Tag: Nikon D700
-
#311 – Mechanical Engineering 2
After posting the last photo of rusting machinery, I remembered this one I took of the old steam crane in the Jumbles Quarry. I wish I’d tried some different compositions as I don’t think this is the best one, but it’s the only one I took like this, regrettably. Whether a photo should have a focal point is a…
-
#245 – Dinorwic Slate Quarry
Bridge Of Doom? No, the gallery had given way beneath this track panel, leaving it suspended precariously in mid-air. Remains of a weighbridge Could there be a more appropriate landscape in which to film ‘Clash Of The Titans’? OK, so I’ve not actually seen the film in its entirety, but when security told me that…
-
#243 – Failed Heritage – Dunaskin Brickworks
I’m a regular visitor to Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland, and ever since my first visit, I’ve been intrigued by its industrial past. The cross country road from the M8 to Kilmarnock, Ayr, etc crosses a bleak, moorland landscape, pockmarked by past and current mining activities. Today, it’s exclusively opencast, but until the…
-
#242 – Loch Long Torpedo Testing Station
For a good period of my career, I worked in a compact disc manufacturing plant. Thanks to continuous investment, the factory was arguably a world class facility with excellent yields, excellent quality and the capacity and expertise to be highly responsive to customer demands. Despite all this, it closed in 2009. CD’s were rapidly becoming…
-
#233 – Super D Part 2 – on the footplate
I’ve written before about people in railway photography, and how you don’t see much of it. Well, the opportunity came up again to ride up front with the crew on the footplate (thanks to Nigel for organising this again!) which is always a privilege. It was also a bit of a squeeze, as the Super…
-
#232 – Super D Part 1
All aboard for an early start! Well, maybe not, but driving from Chorley to Bury at rush hour always takes a little longer than I think it will, especially when going the scenic route to avoid the dick-dance that is the M61/M60 in the morning. The reason for my brisk cross-country drive was Richard Newtons latest charter…
-
#226 – People In Railway Photography Revisited – Part 2
As I wasn’t using the optimal lens for the job, cropping played an important part of post processing., and this is where having a reasonably high megapixel count comes in handy. Now I’ve never subscribed to the theory that you should get it right in camera and never crop – it’s a laudable idea, but…
-
#225 – People in Railway Photography Revisited – Part 1
Due to the usual late running on the Saturday of the East Lancs Steam Gala, the planned nightshoot was also running late, so by the time the assembled throng were let in, the engines were still being put down for the night. Never one to miss an opportunity to do something different, I hiked up the…
-
#209 – Tornado!
Couldn’t resist posting this from the Southport Air Show – I’ve been trying to get a photo like this of the vapour coming off a fast jet wing for years and never really managed it. However, for this, all the planets seemed to be in alignment, and I finally managed to capture it! Chuffed! Hopefully…
-
#197 – Gwrych Castle Part 3 – No Entry
Taken from a similar vantage point to one of the photos in the first post of this series, I zoomed in a bit to emphasise the shadows. In doing so, the photo has less depth as it is primarily just the flat wall, but I like the way the shadows fell and the different textures…
-
#198 – Gwrych Castle Part 4 – Ivy
Final one from Grywch Castle, taken from the castellated wall that takes the driveway through the stables to the owners entrance hall, which is some distance from the visitors entrance on the lower level of the property. Large swathes of the walls were once covered in ivy, much has been cleared away but it’s growing…
-
#196 – Gwrych Castle Part 2 – Weeds
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly nature takes over when man abandons his structures. Like walking through a woodland path the undergrowth makes seeing the stairs increasingly difficult. Meanwhile, inside (I use the term loosely, there’s been no roof for several years), this little plant had managed to take root on the reinforced…
-
#195 – Gwrych Castle Part 1
Gwrych Castle(pronounced “Grick”, apparently), is notable for being the only castle in the UK to have no vowels in it. Or did I make that up? Not sure. Anyway, if you’ve ever driven along the A55 past Abergele, you’ll probably have seen this place on the wooded hillside to the west of the town. I…
-
#181 – Thorpe Marsh Revisit part 5 – Self Portrait
Unlike many explorers, I rarely do self portraits, in fact I’m rarely photographed at all, as I’m usually on the other side of the camera. Plus, I rarely bother to take a tripod out when I explore, without which self portraiture is troublesome. Hence, I suffer from a crippling lack of imagination when I do it,…
-
#180 – Thorpe Marsh Revisit Part 4 – 3 Kings
Similar to a photo from my last visit, but with a slightly different sky, I captured this just as the mist was clearing. It’s still a colour photo, but you’d be hard pressed to tell as it’s a somewhat monochromatic scene.
-
#179 – Thorpe Marsh Revisit part 3 – Railway Miscellenea
Like pretty much all power stations, Thorpe Marsh was rail linked, in fact it sits alongside the East Coast Main Line. For some reason, the sidings are still intact, albeit heavily overgrown with those trees that seem to grow spontaneously on all disused railway lines. Intriguingly, there are also bits of the signalling insfrastructure still…
-
#178 – Thorpe Marsh Revisit part 2 – Inside The Egg Cup
Ever wondered what it looks like inside a cooling tower? It looks like this:) Well stripped out ones do. Normally they have all kinds of cooling gubbins in, but this is just a shell. The fog had just lifted, although the sky is still slightly hazy, but the hint of a shadow shows that the…
-
#177 – Thorpe Marsh Revisit – part 1
I’ve been fascinated by power stations and cooling towers since my dad took me to see the massive cooling towers at Kearsley Power Station in Bolton being blown up in 1984. Dad had grown up in their shadow in the 50’s and 60’s and it was fairly poignant for him to see them come down.…
-
#176 – The Last Days Of Fernhurst Mill – DoF Tomfoolery
With the trespassing element of the visit complete, I thought I’d indulge in a bit of creative arty-fartyness. Nikon D700, 28-70mm, 1/1600 @F2.8
-
#172 – Beamish Part 3 – Black and White
Last in the series from Beamish and inevitably it’s some black and white’s. Yes, I couldn’t resist having a tinker to see what they would come out like. The absence of any trains, meant a wander down to the station to see if I could find anything interesting. There was, but I couldn’t find any…
-
#171 – Beamish Part 2 – Abstracts
I’ve recently been re-re-reading ‘How To Take Your Photography To The Next Level’ by George Barr. It’s an enjoyable book that I dip into every now and again, and while I’d describe the author as an accomplished rather than an inspirational photographer, I do enjoy his abstracts, particularly of mechanical stuff. With that in mind,…
Mechanical Landscapes 