Mechanical Landscapes

  • #63 – new toys, old toys

    My policy on camera equipment puchases is one of gradual upgrades, basically using spare money from overtime, backpay and annual bonuses. I’ve just bought this years purchase, and it’s likely to be the last for some time. And this is it, a near mint Nikkor 28-70 F2.8 AFS. It’s a HUGE lens, even on the…

  • #62 – Details

     Who said railway photography has to have the train as the main, or only, compositional element? OK, so unless you are a railway enthusiast you may not recognise these lamps as being used on steam engines, but as part of a larger set of images, it adds a different perspective to it. As I often…

  • #61 – British Industry

    I took this photo about 5 years ago on an old film camera, and developed the film myself. For some reason, it’s one that I keep coming back to and remains one of my favourite industrial images. The composition was almost forced upon me as I just poked the camera through a fence and hoped,…

  • #60 – it doesn’t always go according to plan… (part 2)

    Following on from my post the other week, I attempted to photograph the Cotton Mills Express again. Right, I thought, I’ll watch it locally, then head out to somewhere more photogenic. So I saw it a couple of miles away from my house (which was further than it got last time – it failed at…

  • #59 – Hand held vs tripod

    I’ve always regarded tripods as a necessary evil. I hate their weight and the fact they’re so big, unwieldly and time consuming to set up and such like. It’s for these reasons that some people like using tripods, as it forces them to slow down and indulge in a more contemplative type of photography. Each…

  • #58 – Paddy’s Hole

    Fishing boats at ‘Paddy’s Hole’ on South Gare on the River Tees. I liked the contrast between the little harbour in the foreground and industrial Teeside in the  background, and of course the setting sun always makes for a nice sky:) I took this when the light was fading rapdily, and as I didn’t want…

  • #57 – sunset

    I always moan at how in the UK we don’t get those lovely skies we see in those fabulous photos of steam in China. This is as good as we get in Preston. I wanted to capture the young lady at work on the engine, perhaps need a bit of dodging to bring her out…

  • #56 – adding a bit of atmosphere 3

    More steam trains! If on the off chance you read this blog regularly, you’ll have noticed a few recent posts of steam train pictures. I love steam trains, and have done for years, although I kind of drift in and out of photographing them. I enjoy the challenge of trying to make something creative and…

  • #55 – wheels of industry

    I was approached via my main website (www.theviewfromthenorth.org) by a director of a mill in Huddersfield. They’d bought the old Brook Dyeing site and wanted a set of photos for their archives. I agreed on the proviso that they let me photograph their other, working, mill in Huddersfield. They agreed, and I spent an interesting morning…

  • #54 – it doesn’t always go according to plan….

    What’s missing off this railway viaduct? A train. The steam hauled ‘Cotton Mills Express’ was due to travel over it, unfortunately the engine failed at Preston, so they cancelled it. I didn’t find this out until I got home, having waited for well over 2 hours. I kept thinking, I bet it’ll come as soon…

  • #53 – LX-3 Low Light Performance

    Got to admit, I’m disappointed by the level of noise in this photo. OK, so I’m used to very low noise on the D700, but this was taken at ISO200 on the LX-3, and the noise levels are poor (and I’ve reduced the noise in post-processing). My old Fuji F31 was much, much better than…

  • #52 – Adding a Bit of Atmosphere 2

    Following on from my last post, here’s another from the East Lancs Railway. Same idea, as before, although the engine is now a much larger part of the overall scene. However, I chose to compose it with the mill, water tower and signal box all in the scene, to help add a bit more visual interest.…

  • #51 – Adding a Bit of Atmosphere 1

    I’ve now been using the Nikon D700 for exactly a year, and I know this because the first place I took it was to the East Lancs Railway winter steam gala at the end of January. One year on, time for a return visit. Other than a nightshoot at Bury, I’d not done any railway photography since then,…

  • #50 – 50th Post

    OK, so it’s not that many, but it’s a milestone nonetheless! It’s about 6 months since I moved my blog to this one, and I’ve made more posts in that 6 months than in the previous 18 months, which isn’t bad going when you consider I spent 3 months on secondment with work at the…

  • #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…

  • #48 – Panasonic LX3 High Dynamic Mode Part 2

    Another day out, another test of the LX3. The above shot was taken on the beach at Southport (not sure what it is , but it’s old, iron and rusty, so is therefore interesting), with the high dynamic mode on. I then turned the camera into program mode and took another shot (below). The difference…

  • #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…

  • #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…

  • #45 – re-visiting old images

    I took this photo back in 2005 at Ramsbottom station on the East Lancs Railway. I loved the photo, especially the station master emerging from the steam on the right. Unfortunately, as I was shooting straight into the light, I got some ugly lens flare on the front of the engine, and try as I…

  • #44 – night-time mirage

    Taken at the night photoshoot at the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington. Most of the attention was on the Victor and Mosquito, but there were some studio lights set up by this Mirage. Must admit that it looks better under these lights than natural light, doesn’t look as tatty!

  • #43 – the importance of a good title

    When entering photographs into competitions, especially ‘open’ (i.e. unthemed) ones, it is critical to choose a great title for your entry. A good title can make the difference between a judge (or any viewer) looking at the image and thinking ‘I don’t know what the photographer is trying to say!’, or thinking ‘Ah, I get it’.…