Boy Blogger

18/366 - Leeds Liverpool canal

2012-01-20T18:11:00.001Z

17/366 - Gateway to Wigan

2012-01-20T16:16:00.002Z

16/366 - Wigan Pier

2012-01-17T19:17:00.001Z

15/366 Angel plays organ!

2012-01-15T15:03:00.002Z

14/366 Watering Hole

2012-01-15T15:01:00.000Z

13/366 Take the trees down!

2012-01-15T14:59:00.002Z

12/366 Time for a pint!

2012-01-15T14:57:00.001Z

11/366 Britains Last Temperance Bar!

2012-01-15T14:55:00.002Z

10/366 Bury Parish Church

2012-01-15T14:54:00.002Z

9/366 Class 40 & Class 37

2012-01-15T14:51:00.002Z

8/366 Cat teaches teenager benefits of fruit

2012-01-08T21:38:00.002Z

7/366 Subway in Bury, Lancashire

2012-01-07T19:39:00.000Z

6/366 East Lancashire Railway - Summerseat Station

2012-01-06T14:08:00.001Z

5/366 Meg

2012-01-05T15:08:00.002Z

4/366 Old meets New

2012-01-05T15:06:00.001Z

3/366 Wigan Parish Church

2012-01-05T15:04:00.002Z

2/366

2012-01-03T08:36:00.002Z

1/366

2012-01-03T08:34:00.002Z

Chrimbo Day 2011

2011-12-26T11:13:00.006Z

That first taste of champers...

San Gimignano

2011-12-17T09:15:00.003Z

Rome - Santa Maria Maggiore

2011-12-17T09:06:00.005Z

Siena

2011-12-17T09:00:00.001Z

Venice

2011-08-25T10:56:00.005+01:00

Meg: school leavers' ball

2011-06-27T17:57:00.002+01:00

Oscar's 1st Birthday!

2011-06-19T16:04:00.006+01:00

Hey Jude! ....sneak peek!

2011-06-03T17:21:00.003+01:00

Jeanette's Retirement Do!

2011-05-22T21:46:00.003+01:00

Astley village pit museum

2011-05-09T19:26:00.005+01:00

Annie...love me love my iPad!

2011-03-26T11:30:00.002Z

Benny

2011-03-19T18:12:00.001Z

Dad... by Alex

2011-03-19T17:52:00.002Z

More Durham...

2011-02-22T18:02:00.003Z

And there's more...

2011-02-13T19:01:00.003Z

More from the North East

2011-02-06T19:59:00.001Z

Two Sides of The Same Coin - The North East

2011-01-30T08:31:00.005Z

Chrimbo Day!

2010-12-26T15:50:00.004Z

Merry Christmas

2010-12-20T15:39:00.002Z

Liverpool

2010-11-29T16:01:00.004Z

Today's walk

2010-11-13T16:47:00.003Z

Bonfire night!

2010-11-07T16:51:00.006Z

My personal favourite was caught by Alex which shows clearly exactly who is enjoying the ride and who, er, isn't!

John & Sudi's big day out!

2010-10-24T16:29:00.004+01:00

Straight from the can!

2010-10-24T13:31:00.005+01:00

Just a little sharpening, but the colours are just as I saw them this morning. Breathtaking!

Bach

2010-10-14T21:29:00.002+01:00

Alex preparing for his first organ recital on 12th October 2010.

Victoriana!

2010-08-30T20:17:00.010+01:00

One of the things that Victorian England has blessed us with is wonderfully colourful decoration in their churches. They are everywhere in the North West, none more so than in my home town of Wigan. Lancaster architect Edward Paley designed this example in 1866, and is said to be a faithful reproduction of the previous building in the transitional/early English style. Some of the carpets were recently renewed in the nave and the tiles in the chancel and sanctuary were exposed for the first time in a generation. These are stunning tiles and add to the colour throughout the church. Unfortunately, the carpet has done irreparable damage to many of the tiles, and is one of the many examples in churches throughout the North West of PCC's making costly changes that were unsympathetic and ultimately destructive. Despite that, there's still some great photographic opportunities. Fill your boots!

Summer evening

2010-08-18T18:35:00.003+01:00

2010-07-21T18:08:00.003+01:00

New family member!

In Bloom!

2010-06-16T17:43:00.005+01:00

Growing up!

2010-06-02T13:50:00.003+01:00

Spring is here...!

2010-05-15T20:21:00.006+01:00

2010-04-02T10:00:00.003+01:00

A recent trip to Williamson Park in Lancaster. Thoroughly enjoyed seeing this for the first time,

Steph

2010-02-06T20:39:00.005Z

Well, everyone else has done a picture of the snow!

2010-01-08T14:06:00.001Z

...so I did too!

Oh, the weather outside is frightful,

2009-12-29T09:07:00.003Z

And the fire is so delightful.
And since there's no place to go;
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Two couples; same outcome!

2009-12-27T15:12:00.005Z

Getting Ready to say 'I do'!

2009-12-18T17:17:00.004Z

Sunset

2009-12-13T15:58:00.002Z

We get some wonderful sunsets in winter...

Collumpton

2009-11-29T16:12:00.003Z

One of the most visually stunning buildings on the planet, unashamedly English Perpendicular Gothic, with one of the most complete Rood screens in England. Enjoy.

Children

2009-11-15T15:17:00.001Z

Sugar and spice and all things nice!

Dr Pepper

2009-11-01T16:30:00.003Z

This week has been half term and the kids have been off school. So, that meant I was handed a huge list of 'TO DO' jobs from Nic!

On Friday, we managed to get out on a bit of a walk. When we stopped for a drink, Alex downed his Dr Pepper as fast as his little stomach would allow. And do you remember that moment, when you have gobbed a huge amount of fizzy pop and you so need to burp but it just won't come? This is the precise moment, captured with a bit of my fav toy at the moment...off camera flash!

Bon Bons!

2009-09-24T19:48:00.004+01:00

Chucking sweeties in the air and then catching them in your mouth! Bliss!

Girls having fun!

2009-09-23T20:37:00.004+01:00

I managed to capture a few images of Annie and her pal when the sun was going down and painting the sky orange!

Staycation!

2009-09-13T07:40:00.005+01:00

"Bring on the barby" was the mantra of many-a-weatherman and woman on the telly and in the paper (that's 'The Independent', darling, entirely reliable! pfff!) at the start of summer. Well, perhaps they were referring to the couple of days of sunshine we have had this summer, or maybe they edited out the '...but don't forget to cook wearing waterproofs because it's going to piss down as usual this year!

Nevermind, a staycation was the order of the day, and when the sun does show up, good old Blighty can be a wonderful place to take your hols...
We Started in North Devon in a village called Lynmouth on the North Devon coast. In the top left hand corner you can see the cottage we stayed in - a return visit to our honeymoon location! The poet PB Shelley also stayed in this cottage when he had his honeymoon with his 16 year old bride. It's part of the lovely 'Rising Sun Hotel' which is rightly famed for it's excellent food and wine in a wonderful location. It was nice to go back and spend time there.

There's a church theme going on here I know, but England is blessed with some of the most stunning architecture in the world, on our doorstep, and it's always nice to dip into it every now and then.

Long Time, No See

2009-07-28T12:54:00.008+01:00

...or blog, or whatever your form of communication happens to be! I've found it hard to blog this year - not because I haven't got anything to say (quite the contrary), or not because I haven't been taking any photographs - I have! The older I get, the less time I seem to have to do the things that need doing. Is it, I wonder, because I'm fast approaching the big four-zero? It's a convenient excuse, but aren't we meant to compensate for the physical and mental frailties that nature chucks in our direction with experience? I'm not sure: I know that when I play badminton it takes me 48 hours to recover and move about comfortably! All the while chucking large quantities of supplements down my neck to ease the pain! I know that I have started to sound just like my father when I hollar for the kids (you know, getting the names mixed up - at least my father had more than double the amount of kids names to get confused about!).

This week, I had the lightbulb moment. I was watching a programme on TV about relocating (yes, I know, the more cerebral, the better!). The family in question had been living in Holland for 7 years. The husband wanted to return home, the wife didn't. In Holland, they enjoyed shorter working hours, much more focus on family and the attitude that if you leave work late you must be inefficient at your job. Consumerism doesn't exist on Sundays (all the shops are closed) and you can cycle safely just about everywhere without some road rage filled, spotty faced teenager in a souped-up bubble with thump thump thump bellowing out the windows (or white van man in a V12 8 litre supercharged Trannie van), ready to mow you over at a moments notice. They enjoyed fantastic socialising with friends, and a country which doesn't have a CCTV camera every 20 yards, and is very very clean (I mean, like, people pick up their own litter - how cool is that?!). Here, the government (or Thought Police) send our polititians to Fiji on a "fact gathering exercise" (or jollie at the taxpayers' expense - have they never heard of telephones? Or Google?) rather than cleaning the streets, we have the longest working hours in Europe and quality time with family (or even 'me' time) is slain on the altar of work work work. So, do I feel guilty for taking 4 out of the next 5 weeks off work (despite my managers having a coronary)? Nope. Not a tad. Give me the Dutch view of the world. Anyday.

Some recent images:

New Toy

2009-05-10T08:02:00.010+01:00

The problem with having a passion for photography is that I am always looking out for that new toy to improve my photography that little bit more. This usually involves a response from Nicola of 'How much? You're kidding, right?!' But not this time! My most recent purchase was an off-camera flash trigger which, in photography terms, was only pennies! Here are the first images after having a play last night. The pic of yours truly is by Annie!

Jo

2009-03-16T13:22:00.003Z

I had the pleasure of taking a few photographs of Jo in her wedding dress last week - a kind of Trash The Dress session. Many thanks to Jo for being such a good sport!

Night time

2009-01-07T20:19:00.002Z

One of the things I have wanted to do the this winter has been some night time photography. So off I went last night armed with tripod and camera into the town centre and the took a measley 3 or 4 shots. Then I came home. The reason for this was that I felt unsafe. Some 'hoodies' was hanging around and making a general pain of themselves, perhaps they were 15 or 16 years of age. So I quickly took a few images and then left. It's a shame when we can't walk around our streets without feeling a little vulnerable.

That aside, the few moments spent with my camer yielded a fair result, that when washed through the HDR programme came up with this:

Christmas Eve 2008 party 2008!

2009-01-04T15:40:00.007Z

HDR

2008-12-29T18:32:00.003Z

First attempt at HDR - High Dynamic Range. These pictures were the first I've taken with this kind of processing in mind. The first thing I noticed is that it's highlighted the huge amount of dust on the sensor of my camera.

He's home!

2008-12-28T07:11:00.004Z

It's great to have Alex home for Christmas: he's settled into life back here very quickly this time, a sign of his growing maturity. Usually it takes him at least a few days to wind down to our speed after his hectic day to day pace:
starting at 7am with piano practice, and after brief breakfast over to the cathedral for an hour of singing practice before the school day starts at 9am. This school day finishes at 4pm, then across to the cathedral for more practice, usually followed by Evensong, tea, 1 hour of homework, more instrument practice, showers, supper, and about 30-45 minutes of free time before bed. At weekends, there are more practices and at least 4 services.

He does have me in awe of how he keeps up the pace, and we try to balance those demands with much needed fun time and vegging out time here. But, despite the demands placed upon him, he obviously loves what he does. Last week, for example, he called home on the Saturday, excited having just returned from morning practice, with the news that he was 'doing' a big solo the following day and we should 'nip up' to see it. It was worth the juggling of commitments: a once in a lifetime piece in which he was simply breathtaking. It was nice to hear the many glowing comments from other chorister parents (cathedral/school staff have a cultural mindset of reporting negatives (which they excel at) rather than positives, but that is a rant for another day).

The Choristers lining up for Evensong on Christmas Day

We don't really understand the life he leads as a chorister, no-one does. Except the other 20 or so choristers. Which is partly the reason why they forge strong bonds and loyalty towards each other. This was clearly on evidence on Christmas eve: Alex had asked for chorister volunteers to sing a carol at the Christmas Eve party, held for choristers and their families after the carol service in the cathedral. To put this into context, this is at the end of a long month of singing additional carol services on top of the seven services a week. Half of them stood up, and as he played the carol on they sang for everyone there to their usual high standard! So, following the 3 services of Christmas day, we managed to get him into the car at 5pm and home for some much needed relaxation.

From a photography point of view, 2008 has produced some half decent images, some of which I share below.

Thank you for calling....

2008-12-05T17:05:00.009Z

I hate those phone messages which give you lots and lots of options. You know, the ones that say '...if you require help with your phone press 1, if your require help with your tv press 2, if you require help with a broadband problem press 3.' So you spend the next 10 minutes listening to crapity muzak only to be told in a triumphant voice 'Right! Let's get you some help!' This is followed by the hope of success - yes, someone to talk to! Quickly followed by that monotone that tells you that your call has been disconnected. By them. This is called 'progress'. If you ask me, progress peaked with frozen pizza.

So, my broadband interweb access has been down for the best part of a week and being cut off after a 10 minute conversation with a recorded message is akin to squeezing one's testicles with pliers. I get on the phone, again, and eventually get through to a call centre. On the other side of the planet. This presents one or two further problems, not least because I have a typical Lancashire accent, and he a typical Indian accent. Now, we both speak the same language but both of us hasn't a clue what the other is trying to say (as you read this you should imagine the sound of the accents in your head):

Him: Hello, you are through to [name], how can I help you?
Me: Good afternoon, I'm having problems accessing the internet.

Him: Good afternoon to you too, it's a wonderful day here, I hope you are having nice day too?

Me: No, I'm not. I can't access the internet. I can do without the fridge and the washing machine and hot water to the point where I will smell, but I can't do without the internet and I've not had it for 5 days now.

Him: I'm afraid I can't help you with those things but if you use your search engine I'm sure...

Me (interrupting): No, no, please no. It's the broadband, it's not working.

Him: Please give me your account number sir and I will try to help you.

Me: [shares details of account no, name, address, secret password, secret backup password, and name of dog]

Him: [types furiously] I am calling you Andy, is that OK with you?

Me: No. Call me Mr Fishburn.

Him: Ok, Mr Fishburn. I'm afraid to tell you that my application is not working today and I can't access your account or advise you what to do. Please call back in two hours and my application will be working.

Me: WHAT? Why didn't your recorded message options list tell me that at the beginning?

Him: [A long pause] I'm am sorry Mr Fishburn my application is not working today. Please call back in two hours...

Me: [slams phone down]

THREE hours later: a new chap but the problem with accents continues. It ends with him telling me that there is an internet problem in my area and it will be fixed. Soon.

Me: How soon?

Him: Oh, it will be very soon.

Me: Today?

Him: Today is Sunday, Andy. Our engineers don't work Sundays.

Me: Please call me Mr Fishburn.

Him: Mr Fishburn, our engineers do not work Sundays. Today is Sunday. They will start work tomorrow and work through the problems reported yesterday and then today.

Me: How soon is soon, then?

Him: My application is not working today, please call back in two hours.

The following day I get through to a call centre in Blighty. Success! Yeah! And find out that there isn't a problem with the internet in our area. It's the modem. So man arrives at my house tonight and tells me the modem is fine. He then goes outside into the street and proceeds to hit that large green GPO box with a hammer. Then everything works fine. Job done. If only I had known this 9 days ago.

Anyway, onto some photos: I had the pleasure of spending last Friday with a young friend who I've known for many years. I know it was a big day for her and, as ever, felt privileged by her company. She took me for a 'Sub' (or Subway buttie) - until then I was a Subway virgin, and, shame on us, never bothered to catch it on camera!

We then went to Salford Quays - the last time I was in that part of the world I was giving a talk to her class of primary school kids about 15 years ago. How the landscape has changed around that part of the world.

Cling

2008-11-06T20:17:00.002Z

The prompt over at HSMSHS today is 'Cling' and due to a computer failure this pic has appeared here instead of there!!!

I told you so...

2008-11-02T16:01:00.011Z

Good food and good company - eat, drink and be merry!

Last night we went over to see some old friends and enjoy a bonfire party. We enjoyed an excellent chilli con carne and some of those low-fat, cellulite-absorbing puddings absoloutely loaded with double cream numbers that made us feel very naughty, but they were bloody marvellous!

It's always good to get together with friends, especially those you don't see that often, and enjoy catching up and sharing a good laugh. Especially on the fun fair.

Isn't it funny how some of the conversations we have in our childhood, get replayed when we become parents?

Me: Annie, do you think it's wise to go on the Waltzer again?

Annie: (Wears that 'what do you know?' look recived by all parents of any child over 10years old)

Me: You don't want to feel sick later - and you have been on it twice already!

Annie: I've been on it twice: if I was going to feel sick it would have happened already.

5 minutes later.....

Annie (in a voice at least 2 octaves higher than previous I know better than you voice): I'm going to be sick! I'm going to be sick!

Me (lots of irony in voice): Gosh, that was totally unexpected! Let's get you home!

Anyway a few pics of the evening:

The clocks go back!

2008-10-25T19:18:00.004+01:00

Great, we're now into that wonderful time of year when there really is little opportunity for daylight photography during the week and all the attention goes onto night photography. I do enjoy lugging the camera and tripod out at night because the world looks like a different place, but I do feel a bit uneasy about some of the characters that are out and about.

So, this week I dragged my family along to this wonderful traffic island in the middle of a busy dual carriageway. It was cold, but they didn't mind too much and the results were better than I'd hoped!

News and a ramble

2008-10-17T08:32:00.004+01:00

Well, first up, although hardly news, is that I'm now messing up that wonderful blog Her Space: My Space, which has actually morphed into Her Space: My Space: His Space. One of the admin team had to take a back seat so I was asked to help out. Well actually, I sent an email begging to take part and low and behold, the fabby Anita Mundt took pity on me and another lost soul, SuzyB! The upshot is that now we have a fun site that is about picking up your camera, having fun and sharing them with each other. The format is the same with a word a day and a potrait and show off day at the weekends. My blogging here will share some of the efforts and the odd surprise as we go through the year. I hope to record a steady improvement in my portrait photography, which is completely pants at the moment.

And here is a case to prove the point: Alex received this silver cross on Sunday at the Cathedral. He is now in his last year at Durham and was happy as Larry to receive this cross which he gets to wear at services. It's nice to record the event, but as a piece of portrait photography, well, I've seen a lot better. So lots to work on then! I've also included a few of the prompts from HSMSHS.

Leaf

2008-09-23T18:30:00.001+01:00

I so wanted to do something gold leaf today but couldn't find anything... so here's something green!

Float, Big and SOS

2008-09-21T14:11:00.004+01:00

Finger on the pulse. That's me. Not just because I'm a nurse either. Nope, always on the ball, a man that can multitask (Watch rugby and drink beer at the same time? No problem!)
So, as usual, I'm behind with HS:MS posts this week. But here is Float (one day she WILL float!), Big, and SOS. The SOS is not a particularly good pic - but I'm proud of it because this is Sarah, who recently bought a large canvas of a pic of Wigan Pier that I had taken last year. Sarah has bought a new apartment on the pier and after seeing my pic in a local calendar wanted one for the wall. So after delievering the canvas, getting Sarah to pose for a quick shot, I left as chuffed as a butty as we say in Wigan!

SOS - to HDR or not to HDR?

2008-09-14T13:10:00.003+01:00

A couple of weeks back my photography mag was posted through the door as usual and the freebie disc contained a trial program called Photomatix which many people will know allows you to do a bit of HDR stuff to your pics. I've had a play and this is the result.

As it's a trial it is watermarked - what do you think of the effect? Worth paying for a proper copy? I played with a couple of portraits too, and liked the effect. I think it's one of those things that I will get better at the more I play with it. Will have to think about it before parting with some hard-earned.

SOS

2008-09-07T08:22:00.002+01:00

SPS

2008-09-06T19:12:00.009+01:00

Feast or famine. That's me - no blogging for weeks and then a photo fest! Lazy bugger! I haven't been in the photography wilderness but have been busy editing a couple of squillion images taken in the last few weeks. I thought I would share a couple!

Anyway, the first one is of Alex (and counts as my SPS) when I took him on the Manchester wheel a couple of weeks ago - he was enjoying the view and in his own world - no change there then! Tomorrow he goes back to Durham for his final year, so today I feel a bit shitty. It takes a week at the beginning of the hols for him to get used to being at home and slow down to holiday life. Then whizz-bang, it's all over (a bit like sex really!) and then he's back to school. Today, the anticipation of him going back is emotionally crippling, but the routine will soon take over. As it's his last year, it feels like we are on the home straight - next year he wants to come home and go to a local school.

If you have never been, get yourself down, or upto, Bute off the west coast of Scotland. A wonderful place where the pace of life is a little more pedestrian - I even came home with some space in my head for a few more thoughts! Since going back to work my rate of profanity is much lower: I imagine by next year when we go back I will effing and jeffing at a rate of knots and the swear box will be overflowing! For now, I'm actually quite chilled and seeing the moronic bureaucracy for exactly what it is!

The local park was great - it wasn't vandalised or covered in dog fouling, so time to have a play...although going down isn't always as easy as going up!

...unless you're a boy!

But everyone needs a rest before heading back to the ranch for more food!

2008-08-24T18:55:00.002+01:00

Well what a few weeks it's been - we have been to Devon (back to our Honeymoon spot) and back home for a wedding, followed by a week of Deli-belly, and then yesterday we arrived home following a week in Scotland! It's nice to recharge the batteries and spend some quality time with the family, and the Isle of Bute lives at a much slower pace, so we come home chilled out!

This was the the old pier on the beach 30 feet from our front door on Bute, and the evening light was stunning, so mid evening meal I jumped up and caught this!

Hi to Louise and thanks for the nice comments regarding the band pics of 'All Night Long'. This is the lens I used - a Tamron 28-70mm f2.8, it's a great step up from the kit lens and has f2.8 all through the focal range. It is a great lens and I often prefer it to my two Canon 'L' class lenses! If you are in the market for a new lens, this has to be the one!

What a party!

2008-08-14T08:38:00.006+01:00

I love weddings, and recently we attended one where an old school friend tied the knot with a wonderful Yorkshire lass. An opportunity to meet new people and make new friends along the way.

The evening reception provided a an opportunity for some serious dancing with not one, but two bands. One was a large jazz band, conducted by the groom (they were his students and wanted to play at the wedding), and the other called 'All Night Long' and if you need a live band for your party you can't go far wrong with this lot.

Picnic

2008-07-26T18:15:00.010+01:00

The highlight of the final day at school for Alex is getting together with the other families of the choristers and having a picnic before listening to the choir sing Evensong and packing the car and bringing him home. This familiar routine has just one more year to go before Alex leaves Durham and starts the next stage of his school career. For four of the boys, this was their last day and it was an emotional time for them, and Alex and the other boys, saying goodbye for the last time as choristers. For two-thirds of the year they share each others' daily lives, working their way through laughter, disagreements and upset, but bonding a very strong friendship and working together daily as a close knit team as choristers.

Alex was kind enough to wander and poke a lens into the other families' faces whilst they were having lunch! I've shared them here so that the other families can see them too.

Row

2008-07-15T18:50:00.006+01:00

Todays prompt is 'Row' and here is a fabby row over at the wonderful St Pancras station in London. It really is a wonderful piece of birthday cake architecture and a cathedral of public transport.At the weekend we went over to deepest Yorkshire to see an old friend and meet his smashing fiance. We spent too much time drinking but fortunately no hangover on Sunday.I love it when people fall over with a real belly laugh!But the star of the show was Abbey - love me love my dog!

Old & New

2008-07-12T12:15:00.001+01:00

Some old images knocked about a bit in photoshop - what do you think of the effect?

SOS

2008-07-06T12:35:00.002+01:00

Of course, the type on the pic should say SOS, but being a fella attempting to multitask I got it wrong. Again. This is that big wheel that they have in London overlooking the Thames.

SPS

2008-07-05T08:36:00.002+01:00

This guy stood still for ever on the South Bank this week...until a mother got her
young son to deposit some money into his collecting pot...it terryied the child so much that he was running around screaming!

Unexpected free time & rest

2008-07-04T09:01:00.002+01:00

Todays prompt at HSMS is rest and I got these two resting yesterday on London's South Bank. I was doing a bit of teaching down there yesterday and had some unexpected free time. And you know me - have camera will travel! I also went down to the Tate Mondern and saw this pleasant chap just 'hanging' around. It's part of the street art exhibition at the moment!

Drug den doorways

2008-06-22T16:28:00.003+01:00

I went for a quick ride into Liverpool today to find some drug den doorways that we spotted back in March (where has the time gone?). What I completely forgot was that we stumbled upon them back then when we got a bit lost. Eventually found them though (more good luck than good management) and that give me 30 mins to rush into the cathedral and tack a few snaps, which count as todays SPS. Talking of all things HSMS - don't forget to get yourself down to the meet next Saturday in Castlefield, Manchester.

Bell (tower)

2008-06-16T18:43:00.002+01:00

Wasn't the blue in last night's sky very, well, blue!

SPS

2008-06-14T08:38:00.002+01:00

It's Saturday - yeah! Here is Annie, larking around for us last summer!

Reach

2008-06-13T17:54:00.004+01:00

Todays prompt is 'Reach' and after some very clever Photoshopping, you too could look like death warmed up!

As for yesterday's shot and in answer to a couple of queries: this is the lens I used. A canon 24-105mm L USM f4 lens. It has become my 'walk about' lens and has 'Image stabalisation' which is supposed to avoid camera shake at low shutter speeds. It's attached to a EOS 5D and yesterday's shot was taken at ISO 200, f7.1, at 105mm for 1/250. Levels were corrected in PS and then I applied a vignette around the edges of the image, finishing with some sharpening. The lens is not too heavy for handling for long periods (Anita, you are quite welcome to play with it for the weekend when you are over) and it's a big step up in quality from my Tamron lens. When I shove it the front of my EOS 300D I due to the cropping of the sensor it becomes a 36-168mm lens giving me a bit of extra reach! For non-techies out there - sorry for being a bit of an anorac.

Burst

2008-06-12T19:15:00.003+01:00

Well, a day late - but I'm a bloke so I guess that makes me a bit slower than you lot!

Track

2008-06-09T21:06:00.004+01:00

This is the 'track' that surrounds the patio doors as I found it on returning home from work tonight. One of the local smackheads kindly applied a lever to the door, window and patio doors not once but around 80 times today. On failing to get in through the rear of the house, his brain cell told him to go to the front of the house and attempt to get into the house through the same type of window which he had just failed to overcome. Luckily, a neighbour saw him and confronted him before more damage was done. So, 6 hours after the event I am still sat here waiting for the police to arrive '...as soon as possible' as the kind lady on the phone said. I would, at some point. like to go to bed tonight. But I can't. Because the insurance people won't come and secure the property before the police have done their stuff and issued me with the magical crime number. But hey, I'm just a law abiding citizen who pays his taxes every month.

2008-06-08T12:58:00.003+01:00

A bit of a catch-up after being a bit snowed under with life recently! Here's Rachel who kindly sat for me recently and is my SPS, and I was recently approached to sell a large canvas copy of this pic of Wigan Parish Church, and it counts as my SOS.

Flotsam

2008-05-29T08:52:00.001+01:00

*Cheat alert* took this a couple of months ago but hoped no-one would mind the re-cycling!

Flora

2008-05-28T19:03:00.003+01:00

Having been in the blogging wilderness for a week or two, I thought I would make an effort whilst I am off this week. Over at HS:MS today's word is Flora: Suzy is having a bit of fun with Disney characters: my space has this wonderful specimen in there at the moment.

Today we went to the wonderful 'Bodyworlds4' exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. If you haven't had the chance to go yet and live in the Northern Hemisphere then get yourself down there. It's fab. In fact, almost as good as seeing the living breathing human being being cut open in an operating theatre. When I was a student, we had a very famous surgeon who was very big on teaching. During my stint in the operating theatre, he was doing some abdominal surgery. I was peering over his shoulder to get a better look and and spotting my keenness invited me to 'scrub up'. Which I did. He said that you couldn't learn anatomy properly without getting your hands dirty! He then gave me a guided feel/tour of the abdominal cavity - holding someones bowel in your hand and watching the peristalsis is rather awesome! Alternatively, get yourself down to the exhibition!

When we left the museum there was this groovy ball and this kid trying to make sense of it! Then we were confronted by this new hotel in Manchester and spent a couple of minutes watching a fella hanging 3 floors from the top of the building by a bit of string. Would love to have photographed him from the roof with my wide angled lens!

PS the pic of the Bodyworlds guy isn't mine - they don't let you take pics, so I borrowed this off t'interweb!

Busy Busy Busy!!!

2008-05-10T09:03:00.003+01:00

I can't believe how busy life is at the moment - or put another way I'm grovelling cos I've not posted for ages. I've also been doing shed loads of editing in Photoshop of Jennifer who counts as my SPS today. What do you think of the home made background? I have a reputation for my DIY cock-ups but this one went well! I went down to the local haberdashery (is that how you spell it?) and bought 6 meters of white cotton cloth. Next to the DIY shop for a long piece of dowling, some tape and hey presto - a backdrop! Nicky was not chuffed when she arrived home from work to find me stood on the ladders in the living, screwing HUGE cuphooks into the ceiling! When not in use this is where my backdrop lives - yep hanging there from the ceiling - how cool is that? It doesn't get under the feet!!! Will post a pic next week to demonstrate!

My 'dome' catchup is a bit of a cheat - Nicky and I went to Rome to listen to a concert at Santa Maria Maggiore. It is the most wonderful building and has a gold ceiling in the nave covered with the first gold brought from the Americas by Columbus. It also has the most amazing 5th century mosaics in the apse behind the high altar. We were lucky enough to hear music by Palestrina who was a chorister and later organist there in the 16th century, given by The Tallis Scholars, on the 400th anniversary of Palestrina's death. Palestrina mastered various musical techniques that are still used today - even in pop music: how cool is that.

We have also been going up and down the motorway to Durham to see Alex a lot lately. In July next year he leaves Durham and comes home for good (yeah!), and of course his voice will break in the next 12-18 months so we are zipping up to Durham to listen to him as much as possible. I'll miss the frequent visits to a beautiful cathedral city and, more importantly, the friends we have made up there, but having Alex away for most of the year has been emotionally the most difficult thing we have ever done. However, watching him do his stuff and make music with his friends is simply priceless.

View

2008-05-05T09:15:00.002+01:00

This isn't really my view. Or rather, it was my view of one of the most wonderful places that I've been to. It also happens to be where I'll find two of the most wonderful people I've had the pleaseure to meet.This is another 'view' of Louise who I photographed last week.

SPS

2008-05-03T18:09:00.004+01:00

Did you see it? Do you feel it? The change. Winter's gone and Spring has arrived. More light at night and the days are getting warmer. Great time to get out the camera, then and do some stuff. Wigan Pier was always the epitome of the cloth cap and ferret image described by George Orwell. However if you are familiar with these parts, you will know that in more recent times there has been a bit of a transformation, which is still continuing to this day. The stunning light we had on Thursday night painted the Pier in a wonderful evening glow and the results are a pleasure to share.

This is my brother's better half who kindly sat for me last week and, despite being very nervous, had a great time. Helped in no small way by a bottle of plonk before proceedings!

Delicate

2008-04-23T18:39:00.001+01:00