Coffee?
Washed up coffee jar at Formby. Went there for a walk today – got properly togged up expecting the worse from the weather, being November and all – what a gorgeous day. Slightly windy and not very cold at all – stayed until it was dark, great day.
Chester Station – Black & White
Went to Chester on Wednesday on the train – Chester station is a proper old fashioned train station with long platforms, big arches and these big pools of light – nice place to take photos.
Southport War Memorial – Lest We Forget
The memorial to the war dead, Southport. I found out this morning that since the end of World War II, there has only been one year when no British service personnel were killed, a terrible statistic. RIP.
More Grafton Street Graffiti
Alternative view of the graffiti from the last post – I wish I’d found this fella before Halloween!
Grafton Street Revisited
Graffiti on Grafton Street – I’ve posted graffiti from this same wall before (one two three), every single time I go past there’s something added or changed, I love it.
West Kirby Walk II
Another shot from West Kirby, taken on a typically blowy autumn day. It’s a great place to go to blow the cobwebs away.
West Kirby Walk
West Kirby Marine Lake on a very blowy Sunday afternoon. It’s been a good while since I’ve been – the white lines and additional stones on the wall are new since I’ve last been, I assume they serve some sort of drainage purpose – don’t know really but they add to the leading lines in this shot quite nicely.
Going to start doing something that I’ve been meaning to do for a while and start linking to other photo sites and blogs from the area that I follow – the first one I’d like to share is Matt Thomas’ site – Matt lives in West Kirby and has just updated his portfolio site, his shots of local band The Hot Melts are particularly worth keeping an eye out for.
Bricks removed – Mathew Street
Spotted this sign on Mathew Street – walk past this wall all the time and I’ve never noticed it.
Exchange Flags at Night
Exchange Flags at night – someone has put up these cool spotlights that seem to get moved around a fair bit, so every time I go back the light has changed. They’re currently pointed at the floor in front of the statue and at the newsroom war memorial in the wall near the walkthroughs. Was after an old black and white movie feel here.
I’ve also started working on a 365 project – for those who don’t know what a 365 project is, the idea is you take a photo every single day for a year. There’s no particular theme to mine but to keep it interesting (to me anyway!) I am sticking to the one camera body (my old D40, assuming it lasts the course) and an old Nikon 50mm 1.8 lens – manual metering, manual focus, nothing automatic in other words. You can find the first six days of my 365 here.
Queen Mary II visits Liverpool – 20th October 2009
The Queen Mary II visits Liverpool – she’s absolutely huge!!! This shot doesn’t do her size justice, even with the people in the foreground, she’s absolutely massive. Check out this wikipedia entry that compares her to an Airbus and you begin to get an idea of her size. Fantastic to see ships like this at Liverpool – shame we couldn’t have sorted out better weather for her arrival. Couldn’t decide between colour or black or white so the mono version is here for comparision.
Autumnal Calderstones Park II
Second in series from the very autumnal Calderstones Park – love the streaming light from the low sun at this time of year.
Autumnal Calderstones Park
Having lived around here for a good while now, I’ve always wanted to get a shot of the park in it’s full autumnal glory but I’ve never had the chance – dull skies, earlier sunsets etc but I managed to get down there earlier in the week when there was blue skies and long shadows.
I’m glad I did – a walk around the park with the gorgeous autumn colours reminded me how lucky I am living where I do – there’s several of these parks within walking distance from where I live and it’s fantastic to have so much green space so near.
Spirit of the Blitz – Liverpool Waterfront
Taken tonight (well, Thursday night) – I know this image is far from technically correct, it’s flaretastic, sky is too dark, clock is burnt out etc but I felt like posting it anyway. I’ll go back and re-take it earlier on when there is some more blue in the sky, I spotted earlier in the week how the new lights down the Strand had altered the light down there but didn’t get down in time for some nice twilight.
The statue is called Spirit of the Blitz and it’s in the churchyard of St.Nicholas at the bottom of Chapel Street.
British – Southport
Signage on the merry go round outside Silcocks, Southport. This sort of lettering always reminds me of the cartoons in Monty Python.
Southport Air Show 2009 – Vulcan XH558 Bomber
Saving the best until last (wing walkers from the show here, Red Arrows here) – the Vulcan. I missed this last year – I think the weather was too bad for it to fly on the day we went.
Seeing this fly made the whole day for me – I remember seeing these take off from RAF Valley when I was a child, they’re a magnificent sight. The Eurofighter display was quicker and noisier but the sheer majesty of the Vulcan was breathtaking.
Manweb Danger
I’ve got a bit of an obsession with these old signs at the moment – I like how minimalist they are with their sans serif fonts (I’m reliably informed this font is Gill Sans). God knows how old this one is – when did Manweb stop calling themselves that?
Emerge, blinking, into the daylight….Exchange Flags
I’ve googled the life out of it but I still can’t find an original source for the quote “They emerged, blinking, into the daylight….” – maybe my search engine skills ain’t what they used to be, any help much appreciated….this is the walkthrough from Exchange Flags to Old Hall Street – I’ve got loads of ideas about how to best shoot this space but this is the only one I’ve tried so far.
Whilst I’ve got your attention, I’ve completely rebuilt the portfolio side of my site – please have a look. All feedback & comments welcome!
Random – Trueman Street, Liverpool
A Morris Marina on Trueman Street, parked on top of a body outline, with a parking ticket. Bit of randomness is good every now and then.
Victoria Street Reflection
Been a while since I’ve done any reflection shots so here’s one of Victoria Street. The building on the left is one of my favourites in Liverpool, reminds me of the Flat Iron building in New York.
No stopping (Clearway) – Liverpool Airport
A RyanAir flight descending into Liverpool John Lennon Airport obeys the Highway Code.
Buried along with her name – Eleanor Rigbys Grave
In honour of this weekends Mathew Street Festival, I thought I’d do a Beatles based photo. This grave is located in St. Peter’s Parish Church in Woolton which is where the Lennon & McCartney first met but Paul McCartney has denied ever seeing the gravestone. Cool snippet from Wikipedia:
“In June 1990, McCartney donated a document dating from 1911 which had been signed by the 16-year-old Eleanor Rigby to Sunbeams Music Trust [1], instantly attracted significant international interest from collectors because of the significance and provenance of the document.[22] The nearly 100-year-old document was sold at auction in November 2008 for £115,000.[23] The Daily Telegraph reported that the uncovered document “is a 97-year-old salary register from Liverpool City Hospital.” The name E. Rigby is printed on the register, and she is identified as a scullery maid. Her great grand-daughter is actress Emma Rigby.”
Going to try and get out around the festival this weekend so hopefully the weather will stay nice! Not holding me breath though….
Speke Sunset – Liverpool
The waterfront at Speke – it’s a weird contrast down there between the natural waterfront and the industrial units behind it. I keep promising myself that I’ll spend a bit more time down there but never get round to it (I’d like to have a proper look at the yacht club now it’s finished). There’s some lovely views over to the Welsh mountains and the sunsets are quite often lovely.
Caught By The River – Crosby Waterfront
One from the archives – this was taken on a very cold, very stormy January day at Crosby, one of the first shots I took with my Sigma 10-20 lens. Still love the different dimension it brings to photos.
