13/5/10: Day 133

Again, this week has been really shoddy on my part. I had a late one again with football, so wanted to try something new.

I wanted to look at water splashing in low light. I set up the camera on a tripod and turned the lights off in the bathroom. The flash would be enough for what I need to do. I attempted to do this two different ways - 1 with splashing my face with water and 1 with dunking my face in the water and lifting my head up as the photo was taken.

This result came from dunking my face. I think the water drips work really well, but it would've improved this to cover up the background with a black sheet.

12/5/10: Day 132

So, it's another day of not doing anything during the day. I had another uninspiring walk down the garden. The sky was the only thing of interest as the cat I was attempting to sneak up on, ran off.

11/5/10: Day 131

It's been a busy week this week. I've had hardly anytime to head out during work hours, so I got home and found some flowers to take photos of. I'm going to have to find more local places to take photos just in case I am struggling for inspiration.

10/5/10: Day 130

So, I dropped Kat and Sarah off at the MEN Arena for the second Kiss gig in a week (Tell me about it :) ). After the gig, I decided to pop to Eastlands to take a quick photo. Not much going on at the stadium at the minute, but I liked the stadium silouhette in the darkening sky.

9/5/10: Day 129 - Battle of Britain Remembered!

This to me is one of the nicest views of an aircraft. Since a child, I have been obsessed with the Spitfire. It is one of the nicest planes to look at, but for the first time since I can remember - I got to see it fly. The noise, oh my, the noise way incredible, that Rolls Royce engine is amazing.

This was shot from further away than I would have hoped (Yes, cheers for arriving 10 mins early pilot). It was at the Thundersprint event in Northwich. I think I had about a minute of it doing it's display before it headed off.

With the editting, I had cocked up with the settings in all honesty. I had done some exposure compensation changes for the gig the day earlier and hadn't reset them. Upon seeing the Spitfire flying as we were driving in to town, I darted into a car park and started shooting, not realising that the images were coming out very dark. After this I decided to add to the old look, so really brought the blacks out and it works quite well with the noise.

Thank you Spitfire!

8/5/10: Day 128 - Roebuckfest

Kat and I had to meet with the registrar this morning to do the legal biz with the wedding. The certificates are on the way now, so it's all getting sorted.

Afterwards, we had to drive to Manchester to pick up some Kiss tickets and then bombed back to Northwich just in time to catch This is Turin at Roebuckfest.

It was a much easier gig to shoot than last time. While I didn't get in and amongst the crowd for it, I could use a quicker shutter speed with my zoom lens as the gig was outside. I don't think it carries the energy of the last shot, but the action works quite well. Cheers Daz :)

7/5/10: Day 127

Again, I needed a photo late on, so I nipped to the Alpaca farm nextdoor to take some pictures.

6/5/10: Day 126

We need a girl to these types of shots... Myk in a field just doesn't really work.

5/5/10: Day 125

So, tonight was the night we could take a massive step towards Champions League football. Last home game of the season. Brilliant atmosphere and Typical City, we cocked it up!

My dad looks on before the match.

4/5/10: Day 124

Myk and I had a drive to Sandal Castle this lunchtime. It was quite and overcast day, but the sun came out every now and then - The photo opps would be really nice on a really sunny day.

3/5/10: Day 123 - Manchester Airport

So today, we went for a trip to Manchester Airport, to the viewing mound. It's changed a lot from when I used to go as a kid. There is a plane that you can walk around and Concorde is sat in a hanger.

Here's my shot for the day:

2/5/10: Day 122 - Llanberis

So, today was the day I had planned to go up Snowdon if the weather was good. I headed out at 8am with all my gear packed. Having not been there before, I took a shorter route the Hostel where I planned to start the walk.

The route in car was horrendous. Part of the journey was a single track road that dipped more than a rollercoaster. Cutting a story short, I cocked up with the journey and should've gone through Llanberis and up to the hostel.

Having that route meant that I arrived at 10:30. Couldn't park at the top, went to the next car park only to realise I had no change for the pay & display, so I had to drive to Llanberis. I had missed the bus up and had to wait another hour for the next. So I decided that it wasn't worth it. 190 mile round trip to Llanberis, sod global warming!

Ah well, I didn't miss the chance for a good photo opportunity anyway.

1/5/10: Day 121

I headed to Northwich for the weekend as Kat was going down to Shrewsbury to stay with Sarah for a few days. My Dad has recently moved our old seats from Maine Road from the front of the shed to the garage wall. I thought it made quite a nice photo subject with the vivid blue on the brick work. With some accidental alterations on the photo from Myk - heres the finished article:

30/4/10: Day 120

Once again, I was struggling for a photo. A trip into the fields behind our house was useless, so I headed to the garden. It's not the best, but it's something different.

29/4/10: Day 119

Myk and I were supposed to be heading to Newmillerdam, but made a wrong turn and ended up parking up near some woods. We headed inside and found this little frog. Quite a good model!

28/4/10: Day 118

I had a walk into Ossett with Rick today. There is a war memorial statue in the town centre - here it is:

27/4/10: Day 117

I have been holding off posting this image as I had a better one from the day, but required permission to post it. However, I've not had a chance and it's causing a backlog in my blog. If I manage to ask permission in the future, then I will replace this post.

Knowing that I would have to ask for permission, I took a back-up shot of Kats new kitchen scales. They are quite old-school.

26/4/10: Day 116

Myk and I headed out towards Garforth at lunch. I had found a random crane on google street view, so we went to check it out. It's not the easiest place to go. The crane is behind fences and is under 24 hour security. Don't know much about it's purpose etc, but I may have to find out.

25/4/10: Day 115

I decided to head to Alderley Edge while Kat was at church. I've never been before, but I think I'll be going back again. The walks there look brilliant and the views will be amazing on a clear day. I might have to get a ghilly suit or something as photographing animals is really enjoyable.... but difficult. I'd spot a squirrel, move the camera to my face and look through the viewfinder to find nothing. This one wasn't quick enough though:

24/4/10: Day 114

I was back at my parents house this weekend to watch the football and get my hair cut. They have a new lodger at the minute. A black bird has made a nest on the ladders behind the shed. I tried sneaking around the shed to take some shots, but it flew off before I could get closer. Although it is slightly blurred, this is the best shot I managed:

23/4/10: Day 113

This is the view that greated me when I got up this morning. Beautiful.

22/4/10: Day 112

I made the most of driving in alone today. I stopped en route to work in Gawthorpe to take a few pictures of the water tower with clear skies behind it. Really enjoying this light. I just hope it stays like this on the weekends, I just know it won't though.

I missed a good opportunity this morning but finding a place to park on the country roads in Cheshire is hard. The sun was just rising over the trees, so it was a really low light, casting shadows of the trees over a frosty field with Sheep and Lambs in. I'll be going for a walk on Saturday morning if the weather is similar, it would've been a lovely shot.

Anyway - Gawthorpe's water tower.

21/4/10: Day 111

I decided to make the most of the good weather and headed out on my own at lunch. A few months ago I had been looking at Crigglestone Curve on the map and found that we had only really headed one way when we had been down there, so I decided to head the opposite way.

It's a really interesting area, you have the old railway lines and sleepers still down, the area is becoming really overgrown and the wildlife is slowly taking over. I imagine that come the end of the summer, some of the shots of the area could potentially be really good. A mixture of autumn light and overgrown railway, it'll be interesting!

Anyway, I was looking a little more at the detail in the area this lunch. It got me this shot:

20/4/10: Day 110

Well I've got to admit that I struggled today. I've started car sharing with another lad from work, so it means that I am limited during work hours as to what I can shoot. I got back home and went for a walk in the field behind our house... and found nothing at all of interest to shoot. It was hugely depressing. I resorted to taking a shot of a bird statue that is in our conservatory.

I'm a bit gutted about it as the subject matter had been really good for the past few days, so it is expected to have a bad one every now and then.

19/4/10: Day 109

I headed out to Carrs Park in Horbury on my own. I must learn that this park is rubbish and pretty much empty. I probably won't return as the only really good thing to shoot is the flower beds. I'm not saying thats not good, but it doesn't give you much scope for subject.

18/4/10: Day 108

Myk is taking next week off work, so I said to him that I would get a Bee shot in the next week to spite him. I'd headed down to Worcester after the game yesterday as we had a meeting with the priest to finalise the date. It was a gorgeous day on Sunday, so I spent a while in Kats parents back garden taking photos of the wildlife.

The wedding date is set! 11th Sept 2010, should make for some interesting photo opportunities as well.

Here's the shot, dedicated to Myk

17/4/10: Day 107 - Derby day

So, I didn't sleep much last night. Woke up at 3:30 and thought I best go back to sleep. Woke up at 7:30, and got up 15 mins later. I hate derby day.

I managed to take a few shots before we got our pint in. But I knew what was going to happen as the players were coming out and so I was ready for a potential shot.

I will definitely be taking my camera to the match again, I'm not allowed to take shots of the match, which is fine by me. I would like to explore some more emotion shot from the crowd. It's easy saying what I'd like to do, but when I am there, I am just the same and usually forget about taking photos as the matchday emotion takes over.

Here's my result with the ticker tape and streamers. Shame the football result wasn't great :(

16/4/10: Day 106

I didn't get the chance to head out at lunch time today, so I thought I'd do a shot at home. With it being the Manchester Derby, I thought I'd follow that theme. I had also found out today that I could take my camera into City's ground. I am majorly excited about that!

15/4/10: Day 105

Myk and I headed to Pugneys Country Park this lunch. A couple of boats were out in the water so I took advantage of this. Shame the weather wasn't amazing though.

14/4/10: Day 104

I decided to go for a drive after work to take todays photo. The planes were landing in the better direction to use a road in Mobberley to photograph them. However, I have decided against using a plane shot, in favour of this beauty!

13/4/10: Day 103

This morning I had to stop on the way to work to take a photo of the sunrise. It was beautiful! I think I need to get out one morning in this sort of light to take some photos.

12/4/10: Day 102 - Kats Birthday

Happy birthday darling.

Today Myk and I went to a cemetry that I had spotted on the way home on Friday. There are 2 small buildings that are derelict. So I wanted to investigate. It was a gorgeous day again and there was quite a lot of insects out. We succeded in looking a bit daft by chasing a bee or two to try to get a shot, but it didn't really work. I stuck to one of my favourite subjects - urban decay.

11/4/10: Day 101

Ah, the cleaning up after the party. Joy! To be honest, it wasn't too bad. We had got up quite early, then headed into Wilmslow for lunch - Going to spoons. I then went to the football, to watch City hammer Birmingham 5-1. I had considered sneaking my camera in and wish I had because I sat with my sister directly behind the goal and some of the photos would have been amazing.

After I got back home, I took a photo of Kats 'Kiss' necklace.

10/4/10: Day 100 - Ton up!

There we go, a century! Only 265 to go. Only...

What a gorgeous day it was. We had Will and Emma up for the weekend and some of Kats mates were arriving later on for her party. This was out in the back garden. A butterfly had landed, so I managed to test the lens some more. I managed to edge my way closer and closer. I think the result is quite nice - Not the best composition, but the detail is brilliant.

9/4/10: Day 99 - I've got 99 problems and a Rich is one...

99 days in and it's a new lens day! I have just aquired a Sigma 70-210mm manual focus lens. Should be ideal for some macro shots and getting closer to wildlife.

I was just testing it in work and Rick was being a plonker as usual. Turned out to be quite a good photo.

8/4/10: Day 98

Today I was off work ill. It was crap. As I had spent most of my time in the bathroom, I thought it would be fitting to get a photo in there. This is the sun setting behind the trees from the sky light in our bathroom.

7/4/10: Day 97

This weekend, Kat is having a fancy dress party. I am planning on going as Sander Cohen from Bioshock. The mask required me to use plaster of paris on my face to make the top part of the mask. The idea with this being that it is shaped perfectly to my face so wearing it is easier. The photo shows a close up of the masks detail once this section of the mask had dried.

6/4/10: Day 96 - Man in the mirror

I thought I'd have a play around with some mirror shots. This has since been mirrored in the post process to correct the writing etc. The reasons behind this shot was down to the lighting in our bathroom. We have a skylight, so it when the sun is going down, the light is quite interesting without causing too much burn.

5/4/10: Day 95

I asked David if I could take a few shots of his campervan before we left Worcester. He kindly said yes, however - I found this shot of his Zodiac was much better. I have used a custom preset on this image to give it a high contrast finish to it. It is something that I want to look into a bit more on my own rather than using other peoples presets. I just thought that this one worked so well with the chrome.

4/4/10: Day 94

Kathy and David's back garden is brilliant for photo opportunities, I wish ours was a nice as it would certainly make it easier if I needed to rush a photo for the day. There are so many little features in the garden that would be ideal to use, but with the sun out and the water flowing, I really liked the feel to this one:

3/4/10: Day 93 - Evie Rose

Again, we went into Worcester for the day, due to me now having a smaller car, we had to leave Evie's buggy at Shrewsbury. Kats dad, David carried Evie into town, for the first part she was fast asleep, but then she woke up and was smiling at us walking behind. It was a good job that I took my camera out as I think this photo of her is brilliant.

2/4/10: Day 92 - Worcester Cathedral

Thursday evening Katie and I headed to Shrewsbury and the following day, we drove down to Worcester to spend the weekend there. Katie went to Good Friday mass, so I had a walk around Worcester, sun was out briefly while I was out, I got absolutly wet through on the way home though. Glad it held out for this shot.

1/4/10: Day 91 - 1/4 of a year gone

We are a quater of the way into the year and the project is still going strong.

Myk and I headed out at lunch to nowhere in particular. It was blooming cold and we missed a couple of opportunities while we were out. One good thing, was the sky - the clouds were being blown across it quite quick, so there was plenty of opportunities for bold sky and cloud shots. I have taken some panoramic shots as well which I will use to play around with in Photoshop when I get the chance.

31/3/10: Day 90

Today, I headed out at lunch on my own. We had visited a place on the previous Friday, but I had used some gig shots for my project. So I headed back to take some shots of a couple of horses that we had seen in a field. He was a little edgy when I first went over to him, but soon got stuck into the hey once more.

30/3/10: Day 89

Again, I couldn't head out at lunch as I had an opticians appointment, so I went out after work to photograph some of the daffodils that have all of a sudden sprung up across the country. I've played around with the saturation, dulling everything except the yellow in the photo.

29/3/10: Day 88

Lunchtime today, I had to head to the shops so I ventured into the warehouse at work to take some photos of JD's Vespa.

28/3/10: Day 87 - Wilmslow Half Marathon

I dragged Katie down to the Wilmslow Half Marathon today. Again I had a massive stock of photos to choose from, although the subject stayed the same, the aspect of the shot changed - so it gave quite a nice variety of shots to choose from.

27/3/10: Day 86

My gorgeous model helped me again today. The contrast for this works really well. The black duvet covers work well with the natural light coming through the window. It's a really nice beauty shot.

26/3/10: Day 85 - This is Turin

I asked Daz if I could have the opportunity to shoot This is Turin at a gig, after missing out on my first opportunity due to a knackered car, Kat and I headed to Manchester to watch them.

I had been granted access all areas, so it was kind of cool getting behind the scenes between songs - it allowed me to get some quite personal shots. I didn't want to shoot all generic gig shots, I quite enjoy capturing the emotion of the moment and I think I did quite well for it. I had a horrible task of choosing 1 photo for today though. I managed to chop the list to about 28 really good photos, some arty, some performance shots - I think this captures a lot:

P.S. Check them out: This is Turin

25/3/10: Day 84

Today, Myk and I went for a drive. We ended up in Horbury, down Healey Road again - I caught a glimpse of this old building and so we went for a look. I once again realised how obsessed I am with urban decay. There is just something I like about it and it makes for interesting photography. Here is an old sign on the doors.