Rawstorne Singers choir photo

A Black & White conversion of a photograph of the choir, having just performed a concert of Christmas music for the 'Friends of the Harris' Museum and Art Gallery, in Preston, 8 December 2011.

First attempt at HDR

I thought I might as well jump on the HDR band-wagon and 'have a go' - this was taken under one of the bridges at the Miller and Avenham Parks, in Preston, using three individual exposures.

Preston at night

In the city centre, from the steps of the Minster Church of St. John...

And down at the Marina (Preston Docks)...

A 'dark' day

Only in the weather stakes!  The heavens were just about to open well and truely!

Kestrel in the hover

Seen over Haslam Park in Preston - looks like lunch is almost ready!

My new friend!

A natural model ........

Bill Posters

If I could be bothered (which is possible if this torrential weather keeps up), I could probably combine these three partially removed posters into almost one whole one!

In and around the City (1)

Our photographic Workshops have kicked off again, this time based (for now) in central Preston.

The first expedition from The Space (Cannon Street) only saw a few of us venture down to Cross Street, and up Guildhall Street, looking for subject material.

I settled on the building architecture - geometrical shapes, colours and details.

In and around the city centre . . . . .

A few shop signs along Cannon Street in Preston City centre, just along from The Space Art gallery.

'Reflections on a guitarist', or 'Reflections of a photographer', the choice is yours. This idea was scuppered, in some part, by the gallery windows being double glazed. A 'brush stroke' effect has been added in post-processing.

Colourful wall with broken first floor window, above a former (?) Mexican Restaurant in Preston.

Caught this chap, at full zoom, last night (in a grave yard) - this is also quite a tight crop.

Grange Community Park . . . .

. . . in Ribbleton, Preston. This is the site of the foundations of the former Ribbleton Hall, built in 1865 and demolished sometime before 1955. Typically, for a Friday afternoon, the clouds soon rolled in!

A mixture of colour before the rain . . . . .

Anybody want to buy a Fuljifilm S8100fd 10 megapixel digital camera whose Japanese designers thought it would be a brilliant idea to disable manual focussing in 'macro' mode?!!!

Bit of a winter break...but I'm back!

In and around Avenham and Miller Parks, Preston, Lancashire.....

Grange Park Community Gardens, Ribbleton

A day at the Museum - Part 1

Glorious afternoon spent in and around the Harris Museum and Preston Flagmarket.

Front of Museum and Library

CenotaphCenotaphMuseum ceilingBust of The Earl of Derby

A day at the Museum - Part 2

Museum and Library Foyer from the second floor balcony

'Her Head' by Dhruva Mistry (b.1957)

Bust of the nymph, Clytie, by George Frederick Watts (c. 1867-68)

Pair of bronzes

'Flying Mercury', original by Giovanni Da Bologna, ~1564

Another Sunday - more views of the Marina

Another glorious Sunday and some more shots of changing light conditions down at Preston docklands Marina....

Marina

A few more views around Preston Marina . . . . .

Cityscape

A view of the Preston City skyline from the docklands marina.

Shutter speeds

The dull autumnal weather had left me having to cart a tripod around with me or risk camera shake at 1/30 sec and longer exposure times. Given that, I stopped the lens down to f=11 on this shot, to allow the shutter to expose at 1/4 second thereby blurring the water from the fountain.

Riverbank

This shot was looking a bit weary until a touch of post-processing improved the brightness, contrast and colour saturation.

Disused railway track

The now disused Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway line crosses the River Ribble, at Preston, at the bottom of the Miller Park. The first shot below shows some detail in the side panelling of the viaduct spanning the river and the second, an archway over the cycle track and footpath.