blackandwhite
These Architecture images were taken on a recent visit to Nottingham when I was going to do a location shoot with Mercybomgo. We had some time to kill and got the camera out to snap the tram station, the lace market square and the Nottingham Contemporary Art gallery.
I have cut the work load down starting from this month with only three flowers from the shop this month rather than the normal four. There is a good feel to the 'Power 3' concept. Best regards and speedy recovery to Chris and thanks the ladies at The Bramblesflowers and Flowers to yours A thanks also to Amy of course for her ever needed help and organisational skills.
That's it for this July. Please come back in August to visit us again.
Thanks
x
Back again with the flowers this month after last months self imposed break and we have some interesting flowers.
We start off with a peony which is always one of my favourites to snap. Delicate and full bloom when in heated rooms, the look of this flower is always a delight only got three flowers this month from the shop, but Amy brought home a small thistle that she found close to her work place and that made up the fourth flower. At this point of writing the blog the flowers are now going over. So we will be trying something new with them tomorrow involving white spirit (turps) and a fag lighter. If it works I shall post the results up to view in next months blog, so be sure to tune back then.
That's it for this month, but a big thanks then to Chris and the ladies at The Bramblesrist and Flowers to yours And thanks also to Amy of course.
That's it for this June. Please come back in July to see us again.
Thanks
x
We went down to Newstead Nature Reserve on our day out, but got there to soon. I had hoped that the grass would be long and uncut, but we were far to early for that. There still was not a lot of leaves on the trees either. Still it did enable us the take some good pictures of some of the many Silver Birch with peeling bark trees. We also carefully avoided the ever present dog shit that litters the path I know they have to go somewhere, but why in a public nature reserve? Still we managed to get some half way decent snaps of the landscape there.
Friend and chauffeur with taxi James, took Amy and I out on a run down the road close to junction 27 of the M1 For the chance of taking snaps of the hotels there. The one we went to is called the Mour Hotel. Its a big place set back from the road and looks like its made of solid black granite.
On our journey we also stopped at some flat roofed buildings in near by Kirkby after seeing them when I last visited the health centre there. The sky was clear, but if you look at the pictures it looks like a dark patch floating high above the flats, almost like a storm cloud. I really do like those pictures from our day out. I have also thrown in a few black and whites I took of the old Capital One building (Now the DWP), close to the train station as an extra viewing bonus. Thank you both James and Amy.
Finishing off for this short month we have another great offering of plant and flowers from our friends at the florist. Including two freesias that are always good to photograph. They especially look great on the square black and white. So thanks again to our friends at the Bramblesrist and Flowers to yours To Chris and the ladies in the shop, as well as a thank you as always to Amy.
That is it for this month. Apologies for the delay and see you all next month.
x
Something I would really like doing more of is portraits of normal people. I am not too fussed who, just as long as they are not family pictures of kids. 'Hey mister, can you take a picture or two of my little Charlie, he has such a sweet face ….' NO, NO, NO ! Been there, done that and hated every minute of it. Adult portraits please, the older the subject the better as the elderly have interesting faces that tell stories of their lives. These portraits were taken and edited in a 'Floating Heads; style where just their heads and not their clothing or surrounds are viewed to focus the eye on the subject matter. I know it might not be everyone's taste, especially in monochrome , but I think it looks good and would hope to do more.
As I mentioned before, here are the landscape images we took while away in Northamptonshire. Amy and I took them (hers are in colour) on a good day. It was bright enough to get a good shot and no threats of rain anywhere. The sky was interesting as well. I did not need to enhance it in the edit stage. I really wish I could have done and do more of this. Its my fault as I could have done more when I was fit and young and owned a car. One of life's regrets I suppose.
Back on track again with the start of a new year of flower photography with thanks
to everyone at the Bramblesrist and Flowers to yours To Chris and the ladies in the shop.
We had a clematis in flower this month, which always looks good. Such and interesting shape and flowers. This month we have done some extra quirky images through the use of a prism to refract light. It was a heavy thing and awkward for Amy to hold in front of the lens, but it was worth the hassle. I am going to practice again with it sometime in February on another subject and see how it turns out … or .
That's it for this January. Please come back in February to see us again.
Thanks
x
This is it folks, this is what all the fuss was about!
The front, back and sides of our local Amazon Depot I have been asked why I take pictures of these, soulless buildings, but I like them. Its all in the lines. Note the lines in the walls and even the lines of the road markings. Lines lead the eye into a composition, and I am captivated by them. So there you have it was the lines Officer …. And to this day, they still have not come to arrest me?
There are also a few shots thrown in of a new building next to my GP's surgery. Very square, very uniformed.
Going down to Northamptonshire is one of the few chances I get to explore the countryside and practice landscape photography. Its quite a flat county, not being a million miles away from the flat lands of the Fen country in Cambridgeshire. But if you get lucky, there are still some views worth venturing out for. All black and white, I hope you enjoy this offering and thanks to Amy for her help and Mum and Dad for taking us around.
Seeing as how its Summer, it was a good excuse to brush off the cobwebs from my two Infrared Chipped Nikon's and have a go at taking some strange picture colours. Some of the views are taken of my parents garden, as you can see their conservatory in the background, but most were taken of the Northamptonshire countryside. One of my favourites is the colour Infrared picture taken of a stream running under a bridge, from the bridge looking down. You can see the read moving in the current and its has an unearthly beauty about it. I have put the image as the first one to see in this gallery. I made a cock-up with the black and white infrareds as I had not got the camera set to RAW, only jpeg. So limiting what I could do in post editing. Never mind. I will not make that sloppy mistake again.
Abstracts taken mostly in my parents downstairs toilet, as well as a prop from the Boardroom Studio in Derby. Can you guess what they are?
Something new for this project gallery with a theme we have already covered before, but what the hell … I wanted to do it again. The coffee and teas and food on the table at Magazine Heaven shop and cafe in Rushden Lakes shopping centre. Sitting behind us was the old disgraced ex Tory MP for Wellingborough, who normally has a lot to say or just likes the sound of his own voice. Mr. Peter Bone, He looked all forlorn and rejected. I don’t like to kick a man when he is down (after all, we have all been there at sometime or another), but in hindsight he probably should have kept his trousers up and not been such a bully!
How the mighty fall.
Here are a few bits and bobs I photographed around the place in an abstract manner. Most of them should not be too hard to guess. There is one odd one, think Dr. Who and the …. to get it.
Please enjoy.
She has been at it again !!!
Amy has been out and about, snapping away at people and places and doing a brilliant job at it. I especially like the man with his two dogs in a shop and another picture with a large young man playing with his mobile phone outside a shop door. She is brave because she goes up to people and just asks them if she can take their picture. Sometimes they say no, but most times they agree and she gives them a business card with the web site address on it. So thank you Amy.
If you want to see more of her work please visit the Streets of your town web site. x
She wants my job !!!!
Every time she goes out she sneaks out the camera and indulges in a spot of street photography and she is very good at it. I did photograph the ladies working in the burger van outside the plastics factory, but Amy did everything else. One of my favourites as a simple, but effective image of a man's shadow on the pebbled floor. Great work Amy. See more at the Streets of your town web site. x.
Just a few from a location that always caught my eye on which ever journey I took by car to the City. Its just outside the City limits and a blink and you miss it. It is a copse of trees on top of a mound and it reminds me of a similar view on the A38 just outside of Bristol on the way to Cornwall. You can not stop on that road, but you can this. So thanks then to my driver from my local taxi firm, James for taking me there.
There is a mixture of flowers I got from the Brambles Florist and Flowers To Yours. this month, along with some random bits Amy found in the hedgerows. So we have quite a lot to feast your eyes on. I would really like to photograph poppy's, but they are so hard to transport home as the often wilt before reaching their destination. I suppose the trick might be to go see them in situ on a clear and calm day.
So thank you then going out to my friends Chris and the ladies at Brambles Florist and Flowers To Yours. As well as a nod to my wife Amy. Well that's it for this March's updates, I do hope you enjoyed them and see you again next month.
X
All of these images were taken in my parents house ground floor. And most in the kitchen I was waiting for my mother and wife to come back from a shopping trip and was in an itch to photograph something so my eyes scanned the room for something abstract to take pictures of. Keyrings, curtains, stoves, toasters and other sundry things came to hand. See if you can make it out what they are?
