Thursday 15th December 2011

1980s wallpaper and 1890s flooring, in the derelict Oakhurst House, Ambergate.

18mm, 1/40s, f/4.5, ISO 400

Wednesday 14th December 2011

Not an amazing photo, but the layers of the University Hospital of North Staffordshire reminded me oddly of the sprawling city of New Crobuzon in China Miéville's steampunk novel Perdido Street Station.

100mm, 5s, f/8, ISO 200

Sunday 20th November 2011

Today was a relaxed but unexpectedly awesome day. We first went to Scaleber Force and went wild swimming behind the waterfall and into the pool. Then drove to Malham and walked to Janet's Foss and on up to Goredale. Here the mist fell and we just got to the road before the sun set, and managed to get back to the car in the misty twilight, neither of us having brought a torch. This is a photo of the beautiful Janet's Foss, the plunge section of the waterfall apparently being a screen of deposited rock on a layer of moss. I'm really pleased with this photo, in fact all the ones I took of Janet's Foss - it's hard to choose between them.

27mm, 0.8s, f/10, ISO 200

Sunday 13th November 2011

The day dawned misty and the rock was damp which frustrated my climbing friends, but it was a bonus for me as it meant I got a stroll down Padley Gorge with a couple of mates, snapping away at the autumn colours and rushing cascades. I find HDR works really well with water, as does a polariser, so I stuck the tripod in the water and got this, showing the water flow and some of the lovely bright green vegetation.

21mm, 2.5s, f/20, ISO 200

Sunday 6th November 2011

Pink sky on my way home from Oswestry.

76mm, 0.4s, f/16, ISO 100

Sunday 30th October 2011

A slightly more atmospheric photo of the Nissen huts at Cultybraggan camp, see yesterday.

18mm, 1/200s, f/8, ISO 400

Saturday 24th September 2011

I was up in the Scottish hills again and it turned out to be a reasonably nice day. The hills we were on were fairly unexceptional and most of the views were distant and not so photogenic, but there was a more dramatic situation off the back of an extra sub-summit we made a detour to take in, and the suns rays lit it up nicely.

4.6mm, 1/200s, f/7.1. (auto)

Sunday 31st July 2011

Ben Nevis! I've made an aim to walk all the Munros (Scottish mountains over 3000ft) before I'm 40. For Ben Nevis, I wanted to tackle it via Tower Ridge which is a scramble-cum-rock-climb up the North Face. This is something I've fancied for quite a while, and even though I don't engage in rock climbing much any more, it still appealed to me as it was a more interesting way for me to take on the hill, as well as being a 'through route' (a route that goes through a hole in the rock, I made a list of such routes and used to enjoy ticking them off). I traveled up with two friends the night before and had an early night. We were packed, fed and ready to leave the hut by 6am, and started walking just before 7. This photo was taken at 7:51, and was our first view of the route, the middle ridge of the three, it certainly looked dramatic from here (although not a great photo). A fuller write-up of our trip will appear on my sister blog this week (link at the top).

18mm, 1/50s (auto from aperture priority), f/7.1, ISO 400

Saturday 30th July 2011

Today saw me and two friends at a Climbers' hut in Roy Bridge, Scotland, having a little stroll along the river before a very early night to prepare for taking on Ben Nevis (see tomorrow). The river was fairly in-obvious from the road, but had some lovely sculptured boulders and flat skimming stones, then opened out into a broad, stony bottomed, still river, with a fly fisherman catching his dinner off to one side and his wife reading a book on the stones.

22mm, 1/100s (auto from aperture priority), f/5, ISO 400

Wednesday 22nd June 2011

The 'Fairy Pools', a very picturesque series of cascades where the water runs down from the Cuillin Ridge to Glen Brittle.

18mm, 0.6s, f/16, ISO 100

Sunday 5th June 2011

Just a little urban shot today, a couple of ramshackle buildings tinkered with in post-processing to bring out the muted tones.

27mm, 1/60s, f/7.1, ISO 400

Saturday 4th June 2011

This is Hardraw Force, claimed to be the tallest single drop waterfall in the country (discounting underground falls). It's also the location used for Kevin Costner's bath in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. I had a quick browse online before I went to see if there were any good photos of it I could use as inspiration, but I didn't really find any. I'm not 100% happy with this one but it's good enough.

18mm, 0.8s, f/13, ISO 200

Tuesday 31st May 2011

I arrived at my blood doning appointment a little early so took a short stroll to the adjacent canal. I was drawn by the graffiti spanning each wall of the bridge that carries the A53 flyover, never seen to the car drivers. Despite the artwork being quite colourful, I thought it was more striking in black and white.

25mm, 0.8s (auto from aperture priority), f/11, ISO 400

Friday 18th March 2011

Moon rise at sunset.

55mm, 1/4s, f/22, ISO 100

Wednesday 16th February 2011

I pass this place every day on the way between home and work and it fascinates me. I've twice read the history and although mostly factual I find it compelling, it was the first colliery in the UK to mine one million saleable tons of coal in a year so not dimunitive in scale. As it stands now it is run down but impressive, it was made an Ancient Monument as it's one of the best examples of a coalmining complex still standing in the UK. They've just re-opened the land around it which they've spent a little while landscaping so all manner of new vantage points are available.

In photographic terms I took a photo I liked the composition of but it was such an overcast day the colours were very dull and distracting, and it seemed such a shame to put up photo that had so much more potential. So I've gone for a different choice for now and I'll be back to re-take the other.

42mm, 1/50s, f/8, ISO 100

Saturday 12th February 2011

Back to Kynpersley for a little longer today and following the final in my line of tip-offs to head to Gorton's Well, which is in the centre of a circle of tall, curving trees - I couldn't quite work out the shot I wanted to take of those so one to return to. In the meantime, after a little picnic, I took this.

39mm, 2.5s, f/16, ISO 400

Tuesday 8th February 2011

I followed a tip off from some nice people I met yesterday and headed back to Knypersley reservoir to a waterfall in search of Kingfishers and yellow wagtails. I saw more birds on the walk in (actually a fast run) than at the waterfall itself, but I managed to get a nice photo of this little fairy glen. This is an HDR image which means it is a composite of (in this case) three different shots with different exposures, so that it exhibits a larger range of luminance between the lightest and darkest areas, more akin to what our eyes see.

18mm, 1s, f/22.0, ISO 100