? I'm more your 'dalliance' choco-fiend, preferring sweet over hard-core. My current fav, is the soft gooey stuff sitting on top of an M+S eclair.

I said it many times; "Don't fall out with the King." But he wouldn't listen...

I don't mind veg oil.... But we have recently banned Nutella and copies of it, because of the high palm oil content. As far as convenience is concerned, it's something of a blow because it was useful to jazz up things like pancakes. But I don't want to be using anything with palm oil in it if I can avoid it, and sacrifices are good for the soul (I'm told). I'm no connoisseur of chocolate, and don't get the 'satisfaction' I should from a seriously high cocoa content chocolate, much to my disappointment. I have in the past eaten some that was so strong (and a little bitter), I couldn't manage much, but otherwise I tend to eat it until it's gone. Unlike Mrs Freddy, I don't seem to have a saturation level, which of course is not good for my waistline. Hence my reducing my intake, mostly by not having access to it.

Beau Brummell is doubtless spinning in his grave.

When it gets soft, it's quite pleasant, but it does seem fairly solid until warmed? Maybe I'm not used to 'quality' chocolate?

"Piracy", what a novel term for it. In most other species on the planet, it is the male who is the 'peacock' to the usually dour 'peahen'. What went wrong?

99p!! I paid 79p for mine ..... tut tut ... I think Mrs Freddy might have gone a bit overboard with the chocolates she bought for me though. 'Hotel Chocolat Batons' if you don't mind. Possibly leveraging some goodwill with her impending birthday on the horizon.

If ever there was an icon for androgyny, it would be Tilda Swinton. From >> here <<

"Gift"? Blimey, that's pushing the boat out a bit ..... My minimum/maximum is a card. Flowers would be welcome (at any time) but Mrs F is due a fairly large bouquet soon, and it would dwarf anything I might purchase. We used to do 2 cards each, one jokey, one sincere, but we agreed to exchange only one from last year. Cost was a small issue, but finding any suitable card had become a challenge, and finding two almost impossible. This year I was bought some chocolate (which Mrs F knows I'm trying to cut down on), so rather than buy her some (as I was), we've agreed to share. (Ahhhhh... ) What I did do, is put together a three course meal. We both got to have a glass of drinkable wine, as there was no driving involved, and we didn't need to venture out into the cold or the wet during the evening either. With Mrs Freddy up for work at 5.15am, a large glass of wine and an unusually large meal had her falling asleep on a comfy couch in a warm room. 'An early night' means just that in our house, but given the hours Mrs F works and how hard she works, I don't begrudge her at all.

Nearly that time of the year when 'traditionally' we profess out undying love to our significant other. I remember those days well. Of course years ago Valentines day wasn't the PR exercise it seems to have become. I remember when you could get a table at a restaurant on the 14th without booking .... A bunch of flowers not only had a smell, they weren't dead on the 15th either..... Not only was sex guaranteed to be part of the days routine, 'slackers' (anyone not appearing to be gagging for it) were challenged as to their reasons why! Dressing up for the evening was part of the tradition, with some women wearing the 'presents' men had bought them, with both parties understanding the men had really bought the 'presents' for themselves to see (and enjoy) on their S.O. While I make light of it, really, I miss the 'excitement of youth' around the event. A time when household burdens were either virtually non-existent or absent, jobs and money were plenty, and life didn't revolve around mobiles and social media. I would imagine when young men take a girlfriend out on Valentines in 2018, her date isn't just taking her out, but her whole social media group with the pluses and minuses that can bring. Go somewhere lavish and spend silly money, girl gets to brag, you are very popular. Take her somewhere cheap, underwhelm her, and both her and her media social group will be looking to put your head on a pike. Since being with Mrs Freddy, I have had an escape route. She has a birthday around this time, and I'm not expected to do anything special twice with the dates relatively close together. Better still, her friends want to take her out around this time, and her close family like to treat her too. It's allowed me to be properly slack about it all. It's usually the end of March before she feels slim enough to eat out again. Just for the record, it had no influence on my decision to suggest marriage.

The cat likes me more than Mrs Freddy does, so I wouldn't be throwing him anywhere. Sunny but cold day, so we had a joint visit to I.K.E.A. during the afternoon. Me with my M+S pointy boots on. Felt like we had joined a school outing. We expected to see some children there, it being half-term, but hadn't expected so many parents to keep their children busy walking around a furniture store. It being so busy meant there was little opportunity to spot my shoes. As they are so pointy and the heel fairly high, only a small triangle of toe is visible from the hem of my jeans. (Usually, a bit of a give-away.) Not today. Spent so much time there, we didn't have time to visit Brent Cross too, which was part of the original plan....

Just been to B+Q for some bits. Absolutely bitter outside. Good decision to stay in today. Only out for a short period, but it was enough. Now back home warming up. Sky is overcast and looks to be full of snow.

Bright sunshine most of today, so got tempted to go out for an adventure. Then some sleet got blasted past the house windows, in an almost horizontal trajectory. Nah, staying in the warmth....

Until a short while ago, the same would be true of us. Many Brits, many many many Brits have been killed abroad over the last 150 years, and before that it wasn't much different for the poor in the towns and the fields of the UK. Being exported to Australia for stealing a loaf of bread, sometimes hung for stealing food because hunger was too much. While inter-tribe wars kill many abroad, in this country it was the "aristocracy" that kept the poor poor, and kept the poor hungry. Workhouses where a symptom of that. I'm sure you will be tempted to portray Europeans (Westerners) as the 'lucky' ones. We are not, we were not. The difference is we brought order to our lands faster than the countries you mention. But go back to the first half of the 20th Century, and there are millions who suffered in the very same way as the countries you mention are suffering now. America had the same problems right up to 1865. "Peace" is a relatively new thing, a fragile thing. As recently as the early 1960's, we nearly all perished. My life isn't directly affected by the goings on abroad (apart from tax contributions to foreign aid). I'm concerned with events around me, the micro world I have experience of, and will only have experience of. The history of how it got to be like it is, and what it is likely going to be like in the future. In and of itself, that's more than most people consider, so I'm not trying to bury my head anywhere. I would be foolish to care about situations I can't control or influence. It's as much as I can do to help those around me, and that's no small challenge in itself. I am not "lucky", but I am fortunate, and I'm absolutely grateful to those who have made sacrifices so I can enjoy the life I have. That stretches from the those who suffered in the Peterloo Massacre through to the Tolpuddle Martyrs, and all the civil rights work done since. I'm also grateful to those who fought, many not returning, during two World Wars. I'm proud to say both my father and grandfather did their bit, and obviously survived the horror of these wars.

Tomorrow's weather forecast (Sunday) ..... "Gales overnight with blustery showers over East and Southeastern areas later in the day, with a high of 7 degrees." Another day filling holes in walls then. Soon be March, hopefully with a change in the weather. Getting bored with the wind, rain and cold. Especially the rain, which we had again for over 7 hours today. Thankfully the cat has bladder control I could only dream of. (Don't know why, but liquids fall through me, and I get asked how I manage to go all day without a hot or cold drink? The stuff just doesn't stay in me, and I almost never feel thirsty.) The cat doesn't like the wind either, so is spending more time indoors too. He's becoming increasingly demanding, as he gets as bored as I am stuck inside, and thinks I should be entertaining him. In fact we were both so bored this evening, he fell asleep on my lap (first time ever) so I joined him in the land of nod .... While it was 'chucking it down' outside. So glad I live in the 21st Century. 100 years ago I may not have lived to this age, having fought through too many cold wet winters living in appalling conditions. If hard work and poor diet hadn't killed me, TB probably would have. Better bored than dead ....

Yes, that about sums up how I saw it. I can't over emphasise how much effort I put in to getting proficient, and just how proficient I became. I could and did turn plain looking girls into images they often didn't believe. They would take away prints to show friends, always with favourable remarks. At the time I had a hairdresser in the house, and knew my way around makeup. I always applied the lipstick .... It wasn't unusual for me to work, then spend 6 hours in a darkroom. I remember spending a week (spare time) trying to replicate a 6x4 machine print onto 10x8 paper by hand. As hard as I tried, I just couldn't get a proper match. It took that long for me to realise, the machine print was on Fuji paper - which I learnt carries a magenta tint, and the enlargement was done on Kodak paper - with no colour shift. I like to think I wasn't so much stupid, as blind to my own competency. The 20-25 hours I worked on the enlargement, I assumed I had been making the error, rather than an inherent 'fault' in the consumables (media). Ho-hum. The second wedding I did, I was slightly pressured into using the grooms own digital kit. An enthusiast with money, he had everything. I used one body, one lens, and a flaky camera mounted flash. It went well, despite the misgivings of the bride who didn't want any photographs. They were both in their 60's and she didn't want (nasty) reminders. I didn't mind the pressure second time around, as I didn't have to second guess what I actually got on film, nor wait 4 hours to process and print.The task was much more straight-forward, with no exposure limit!

The weather had promised to keep me inside if I had a night out in heels, and a late night was supposed to involve either the West End or Westfield. En route, I decided to visit one of the home furnishing companies scattered around (I.k.e.a.) and use their toilet facilities. While there I opted for a cup of coffee, and having done both, thought I might have a bit of a walk around. I left the place at 10pm. A little under 3 hours there in a 5 inch heel. Got spotted by a couple of people, but they got spotted, spotting me and were 'guilty' enough to avoid staring again while they themselves were being watched. Obviously I can't walk normally in such a heel, but I suspect only having a tiny part of my shoe poking out of my trouser hem is more of a giveaway. The only 'near miss' I had all evening came later, when I visited a supermarket some 20 miles from home. A gang/gaggle of 6 'yoofs' were walking towards the exit as I walked into the store, so I stopped walking until they'd passed me. Again. no dramas (thankfully). They were the wrong size and age to confront, and 'mob-handed'. Better I kept myself discreet, and got on with why I was there. The place was almost empty, but for very busy staff. I'm sure at least one realised I had heels on but again, he watched me watching him so he didn't try too hard to look again. Bit of a cat and mouse game really, though I'm not sure who the cat is, and who the mouse.

I will have to find some entry into current markets, or create new markets. While people have access camera phones, and can create their own images, they will of course be loathe to pay for anything else. There are times when that might be different, and I've touched on times when they were. In my film days, I got invited to a couple of parties on the strength of my portrait (ability) status. These were not your everyday parties, but 'well to do' bashes where amongst others, millionaires were present (and at least one sat for me.) At the time, my work was 'gratis' as I was working my way through the challenge of 'meet/greet/photograph' complete strangers. It wasn't my usual fare of getting to know someone (even on a cursory level) and create an image that reflected what I perceived as their personality, or what could be their personality. It didn't go badly, because I had skills - often used skills, and I looked the part. Just getting back to that position is going to be a challenge. For about 5 years, I ate, drank and slept photography. I haven't forgotten it, I've just been left behind by the new technology. Back then (as I've mentioned before) I made a conscious decision not to chase a career in photography, and it's still not something I would want to do because I had to. (To earn a living.) I'll be more than happy if it could pay for itself, and I get pleasure out of doing it. I've had some ideas, initially sitting on photographing people (women) at special occasions. Not boudoir photography, but at special nights with people they like. Photographs worth printing and framing, not candid snaps taken with a good or bad camera phone. The editorial work could be a starter. I did get those photo's published in November, and I think the newspaper was quite happy with them. I'm sure they would take more, it's whether they would pay .... I'm a while off that yet. I need to 'hone' my digital skills first.

I have watched one of the many You Tube tutorials that suggest how camera manufacturers get to the ISO rating for their sensors, and it's the last thing they arrive at after light transmission (focal length x aperture) combination is measured. The suggestion is, not all camera ISO settings are equal. Nor are the processors ... The Canon EOS 5D Mark III is the world's best digital SLR because it easily lets us create smooth, clean, beautiful and colorful images in any sort of light. It handles much better my cheaper Nikon D800 and D800E; my 5D Mark III handles and sounds smoother, quieter, feels better and makes better-looking images than my Nikon D800E. The Canon 5DS and 5DS R are newer and have more pixels, but cost more and run more slowly, so it's a toss-up between them. The 5D Mark III also has the best LCD ever put in a DSLR, while the LCD on my Nikon D800E is smaller in actual use, and most importantly, the Nikon's LCD isn't color-accurate. My 5D Mark III LCD is big, bold, bright, sharp, clear, colorful and accurate, and automatically varies its brightness brilliantly for use in any light. (My D800E also has auto LCD brightness control, but doesn't work well enough to want to use it.) ...... Pixels impress amateurs, while guys like me who shoot every day for a living are more impressed at how my 5D Mark III lets me get more of the right pixels faster, not just more of the wrong ones. The 5D Mark III is Canon's first full-frame camera to correct lens color fringes. That's the biggest reason I replaced my old 5D Mark II with the new 5D Mark III; because my new Mark III automatically can correct many lens flaws, especially lateral color fringes, so my old lightweight plastic lenses on my new Mark III now often outperform my best L lenses on my old Mark II! If those big old L lenses, like the 16-35mm f/2.8 L II, had any lateral color fringes, the older cameras were powerless to correct it. Unlike most of the fluff reviewers spew out, lateral color fringes are very visible in real prints. My Mark III makes them go away, so long as I have an appropriate lens profile loaded. From >> here << which just happened to be from a name I recognise when I did a Google search on the camera. There are some outstanding photo's on the site taken with that camera too. I would agree that file size is immaterial if the image quality is not very good, and I would also agree 20mp should be large enough for any image unless it's to be a 30' x 10' billboard, though at normal viewing distances .... Image quality is the key, and having a little flexibility for cropping - if necessary. There can be no doubt, the sensor/processor combination on your camera is outstanding. A couple of weeks ago I watched a video from a pro photographer who likes to rant. ("Roger the Ranter" or something like it.) He has produced some good work and is successful. (Dunno I like his attitude though.) Anyway, he begins by starting to talk about equipment, and mentions most of his viewers will be amateurs. He then goes on to (rightly) say, "don't get unhinged on equipment, as anything you currently own will almost certainly outperform your ability." Which, I tend to agree with - and certainly is the case with me at the moment. I didn't watch much more. Americans like giving you a message, then repeat it 30 times to make sure you heard it the first time.... So I'm aware that, at the moment at least, I don't have the skills to get the most from my camera. But I also know (from bitter experience) that if you don't get some success early on, you give up. 30 years ago, this was quite straight forward. Where I worked there was a number of good looking girls (and some not so good) who I would ask to sit, and who sat for me. Now, I would almost certainly be perceived as a 'dirty old man' if I approached the same people, now I am twice the age I was. Not sure what the answer is. Go on a charm+charisma course? Join a photographic club - no I don't think I like that idea, though it might not be full of older men talking equipment all the time ....

My first attempt with RAW has come care of RAW Therapee ver. 5.3 It's slow, and looks fairly basic, but suits me at this time. The original files I made in RW2 (Pana RAW) were woefully underexposed images of my long cowboy boots. I must have taken the pictures when light levels were poor, as the lens was wide open and I used ISO 800 which in itself tells me I was struggling for light. I almost never use anything above ISO 400, and historically, not used anything (film) over 100. While I may have managed to get away with these images by a significant reduction in image size before posting here, for any other form of publishing they would be considered unusable. I need some new source files/images. Any budding models out there want to volunteer? My cat is getting very fed up with me pointing a camera at him, and while I could photograph the 'lovely' Mrs Freddy, she is still at the top of my shyte list due to an incident 4 or 5 years ago. She complained the image I published (elsewhere) gave her cause to consider legal action since the image portrayed her in a way she believed would "cast her in a poor light". Despite some immediate and favourable responses from family members, it caused (me) quite a problem. Afterwards I vowed (to myself) I would never record her image again, which I've pretty much kept to. While the images were in no way improper in any way, I deleted them all. Shame, because they really did make her look extraordinarily glamorous. She has since said she over-reacted (probably since those who saw the images really liked them) but the damage has been done. I will (grudgingly) accept criticism over just about anything I do, but not the images I create. They are how I see people, and if they don't like how I perceive them, they can do the other thing and I won't bother any longer.... It's not like I give people 3 hands or 3 legs ...