Self-portrait in old mirror

Georgian country houses often feature rooms with large and/or plentiful mirrors. Sometimes these mirrors have holders for candles. The reason for this is to magnify the candle light which was the only source of indoor light at that time. A visit to a country house also reveals that many of these mirrors (and those from the Victorian period) have deteriorated and no longer reflect as well as they did. The photograph above shows me at Berrington Hall, Herefordshire, photographing a bronze figure in one of these old mirrors.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Self-portrait with iPhone

When I first began photoblogging with my PhotoReflect site, all the way back in December 2005, one of my first photographs involved a self-portrait with my face distorted in the curved top of a cafetiere. In the ensuing years I regularly offered self-portraits that revealed relatively little. It's something I haven't really continued in PhotoEclectica, this shot being the only such example. So, by way of correction, here is what I hope is the first of many inventive "self-portraits". It was taken in a local coffee shop.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

View in the side mirror

As my son drove us round the M25 I noticed, in the mirror closest to me, the sun tinged clouds of the setting sun. I took several photographs of what I saw, many of which were blurred due to vibrations, and a few that captured the evening scene. This is the best of the bunch. When I came to caption the photograph it occurred to me that we don't seem to have settled on a name for the mirror by the passnger side door. It's not a wing mirror because they are above the wheel arch. Nor is it a rear-view mirror - they are inside at the top centre of the windscreen. Door mirror is sometimes used, as is A-pillar mirror and side mirror. I've plumped for the latter.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2