If you’re looking for a particular post please use the search box below
After all our students had gone home from Llanerchindda Farm, after our May course, I made the most of the free time to go for a gentle stroll down the hill towards the Cynghordy Viaduct. Once again the dappled sunshine was just perfect for black and white film so I found all sorts of scenes to pique my photographic interest.
Photos taken May 2025
One of the advantages of a half frame camera is the number of photos you can take on one roll of film. A couple of days after my stroll around Maidenhead I was still using up the same roll of film so I took it for a walk around Llandovery too!
Logging Lorrie’s driving through the town.
I can never resist a classic car…
Life springs up in the most unlikely of places…
I kept finding bicycles of all sizes around the town.
Photos taken 9 May 2025
Every month I spend a weekend in Hampshire and Maidenhead, conducting rehearsals with my two recorder orchestras. I’ve been lucky enough to find a lovely B&B to Maidenhead and I always have the Sunday morning free to relax and explore. In May the weather was good so I decided to take my little half frame film camera for a stroll, exploring the area around the canal.
I didn’t set myself any expectations, photographically speaking, simply snapping whatever caught my eye, so I came away with some unexpected scenes. Often it’s the light which will draw me to a scene and this approach seems to work especially well when shooting on black and white film.
Exploring the possibilities of the tunnel beneath the railway line, which carries the canal onwards.
Photos taken 8 May 2025
As I continue my perpetual mission to catch up with my Photoblog backlog, I look back today at some photos I took with my half frame film camera when we visited Scarborough Castle back in April. The castle stands high on a cliff, overlooking the town, and I don’t doubt this spot can be very unforgiving in stormy conditions. However, on the day we visited we had blue skies and barely a breath of wind, which made our visit all the more enjoyable.
Looking down across Scarborough….
In places the castle’s stonework was a fascinating patchwork of old and new, where weather-eroded stones had been replaced with fresh sandstone.
Photos taken in April 2025
I often take photos of musicians at work, but one day back in late June a rather different opportunity came my way. For many years now the Summer Music in City Churches festival have used my photos from the City of London churches in their publicity material, website and concert programmes. Sadly I’ve rarely been able to hear any of the concerts though as the festival always tends to take place when I’m away in Wales, teaching on a course. This year I found myself in London on the day of their big choral concert at St Giles Cripplegate, so I popped in during the afternoon rehearsal to take a look.
I knew their concert featured the Verdi Requiem, a piece I’ve loved for a long while. However, I hadn’t realised that their performance had something of a twist to it. Instead of a full symphony orchestra to accompany the choir, this role was to be covered by a rather unorthodox combination of two pianos, organ and percussion!
Initially I was rather sceptical as to how this cut down combination of instruments could possibly work, but as the afternoon wore on I realised that in fact it was a work of genius! Arguably, a symphony orchestra could provide a a much larger sound where it was needed, but this curious ensemble worked far better than I expected, providing a fascinating combination of timbres.
As everyone was setting up I had a brief conversation with the percussionist, Tristan Fry. It was only later that I learned this unassuming chap has had a very long and illustrious career, performing with symphony orchestras, rock bands and much more. The fact that he was the timpanist on one of my all time favourite Beatles songs, A Day in the Life, was just the icing on the cake!
One of my favourite photos from the afternoon was of the organist, taken while he was playing. I realised I could include both him and his reflection (the mirror allows him a direct line of sight to the conductor who was standing many feet away, behind him) in the image. But I had to take this quickly as all the time I was standing in the right spot to catch the photo, I was entirely blocking his view of the conductor!
Photos taken 28 June 2025
When we visited Scarborough for the day, back in April, I truly travelled light, taking just my little half frame Pentax 17 film camera. The restriction of having just one lens to shoot with is a challenge I always enjoy and I had lots of fun seeking out interesting views around the town which suited its moderately wide angle viewpoint.
Along the seafront and looking up the cliff railway.
The views across the town from the top of the railway were fabulous!
I couldn’t resist shooting the neon sign in the cafe where we had lunch.
Harbour views…
I also had an eye open for subjects which might work as consecutive frames to create a diptych or two.
Photos taken 25 April 2025
After our WPPD jaunt to the East Anglian Railway Museum I wasn’t finished with pinhole photography for the day. April is bluebell season and Alsa Woods, just half a mile from our house, has a wonderfully blue carpet of them so my film choice was obvious - it just had to be colour!
Woodlands close ups….
Capturing the true blueness of the woodland floor is challenging with a focal length as wide as a pinhole camera, but I gave it my best shot and there was scope for some close ups of the flowers too.
Pools of woodland light…
Looking up into the woodland canopy.
To finish off my roll of film I shot a self portrait, looking up into the boughs of an oak tree. I’m not sure what happened to crated this spectacular scarlet light leak though - it looks like some sort of alien force field is creeping up behind me!
Photos taken 27 April 2025.
Every year the last Sunday of April is Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day and I’m always delighted if it’s a day when I’m not working. This year we had already planned to visit the East Anglian Railway Museum for their classic car gathering so naturally I took a pinhole camera along for the ride. On the way there I tried shooting a photo from the passenger seat of Kevin’s Mini. I’ve done this before and it’s very unpredictable what the results will be. On this occasion, as we hurried along the A120 we were driving towards the sun, creating some dramatic sun flare in my photo.
Once we arrived at the museum I set about exploring the classic cars on display, photographing whatever caught my eye. A wooden pinhole camera is always a good talking point, so inevitably I had a few interesting conversations along the way.
A trio of automotive details:
Alongside the cars I found an old tractor and as luck would have it a young boy was trying it for size just as I opened the shutter on my camera.
Kevin’s Mini Cooper, parked up among the other classics on display.
Photos taken 27 April 2025
The morning after my blustery day on the waterfront at Liverpool the wind had dropped and grey skies were replaced by glorious sunshine - time for a jaunt on the River Mersey! On my speedy walk downhill to the water I passed the concrete luggage which sits on the pavement in Hope Street and just had a to stop for a quick photo.
I made it to the river in time for the first of the day’s river cruises on the Mersey Ferry and loaded my pinhole camera with film ready for some action photography as we travelled up and down the river. With so much sun none of my photos took long, but a shutter speed of a second or two was still enough to capture a sense of movement.
I received a few inquisitive looks as I walked around the boat with my wooden camera and tripod, but in general most people were focused on enjoying the views across the Mersey…
Of course, with so much sunshine there were bound to be some dramatic flare in at least some of my photos….
As we headed back to where we started people began to gather on the deck to grab one last view and some sunshine.
Photos taken 17 April 2025
My few days in Liverpool back in April were very contrasting. My first day down on the historic waterfront was grey, windy and (at times) wet. My plan was to take a ride on the Mersey Ferry, but the river looked so choppy I quickly dismissed this idea out of hand - that could wait for another day! Instead I used the architecture of the Museum of Liverpool and the Royal Albert Dock as my base - somewhere I could escape the wind and rain as necessary.
Inside the Museum I was immediately advised that I wasn’t permitted to use the tripod I was clutching as I was blown through the entrance by a strong gust of wind. Of course gat wasn’t going to stop me at least trying to take pinhole photos inside this eye catching building! Stealth tripod use in the face of security guards who say they’re banned is a challenge I enjoy, so first shot was taken in plain sight in the lobby downstairs, with my tripod kept low, between my knees, with the camera facing directly upwards. As a I suspected, no one noticed me and I was able to capture the concentric shapes of the roof light above me.
Upon the top floor I tried again, this time with my large format camera, using the large panoramic window to frame the Port of Liverpool and Liver Buildings. Again, no one tried to stop me and by the time a member of music staff came into the room I had all but packed up my tripod again in readiness to leave.
By the time I left the museum the rain had passed so I took the opportunity to catch this view, looking back towards the window I’d just been looking through, before heading off to explore the Royal Albert Docks.
Using the different height pinholes on my Ondu 6x6 Rise camera gave me opportunities to frame some of my images in a different way - in this case using a high viewpoint to frame the view across the water with the arches.
By the time I took this photo the light was beginning to fade, lengthening the time my shutter needed to be open, allowing for some movement in the boats bobbing on the water.
Bicycle and fairy lights…
Photos taken 16 April 2025
