Happy New Year to Everyone!

No photos, just a quick wish for happiness in 2009.

I'm stuck in work while everything outside is covered in snow.. it's kind of frustrating! I find myself hoping against hope that it doesn't melt before I get released...

Happy New Year,
Mark

Boxing Day Selection Box

Out and about again boxing day, first stop the Avon Valley Hunt at Lacock. Love or hate it, the pompous barbarity mixed with tradition makes for a photogenic event (if you can get in the right place at the right time).

St Aldhelms church, Doulting.

Built in the 12th century. St Aldhelm was the nephew of King Ine of Wessex, who died in the village in the 8th century, after which the local spring, church and school are named.

Empty shelves in Woolworths as shops are starting to close down.

Old building, Frome.

Clevedon pier sunset.

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Built in the 1860's from old railway tracks, designed to be a ferry terminal for trips to and from Wales (in far distance, across the bristol channel). It cost £10,000 to build, but has had the best part of a miilion pounds spent restoring and maintaining it over the years. It is currently the only structurally intact, Grade I listed pier in the UK.

Christmas country life

Merry Christmas to all who grace my blog with their precious time! Thank you for your comments this year, they are very appreciated.

Some photos from a pre-dinner walk..

Feral Farm Cat


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Escapees on the run

Sunny sheep in glowing grass


Winter Dog Walker

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.. finally a link to the location of the small house in the previous post.. for those who asked.. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&saddr=51.625893,-2.130503&daddr=&hl=en&geocode=&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=0&sz=19&sll=51.62564,-2.130626&sspn=0.00151,0.00412&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=19

Wasting Space and Time..

Have been getting wanderlust lately, so sunday spent the day driving and wandering around... I picked kind of North East, swinging around to North West and ending up in Stroud, stopping off where-ever something caught my eye...
Rusty Sunset. (Part of a derelict barn just off the M4 motorway).

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A few shots from an abandoned Mill near Nailsworth. (There are a lot of them in the valleys nearby, dating from the early 1800's onwards).

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Ivy reconquering a rust hinge. Loving the colours of the ivy, rust and cracking paint.

Allotment bucket, well past retirement age.

Painted bike at Tetbury railyard.

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A bit of luck as a rare streak of sunshine breaks through the clouds to paint the foregound in warmth. (When I parked up I was thinking maybe a black and white photo was a possibility).

Urban decay in Weston-Super-Mare

A trip to Weston at the weekend, instead of beach photos I found a derelict building to snap..

Then a wander down towards ..

..Birnbeck Pier
..for another panoramic..

Link update

Found a neat sunrise/sunset time and moon page.. I've updated my link on the right -->

Just set the Time Zone, click the map, set the date..

Really nice tool.

More photos later!

Dark days and sleepless nights

Not too many photos being taken lately.. a few from the last couple of weeks...

Train Bridge - Do not Run on the Stairs (the train will be late anyway).

Frosty tree (with circular polariser)

.. and spider web.

I have photos from this weekend still to download, so I promise it will not be another 2 weeks before the next blog post!

At long last..

It's been a while since my last post, but finally I've managed to dust off my camera and take a few more photos. Three totally different pics this time, black and white texture and detail, simple colour and a night photo...

Lock-keepers roundhouse at Cerney Wick. 3 exposures of the same raw file combined - sky, foreground and the lock floor. The lock was apparently badly damaged by a world war 2 bomb that exploded between the canal and the roundhouse. The roundhouse withstood the blast, but the lock wasn't restored until the 1980s.

Winter River Reeds. Long exposure (~2 seconds) using f/22 (note to self - buy an ND filter!).

Chippenham at night, reflected in the River Avon. Taken at about ISO 800 - I have Gaussian blurred the sky in Photoshop to hide some of the noise.

London Town

On a trip to London on saturday (to see Alter Bridge), took my camera for a change and took a few things. Not much time though after a slight navigational glitch.


Vauxhall bridge with the SIS building (home to MI6) on the left - predictably seen in a few James Bond movies. The current Steel bridge was opened in 1906 after replacing the original 1816 iron bridge, the first iron bridge across the Thames, that was eroded by the harsh tidal flows.


Battersea Power Station on the Thames. Built in the late 1930's as one of Britains first big coal powered electricity stations, it was famous for it's lavish art deco designs. Used by several bands including Pink Floyd, The Beatles and Bruce Dickinson. The decaying structure and land was bought for £400million in 2006.

Quick pic of the Lord Mayor's parade fireworks.

Another Year on the clock..

My birthday last friday - another year wiser, another pumpkin lantern made. Had a great weekend but didn't get out for photos much, just a few local pics from a wander on friday...

Sun breaks through the clouds on a cold wiltshire countryside, near Rowde.

Abandoned Hangar.

Autumn leaves floating down the river Avon.

Polariser and wanderings..

I bought a circular polariser for my new lens last week and with some blue skies about at the weekend did a few quick tests (left without polariser - right with). I'm liking it a lot and it's a bit weird to see the clouds pop out of the sky as I turn the filter into alignment.

Late mating dragonflies in flight.







European Hornets nest (one of two I've spotted). Curiously one nest seems quite agressively defended, while this one is happy to let you get fairly close. They're pretty big (about 30-40mm long), impressive to see flying around.

One last post..

Birmingham City Hall with Antony Gromley's Iron man statue silhouetted. The Ironman statue was a pre-cursor of Gromleys famous "Angel of the north" statue.



..a Birmingham backalley with a bunch of urban grim, colour, texture and detail. Not exactly a masterpiece but I couldn't resist adding it.

Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and Birmingham

Thursday and a pic of the Duchess of Sutherland steam engine flying up the east side of the Lakes..
Sheep hut in the Yorkshire Dales.

Ribblehead viaduct.
The Bull Ring at sunrise in Birmingham.
Car park in Birmingham England or Parking lot in Birmingham USA?!