Mechanical Landscapes

  • #336 – Mechanical Landscapes – my new website

    Sometime in April 2007, in a paradox of high hopes and no expectations, I launched theviewfromthenorth.org. Since then the journey that the website and I have been on has been an interesting one to say the least, and one that shows no sign of coming to an end. The site has now had over 2…

  • #335 – theviewfromthenorth.org Backbarrow Pictures on the BBC

    I was approached by the BBC asking for permission to use 6 of my photographs of Backbarrow Ironworks in a story they were doing. Only two were used in the end, better than nowt I guess. The Ironworks site has been sold and some of the vacant land is going to be used for a holiday village,…

  • #334 – Reworked images 2 – Grove Rake

    This is another problem image that I’d had several goes at over the years and never came up with anything that I liked. I think it’s getting somewhere now, although I’m not sure it’s there yet. The problem has always been in balancing the tones. The light on the day was constantly changing as the…

  • #333 – Reworked images 1 – Bridge of Doom

    This was an image I’d struggled to do anything with in monochrome. As a colour image, it works quite well, but converting it to monochrome always left it looking flat. That’s not a problem as the initial conversion normally does look flat, but I could never get anywhere with it after that. However, after my…

  • #332 – Review – Digital Monochrome Workshop with Martin Henson

    Experience has shown me that in many endeavours where there is a high level of skill involved, you start to plateau and need either a change in the way you do things or a change of tutor / mentor. This is especially so of you are working on your own in isolation. Last year, I…

  • #331 – Camera Club Talks!

    Following an unusual sequence of unrelated events, I’ve suddenly found myself three camera club talks booked for 2014, so I might as well formally offer my services on here to camera clubs or anyone else who is interested! Please contact me via the comments box. Title Mechanical Landscapes – Exploring the Industrial North Synopsis The talk is approximately 90…

  • #330 – Accrington Conservative Club

    It’s been a sad end to the year with the family in mourning for my remarkable grandfather who left us just before Christmas, but I was lifted somewhat when I saw my photos of Accrington Conservative Club used in an article in Lancashire Magazine. Although I’ve never blogged about the club on here, the pictures have been…

  • #328 – Bridge of Change

    I’ve posted before about the once-vast Leyland Motors works in Leyland. Its buildings sprawled for several miles from Lostock Hall right the way down into Leyland town centre, employing thousands of workers and manufacturing lorries for the home market and for export all over the world. Following privatisation it was bought by DAF who went…

  • #327 – Book Review – Abandoned Places 3

    #327 – Book Review – Abandoned Places 3

    I’ve previously reviewed Hans van Rensbergens previous books, and I didn’t realise he’d released a third earlier this year until just recently. Hans has one of the longest running (and best) urbex websites on the web, and was one of the reasons for my increased interest several years ago. One of the first things that struck…

  • #326 – Lucerne Steamboats 2

    The 1906 built paddle steamer Schiller is one of five in the SGV fleet. It was given an extensive rebuild between 1998-2000 during which extensive work was done on the hull and superstructure. Like all the steamers, she appeared to be laid up for the winter with her vents closed off and the external deck…

  • #325 – Lucerne Steamboats 1

    Business travel is a mixed blessing, as although it beats spending your life working in the same factory or office, the reality is spending time in someone else’s factory or office, and not much time seeing the place where you are visiting. But there again, that’s what you are being paid to do, so any…

  • #324 – Book Recommendation – Looking at Photographs

    I saw this book recommended recently on Andy Beel’s blog, just after I’d judged my first photographic competition. While the timing was unfortunate, I ordered the book nonetheless, and I’m pleased I did, not only on the off-chance that I get asked to do some more judging, but also as a concise reminder as to…

  • #323 – The Last Days Of Bamber Bridge (New) Mill – 7 – a few more in monochrome

    As I was about to go on holiday, I thought I’d swing by after work to get a few more shots of the mill, in case it had gone by the time I got back (it hadn’t, it was still there). The evening sun was largely in my favour, and with a cloudy sky, there…

  • #322 – The Last Days Of Bamber Bridge (New) Mill – 6 – a few in monochrome

    With a spare hour after a week spent on the road, I made the short trip up the A6 to see what was left of the mill. The answer – everything that was there on my previous visit the week before, nothing had changed. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten that in the morning, the sun is behind the…

  • #321 – The Last Days Of Bamber Bridge (New) Mill – 5

    #321 – The Last Days Of Bamber Bridge (New) Mill – 5

    Once I’d got the main photos, I tried a few more experimental ones. I like to try to get different perspectives in an attempt to tell a bigger story, and the flexibility of a 14x zoom enabled me to do this easily. These are variations of one I took at Fernhurst Mill a few years back,…

  • #320 – The Last Days Of Bamber Bridge (New) Mill – 4

     The view from the north (end) The once monolithic landmark is reduced to a much more compact form. The demolition has been a methodical dismantling, and a relatively neat affair (or at least as neat as deconstructing thousands of tonnes of brick, concrete and other dusty, dirty materials can ever be), and just one section…

  • #319 – The Last Days Of Bamber Bridge (New) Mill – 3

    The days of swinging a big iron ball are long gone, demolition these days is more like deconstruction. A long arm excavator with a powerful claw pulls the building apart, and then places all the material for recycling into big piles or straight into trucks. It does make for slow progress though, especially when there is…

  • #318 – The Last Days of Bamber Bridge (New) Mill – 2

    I grew up in a town full of red brick mills. They were all very similar to New Mill, being very large 4 or 5 storey mills, sometimes in large complexes of two, three, four or even five mills. As the industry shrunk dramatically from the early 60’s onwards, these giants and their chimnies started…

  • #317 – The Last Days of Bamber Bridge (New) Mill – 1

    New Mill was a massive local landmark, towering over the main street and neat terraced streets of Bamber Bridge. It could also be seen quite prominently from the M6, and was adjacent to the Blackburn – Preston railway line. You really had to try hard not to see it, as it was the tallest building…

  • #316 – Little Mountains

    Surrounding Lake Lucerne are a range of mountainous valleys, which open up onto the Lake. The lake itself is large, and criss-crossed by steamboats and more modern ferries. It is also home to fleets of gravel boats, as the lakebed is being dredged for the material that is then shipped to the shore. I was enjoying…

  • #315 – Lucerne to Zurich Express

    A recent business trip to Switzerland resulted in the opportunity to use the countries railway system to get to the airport. I’d never  been to Switzerland before but knew that the Swiss railway network, ran like the clockwork mechanisms the Swiss are famous for. And indeed, it did, everything ran bang on time, the trains were clean…