Category: Industrial Landscape
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#49 – The Art of Cropping
I was one told that a good way of deciding how and where to crop was to cover up the bits you wanted to keep and just look at the bits you want to crop. If they contained nothing of interest, or didn’t add anything to the image, then cut them off. With that in…
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#47 – Panasonic LX3 High Dynamic Mode Part 1
I’ve barely used my LX-3 since I bought it in October, but there again I’ve done virtually no photography whatsoever since then for that matter! A trip over to Teeside to photograph the industrial landscape seemed like a good opportunity to dust it off and explore a little more of what it can do. One of…
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#46 – the last resort
I’m a fan of the British photographer Martin Parr (or certainly his earlier work), and when I saw this scene at Redcar, I was reminded of his book ”The Last Resort’. If you haven’t seen it, it was an ironic look at New Brighton which showed the somewhat squalid conditions endured by visitors to the…
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#40 – The Industrial Tourist
For better or for worse, Britain in 2009 is very much a post industrial society. The physical and economic landscape of the north (and other regions) has been transformed with the well documented decline of the traditional industries, and the rise of the service sector. The skylines of our towns are different to 20, 30…
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#39 – Industrial Lines
Taken on a recent tour of a steelworks. I deliberately underexposed, and then did a bit of masking and curves adjustments to get the image I had in mind when I took it. I think they used to call it ‘previsualisation’ in film days.
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#37 – Industrial Throwback
It was the smell that hit me initially. A deep, slightly sulphurous smell that reminded me of the aftermath of a passing steam train. But while that is fleeting, this was a permanent, pervasive smell that could be smelt well beyond the shoulder high perimeter wall Inside, the site was dusty and grubby, and outside…
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#35 – Solitude
Looking for something – meaning, inspiration, warmth on a cold day. Hoffman Kiln at Langcliffe near Settle in Yorkshire.
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#34 – mechanical landscape
The smell was what took me by surprise at Welbeck Colliery. I didn’t think there would be a smell for some reason, but there was a not unpleasant one for an industrial site. I suppose it smelt, to my nose, a bit like a steam railway, perhaps not surprising with the great piles of coal. But…
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#31 – First item on this years Christmas List :)
A dragline excavator! This is the Bucyrus Erie BE1150 at Swillington near Leeds in the UK. It’s preserved by the ‘Friends of St. Aidans BE1150 Dragline’, a great bunch of blokes who look after this amazing bit of mechanical engineering. 1200 tons and a 215ft long boom – this is a BIG bit of kit,…
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#30 – Inside Looking Out (4)
Grove Rake Mine. A great photographic composition technique is known as ‘framing’, that is having the main subject of your photograph within something else, such as an arch or a window. It’s something I look to use when I explore old buildings, sometimes like this, or sometimes just whatever happens to be out of the…
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#29 – Inside Looking Out (3)
Doorway To Oblivion. Once there would have been a fire escape or walkway to the old Huncoat Power Station that once stood on the huge expanse of wasteland. This was demolished but the office block was kept in use for a few years after, until this to was abandoned. It’s stood empty now for some…
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#28 – Inside Looking Out (2)
Three Windows. Sometimes, things in three’s just work better. I’m sure there’s a link between the composition of this picture and that rule of thirds thing.
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#27 – Inside Looking Out (1)
Prestolite. One of the few times I’ve had any success with a single image HDR. I still think it’s a bit overdone though, just haven’t got round to going back and toning it down.
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#26 – Vapour
Two types of cloud, one made by man, and the other made by nature. Taken in January, looking down on Ramsbottoms last paper mill, and one of just a handful left in Lancashire. The local paper industry has been decimated in the last ten years, with many mills closing for good. Not sure how long this…
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#25 – Luneside Landscape
The River Lune in Lancaster has not been used as a port for over a hundred years and much of the dockland area to the east of the West Coast Railway line over the river has been restored and regenerated, much of the area to the west is derelict. This is the site of the…
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#23 – A ‘Get Carter’ Landscape
I’m a huge fan of the 60’s Michael Caine film ‘Get Carter’, particularly the cinematography and the bleak northern landscapes it portrayed. In particular, I have long been intrigued by the final scenes of the aerial ropeways taking coal to the staithes. This landscape has all but vanished, but I discovered that there was one…
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#20 – Dial ‘M’ For Mining
One I took a while back but I still really like – Clipsone Colliery in Nottinghamshire. Despite being listed, these impressive artefacts of our industrial heritage are seemingly doomed due to a concerted campaign from a local councillor. Shame.
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#13 – Kodak Ektar 100
I bought three rolls of this new film a few months back, and I started using my first roll at Parys Copper Mine, and then didn’t pick up my film camera again for 3 months to finish the roll! So, as I was keen to see how good it was, I cast good sense aside…
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#12 – Super Wide Angle Fun :)
For several years, I used a Sigma 10-20mm lens on my Nikon D70. As this was a DX (crop format) camera, this gave a focal length of 15-30mm, and for urban exploration and landscape use, it was fantastic. However, I had to sell this when I upgraded to a full frame (FX) camera, as DX…
Mechanical Landscapes 