Project 365 day 339: Lens problems

I put my wellies on and ventured out into the damp and drippy garden this morning, but struggled to photograph the things I planned. First, I found that the beautiful red holly berries in the hedge outside J's window, which I've been looking at for weeks, had all disappeared overnight. Then, after three shots, I couldn't focus and thought the camera wasn't working properly; I wondered if it was because the battery was low. I swapped to J's camera, transferred the lens, and found the autofocus was not responding at all. I managed to take some photos with manual focus, which I do use when I need to, but focusing was a struggle and for many of them I achieved reasonably sharp focus by adjusting my position rather than the lens. It's my Canon 55-250, which I bought on ebay about four years ago and have used a lot; it's my favourite lens (I only have three), and I particularly like it for things like this, where I don't need macro and appreciate its good background separation and bokeh. I will have to look into repairs, I suppose, and see if it will cost more than I paid for the lens.

This weekend J has joined a panel discussion and a lot of screenings at the online Together Disability Film Festival, which in the past she has attended in person at Stratford (East London). I've watched some of it with her, and it's been interesting - some good short films, and a panel discussion on the future of online video-conferencing as a filmmaking tool. It's lovely to join something with her and just listen (while admiring the skill and expressiveness of the BSL interpreters) rather than having to try to sign it all, as I often do.