The Lightroom

Girl with Balloons

2012-01-30T18:45:00.000Z

As you may guess the next few days will be filled with images shot at the weekend.

This image was taken just after yesterdays image.

It is not often I post people pictures but yesterday was as much about people as the location.

Gung hei fat choi

2012-01-29T18:18:00.000Z

Well it looks as though I am going to have a good and prosperous year of the Dragon.

I had a trip up to London to watch the Chinese new year celebrations in Chinatown. After watching the parade. I wandered along Gerrard Street and than up on to Shaftsbury Avenue. The roads were all closed and I was standing around watching the goings on on a small stage area, when the Chinese god of money came out of a bank and gave me a red envelope with some money in it. Well that was what I told the policeman:)

OK in truth, it was a Chinese man dressed as the god of money and the envelope had 20p in it. But as that was the first time I have ever received money from a bank without fighting for it, I am seeing it as a good omen, even a very good omen!

Eggs in the morning

2012-01-24T11:34:00.000Z

Just trying to do a simple image today. No extra light, simple subject.

Ightham Mote

2012-01-23T12:51:00.000Z

The last picture from my trip out last week another HDR image of Ightham Mote.

Iphone shots on the commute.

2012-01-21T19:54:00.000Z

A couple of iphone sots taken on the commute and processed in an app called Retro Camera.

Ice on ponds

2012-01-20T21:41:00.000Z

Another view of the fishponds gave me the trees on the hill on the other side reflecting on the ice covered pond.

Chimney Pots at Ightham and a Kodak Moment

2012-01-19T10:08:00.000Z

The chimney pots o the roof at Ightham are wonderful and with the late afternoon sun just catching them it was a great picture.

Also as a side note Kodak today filed for Chapter 11 protection in the USA. And for a company which at one time was one of the most global of brands at the cutting edge of then current technology it is a sad day.

Ice on the Fishponds

2012-01-18T09:05:00.000Z

My trip out on Sunday had taken me down to the fishponds at Ightam. Thos time there was still a little bit of ice on the water and still some leaves around. Luckily the ice had not been broken, so I was able to get some interesting images.

Oast House

2012-01-17T23:06:00.000Z

From the weekend.

St Lawrence Seal Chart

2012-01-16T20:11:00.000Z

ON my trip out yesterday I passes the church of St Lawrence at Seal Chart. It was another candidate for an HDR treatment.

Ightham Mote

2012-01-15T17:27:00.001Z

I had a run out today. It was bright and clear but very cold.

I ended up at Ightham Mote and was doing some more HDR work.

Outdoor Photography

2012-01-14T18:48:00.000Z

A bit of blowing my own trumpet today. I have another picture in outdoor this month. YEAH!!!!!

This will be the third. Sadly not a winner but a runner up.

Frosty Morning

2012-01-13T10:23:00.000Z

It was cold and frosty this morning. My car was covered in frost which gave some nice images.

Apps

2012-01-12T20:57:00.000Z

I have now finished with images i took in London last week. As I have been working everyday since or have had to do 'office' work when at home. I have very little new content. I do have a couple of images shot on my iphone and manipulated with an app called Retro Camera.

The Shard

2012-01-11T19:35:00.000Z

There is a a great view of the Shard from the Thames embankment near Millbank.

Burghers of Calais

2012-01-10T20:01:00.000Z

The sun was shining as I walked through Victoria Tower Gardens, last week.

South Bank Again

2012-01-09T21:23:00.000Z

Another shot of the Southbank from last week.

London Eye

2012-01-08T21:04:00.000Z

The London Eye at night.

South Bank

2012-01-07T20:18:00.000Z

A night shot of the Nelson Mandela bust on the south bank.

Borough Market and the Shard

2012-01-06T20:07:00.000Z

In London yesterday I had a visit to Borough Market. It has been some time since I was last there and the Shard now dominates the area.

Royal Festival Hall

2012-01-05T19:49:00.000Z

I had a trip up to London today to buy myself some new walking boots. I also did some photography and over the next few days I will post some images.

First is an evening shot of the Royal Festival Hall and the London Eye, I was attracted by the yellow stairs on the South Bank complex. With a bit of post processing with Photomatix, I produced an image I was happy with.

Rain Video

2012-01-03T22:51:00.000Z

While waiting for the train today I got caught in a torrential downpour, just as the train was coming into the station.

As this is the first time I have put a video on my blog we will have to see how in looks.

Gravesend Rail Station

2012-01-02T21:45:00.000Z

A wonderful sunrise greeted my later than normal start to the day. Processed in Snapspeed a grate little app for my iphone. The shot was taken just before I got on my train and I spent the whole journey experimenting with the different options the programme has to offer.

Metaphor

2012-01-01T15:39:00.000Z

It's New Years day and having some time I went out for a walk with my camera. I found this image and thought it was almost a metaphor for the day. You can see the path going leading of in to the distance through a stormy landscape towards a beacon in the distance.
OK so I didn't say it wasn't a rather convoluted metaphor.

Happy New Year to everyone reading this blog.

Ian

Decaying door.

2011-12-18T17:45:00.000Z

On my way to shoot a job today I passed this door. Although I had no time to stop in the morning, I finished the job while there was still light. How could I have not stopped!

Snowman Closeup!

2011-12-14T10:21:00.000Z

It may not look like it but these are images taken of a Snowman Christmas decoration.

The decoration was hollow and plastic with a colour changing LED inside. I used my iPhone and by having the lens almost touching the plastic body, I got these amazing out off focus images.

Ring around the Moon

2011-12-11T19:51:00.000Z

Last night there was a halo around the moon. The sky was clear and it was very frosty. The halo was stronger than I have ever seen before.

Guildford

2011-12-04T21:21:00.000Z

Visited Guildford and it's cathedral.

Three days in a row.

2011-12-03T21:47:00.000Z

For awhile I have been posting rather intermittently, but I managed to post for three consecutive days!

The images today are from around gravesend in the evening.

Rain on Laylandi

2011-12-02T10:32:00.000Z

Last night was the first heavy rain that we have had for months.

Smoke Abstract 2

2011-12-01T21:07:00.000Z

Some more images.

Smoke abstract

2011-11-29T21:30:00.000Z

Again its been over a week since the last set of images. Tonight I dug out the joss and did some abstract smoke images.

Gravesend

2011-11-19T21:48:00.000Z

Its been some time since I picked up a camera for fun.

Tonight the Christmas lights were turned on. So I had a walk down town as the light was fading.

KIrk O Shotts

2011-11-04T21:35:00.000Z

On our way back from Edinburgh the sun came out near Shotts.

The Old Kirk Alloway

2011-11-01T19:09:00.000Z

Up in Scotland at the moment and went down the Ayrshire coast to Alloway and beyond.

Rainbow

2011-10-26T19:03:00.000+01:00

We had the first heavy rain for weeks today. It came as heavy showers with bright sun between, the perfect weather for rainbows.

Clandon

2011-10-24T20:26:00.002+01:00

Another visit out on Sunday afternoon.

Feather

2011-10-22T18:21:00.000+01:00

Playing around with a feather lit by the sun.

Sissinghurst

2011-10-18T20:28:00.001+01:00

As it was my day off, we had a run out. The weather was sunny but it was rather cold out of the sun.

Early Morning train station.

2011-10-16T19:43:00.002+01:00

Wires and Trains

2011-10-15T18:38:00.000+01:00

Waiting for a train again.

Attic View

2011-10-12T21:37:00.000+01:00

It was a full moon tonight and I was hopping for clear skies at sunset. Sadly although it had been a sunny afternoon the clouds built up and there was no moon to be seen.

Hosta Leaf

2011-10-08T18:26:00.002+01:00

Just some messing around with a leaf on the table.

On The Diagonal

2011-10-05T18:05:00.000+01:00

Two images using strong diagonals.

The Moon and Stars

2011-10-02T22:13:00.000+01:00

Hot October evening

2011-10-01T19:18:00.000+01:00

Strange weather this week. The hottest October day on record, and me at Stratford.

Afternoon in the woods.

2011-09-30T11:20:00.000+01:00

With the sun out on Wednesday and some time to spare, I went to the fishponds to look for some more images.

Indian Summer

2011-09-28T19:14:00.000+01:00

The weather has been warm and sunny today. This evening I went down to the prom to see if there were any images to be found.

Night and Day

2011-09-27T19:24:00.000+01:00

Some new images from yesterday and today

Sunday Train station

2011-09-25T19:39:00.000+01:00

Nearly an hour wait for my train tonight.

Lawrence Shove

2011-09-24T14:42:00.000+01:00

Part of the ongoing editing and sorting of archives is throwing up a few odds and ends that I had forgotten about. This picture was a very underexposed 6x4.5 transparency.

Too dark to do anything worthwhile with on film but when scanned and tweaked with in Photoshop it produced an acceptable result.

The subject was Lawrence Shove, a very old family friend, and was taken in 1980 in his office at Minack House, Porthcurno. While he was manager at the Minack Theatre.

In his life he had been many things. Farming and working with heavy horses, his love of nature took him into the world of birdsong recording. These recordings are now in the National Sound Archive,

"the Shove collection of British wildlife on 243 reels of tape. The late Lawrence Shove was one of the first contributors to the wildlife collections in 1969 (wildlife recording reference number 00001 is his taping of a Bittern Botaurus stellaris at Hickling Broad, Norfolk). NSA recently acquired his complete collection."

I can remember him stopping several times, at my Grandparents house, with his Austin A40 Farina full of tape machines, parabolic reflectors, stands and all his other equipment. The main reason was his search for the Capercaillie. From memory it took him several visits to the Highlands before he was successful in getting a recording of the mating call.

In the early 1970's he became manager of the Minack Theatre in Cornwall, when the work of running the theatre became too much for Rowena Cade, the theatres creator, to manage on her own. It was here that I got to know him the most as I visited over a few summers, helping out in the theatre, during my holidays.

His funeral was the most memorable that I have attended. He is buried in the village on the edge of Dartmoor where he lived most of his life. The funeral was on one of those first sunny days of early spring, just when the flowers were starting to bloom. His coffin was decorated with a posy of spring flowers picked from the hedgerows by children from the village school. The church was full with people standing at the back and spilling out into the churchyard of the small village church.

I am glad that I did not discard this bit of film 30 years ago. I also wonder what other images I will find and be able to resurrect.

Night Station

2011-09-23T19:49:00.000+01:00

I will be travelling through Stratford International for the foreseeable future and I know I will end up having a few waits for trains. The only camera I am likely to have is my iPhone so I will see what I can produce in the way of images.

Sratford International Station

2011-09-19T20:31:00.000+01:00

Not had much time or energy to either make images or to post on this blog. After moving jobs its been three weeks of hard work and long hours to deliver the new store.

But now we have got through the opening few days I am finding time and energy to do some photography. Sunday night found me with time while waiting for my train.

All shot on the iPhone as that was all I had.

Birch log

2011-09-08T21:18:00.000+01:00

The birch log I photographed in the past Here has decayed a bit more.

Clouds

2011-08-26T20:17:00.001+01:00

This is not going to be a long running theme for my pictures, but this evening we had some thunderstorms. This gave some lovely cloud images where the sun caught the edges of the clouds.

Rainbow

2011-08-25T21:26:00.000+01:00

Sunset

2011-08-21T21:47:00.000+01:00

Life has been a bit hectic over the past week or so and I have done very little in the way of photography. This evening there was a really nice sunset.

Things Lost

2011-08-09T21:09:00.000+01:00

Possibly the most iconic image of the destruction of the past few days has been Allied Carpet showroom at Tottenham here. As Lucy Inglis wrote in the Guardian here the loss of the buildings has taken away part of our architectural heritage.

What has had little coverage is the fact that the building had been converted into flats in 2002. It was not an award winning conversion, but it was a well thought out regeneration, far better than many, of an old building that created homes for people.

It was a building that I had photographed for the developer and I remembered it as an interesting building.

Canterbury and Whitstable

2011-08-09T19:25:00.000+01:00

We had a trip down to Canterbury this afternoon. We were just wandering around the town looking at all the changes since the last visit a few years ago. After we went up ti Whitstable, for a breath of sea air.

Winchester

2011-08-05T21:47:00.000+01:00

A couple of shots taken at Winchester, earlier this week.

Fushias

2011-07-31T17:50:00.002+01:00

Ground work products

2011-07-22T11:02:00.000+01:00

I had a short shoot this morning at a client who distributes Ground work products. After I had finished I had a short walk around their yard, and took a few images.

Chair in the rain

2011-07-19T23:09:00.000+01:00

It has been some time since the last post. Much traveling has been done and but not much photography other that images recorded for personal satisfaction.

This image was shot in the last few days.

Hermits Cell

2011-06-23T21:36:00.000+01:00

In a small magical grove near the tip of Anglesey is St Seiriol's Well. Dating back to the 6th Century a small spring of clear water bubbles out from under a large rock and flows through a small walled and wooded area. On a warm sunny day with no one around the site has a wonderful tranquil charm.

Summer Solstice

2011-06-21T21:49:00.000+01:00

Well another year has passed the longest day and starts the long slow drop down to the depths of Winter.

I always find it strange that in the hight of summer the passing of the longest day seems to mark a change in the year. The heat of July, August and 'High Summer' is still to come but the solstice has come and gone and Winter beckons.

Moon and Sea at night

2011-06-20T21:22:00.000+01:00

I had hopes to do more of these sea at night images. Sadly the tides did not really play out right. The tides were low at dusk, and the seas were not very big, so I did not get the misty effect of the waves that I was looking for.

Pebbles

2011-06-19T19:13:00.001+01:00

Much of my time was spent on various beaches around the isle of Anglesey. Each was different, all were almost deserted and all gave me different images.
These pebbles are from a beach I posted some images from a few days ago. I took several hundred images on this beach and I am still looking at the files and finding new pictures.

Crab shell

2011-06-18T22:47:00.002+01:00

Shot on a beach on Anglesey

Feather

2011-06-17T11:52:00.000+01:00

Close up of a feather found on a beach in North Wales

Beach pebbles

2011-06-16T22:39:00.000+01:00

One of the road ends that I got to had the most amazing pebble beach. I spent a long time taking pictures of the stones.

Porth Wen Brickworks

2011-06-15T21:03:00.001+01:00

The ruins at Porth Wen, are the remains of a brickworks that operated from the mid 1800's until early in the 20th Century. Today they are a decaying collection of buildings slowly being reclaimed by the sea.

To the ends of the roads.

2011-06-14T22:15:00.000+01:00

Before I went of to Anglesey I had purchased the OS Explorer maps for the island and also spent time on Google maps, looking for suitable areas for photography. This still did not prepare me for all the locations I found. Mostly I was going to the ends of any road I came to, just to see what was there. Nothing made my heart beat faster than a 'dead end' road sign.

What I did find was that a large amount of the dead ends ended with a church or holy site. The images here are from four different sites that were at the ends of roads or on Island of Anglesey.

Parys Mountain

2011-06-13T20:56:00.000+01:00

Near Amlwch, is Parys Mountain, a spectacular deep rip in the earth's surface that are the remains of copper mining that took place on the mountain since the 1780's.
The colours are fantastic and the whole area is a rich tapestry of coloured rock.

Anglesey

2011-06-12T23:39:00.000+01:00

I am just back from a few days camping on the Isle of Anglesey.
Over the next few days I will posting a few new image from the trip. It will not be a blow by blow account of each day, more a small selection of images from some of the locations I visited.

The first three images were taken at St Tysilio's church on a small island in the Menai Straits between the two bridges connecting Anglesey to the mainland. Although I had both my standard camera and my Infra Red camera most of the shooting on the trip was done on the standard camera, but at this location the most interesting images were shot in Infra Red.

Rochester Dickens Festival

2011-06-04T15:31:00.000+01:00

This weekend is the Dickens estival at Rochester. I had not visited for a year or two as my weekends 'on' did not allow. This year I have just started a few days off work and as the weather was fine we went down to see the 12 o'clock parade. As ever it was full of colour and people dressed as Victorian and Dikensian characters.

Late May light.

2011-05-31T21:12:00.001+01:00

A few images from the past days.

The day the rain came!

2011-05-26T17:43:00.001+01:00

It has been VERY dry here for most of April and May. Today has been a series of thunder showers, which have delivered much needed rain for the garden.

The image is taken out from the upstairs of our house and tweaked with a bit of HDR processing.

Evening light

2011-05-24T21:11:00.000+01:00

I am trying to do a bit of photography each day to get my eye back 'in'. Tonight I did some images of plants in the garden.

Sunset

2011-05-23T21:17:00.000+01:00

The sunset this evening was especially spectacular.

Wind

2011-05-22T20:40:00.000+01:00

The willow tree at the bottom of the garden was blowing around in the strong wind we had today.

The camera is my Infra Red converted Nikon D70.

Metal Working

2011-05-18T21:22:00.000+01:00

I have tried producing multi image panoramas in the past, the results have been ok when I have produced images without foreground interest. The problem has been that the point of rotation of the camera had been around the tripod and not the exit pupil point.It is possible to buy kit that overcomes this problem, but this costs money and that is in short supply at the moment.

Last night I went through my 'Bitsa' box and found a few bits that could be adapted to produce a solution.

Tonight I spent about an hour with a drill and some files.

A Metz flash holder bar was the main component. This needed drilling out to enable a Manfrotto tripod screw to be fitted to attach the camera. Next I needed to reduce the length and diameter of a another Manfrotto tripod screw to enable a Hex plate to be fitted. If I had a lathe this would have been easy, but as I don't, a little work with a drill and a file gave a good result.

When the diameter was reduced enough it fitted well.

A little experiment with positioning will give good results. but a first test looks good.

The stitching was very fast in Photoshop and had no noticeable errors, so possibly I have got very close to the optimum position.

The panorama also shows why I have done little photography over the past few weeks. Gardening has been the main focus for me it may still look unfinished but it is much further on than four weeks ago.

Catching up

2011-05-11T11:33:00.000+01:00

Although the weather has been great over the past few weeks I done little in the way of new images. My time has been spent doing major work in the garden. This is new coming to a finish. So here a couple of images shot over the past few days.

Bluebell Woods

2011-04-29T10:49:00.000+01:00

I needed to give my car a good run today to see if it would replicate an intermittent fault that has been giving a few problems over the past few days. Good news was that the fault did not occur. I also had some time to shoot a bluebell wood in Surrey. It was about five days late as the blooms had just gone over.

Miscellaneous

2011-04-27T21:26:00.000+01:00

Just a couple of images taken recently.

Hosta

2011-04-20T20:44:00.001+01:00

The Hosta plants are just coming into leaf at the moment and as I have a bad back it was a chance to shoot without moving much.

Blossom

2011-04-04T19:36:00.000+01:00

A couple of nice evenings had me out photographing the Plum blossom on the tree in my garden.

Spring

2011-03-27T19:52:00.002+01:00

Busy weekend, as Spring has sprung.

Data, Data and more Data

2011-03-23T11:18:00.001Z

For the past ten days I have been involved in a important,but very tedious task.
I started shooting digital in 2001 exactly ten years ago. At the beginning I used CDs to archive all my images. This was the most cost effective method as hard disks were small and expensive.
Cost of HD Via BoingBoing
For extra protection I wrote two discs. One was kept in my studio and one was stored off site (sounds better than in the shed!). This was OK as files were relatively small at around 4MB each.
In 2004 I changed camera and computer. Now most files were about 13MB and my computer could write DVD's. By early 2011 my archive had grown to 9 PhotoCDs 329 CDs and 220 DVDs plus 6 internal and external HD's, where I stored files I needed on a regular basis.

The net result was rather chaotic, so rationalisation was needed.
The first thing was to purchase two 2TB drives and enclosures. Each disc would have enough space to store everything I had and the second disc was used as a mirror of the first. Then came the tedious bit, reading every CD and DVD back onto the computer crosschecking the files were on the Hard Drives and recreating folders so I can find everything, then write these files back to the two 2TB drives.

This is now done The files need to be assessed and edited as a large proportion of clients from ten years ago are no longer in existence.
It has been lots of work. I also found that my early archive methods were not very efficient as several sets of files were archived in several places and some jobs seem never to have been saved at all, and a couple of discs had corrupted files.. The best thing for me is that I now have easy access to everything I have ever shot, I have space on the Hard Drives for another year or two of shooting and then I will be able to buy 4TB discs for the same price as the 2TB cost when I bought them. I also no longer have to worry about the long term stability of the DVD and CD discs I am free of the cost in time and money of creating DVDs and I space again when I get rid of the discs.

Moon Rise

2011-03-19T20:19:00.000Z

A short run out for the sunset and moonrise.

Frosty morning

2011-03-08T21:25:00.000Z

A bit of a frost this morning, although it did not sit for long. After I had the first bike ride of the year.

Day 5

2011-03-07T19:36:00.000Z

By day five we were both getting rather tired. The day before we had to get our flight was spent doing some final bits of sightseeing before the flight home . We had missed a couple of churches and we wanted to revisit the market. Them it was back to the hotel, to the bus and fly home. Getting home rather cold and tired late at night.

Day 4

2011-03-06T20:30:00.000Z

Day 4 was given over to more Gaudi houses and exploring La Ravel area of the cty.

Day 3 Gaudi Day

2011-03-05T19:57:00.001Z

Monday is a day when many museums close in Barcelona. So we headed out to La Sagrada Família. It is such an iconic building I was quite prepared to be disappointed by it. The exterior is interesting but the interior is breathtaking an equal to any church I have seen.

After we visited Parc Guell another area with lots of features designed by Gaudi. This was less spectacular.

Barcelona Day 2, Sunday

2011-03-04T09:42:00.000Z

Sunday was the day for a slow ramble through the narrow streets of the 'Barri Gothic' area of Barcelona. It was very quiet and we were able to visit lots of churches and museums. Not many shops were open but as we were not shopping that was not a great issue. At the end of the day we ended up in the square outside the Cathedral watching the band and the dancers.

Barcelona. Time delayed Blogging.

2011-03-03T11:02:00.002Z

Today will be Day One of a time delayed blog from a trip to Barcelona. We have just got back and rather than spend time online while away I decided to Blog after the event.

Day One

The first day was travelling. The trip was very easy all connections were on time transits were easy and the weather good. We arrived in Barcelona on Saturday afternoon and after booking into the hotel we went out for a walk and then to see the magic fountains. This gave us a feel for the underground with a five stop trip.

The fountains only played on Friday and Saturday nights so this was our only chance to see them.

It was well worth the trip we stayed and saw two displays. After it was back to the hotel, food and bed.

Museum of Kent Life

2011-02-18T17:44:00.000Z

Just to get out of the house today we had a visit to The museum of kent life at Aylesford. Just before the school holiday so it was very quiet. I had set my kit up with what I was going to be shooting with on a forthcoming trip. After a couple of hours I realised that I had over packed and rethink of kit was needed.

More weight than I would be happy carrying for 4 days.

Anyway I got some images I was pleased with considering I had not been out shooting for weeks and my 'eye' was not in.

iPhone again

2011-02-12T17:48:00.000Z

Gravesend

2011-02-08T22:02:00.000Z

I have not been shooting much over the past few weeks, but today the sun was out and I had to do a visit to the bank. I did a few images on the iphone.

London

2011-01-17T21:05:00.000Z

Had to do a trip to London today not for photography, but did some 'phone' images.

The Lightroom

Girl with Balloons

Gung hei fat choi

Eggs in the morning

Ightham Mote

Iphone shots on the commute.

Ice on ponds

Chimney Pots at Ightham and a Kodak Moment

Ice on the Fishponds

Oast House

St Lawrence Seal Chart

Ightham Mote

Outdoor Photography

Frosty Morning

Apps

The Shard

Burghers of Calais

South Bank Again

London Eye

South Bank

Borough Market and the Shard

Royal Festival Hall

Rain Video

Gravesend Rail Station

Metaphor

Decaying door.

Snowman Closeup!

Ring around the Moon

Guildford

Three days in a row.

Rain on Laylandi

Smoke Abstract 2

Smoke abstract

Gravesend

KIrk O Shotts

The Old Kirk Alloway

Rainbow

Clandon

Feather

Sissinghurst

Early Morning train station.

Wires and Trains

Attic View

Hosta Leaf

On The Diagonal

The Moon and Stars

Hot October evening

Afternoon in the woods.

Indian Summer

Night and Day

Sunday Train station

Lawrence Shove

Night Station

Archives

Sratford International Station

Birch log

Clouds

Rainbow

Sunset

Things Lost

Canterbury and Whitstable

Winchester

Fushias

Ground work products

Chair in the rain

Hermits Cell

Summer Solstice

Moon and Sea at night

Pebbles

Crab shell

Feather

Beach pebbles

Porth Wen Brickworks

To the ends of the roads.

Parys Mountain

Anglesey

Rochester Dickens Festival

Late May light.

The day the rain came!

Evening light