Mechanical Landscapes

  • #105 – Off to France – back soon!

    As well as mooching round old buildings, running my blog and website and taking pictures of trains, I also have a day job which has nothing to do with photography but does involve visiting factories. I’m about to embark on a visit to a supplier in central France for a week to watch some heat…

  • #104 – Film Cameras

    It’s almost scandalous now how cheap film cameras have become. I have a few old film cameras, including the awesome Nikon F100. One of these with an MB15 grip was over £800  in 2004. I paid I think £160 for my F100 (in near mint condition), and £25 for the MB-15.  When I got back…

  • #103 – Coatham Sand Dunes 2

    I enjoy looking at traditional landscape photographs, I just don’t take many myself. And like anything else, the more you do it the better you become, and vice versa. To that end, when I was on the sand dunes near Redcar Steelworks, I thought there was a definite photo opportunity, but I just couldn’t see it. It…

  • #102 – If You Go Down In The Woods Today….

    #102 – If You Go Down In The Woods Today….

    ….you might just find this place.  This old railway warehouse was used as a transhipment point for coal that was loaded onto a huge conveyor that bridged the valley and delivered it to the former Hartshead Power Station. By the look of this place, it was probably built before the power station, and has lasted…

  • #101 – Coatham Sands 1

  • #100 – Lead in lines

    Railway lines are a great way to lead into a photo, although, you do normally need permission to be on them! This was taken at a charter on the Ribble Steam Railway in Preston, and  I got down low, to take the shot. With an increasing number of DSLR’s having live view on them, using…

  • #99 – Light Engine

    Another one from Snibston, I used a telephoto to isolate the loco as it ran light engine along the sidings to meet up with the coach it was hauling for the day. I wanted to capture the diesel shunter in the background and some of the industrial backdrop, but only succeeded in getting the shunter in. …

  • #98 – Horwich Loco Works

    #98 – Horwich Loco Works

    Horwich Loco Works is somewhere I’ve been meaning to look at for some time, but never got round to it. For years I’ve looked at it’s huge long brick Erecting Shop as I pass it on the M61, and last went in the early 90’s when the site was used for car boot sales on…

  • #97 – The Y

    Unfortunately there wasn’t much happening at Loughborough station but a visit to the sheds and a mooch around the bookshop killed an hour. In the distance here is a demonstration freight train, but it’s maybe too far way to see here. Still, I like all the period features in the scene.

  • #96 – Explosives!

    Unlike proper heritage lines, Snibston didn’t appear to have a demonstration freight train running, at least not a steam hauled one (although there was a charter on the Friday, but I only found that out afterwards). That was a shame as they’d brought a steam train in especially from the Chasewater railway and it ended…

  • #95 – Cobbles and Steam

    The area around Keighley station seems pretty much as it was 50 years ago, all cobbled streets, ginnels and old stone mills. I wanted to make a feature of this landscape so I had a scout around the area on foot, which is often the best way as you see things you wouldn’t if you…

  • #94 – V for V-Bomber

    Sometimes, you don’t need to see the whole of the subject in an image. I deliberately composed this picture like this as I felt it showed the most interesting bits of the aircraft (a Handley Page Victor at the Yorkshire Air Museum – I can highly recommend a visit!), and not show anything that distracted…

  • #93 – Book Review – Hans Steeneken’s ‘All Trains To Stop’

     An enjoyable trip to Peak Rail in Derbyshire didn’t produce any great photos, but a visit to their 2nd hand book wagon did yield a couple of 50 pence gems. First up was ‘Steam’ by Ian Krause, whose work I’d seen in the classic Ian Allan ‘Steam Portfolio’. It’s mainly steam in action, and some…

  • #92 – Peak Rail 2

    Nikon D700, Nikkor 28-70, 1/100 @ F18, ISO 400 Another one from Peak Rail. 8624 waits at Rowsley South to be turned on the new turntable. I wanted to inclde different elements of the railway in the scene, as most photos taken from platforms are, frankly, boring record shots. So I waited for the driver…

  • #91 – Peak Rail 1

    I’d never been to Peak Rail in Derbyshire before, partly because it’s a pain in the arse to get to from central Lancashire. However, I’d read that they’d got an event on, so I braved the windy A-roads and headed south. The line is pretty flat and short (4 miles), and with a stop half…

  • #90 – Buxton Lime Firm 2

    Another one from Buxton. As before, processed in Nik Silver Efex Pro, using the Wet Rocks filter and (I think) the Ilford Delta 100 effect.

  • #89 – Buxton Lime Firm 1

    Converted to black and white using the ‘Wet Rocks’ filter in Nik Silver Efex Pro, and some HP 5 film grain. Not sure why it looks slightly HDR like, it’s only one image, and it’s not seen Photomatix.

  • #88 – LX-3 High Dynamic Mode – More Samples

    Took these in Edinburgh at the weekend. Couldn’t be bothered lugging the D700 round all weekend, so took the Panasonic LX-3 as it’s far more portable. This was on the (former) Royal Yacht Brittania, and as it was late in the day, the sun was quite low in the sky. The sun was kinda hazy,…

  • #87 – National Coal Mining Museum

    Worked quite hard to get this, the sun was quite high in the sky and at an inconvenient angle, which also resulted in the sky becoming burnt out. I used a 24mm lens to get what I could in of the diesel loco, as well as the colliery headstock, not easy as it’s quite a…

  • #86 – Anglesey’s Grand Canyon

    I visited the Grand Canyon in Arizona a few years ago, and was captivated by it. It’s huge, colourful, and quiet, and if anything, ‘Grand’ is an understatement. While Parys Mountain is a mere fraction of the size, it’s amazing colours were hugely reminiscent. Parys Mountain was once a huge copper mine, and so although…

  • #85 – Mastermind

    Saw this as I squeezed through a door in the mechanics workshop at Vernon Carus. It’s only when I got home and converted it to black and white did I realise the shaft of light was hitting the chair. I suppose I should really re-visit the photo to accentuate the effect, maybe one day!