Week 14: Bike Wheels in Marlborough, Wiltshire

There are days when I feel the need to just take a different view of life, to try and see it differently. This image is a result of one such need. Taken while walking through the delightful town of Marlborough in Wiltshire and inspired by a DPC challenge which I did not enter, the wheels are from a row of bikes lined up outside a bicycle shop (where else? I hear you ask). Anyhow, when I saw the row of bikes I immediately thought black and white kind of monochrome thing to capture the essence of the patterns of the wheels to take them into a more abstract space.

The post processing was fun, using PS2 curves to force the colours to either end of the histogram, and then I used the Black and White Styler plug-in to process the image as a light monochrome rendition on soft paper. Cropping, some usm and then sizing the picture with a border completed the job. Not a shot that typically does well on DPC but one I enjoyed thinking about, taking and processing.

Weeks 12 & 13: London & Basildon House

This one was captured at about 19:15 on Kensington High Street, London, while on my way to a dinner appointment. I was actually looking at a church spire across the road, thinking about capturing the weirdness of when I heard the ambulance and saw it forcing its way towards where I was standing. Putting the camera on my arm while holding on to a lamppost I waited and then hit the shutter once. This is the result, which I think I would entitle something like "Emergency! Get out of the bloody way!" I just hope the pedestrians look around before stepping out...


This is a very different image, captured while walking in the grounds of Basildon House, a National Trust property near Pangbourne in Berkshire. My wife is a volunteer room warden there and often works in the shop. On this particular day I took her to work in the shop and decided to walk the grounds to get some fresh air. Sadly, the aggressive wind, the dull sky and an equally dull photographer ensured I did not get any decent shots, until I saw a sad magnolia tree, part in bloom and part inert.

This shot really reminded that while Spring is a time for renewal and rejuvenation, there is also an element of death and decay as the flowers that attract the pollinators decay while the newly-pollinated seed gets ready to disperse in the circle of life and death at the heart of our experience. Post-processed in to selectively colour the decaying petals.

Week 11: Paddington Station, London

Details: Nikon D80 with Tokina 18-200 lens; ISO 800; 1/8 s, f/5.6 with -1.33 EV compensation (highlight control :-)

This was the week that I was really suffering from a lack of inspiration. Then I was asked to meet some clients for dinner in London and I figured that maybe there was a chance of making something from nothing. So I set myself a 30 minute challenge at Paddington station to try and capture some of the vitality that exists in a train station when the commuters are on their way home.

I was on one of the passenger bridges at the exit end of the station, looking towards the main passenger entrance, when I noticed this train starting to leave. Hand-held shot, balanced on the infrastructure of the bridge, and then post processed to open the shot out a bit.

Week 10: A Touch of Spring

My wife and I went for a walk in the nearby "Linear Park". A beautiful day with sunshine and a general air of Spring. While walking I happened to spy these daffodils and decided that they are a great proclaimer of the rebirth of the land.

The sad thing is that a major land developer is trying to install a whole new community not too far from Linear Park, which is likely to have an adverse effect on the park and its wildlife. Their first attempt to get planning application for the development approved was defeated but, with the drive for profit seeming so high, they are planning another application. Looks like there is more to come.

Weeks 8 & 9: India

I spent the last two weeks on a business trip to India and the experience was almost life changing. The sights and sounds of India – combined with the contradictions that make India what it is – threaten to overwhelm your senses and sensibility but instead seem to envelop you in some kind of exotic wrap.

I spent the first week in Noida, just outside of Delhi and got to spend Saturday itself in Delhi. This picture is from the Red Fort and attempts to contrast the old while looking through to the new. I tried to capture the spirit of Old Delhi, perhaps with a western sensibility. There is a definite “something” about Old Delhi that is at once timeless and “off the day”.

As I was there for two weeks I have also included a second picture, this time from Mumbai, the second city I visited. I did not manage to get out and about very much in Mumbai as I was attending and speaking at a conference. However, I did manage to get this shot of one of the many impromptu “shanty towns” that seem to appear almost anywhere. This one was on the beach that lay about 100 meters from the hotel where I staying, paying $300 per night while the folk who lived in this shanty town probably do not earn that in a month.

As to the traffic... well, that is another story, as told here.

Week 7: Gasworks By The Thames & Kennet

Details: Nikon D80, Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, focal length 52mm, 1/80 second -1/3 EV @ f/7.1, ISO 100

Walking along the Thames at the start of the week as part of an attempt to get more exercise and reduce stress I came to the point where the Kennet becomes its own river. Situated at this point is the Reading Holder Station, where there are several gasometers and a lot of supporting pipework and plant. What struck me about the site was the real mixture of the old and the new, the plant being a strange mixture of Victorian-style heavy engineering and more modern constructs.

The site is exposed and what caught my eye was the amount of rusting superstructure on the site. This shot tries to capture that sense of metal decay in the midst of what is still a working environment, a feeling of the forgotten and the overlooked.

Week 6: Snow, Swans and the Thames

Details: Nikon D80, Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3, focal length 52mm, 1/120 second @ f/14, ISO 200

The first snow of the year fell on February 8 and I slipped out at lunch time to see what photo opportunities existed down on the Thames, where I was last week with the canoes. As it happened there were a couple of other photographers with the same idea and I would guess we all took many of the same pictures. I wonder what the collective noun for photographers is?

The swans were making use of the grass revealed by folk making snow men and these three obligingly lined up for me. It was the first time I had shot in snow with the Nikon so I added a circular polarising filter to my zoom lens to see if the glare and highlights could be better controlled - and I think it did help. Anyhow, this picture was subject to limited post processing in Bibble Pro, a really good RAW processing tool that I am beginning to get to use properly.

Week 5: Two Views of the Thames

Travelling to and from a client's workplace I tend to drive near to the Thames so this week I thought I would try and capture the magic of the river. However, having taken a few very different shots I could not decide which one best captured my feeling for the river, so I am posting two contrasting views.

Details: Nikon D80, Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3, focal length 42mm, 30 seconds @ f/16, ISO 200

This first shot was taken from the bank of the Thames at Pangbourne, opposite the Swan pub. Pangbourne is a place I like as the "vibe" feels good any time of the year. I used to have an office in the village and felt it was time to capture something of the feel of the place. Taken at night on the way home from work, I had planned to take a quick shot before meeting some friends and an hour later I was still looking at the view and getting cold!

Details: Nikon D80, Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3, focal length 125mm, 1/125 second @ f/7.1, ISO 200

The second picture is much closer to my company's HQ just to the East of Reading and on the same campus park as Microsoft and Oracle. There is a watersport centre on the bank of the thames and the pile of canoes on the opposite bank reminded me of my canoeing experiences many years ago. So, feeling nostalgic, I desaturated the image to take it - and me - back a few years.

Week 4: Chepstow Race Course

Details: Nikon D80, Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3, focal length 28mm, 1/50 second @ f/18, ISO 100

Seems strange to take a picture of a race course and no horses but my wife and I were there for a a rock and gem show and were just captivated by the scenery. This shows the view from near to the finish post up the final straight towards the last bend and you can see the 1 furlong marker n the middle distance.

I only got to see this glorious part of the countryside a couple of weeks ago when I went to Monmouth and drove down the amazing Wye Valley, sadly to collect my ill daughter and then to get her car. Given the circumstances, I had no opportunity to take any pictures as I was running to a tight schedule but I am hoping to go back there sometime soon with camera and tripod to capture more of the place than just the glimpse from the race course. Tintern Abbey is one of the places in the Wye Valley that I glimpsed from the car midday and when the Abbey was lit up in the early evening and one place that my camera seems to be drawn towards.

Week 3: Back In Woodstock At Night

Details: Nikon D80, Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3, focal length 135mm, 30 seconds @ f/13, ISO 100

I had the chance to go back to Woodstock (see Week 1) but this time at night. The town has a great ambiance and I spent a happy (if cold) couple of hours walking through a small section of the town with camera and tripod. Aside from the one or two weird looks most of the town's folk seemed to regard the sight of a lunatic with a tripod taking obscure pictures of their town as a normal occurrence.

This is a detail from the parish church for Woodstock, St Mary Magdalene, "which has been at the spiritual and geographical heart of Woodstock for a thousand years". Somehow the cross and shadow were evocative and timeless, capturing the age of the town while also asking us to remember mankind's troubles, so pertinent in the current strife-ridden climate of our planet. It also seemed 'right' to process this as a black and white shot, processed in PS using the "B&W Filter 1.0" with a B&W filter setting of "Red", a development type of "High Contrast", paper set to "Grade 4 - Hard" and colour tone set to "Kallitype".

I have posted some other shots from this session on my SmugMug site including a full view of the church.

Week 2: Trapped In My Own Imagination

Details: Nikon D80, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 with reversing ring, focal length N/A, 2.5 seconds @ f/22, ISO 100

Well, this week I did not do much travelling at all, largely working in my Company's Reading office and at home. It was a hectic week and, as a consequence, photo opportunities were rare. However, I did have some time today (Sunday) at home to play with my camera and a new reversing ring for my prime lens, my first foray into the world of macro.

I would love to say that it was easy but I soon discovered just what the expression "shallow depth of field" meant and my admiration for the others in the DPC PAW who have made macro their theme increased tenfold. I was also using Nikon's Capture Pro hooked to Picture Project for the first time so I could see the images as they were shot to check for sharpness and focus, which proved to be a major benefit. So, armed with camera, tripod, office lamp and other sundry items, the session began!

So where have I been this week? Adrift in my own imagination!

I discovered that my wife's love of crystals and my love of science fiction coupled with a dried flower gave my imagination the chance to work overtime. The picture is an attempt to represent some alien life form crawling over an "other worldly" landscape, the landscape being an amethyst crystal (wonderful mountain ranges and colours close up) and the alien life form a dried seed pod of some kind. The colour and form of the "alien" were augmented in Photoshop to make it pop a little.

I think I need to get out more...

Week 1 - Woodstock, Oxfordshire

Details: Nikon D80, Nikon Nikkor 50 mm f/1.8 lens, 1/80 s @ f/13, ISO 200

This was a week when I was supposed to be travelling a lot to various client sites but instead made a single journey to one, which is in the heart of the Cotswolds in Oxfordshire. One of the delights of the journey to and from the client site is the town of Woodstock, the place where Blenheim Palace is located, seat of the Duke of Marlborough and birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. The town is a delight in all seasons and I caught this picture at lunchtime on Tuesday, January 2nd.

As pictures go it is not the most dynamic but it captures two of the three essential elements of any small English town or village: the Town Hall and a pub, in this case the sign for the Bear Hotel. The third element - the village church - just could not be squeezed into the frame. I hope the picture captures the colour and warmth of the local building material, the aptly named cotswold stone. Most old towns and villages in the Cotswolds seem to be carved from the stone and to me it offers a real feeling of warmth and comfort.

Sadly, the clear blue sky in the picture belies the fact that just about everywhere else there were dark clouds and about 10 minutes after starting to shoot the rain came in. Given this and the fact that I had stolen time in my lunch break to take the photos, it meant that I did not cover as much of the village as I would have liked. But I will be returning soon...