Manchester Architecture

Manchester’s architecture is changing faster than I have ever seen before, propelled by modern skyscrapers.

This is old and new Manchester, near Deansgate Station.

Posted in Everything | Leave a comment

Wildflowers

Wildflowers are getting more and more popular in Great Britain, which is a good thing for all sorts of reasons, not least they look so appealing. But they can be hard to photograph when there are so many. It’s important to find a focal point, somewhere for the eye to come to rest. In this case it’s a single pink poppy backlit by the sun. Oh yes, the sun. Sometimes a nuisance in flower photography but here it helps make the picture what it is.

Posted in Everything | Leave a comment

On the Beach

An evening walk along the beach. I’m not a natural history photographer but these stranded jellyfish made an unusual and static subject. Being the evening it was getting a bit dark but that also lent atmosphere and they seemed to pick up and concentrate what little light there was left.

Posted in Everything | Leave a comment

A Photographer’s Dream

A trip to Valencia should be on every photographer’s list. It is hard to take a bad picture around the very modern City of Arts and Sciences. If you like dramatic architecture it is the place to be. The picture above is very geometric, although my usual style is more curvy.

Posted in Everything | Leave a comment

Sunrise is Great But You Have to Get Up Early

According to my camera this was taken at 6:05am; and pre-sunrise the weather was pretty bad. So it can be worth getting out early. How many great sunrises have I missed by not getting up in the dark on the offchance?

Probably lots.

Posted in Everything | Leave a comment

…and Train and Plane

Not the greatest or most dramatic photo, but it was an unusual sight to see a train and an aeroplane together, especially when the plane is an Osprey. You might need to click on the image to see it a bit larger.

Posted in Everything | Leave a comment

Boat and Water

The classic combo. A boat and some water; a very peaceful scene. It’s a traditional photographic subject but none the worse for that. I took lots of photos of this boat but in this one the sun’s late evening light just touched the boat and was gone shortly afterwards.

Posted in Everything | Leave a comment

Soft Blur

Do all photos have to be sharp? Definitely not, although perhaps at least one element should be – just to prove that the blur was intentional! The diffused look makes the picture more abstract and removes distracting detail I think. This is the ceiling of the Walker Art gallery in Liverpool. An ideal subject to photograph while seated in the cafe with a cup of tea.

Posted in Everything | Leave a comment

Impact?

There is a thing in photography that pictures need to have impact, or perhaps that’s IMPACT.

It’s probably especially true when one’s picture is in an endless stream passing through Instagram, Facebook or wherever on the web.

I think this picture does not have impact; you may not even have seen Beeston Castle rising through the mist. The sun’s only just coming up so it hasn’t touched the mist yet, unlike the picture of Peckforton in the previous post. But I still like the picture a lot; it’s subtle. If you look closely you can see not only the castle but also the first glimmer of sunlight at the top right; I could have flooded the whole picture with dawn orange but that would erase the delicacy I think?

Posted in Everything | Leave a comment

Fairly Early Morning

At this time of year (i.e. December) once can see the sun come up without leaving one’s bed too early. So when the forecast predicted fog in the morning I was able to make a relatively leisurely start and still get to my viewpoint as the sun came up over the Peckforton Hills. The fog was swirling around so things came into and went out of view. It was a beautiful morning.

Posted in Everything | Leave a comment