Another from Bredbury Hall

I managed to 'develop' one of the shots in the digital darkroom taken while I was at Bredbury Hall. This one is called simply Parlour.

I liked the rustic setting of stable-style door and hand-cranked root cutter machine. I was hoping, and wasn't disappointed, that the texture of the door would come out well. The other textures have come out just as good with the bricks and yard cobbles giving pattern too.

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Gallery update

Updated the mono gallery with my recent shots - 10 made it through. See all the recent new ones by following this special search. I think my favourite is the first in the results, Rope Knot with Teleportation Module a close second.

Went out to a barbecue today, nice bunch of folks...

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Holiday Inn, Heathrow

I managed to get off a couple of shots this evening around the hotel where I'm staying, while on contract in Staines.

A lovely lady called Fiona from the hotel came to check me out while I was taking the shots - very reasonable in these times, especially since it's so close to the airport.

This is the first one out of the digital darkroom. I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out, the composition overall and the sky especially. My imaginative (not!) working title for it is Hotel Wall And Sky. There are a few promising ones left to do... watch this space :)

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A late night, driven by the need to create...

Well, I managed to squeeze another one in... I couldn't stop mesel' ! This is one of the short paths leading into the Elizabethan garden, as featured in the last couple of posts.

I'm still not brave enough to launch into a full blown treatment of darkness with just the light from the sun breaking through and lighting patches of wall and path. I'm heading in that direction, but need the right shot to start with.

I guess this was close, but not close enough.

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Successful week...

Overall, quite a successful week - both on my contract and on the photography side of things.

On contract I got my main doc issued for sign-off and had some really good feedback during its review. Client is well pleased.

Photography-wise, I managed to squeeze a handful out of the digital darkroom. This is the latest, called Elizabethan Garden - 'cuz that's wot it is :) I liked the mini maze and the purpose-built ruined look of the place.

You can see the archway that's in the close-up in my previous posting. I did a close up of the stone-carved Mayflower above the arch but that one's destined for my MayflowerSteps website.

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Squeezed out another...

...from the digital darkroom. This was taken during the Barbican International Jazz and Blues Festival. There was a lot of hustle and bustle on Southside Street so I went up one of the small alleyways, one that looked like it probably wasn't for meant for the general public.

It was, as it turned out, and led up to a treasure of tranquillity, a small but perfectly formed Elizabethan garden. I think it was designed to look a little like a garden set amongst ruins.

This beautiful archway is part of the path that runs through the gardens and sports a stone carving of the Mayflower, the ship that carried the Pilgrim Fathers and Mothers to what was to be named Plymouth Plantation in New England.

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My photos to your mobile...

I'm trying a 'speriment with a service from moblin - it allows someone to download any of my photos right from my website to their mobile phone for a small fee, of which I get a cut.

It was easy enough to set up, but I'm not a mobile phone guru and I got an "invalid - you can't do that" type of message when I tried to download one to my new mobile. Soon sorted, though when I realised that the word TAP was part of the text message to be sent and not an instruction to type in the number that followed. Doh!

I'm guessing the service will have more uptake by those peeps who want to download cutesy images for their phone wallpaper rather than fine art aficionadas! We'll see...

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More from the digital darkroom...

I managed to squeeze a couple more through the digital darkroom - they'll be uploaded to the mono gallery on the next update.


I really liked the way that Rope Knot turned out. It was a chance find while taking some of the shot of the bands during the Intern'tl Barbican Jazz and Blues Festival.

It was a shame about the ugliness that was the vip and hosts' temporary pavillion - it wasn't so bad from the front but from the sides and rear, it was a real spoiler. I called this one Cut Facet Façade

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Gallery update

I managed a new gallery update... all marked as "New!" (some other v. recent ones still marked as new). Yaay :)

Other things than have been happening

I've still to hear if I'm selected from the shortlist for a piece on one of the major terrestrial channels based around my Urban Ugly photo essay. I'll phone later today to see about any movement.

I hit my second major milestone on my new contract - the issue for review of the "logical business model - as is" by the contributors. It'll go out for formal review next Tuesday. The contract work has been spilling over into my evenings and weekends but hopefully the need for that is over.

Parasol Tops won second prize in the Implied Lines, Spring 2008 comp. in my club - The Studio Online. That makes 1 first and 3 seconds out of four competitions... Yaay!

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...and another from Bredbury Hall Hotel

So I managed to squeeze another one out of the digital darkroom - I was exploring the possibilities in PhotoShop and one thing led to another. I was done before I knew it! Always nice when that happens :)

This one's called Wagon Wheels - I liked the texture of the wood, showing all the signs of long use a long time ago. Getting up close and in amongst it has really brought out and emphasised the features I hoped I'd captured.

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Dedication...

Despite the tight time scales to complete a piece of work for my new contract, I managed to squeeze in some time for one photo that was waiting in the digital darkroom... there's dedication for you!

It's called Two Milk Churns and is one of a few taken while staying at Bredbury Hall Hotel in Stockport.

The brickwork and facade from the original Bredbury Hall have been restored and is the first sight to greet you when you come down the drive.

I wanted to capture a rustic look and the milk churns were an important part of that - and at the same time I saw lots of opportunities in the various textures and patterns.

I like the way the sky defines the edge of the building, revealing a little of its shape and distinguishing architecture.

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An unexpected journey or two

I had to get another contract - the paying day job - and it all happened a little more quickly than expected. It's based in Staines but I've been visiting business leads around the Manchester Area. I've been staying at a rather pleasant hotel - Bredbury Hall Hotel - filled with beautifully carved tables and artefacts from its long history.

There are a set of bellows that have been turned into a long coffee table - enough for 6 people to sit around? From the size, I'd say it was a full time job to operate them! Kind and accommodating staff, too.

I've taken some shots there, maybe in a week or two I'll get the chance to post some :)

I was really pleased to be approached by a tv production company last week about my urban ugly photo essay. Watch this space, maybe I'll get past the dreaded shortlist!

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