365 to 42

This is the first of a set of images of places that mean something to me, and in taking them I have had to revisit those places and also go back to the time that they are connected with. It is very self indulgent, but it’s my blog and I can do almost what I want. So to start, this image is the most worked on I’ve posted and that reflex how much I wanted it here. This is the church I got married in and is here because I have so many special places that me and Caz have shared that to pick one was impossible, so this is a symbol for all of those. I love history and when visiting places I try to imagine what it was like in the past, it’s the same with these places as I visited each one it was like watching a film of the past rolling before my eyes, I could see Caz and me standing on those steps, in the later shots I could fill the spaces with people now long gone and voices now long silent, sometimes this blog takes me places I’d forgotten. Great isn’t it. ---------------- Now playing: Bi...

Some light hearted quotes from and about my favourite entertainment, women. Dedicated to Vic, Sam, Kel, Gem and mistress Olivia, some of the things that make work fun. "I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb... and I also know that I'm not blonde." Dolly Parton. "Nature intended women to be our slaves. They are our property." Napolean Bonaparte "Direct thought is not an attribute of feminity. In this, women are now centuries behind man." Thomas Edison "Wild horses couldn't drag a secret out of most women. However, women seldom have lunch with wild horses." Ivern Boyett "When women go wrong, men go right after them." Mae West. "She looked as if she'd been poured into her clothes and had forgotten to say when." PG Wodehouse. "Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult." Charlotte Whi...

Yesterday’s photo got a couple of comments about the merit between black and white and colour. As I now shoot on digital all my shots are in colour (I never use the black and white setting on the camera as it just as easy to redo on the computer and a lot harder trying to get the colour back if you shoot using it) so when I get home I have the option of how I display the image. The reason for going B&W on this image was simply that it looked too similar to the days before image and I knew that the contrast in the sky would work really well in B&W. I do find that buildings sometimes go better in B&W; I think it’s the graphic nature of them and that landscapes work better in colour, at least sometimes. The artistic freedom that digital brings me has let me try more differing approaches to my work, I would never have set up my dark room just to see how a shot would look in B&W if I already had it in colour and all of the colour effects on the B&W shots could be done th...

I have been working on a set of pictures for next week, I find that doing a set of linked shots gets me working differently and also gets me thinking differently. This set was going to be just images of places that meant something to me, but as the photos involved revisiting those places it has turned into a trip back in time and so I’ve decided to write about the places in more detail and the reasons behind the photos. For the first shots I had to return to the street where I live as a child, somewhere only a mile or so away, but a place I’ve not visited in years as it is off the main road and not close to anything important. What a shock, the whole place has gone down hill, weeds growing every where, uncared for houses and a feeling of abandonment. All this and the individual houses must be worth more today than the ever did back when they looked loved and lived in. Part of me wishes I had stayed away and part of me, the bit with the camera, is glad I went. Today’s picture is a pote...

No joy in the photo competition unfortunately, I got through to the last 5 but missed out by a whisker, thank you to all that voted. Spent yesterday shooting photos for a set of images about places that mean something to me, I will hopefully post these next week. I find that setting challenges like this keeps me focused on producing work I would normally never do. I’m going to add some more sites to my highly recommended list, I have been visiting them for some time but have not got round to updating the list, sorry. Also going to try an Adsense ad in place of one of the videos, don’t known how this will work but as the photo fund has a negative balance at the moment I’ll give it a go (Just added it and thinks it looks ok, now I known what they are I will click on them on other blogs). Picture today taken over the weekend looking out over the local moorland. ---------------- Now playing: Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf via FoxyTunes

Bank holiday’s, don’t you just love them, a whole day off work to do as you please. Well that’s the idea, but having had two good days we were both at a loss when Monday dawned bright and clear, so we hit the net to see what was happening close to. The result, nothing. Then we remembered that we had seen a sign for something called “Leek by the sea” so we raced up town to see what was going on, and found, a couple of wheel barrows full of sand had been dumped on one of the car parks and surrounded by stalls selling tit and tat, all for charity of course. The high light while we were there was the egg and spoon ¼ finals and the final of the glamorous granny. No wonder the town looks ready for the last person out to turn the light off. Still we managed to get the garden furniture oiled ready for the winter storage. ---------------- Now playing: Moby - Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? via FoxyTunes

Babooshka asked a very interesting question yesterday, how my photography changed after leaving the camera club. Well that is a can of worms and lets peak inside. Firstly I will have to state that I’m speaking from the position of having dealt with a number of clubs, both as a member and as an outsider (salesman, try to flog them stuff and photographer trying to teach them stuff). In the club where I was a member I was events co-ordinator and chairman for a short time, so have seen and interacted with a number of other clubs and the bureaucracy behind them. So, I think that on the whole they are made up of large numbers of well meaning individuals, who on the most part are above average photographers who are very passionate about their hobby. As clubs, they are bigoted, elitist and small minded, fixated on doing thing the “right way”, a great example of the pack mentality. That is the main problem, the “right way” trying to take photos that will please a judge, who, as the photos s...