Monochrome Wednesday

04-09-19

Stranger On The Shore

Not the instrumental by Acker Bilk (those of a certain age will remember) not even a stranger, but one of my PhotoBuddies admiring the view.

Yesterday me and the PhotoBuddies (and a PhotoBuddies wife) went on an excursion to the Lincolnshire Coast near Theddlethorpe St. Helen. The weather forecast had been less than promising but the sun shone all the time we were there, it was a lovely warm day in a great location. After the visit we went into the nearby seaside resort of Mablethorpe for Fish & Chips and a look around the town, the Fish & Chips were really good. This morning I had to apply aftersun cream as my head resembled a ripening tomato. I took along a couple of film cameras too, and hopefully will have some images from those to post soon.

PhotoBuddies Day Out 2

01-07-19

Went out with the PhotoBuddies last Thursday (27-06-19) for our second mini road trip, just a few miles from the last one. The weather was just right 22C. – 71F. we haven’t had the heatwave that most of Europe has been experiencing although it did nudge 30C. 86F. on Saturday.

We drove out to Beacon Hill (wiki link), a place I haven’t been to for years.

View From The Beacon

Looking towards Loughborough and Nottingham. A bit of a panorama shot on my Olympus EPL1.

Took this one with my phone.

Beacon Marker and Viewpoint

Another Phone image.

Chainsaw Carving

I believe this was carved by a local artist, Peter Leadbeater.

Tree & Rocks


Just liked the natural colours and shapes on these.

Volcanoes

According to the information board the rocks on this site are about 600 million years old, some of the oldest exposed rocks in England and Wales, David Attenborough (grew up in Leicestershire) mentioned them in one of his programmes.

That black spec upper left is a Bee !

Weathered 

Black & White

Tenacious 

Sit A While

Shady

There’s a nice wooded area as you head down towards the car park.

Yet another place to pay a return visit to. I also took an old 6×6 film camera with me. and last night I mixed up some Ilford ID11 developer, I like to leave it for a couple of days so it’s not so fierce. Will probably develop the film on the weekend, hopefully some shots will turn out.

Triumph

08-03-18

An old buddy of mine suggested that we visit the Triumph motorcycle museum at the factory, it’s not very far away and I’d never been before. I took my Olympus EPL1 with me but it was quite dark inside the museum and I had to set the camera to 1600 asa, the Olympus is quite an old model and not too good in low lighting.

Early SpeedTwin

Bonneville

Marlon – Wild One

I had a Triumph Thunderbird in 1970 with a sidecar (purple painted box) attached, it contained a heavy duty battery and a bag of cement to help keep the sidecar on the road when going round corners. I sold it to buy an electric cooker !!!!!!

Bonneville Record Breaker

Steve McQueen – The Great Escape

This is the actual bike Steve McQueen used in the film.

Custom

It was a great day out, I would love to see the production line but it’s booked up until August. The cafe was good, served excellent coffee and eats.

 

Orange Skies

16-10-17

The skies turned a soft Orange colour today, it’s the tail end of Hurricane Ophelia. Fortunately the wind speeds are not too high in my part of the UK, but other parts of the country have not been so lucky.  The Orange skies are apparently being caused by the debris and dust from forest fires in Portugal and Spain.

I had just cut the lawn for (hopefully) the last time this year, the camera’s white balance had a bit of a job getting it right.

The fungi are quite orange in colour anyway but the light gave them a lovely glow.

Aching Feet

05-9-17

Went out with the photowalk buddies today, met up in a coffee shop and then we walked over to Abbey Park, as the name suggests the site of a former abbey. I was using mainly film cameras, and if they come out OK (it was a dull day) I’ll post some of the images. On the way back to town (via another coffee shop) I took a few digital images, unaware the camera was set at 800 asa ! According to my phone app I had walked 8.5 miles, hence the aching feet.

Capri

Ventilate

Smokestack

Thursday Doors – 17-08-17

Here’s my contribution to the excellent  “Thursday Doors” blog over at Norm 2.0

Met up with my photowalk buddies this Tuesday, and the weather was really good for once. We walked over to the St Margaret’s area of the city and the parish church.

St Margaret’s Church

Main Entrance

Nice Gargoyle

A Tucked Away Side Door

I have always admired the architecture of this church but it wasn’t until I read up about it’s history (on Wikipedia – Click Through) how far back it dates, parts of it to the 12th and 13th century. I would like to have a look at the interior sometime.

Just around the corner is this lovely old factory building, slowly declining into disrepair.

It has some art deco features, but I can’t find any historical information about the building. A visit to the reference library is needed.

I Couldn’t Resist This One

Not strictly a door in the true sense, but I like the colours.

Stanford Hall Founders Day

24-07-17

An old friend of mine (whom I’ve known since I was 8 years old) and his wife very kindly took me me on a visit to Stanford Hall, Leicestershire for the annual Founders Day motorcycle event on the 23 July. It must be 20 years or more since I last visited, and that was for the Classic VW show. I had a thing about Beetles at that time, wish I still had one. The weather has been a bit patchy over the last week or so but we were lucky yesterday, it kept dry and we even had some sunshine. I took my Olympus EPL1 with me to get a few shots of the bikes, didn’t take too many as it can be quite boring for people who aren’t taking photo’s.

Stanford Hall

BSA Golden Flash

BSA V Twin Sidecar Outfit

The BSA was immaculate

3 Wheelers

I would love one of these !

Indian

All in all a great day out with good company.

Ruddington Trains

03-07-17

I’ve been sorting out some digital files on my portable hard drive and found some images taken at Ruddington, Great Central Railway, Nottingham about 3 years ago. I had only just bought my Olympus EPL1, and thought it would be a good location to test it out.

 

Thursday Doors

29-06-17

Here’s my “Thursday Doors” contribution for the excellent Norm 2.0 blog.

I went into town today to meet up with my photo walk buddies not really intending to do a door walk. The weather was cold and drizzly (nearly turned the heating back on) so not that good for taking photographs, but after a cup of coffee and a catch up we made our way to the old castle area of the town and the Newarke Houses museum.

Museum Gateway & Entrance

I used to visit this museum as a young kid, mainly to see the Daniel Lambert exhibit, he was once the heaviest person in England. Next Friday they are having a talk about historic Leicester so we are going to combine this with another photo walk.

Museum Door Detail

Castle Gateway


They think the gateway dates from the fourteenth century. The furthest building you can see through the gateway used to be a courthouse, when I was at printing college we went to the public gallery to watch a hearing as part of social studies.

Houses Through The Gateway (and doors)

St Mary De Castro Church

There’s some interesting history about the church here. There used to be a spire on the church but it had to be taken down when it became unsafe.
After this shot the battery in my camera gave out so I had to use my mobile for the next few.

Around The Graveyard

The walls are part of the old castle and apparently the holes are where they used to point canons (armory not ecclesiastical) through.

Grave Monuments

Gateway

Finally I couldn’t resist this gate at the side of the museum.

A Few From My Garden

28-06-17

I’ve been meaning to post these images for a little while. The weather is back to normal UK summertime at the moment, raining and quite chilly.

I took these on my Olympus EPL1 with the old Russian Helios 58mm lens and an extension tube.

First Rose

This was the first Rose in full bloom in my garden, it’s has a lovely scent.

Along Came A Spider

Peony

I only have one Peony in the garden and it’s flowering always seems to coincide with blustery rainy weather, so sadly it doesn’t last very long.