Tomato

Half a tomato

Monday 30th November 2015

Whilst eating lunch, which was a salad, I cut through a tomato. That is what I will photograph later I thought. A lot of people photographing half a fruit/vegetable, scan the image to get the overall lighting effect. I decided to photograph it using two lamps and reflectors. I am not sure if mine was over ripe or perfect, colour wise. It tasted okay once I had finished. Why the indoor photography? I am still trying to put my files back onto the hard drive!

Brigham

Driffield Canal at Brigham

Sunday 29th November 2015

I went out mid-morning to Brigham, a hamlet located on the Driffield Canal south east of Driffield. It was a very overcast day, but the sun was trying to put in an appearance. Having walked a few hundred metres in thick mud and deep puddles, I came to this point where there were some trees on the canal bank. I liked the way the canal curved to a point where the sun's rays were beginning to shine through. I wanted some reflections in the canal, but the only way I could get them was to slightly under expose the image, which created mood. This helped the tree branches to silhouette, the water to stand out and to lead the eye into the distance.

Gas Ring

Illuminated Gas Ring

Saturday 28th November 2015

I was out early today and up to Robin Hoods Bay doing my Voluntary Ranger duties with North York Moors National Park. Four of us were cutting back vegetation in very cold and windy conditions on one of the promoted footpaths around the village. By the time we finished, it was raining heavily. I returned home at tea-time and after tea, resumed loading programmes onto my computer. Just about to go to bed, when again, at a late hour I realized I had not taken a photograph. I saw the gas ring, lit it and photographed it.

Christmas Lights

Christmas Lights Driffield

Friday 27th November 2015

I'm back! Not with a very inspiring photograph I hasten to add. I have just had my computer re-built from bottom up, so I have been off line for a few days until I got things sorted out. I have still been taking one image a day. This one was desperate. With my attention turned to the computer, cameras took a back seat. Busy all day, I went to Kingswood mid evening to see the new James Bond film and returning to Driffield about 2310, my wife suddenly reminded me about a photograph. It was raining, I was tired, my camera was in the back of the car, I saw the Christmas lights attached to a lamp post on the main street and took a shot. At least it is an image!

Model aircraft engine

Diesel engine

Thursday 26th November 2015

My neighbour came round a few weeks ago and handed me a box containing two small engines and said,"I thought you might like these, in case you get stuck for something to photograph". Thanks Francis. They were a bit dusty and greasy, so I cleaned them up. Today I decided to photograph one of them, but I didn't know much about them, what they were used for etc. I Googled the name P.A.W. 249 diesel engine (name on the box). The result was model aircraft engines, built at Progress Engineering Works (PAW) in Macclesfield, the firm was founded by Gig Eifflaender in the 1950's and are still being made by the family firm today. Yes, the engine probably has seen a few crash landings, but I still liked the look of it. Lit with one light and a reflector.

Partial Decay

Rust and flaking paint - or is it?

Wednesday 25th November 2015

Today, I was out in the Harwood Dale area of the North York Moors doing footpath surveys for the National Park. It was a beautiful day, sunny but a little chilly first thing. I covered about twelve miles in total and took photographs of some great views, but this was what really caught my eye. It was an old oil (or chemical) tank barrel at the side of a bridleway on Lownorth Moor. The farmer had used it in the past, but now it was just decaying, the paint had blistered in the sun, then it had fallen off in random pieces to reveal the metal. Once the rain got to the metal, it would begin to rust. There were slight traces of white paint on the left and a type of malachite green substance bottom right. Was this a chemical from a previous life? The words on the tank were unreadable. There was strong sidelight from the right, which caused the shadows, but the rust colour just jumped out and was stunning. I isolated this small part as I could see shapes appearing; can you see the head and shoulders of a lady or the figure top right with the pointed hat or the map of the Welsh coast? It is what you make it, or is it those mushrooms again?

Squirrel sunbathing

Squirrel on nest box

Tuesday 24th November 2015

Confined to the house most of today, well it was raining. I was looking out of our back bedroom window, mid afternoon, when I spotted one of our friendly grey squirrels sitting on top of the bird nesting box at the bottom of the garden. I grabbed my camera and being about thirty metres from the tree, it was long lens on maximum magnification. I also needed a fast shutter speed and high iso as he kept moving about. The sun had just managed to poke through the cloud for a short time. It was quite clear that he was enjoying the first bit of sun for a few days. Within minutes, the sun had gone (so too, the squirrel) and cloud descended again. The big rusty washer is to prevent the woodpecker breaking into the box.

Sacred Place

Bowl Barrow Garrowby Hill

Monday 23rd November 2015

Lunch time, I was on my way to Thixendale to walk one of the Open Access dry valleys. I turned right at the top of Garrowby heading for Thixendale, when I suddenly encountered one of my 'wow factor' moments. Looking at the burial mound as I always do, I noticed the watery sun above the centre of the mound, with a cloud formation radiating out from it. I stopped on the road and grabbed my camera. I had to under expose the image to maintain the sun and the silhouette of the trees on the mound. I always feel a warm glow when the elements come together naturally on a special place. This has been a special place for over 4000 years from the late neolithic period, when people were buried here. After this, my walk in Court Dale was an anti climax.

Power Shower Head

Look up

Sunday 22nd November 2015

We have a shower and wash our hair, now and again we forget to keep our eyes closed and look up. What do we see? A fleeting glimpse of the shower head pouring water on us at a fast rate (ours is a power shower), before we manage to close our eyes again. My image today is an attempt to re-create that millisecond between opening and closing our eyes and seeing the shower head. I photographed the shower head, gave the image a frosted glass appearance, then some motion and radial blur. To me, that is what I see - Anyone got a cloth to dry my lens!

Rough Sea

Rough sea at Scarborough

Saturday 21st November 2015

Ventured across to Scarborough this morning and as we approached the town, I could see that the sea was rough. There was snow in the air and a northerly wind blowing which was whipping up the waves. We parked at the Spa and walked along towards the old South Bay Pool. My image shows in the centre of the picture, waves about to crash over the railings around the now filled-in pool and the waves breaking over the promenade in the foreground.

Lone Tree

Winter draws on

Friday 20th November 2015

Today was really cold, but for the most part sunny. We had a run out to Fridaythorpe, then onto Huggate and home in the afternoon. The outside temperature in Driffield was seven degrees but by the time we got to Huggate, it had dropped to five and add the wind chill - yes it was cold. Approaching Huggate, the sky darkened for a light shower. Huggate is one of the highest spots on the Wolds and this sentinel of a tree on top of a ridge has stood the test of time with no shelter and open to the four winds. Quite a lot of trees have still got some leaves, but this one is bare. Snow forecast for tomorrow - not surprised!

View from Urra Moor

The Cleveland Way

Thursday 19th November 2015

Doing my bit with the Cleveland Way Volunteers today. This morning we were up on Urra Moor, the highest point on the North York Moors, cleaning drains and making sure that water could drain off the path. It was a sunny morning, with cloud descending towards lunch time. The sun appeared again in the afternoon as we moved onto Hasty Bank for more drainage work. What we did notice, was that the sun shone all day on Middlesbrough! My image, taken from Urra Moor, shows from left to right: Cringle Moor, Cold Moor and Hasty Bank.

Gansey Girl

'The Gansey Girl'  Bridlington Harbour

Wednesday 18th November 2015

Away to Bridlington for a nice refreshing walk on the beach this morning. It was cold with drizzle in the air, very bracing. Onto the harbour and we came to this new statue (part of the Bridlington Maritime Trail) called; 'The Gansey Girl'. It is made of bronze, was created by the artist Steve Carvill and depicts a woman knitting a traditional fisherman's wool jumper. Each family had a different style of cabling on their 'Gansey', which had a purpose of identifying the wearer, if he was lost at sea. The lady faces the harbour mouth to bid farewell and to greet the homecomers. The fishes on the plinth bear the names of local fisher families.

Wiring diagram?

Part of a processor?

Tuesday 17th November 2015

Confined to the house today. In the evening I had my friendly computer man have a look at my ageing system and decided it was time for an upgrade (again). The innards of the computer have always left me in awe of the people that understand them. I wish I had their knowledge. I found a 'bit' - if that's the right word, that was handed back to me when my computer took a dive three years ago. I don't know what it does, but it looks complicated and somehow resembles 'Clapham Junction'. The piece I photographed measured only about 15mm long, so it was a job for my Tamron macro lens. What I did notice, once photographed, that despite giving it a clean (with a blower brush), there were lots of minute dust particles adhering to the surfaces.

Fish Boxes

Colours and patterns in fish boxes?

Monday 16th November 2015

Had to go through to Scarborough today, so took advantage of a walk around the harbour area. Sadly, Alonzi's Harbour Bar was closed, so no ice cream for me today! Walking onto the west pier, or fish pier, I noticed a very neat stack of fish boxes. There were just two odd ones that I wanted to take out and move - but nothing is perfect!

Road Works Ahead

Red glass lens

Sunday 15th November 2015

I have an old North Riding County Council red road works paraffin lamp. Looking at it, set me thinking that people were employed to fill and trim the wicks every day, so that motorists would not run into the road works at night. I decided to photograph the red lens against a black background to mimic the red light shining at night. I cleaned the lens inside and out, removed the paraffin container and shone light on the inside of the lamp to isolate the red lens. I then focused on the lens and noticed lots of bits, closer inspection revealed they were actually air bubbles in the glass. I don't know anything about Kenyons Serilight Lens and Google did not help! No doubt they were mass produced.

Press Studs

Press Studs minus one!

Saturday 14th November 2015

Saw a card of press studs in my wife's sewing box, they were on a card with a plastic bubble over each one. They had been there quite some time as they had the 'Woolworth's' name on the card. As I lit them with side light, the metal studs and the holes for stitching them to garments contrasted, but the effects of the surrounding plastic caused the light to bounce around, producing a weird pattern. Converting the image into different colours gave me an interesting effect. The bottom row of studs were a different size to the others. One of the pack was missing, can you guess which one?

Durham Lumiere

'The World Machine' son et lumiere Durham Cathedral

Friday 13th November 2015

Visited Durham and stayed overnight with relations, hence no post yesterday. The reason was the UK's largest light festival, the 'Durham Lumiere'. Twenty eight light-art installations around the city from using pedal power to light up a Reliant Robin (yes, I did manage it), through to light figures scaling the iconic Durham railway viaduct. They were all fantastic in their own way. But for me, the highlight was 'The World Machine', the story of cosmology from the 12th century to the present day told in a son et lumiere on the side of Durham Cathedral, with great music composed by Isobel Waller-Bridge. A cold, but wonderful evening. My image was taken part way through the performance. As well as taking some video, I used the 'Handheld night scene' mode on my camera (still on tripod), which fires off four shots continuously, at various ISO settings for one image. It works (above)!

Autumn Path

The last of the autumn colours?

Thursday 12th November 2015

I went to Millington Woods this morning with the intention of photographing the colours of the beech trees. When I got there, the path was closed for tree felling - was there a plan 'B'? The other location I like for the beech trees is at Sledmere, so with the sun shining and light wind I made my way there just after lunch. The leaves were falling all the time, but I managed a photograph of the path through the wood, which was very colourful. I was aware that by late afternoon, the wind would get stronger on the edge of storm 'Abigail' and the leaves would soon disappear.

Light Trails

Light trails on the Driffield bypass

Wednesday 11th November 2015

Committed to things during the daylight hours, so I had to go out this evening and take my image. This is the only overbridge for miles around us, so I set up my tripod and commenced my exposures, to show vehicles travelling in both directions. I hadn't been there long, when a coach stopped in the lay-by and the driver left the headlights on. This was my chance for a different shot, but there was very little traffic using the road. Would he stay there for my three minute exposure? He did. Today was Driffield Photographic Society's 'Cuppa & Capture' day with a theme of 'motion'. I could not be there for the duration (sorry again Bryan), so I had to include something for today on the theme.

Lamenting Eggborough

Eggborough Power Station

Tuesday 10th November 2015

Went walking in the Millington area of the Wolds this afternoon. The weather started out okay, but then dark clouds and gloom descended. Looking south from above Millington village, I could see the three Aire Valley power stations of Drax, Eggborough and Ferrybridge. All coal fired power stations (Drax has biomass as well as coal) and with little future, Eggborough and Ferrybridge are due to close in March next year. The three power stations are great landmarks, visible from as far afield as the North York Moors. Over the years I have visited all three and they have become 'friends'. As I looked out from the gloom above me, the sun was shining above Eggborough, 25 miles away and I couldn't resist a photograph.

Adjustable Wrench

Posterized adjustable wrench

Monday 9th November 2015

It is 2353 and I am just posting today's image, taken a short while ago. Busy all day today and either did not have the time or left it to the last minute to take my image! Either way, I picked up my chrome and rusty metal adjustable wrench from the tool box and photographed it. In order to disguise the marks on it, I half posterized it then gave it a slight sepia tone.

Esk Valley

View from Larpool Hall Hotel

Sunday 8th November 2015

The weather forecast today was rain from about 11am. As we had workshops during the morning and I would not have time beyond 1pm, I decided I would have to take my photograph early morning. This is the view from the hotel looking down into the Esk Valley and to Ruswarp just behind the trees. The sensible sheep were making use of the patches of sunlight before the rain descended.

Saltwick Bay

Walkers on The Cleveland Way

Saturday 7th November 2015

I was staying at Larpool Hall Hotel, Whitby on Friday and Saturday night, whilst attending a National Trail Volunteers Weekend. I was representing The Cleveland Way Volunteers. After a morning workshop, we undertook a walk on The Cleveland Way from Robin Hoods Bay to Whitby. After experiencing heavy rain and hail in the morning, the sun appeared and we were able to dry out a bit in the afternoon. My image shows the group approaching Saltwick Bay with Whitby Abbey in the background.

Devil's Bridge

Devil's Bridge, Kirkby Lonsdale

Friday 6th November 2015

Leaving the Lakes behind, we stopped at Kirkby Lonsdale to admire the beautiful three arched 'Devil's Bridge', which spans the River Lune as it flows west towards Morecambe Bay. It is a grade 1 listed structure and dates from the 14th Century. It carried the main road from Skipton to Kendal until the 1930's. Legend has it that the bridge was built by the Devil!

Wainwright's Yard

Wainwright's Yard Shopping Centre, Kendal

Thursday 5th November 2015

Saying our goodbye's to Belford, we headed back through the Borders to reach the A7 at Hawick. It was then south into the Lake District and a visit to the 'outdoor shops' in Keswick. Armed with our 'goodies' we headed for an overnight stop in Kendal. It was Bonfire Night and we watched a great display of fireworks. But, it was the Wainwright's Yard Shopping Centre that caught my eye. It runs at right angles from the main street and is dedicated to Alfred Wainwright (A.W.) who was the Borough Treasurer in Kendal and author of the Lake District Guide books. As I looked down the yard, I was suddenly transported from Bonfire Night to Christmas!

St. Mary's Loch

Tibbie Shiels Inn on St. Mary's Loch

Wednesday 4th November 2015

A tour through the Borders to remind us of our past. We were staying in Belford where we lived for nearly nine years. After a hearty breakfast at The Bluebell, we set off (again in fog) into the Borders via Wooler, Coldstream, Kelso, stopping in Melrose for coffee before continuing via Galashiels, Peebles and then to St. Mary's Loch (above) and a visit to Tibbie Shiels Inn (closed). There was very little wind, which made for some great reflections on the Loch. We then made our way back to Belford via Selkirk.

River Tweed at Berwick

A very foggy Berwick

Tuesday 3rd November 2015

Long time without a post. I have been 'up north'. We drove up to Berwick-Upon-Tweed and had a walk around the Elizabethan walls in thick fog! Berwick has had a very chequered history being either in England or Scotland on a number of occasions. The River Tweed divides Berwick on the north bank (in the picture) from Tweedmouth on the south bank. The bridge in the background was built in the early 17th Century to connect the two and was the 'Great North Road'. Normally visible beyond, are the Royal Tweed bridge built 1928 for the motor car era and the beautiful 'Royal Border Bridge' carrying the East Coast railway line.

Fan

A bright image for a foggy day

Monday 2nd November 2015

A foggy day today and for one reason or another, either confined to the house or out at a meeting. Found this fan belonging to my wife; it had been tucked away in a drawer. On opening it up, it stayed in the open position, so I decided to photograph it. I lit it with side lighting and a bit of fill flash, against a black background. 

Malton Forest Stages Rally

Down in the forest, something stirred!

Sunday 1st November 2015

A Mark 1 Ford Escort RS2000 doing 100mph!
An early start today to get up to Cropton Forest to see two stages of the Malton Forest Stages Rally. I have always loved following rallying (sadly, not taking part), but I must admit, I fell out of love, in the late 1980's when four wheeled drive cars dominated. Today was a trip down Memory Lane, with a field of great cars from a bygone era, including the Opel Ascona, Hillman Avenger, even an MGB GT! Yes, the modern cars were winning overall, but for me, the sight, sound, speed and the back end sliding of a Mark 1 Ford Escort made my day. I nearly forgot - and that quite distinct beautiful smell of 'Castrol R'! - My image is of; you guessed, car 44, a Mark 1 Escort RS2000 on Special Stage 4 near Spiers House.