Historical enactors can be a superb source of subject, especially when they are caught unawares!

The first photo was taken at Beamish Open Air Museum in County Durham, England. There they have a working farm set in the wartime era (1940's) and this enactor was chopping firewood whilst having a conversation with another. 

I shot 5 or 6 of this lady in different swings of her axe and decided that this was the best shot. I then thought about film types, Ektachrome was developed in the 1940's and I had images of a couple of styles of slide frame I could use.

In reality Ektachrome 64 would not have made a significant colour change to the original image but as 1940's film deteriorated with age I thought a little bit of aging would be appropriate.

I called this photo "Determination"

Funghi, Mushrooms, Toadstools, whatever are a major feature of woodlands during Autumn. But they can be difficult to photograph. So here I have used the simple appraoch of taking three exposures, one under, one over and one just right combined them to produce this rather striking image.

Not so sure if it is edible, but it looks nice!

I have a mild fascination for watching other photographers take photos, and here on the NYMR at Gromont. I have managed to catch two phone photo ladies taking a shot of the steam engine. Why Black & White, well that just so happened to be the way I had set the camera up for a little bit of steam train nostalga.

I had already posted this photo of a lane in Licoln with a rather determined lamp post determined to get in on the act. When I posted it I thought that it looked best in monochrome but now I have reprocessed it as an HDR. I think it looks really good.

Well, just as you think you have just taken the perfect photo of this flower in the Rose Garden at Mottisfont Abbey in Hampshire.

You get home, process it and ...a spider has got in on the act and started weaving a web in the background. Oh well next time perhaps!

Some days you plan a visit, you have for one reason or another to go on that day, and well things are less than kind to you.

That is exactly what happened to me on the 10th of May 2014. Staying in Edinburgh and with a tight schedule I could only visit the lovely Inveresk Lodge Gardens once and not for the whole day.

So when the alloted day arrived, cold dull and wet I just had to go!

This is the original ISO of 800 and 1/250th of a second (to avoid any kind of camera shake) the greyness of the day comes through.

However with the rain droplets and a little bit of post processing, I think the end result is, well, not bad. What do you think?

I sometimes think that photography is really about opening your eyes to your surroundings!

This photo was taken in the side passage of The Blue Bell in Fossgate, York.

A pub that is considered to have an interior of national importance. It consists of two small rooms served by a central bar and here in the side corridor by a hatch, no doubt much in vogue when having a glass or as described in some parts of these islands as "a wee refreshment" was not socially acceptable.

This photo forms one of my series on British Pubs.

Double Redhead. That is the title I have given to this little piece of fun. Purporting to be one of thise "disasters" of the film photography era where you accidently make a double exposure! Later in this Blog I will be posting some real 1950's/60's double exposures all taken by accident.

Sometimes you don't have to look far to find an interesting subject. This one was actually taken through a window of my home.
This is Weather Hill in County Durham. Not very big or very noteworthy although Watling Street (the Roman road) crosses it.
Not a lot of post processing here and the only thing special about taking the photo was the use of a polarising filter. What I have done is cut the size down to a letterbox format so that the eye is more focused. Do you like it?

Here is another Infrared photo this time underwater in a rockpool in North Yorkshire, can you spot any wildlife?

Ever since I discovered infrared photography in the late 1960's I have had a mild fascination for it.
I quickly learnt that some things make better subjects than others and that they can be quite startling.
Digital Infrared gives you the ability to create images in colour as opposed to chemical Black and White.
This photo was taken in late Autumn (Northern Hemisphere) and since then I have experimented with different tones I think that this one brings out the feeling of an autumn evening.

Just off North Road can be found  this gem in the heart of Durham City.
The park occupies 4.3 hectares of land hugging the hillside just to the North of the city centre.
At its peak there are grade 2 listed Battlements dating back to 1858.
19th century philosopher John Ruskin, described the spectacular views from the battlements of Durham Cathedral, Durham Castle, the railway viaduct and over the City as 'the Eighth Wonder of the World'.