Mechanical Landscapes

  • #356 – Mechanical Landscapes Tumblr micro blog now online

    Although this blog is very much alive (if not updated as frequently as it used to be), I’ve also started a blog on Tumblr. As this WordPress blog is my primary platform, I’ve linked the two so that all the posts on here automatically appear on there as the audiences are different, but Tumblr content…

  • #355 – More Lucerne Paddle Steamers!

    A change from my usual hotel resulted in the opportunity to see Lucerne from a different perspective, so finding the highest point in the hotel I was legally allowed in, I took my camera, opened the window and snapped away unhindered!  In front of Lucerne’s vast railway station. The arch was from the original (very…

  • #354 – Crewe Works by Lili Rethi

    I love old railway posters, anything done before about 1960 had so much style and panache. The railway companies used a variety of artists, from commercial artists, to fine artists, notables include the likes of Terence Cuneo who is one of my favourite transport artists. I’ve loved this particular one since I saw it in…

  • #353 – The Factory Photographs by David Lynch

    It’s a while since I’ve seen anything by David Lynch, but I remember that he had a very odd way of seeing the world. Best known for films like Eraserhead, The Elephant Man and the weird Twin Peaks, he’s also had a number of solo art and photography exhibitions. His most recent exhibition and accompanying…

  • #352 – Cwm Bychan – Another Get Carter Landscape – 3

    And so to finish off this short series, a few black and white images. After lugging my tripod several miles to allow me to do some exposure bracketing, I realised in post processing that it probably wasn’t necessary, there was adequate information in the correctly exposed raw file. But as I’d gone to the effort…

  • #351 – Cwm Bychan – Another Get Carter Landscape – 2

      Warning – equipment discussion! A popular misconception is that an ultra wide angle lens is required for landscape photography, and while useful, it can often lead to hackneyed compositions and converging verticals. Used judiciously they are a useful tool, but not the only tool in the landscape photographers bag. I bought my Nikon 16-35…

  • #350 – Cwm Bychan – Another Get Carter Landscape -1

    #350 – Cwm Bychan – Another Get Carter Landscape -1

      If you’ve seen the classic film Get Carter, then you’ll recall the closing scenes of the film when Jack, against the backdrop of a clanking colliery ropeway on the bleak Durham coast, gets his revenge on the gangster who killed his brother. Watch it here if you’ve not seen it – it’s a tad…

  • #360 – Important – thevoicefromthenorth is now blog.mechanicallandscapes.com!!!!

    After 7 years online, I seem to have ended up with an inconsistent array of domains and styles, even though the content is largely similar. So with view to becoming more consistent, I’ve decided to rename the blog and change its address. In fact, if you read the blog posts actually on the blog and on…

  • #349 – Bank Bottom Mill

      Bank Bottom Mills in Marsden are a vast complex of mills that continued in production until 2003. On my brief visit in 2007, the mills appeared to be mothballed and still full of machinery, but still partially occupied. I did think they’d since been stripped, but having seen a number of reports on the…

  • #348 – new look to the blog!

    After having used the ‘Redoable Lite’ wordpress theme since day 1 of the blog in 2008, I felt it was time for a new look, especially as there are a lot more free themes to choose from in 2014. I’ve settled on the ‘Visual’ theme for the moment, I reserve the right to change my…

  • #347 – Lucerne Steamers (again)

    #347 – Lucerne Steamers (again)

    A fairly exhausting schedule recently has seen me visit beautiful Switzerland 4 times in as many months. One of the bonuses is staying in Lucerne, a small city that somehow manages to be big at the same time. Lake Lucerne is home to a small fleet of Paddle Steamers and these are slowly being brought…

  • 346 – Inspiring Creativity – a short film from Liberatum

    Too good not to share! Inspiring Creativity – A Liberatum film presented by illy from Liberatum on Vimeo.

  • #345 – Reworked Images 11 – Dinorwic

    This is the same scene that I posted up a few posts back, albeit a few feet to the left and a few feet higher up. I’ve not made it as contrasty as the other one as I don’t think it needs it due to it being entirely monochrome. I’m not convinced about the cohesiveness…

  • #344 – Reworked Images 10 – The Gate

    Oakwood mill is a complete ruin, quite why it’s been deemed worth keeping up rather than being demolished is beyond me, when some magnificent structures elsewhere have been flattened. I didn’t even bother looking for a way in, I took a few externals and moved on to look at other stuff in the area. I…

  • #343 – Reworked Images 9 – Jumbles Quarry Crane

    Maybe it was because I visited the quarry with someone (I seem to produce better images alone, although the venerable Tarboat was excellent company) or whether the location itself was a challenge, but I didn’t come away with many images that really inspired me. I felt they made a good record of the place but…

  • #342 – Reworked Images 8 – Bailey Mill Loom

    Another one I’ve never done anything with, although I do have a similar image taken on film on theviewfromthenorth.org. The problem in Bailey Mill was the light coming through the windows, as at the time (2007) I wasn’t aware of the possibilities of bracketing to capture the full dynamic range of a scene. The raw files…

  • #341 – Reworked Images 7 – High and Dry

    When I visited the Duke of Lancaster a few years back, I took the opportunity to take a lot of photographs, from as many different angles as I could think, on a variety of different lenses. At the time, I only actually processed about 10 or 12 of them, but after a 3 years break I…

  • #340 – Reworked Images 6 – Jumbles Quarry

    This was an image I’d scratched my head with in colour. I just couldn’t do anything with it, and I didn’t think it worked well in monochrome, so even though I liked it and thought it had potential it never really went beyond basic adjustments. I’ve always thought it an intriguing image, but one that…

  • #339 – Reworked Images 5 – Dinorwic Flower

     The finished image The starting point – pretty much straight out of camera with one or two tonal adjustments. I originally cropped this into portrait format, processed it, and subsequently presented it that way for several years. When I revisited it, I decided to process it in its original landscape format, and then decide afterwards…

  • #338 – Reworked Images 4 – Pleasley Colliery

    Pleasley Colliery is the only preserved coal mine in Nottinghamshire, and is worth a visit if you are in the area.  I don’t think I’ve posted this before and it’s probably the best one I took on my visit. Unfortunately the sun was behind the mine when I was there, which made photographing it from the best vantage points…

  • #337 – Reworked Images 3 – Chatterley Whitfield

    Another rework, with some quite dramatic changes to the mood. It is somewhat timely as I read this morning that two of Britain’s remaining coal mines are under threat of closure. The storm clouds continue to gather over Chatterley Whitfield with every passing year resulting in further deterioration, and I really don’t know what the future…