Early morning stroll

It’s rare for me to pass up the opportunity for some quality photography time in London so when a meeting back in May popped up in my diary I made time for a stroll through the City beforehand.

I meandered south towards the River, keeping my eye open for anything that inspired me to lift my camera.

Click on any of the images to see them enlarged.

When I reached the Thames I still had some time to spare, so I wandered along the south bank, making the most of the views and the deep blue sky which was peppered with puffy white clouds.

Eventually my time was up and I had to go into my meeting, but even there I was presented with a cute photo opportunity in the form of Bea, who obligingly posed for me!

Photos taken 31 May 2022

All the fun of the pier

During our holiday in Norfolk last month we stopped in Cromer for a wander and a cuppa on the pier. While Kevin went off in search of the local model shop I spent a little time exploring the pier and its surroundings with my pinhole camera.

Down by the pier’s foundations. I could have got closer but didn’t fancy getting soggy feet as my wellies were in the car!

A beachside curiosity

The long climb back up to the steps to the car…

Photos taken October 2022

Up, up and away!

We both celebrated our 50th birthdays during the restrictions of 2021 so the adventure we had planned to mark the occasion was fashionably late, in May 2022. We headed off to the Old Warden airfield in Bedfordshire for a flight in ‘Wacky Wabbit’, a WWII Harvard aircraft.

We weren’t allowed to take anything in the aircraft with us, but that wasn’t going to stop me catching some photos as Kevin went on his flight.

Click on any of the images to see them enlarged.

Coming back in to land…

Our day also coincided with one of the regular Shuttleworth Collection air shows, so naturally we stayed on to watch and catch some photos!

Photos taken 1 May 2022

Shape and form at the LSE

My Dad and I have been trying to find the opportunity for a day in London today for months and in September we finally succeeded.

Our first destination was the London School of Economics. Not your average tourist location, but we’d both read about the new Marshall Building there and we were keen to explore it. Its brutalist concrete lines offered some fantastic photo opportunities and I can’t help thinking I’ll be returning to seek out some more in time.

Photos taken 8 September 2022

Rainy day pinholing

After our pinhole expeditions earlier in the year, my friend Peter and I spent a rainy day in Cambridge at the beginning of May, exploring the city’s possiblities.

If you look closely you can just see a ghostly self portrait of me in front of the gate!

During a previous walk around Cambridge I took a photo of Peter on these steps, but he didn’t stay still for long enough and vanished from the final picture. This time he stood really still!

Bicycles everywhere….

A lunchtime self portrait of the two of us - so slow that we’ve become a blur!

Photos taken 11 May 2022

Reaching for the heavens

A recent concert took me to Lancing College and a bonus photo opportunity. I arrived early for our rehearsal so I stole a few minutes inside the college chapel, where the low sun was casting some beautiful pools of light.

Click on any of the images to see them enlarged.

I can never resist this sort of light in churches - selectively illuminating the architecture.

Photos taken 3 November 2022

Brass noir

I was back in Thaxted Church last weekend, but this time music was in my viewfinder rather than the architecture. Haverhill Silver Band give a concert in this beautiful building each year and I was asked to take some photos of them in action.

While Thaxted Parish Church can be a light and airy building on a sunny day, at night it’s a different story. The band had brought some extra lighting with them but the gloom brought some photographic challenges. Fortunately I’d packed my fast prime lenses and these helped me use what light there was as efficiently as possible.

Two of the evening’s soloists - click on any of the images to see them enlarged.

The photos I provided for the band were in colour, but the drama of the lighting gave things a film noir feel, with deep contrasts of light and shadow, so I couldn’t resist trying my favourites in black and white too.

Photos taken 12 November 2022

A tale of two halves

When I visited York in May I had plans to spend the day inside the Minster, exploring with my camera. Sadly that wasn’t to be as it was closed to visitors on the one day I had in the city. Instead I strolled the streets with my eyes open to whatever came my way.

I may not have been able to go inside the Minster but that didn’t stop me photographing the exterior!

Buskers near the Shambles - this young boy was having great fun dancing to the music!

Speeding tourists along The Shambles

Down by the River Ouse

My bed for the night was at the Bar Convent, just outside the city walls. An unlikely place to stay, but the accommodation and breakfast were both excellent. Even better, I stole a few minutes to look around the Convent’s chapel after I’d finished exploring the rest of York.

The chapel is hidden in the centre of the convent, with its dome not visible from the road. It’s a perfectly formed Georgian chapel and in the few minutes I was there I found no end of interesting photographic inspiration.

Photos taken 20 May 2022

Colourful Coggeshall

I don’t often choose colour film for my pinhole photography but for my visit to the church in Coggeshall in April it seemed a good fit. On a previous visit I discovered some lovely carving on the choir stalls which I knew would work well in colour and I had some Lomography 400 colour film I was keen to try out too.

I was en-route to an event in Ipswich so this was a good point to stop off and I had a most enjoyable hour exploring the church, looking for compositions which would suit the pinhole approach.

Photos taken 22 April 2022

Retro motoring

On the same roll of film as the Duxford images I shared yesterday, I found a collection of cars from the Enfield Pageant of Motoring. Shooting classic cars on a 1970s film camera seems rather appropriate - retro photography and motoring!

Photos taken August 2022