Liverpool

At the end of October Stokesley PS, along with Northallerton CC, represented the Northern Counties Photographic Federation in the Print Championships at Connah's Quay.  After the event we had a day in Liverpool where I enjoyed 'people watching' especially as they were walking up and down the magnificent spiral staircase in the new Museum of Liverpool.

There was also a very nice tapestry in the modern Roman Catholic Cathedral which caught my eye.

Hillier Arboretum

As well as the bark of the Himalayan Birches and Eucalypts I enjoyed the colour in the bamboo stems.

I don't know what the pink flowers are.

A Visit 'Down South'

In October we visited friends on Hayling Island. The main reason for our visit was to help judge the Havant Open Exhibition and to give a talk to our old camera club, Havant. It's always a pleasure to visit friends and we had a good week but not a lot of time for photography. We did manage to get to West Wittering, something we never did when we lived on the south coast. The wind had blown the sand up the beach which gave an different view of the beach huts.

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We also paid a visit to the Hillier Arboretum near Romsey to see the autumn colour. We were perhaps a little early for the acers but there was a lot of lovely bark to point our lenses at. Here is a taster.

Time for an Update

It has been so long since I posted anything here that friends are beginning to wonder where I am. It has been a very busy since the summer but at last I have managed to catch up.

It started in September with the UPP (United Photographic Postfolios) Convention weekend near Birmingham. There was an exhibition to see and lectures to attend and then before returning home a visit to the Avoncroft Museum. It was a dull day but the collection of old telephone boxes was interesting as were the insides of the old cottages.

We found out where Dr Who parks his Tardis between recordings.

The Tardis

And were reminded of when we had to Press Button A before you could talk to the person at the other end of the line.  If there was no answer you pressed Button B to get your money back.  I can't remember how much it was to make a call.

Press Button A

Although I can remember the old telephone boxes I can't remember cottages like these.

Bedside Necessities

 I decided to diffuse the picture with the cot, hopefully to give a romantic feel.

The Cot

A poem as a thank you

Last Thursday evening Guy and I gave our first talk of the season to Gateshead Camera Club.  It was also the first showing of a new talk.  Instead of the usual vote of thanks we were thanked with this poem which Irene Britton had written during our talk.  I think it was the best vote of thanks that we have ever received.

"Double Act" the premiere

We're the first to view

So many differennt prints to see

On our new print stands too.

Paula likes to work a theme

Some birds and stones and water

She demonstrated well tonight

Her pictures, as she oughta

Her abstract shapes and colours

Reflections, tone and mood

Paula's photographic eye

Is easily understood

The Davies are well travelled

Near and far afield

Berlin, Bath or Stockton

Whitby, Harris or South Shields?

Guy says he's a landscaper

With shots from the U.S.A.

His images are "canyons"

As we Geordies say

Water seems to feature

The river and the sea

Some lovely moments captured

I'm sure we all agree

You sometimes break the rules you say

Photography must be fun

You've certainly shown us that tonight

I think our hearts you've won

We've seen some stunning images

Such variety and imagination

Some images so high key

Others full saturation

As a "double act" from Stokesley

You both perform real well

You certainly know photography

As all your pictures tell

Drive home safely southwards

We so enjoyed your show

If other clubs ask about you both

We'll certainly let them know

So thank-you Guy and Paula

Your words and pictures are

So very very watchable

I'm sure you'll both go far.

An even smaller success in the NCPF exhibition

I only managed one acceptance in the PDI section of the NCPF exhibition last weekend and it's not even with a new title.  As I am now at the Galaxy stage in the PSA star system for CPID I have to get 25 titles with 3 acceptances each for the 1st Galaxy.  So far The Long Wait has achieved two acceptances in CPID.

A little success in the NCPF International

It's September and life has got busy again.  I was helping with the print judging at the NCPF International last weekend and pleased to say that I managed three acceptances.

Stokesley Snapshot 2011

Stokesley Photographic Society is running a project to record the life of Stokesley in 2011, encouraging members and non members to photograph people, places and events in Stokesley and the surrounding area.  My first picture with this in mind is a patient's eye view of my dentist.

Dales Workshop - Day 2

Hellifield Station - Looks abandoned but isn't

Hellifield - The subway into the station.  Not really as dark and menacing as it looks

Janet's Foss

Seedhead - wish I could remember the name of the plant.

Pixel Bender

I've just downloaded the Pixel Bender plug-in.  It looks like fun and may make up for the fact that Fractalious isn't available for Macs.

Ribblesdale

Stokesley Photographic Society recently held a workshop in the Yorkshire Dales led by Leigh Preston.  We all had a great time and managed to fit a lot into the weekend.  Weather was mixed but we were only caught out in one sharp shower, with hailstones, when we were on the limestone pavement above the Ribblehead viaduct.

Berlin Buildings

Berlin must have been a beautiful city before World War 2 when it was almost completely flattened.  Some of the present buildings were only built at the end of the 20th Century but they are copies of the originals.  Both the French, Huguenot, Cathedral and the German Cathedral in the Gendarmenmarkt were originally built in the early 1700s.

The French Cathedral which was built for the Huguenots in the
early 1700s was rebuilt from 1977 to 1981

The German Cathedral also built in the early 1700s was rebuilt
in 1996

What remains today of the Anhalter Bahnhof

The Brandenburg Gate which did survive

The famous Quadriga, a chariot drawn by four horses driven by Victoria the Roman goddess of victory, which Napolean famously took to Paris.

The Reichstag.  You can just see the famous Norman Foster dome, which we
had hoped to visit.  Be warned, if you want to go inside, you need to apply
beforehand and it takes 3 days to process after which you are sent dates and times to choose.  This can only be done on the internet - no other way!

Schloss Charlottenburg, one of the lovely buildings which did
survive the bombings

The Soviet War Memorial in the Tiergarten.  Built to commemorate
its war dead, particularly the 80,000 soldiers of the Soviet Armed Forces
who died during the Battle of Berlin in April and May 1945.

Checkpoint Charlie is still in place but the soldiers don't look very authentic!

There is no danger of going hungry when visiting Berlin with plenty of restaurants and cafes of every international cuisine. Currywurst is a Berlin speciality fast food snack.  This delicious one was found in the Gendarmenmarkt.

4 Days in Berlin

We had a short city break in Berlin last month.  Not a lot of photography but plenty of history.  The Berlin Wall is the biggest tourist attraction but there is not a lot of it left.


The East Side Gallery at 1.3 km is the longest stretch of preserved wall with large paintings which were original done around 1990.  A lot of these were re-painted in 2009, either by the original artist or as a copy by another artist.

I liked this one which clearly depicts Japan

A lot of the paintings appear to be either surreal or political

The 'coach party' tourists love to have their pictures taken by the wall

I was surprised to find that the wall wasn't particularly thick
and that it was a lot shorter in height than the wall in Israel/Palestine

More remains of the wall at the Topography of Terrors

This part of the wall shows how it looked when it started to come down.

Where the wall has completely gone a double row of
slabs marks the route it took

It's not only the 'Berlin Wall' that gets painted.  This is
on a block of flats

Another memorial.  This time on Platform 17 at
Grunwald station, notorious as being the place from
where the Jews were sent to the concentration camps

The very difficult to photograph Holocaust Memorial

A few more to follow soon I hope.