Stevenage

Shopping in Stevenage

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went to Stevenage today with my wife and eldest. They wanted to do some Christmas shopping.

I thought I could pop into the Three mobile phone shop and upgrade my phone to a new iPhone 6S plus. Unfortunately, they don’t stock the 128GB version and told me I would have to order direct from Three, so I had  two hours to waste while I waited for Jane and Laura to finish their shopping.

I always have my compact camera with me so thought I would do some street photography around the town. The battery ran out after a few shots and I then found out I had forgotten to charge the spare battery I keep in the camera case.

So I reverted to the trusty iPhone 5S.

All these shots were taken by the multi-storey car park in Westgate and were processed on the iPad using Enlight.

The Shard

Trip to the Shard

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n the 12th September Jane and I went up to London to visit the Shard.

The trip was a Christmas present from our girls and it took us 9 months to get there.

We chose a lovely day, fortunately. It must be awful to pay the money and get up there only to see clouds and dull light.

I took three cameras, my DSLR with a 70-200 and a 24-105 lenses, my Fuji X10 compact camera and, of course, my iPhone.

We were up there around three hours and to be honest I could have stayed longer.

I loved the way the scenery changes as the light changes and the sun moves across the sky throwing shadows in different ways.

The view from the toilets is pretty unique!

Filming in Letchworth

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n August I got to try something new.

I was the stills photographer for an independent film company making a movie short in Letchworth.

It involved a weekend of shooting on location around Letchworth.

When I met the director for the first time, they were already into the shoot on Norton Common.

On the following day they shot some scenes in the town centre and in the school library up at St Christopher’s.

It was a really interesting experience and I got some really positive feedback from the crew and especially the director.

The film is out in 2015.

St Albans Abbey

St Albans Abbey

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rom time to time I have to go to St Albans to collect music for my choir; we use a shop on Holywell Hill.

Two minutes walk from the shop is St Albans Abbey and I usually spend a little while walking round the outside and taking a few photographs.

Cambridge

Trip to Cambridge

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e went to Cambridge today.

While my wife and youngest were shopping & spending their Christmas money and vouchers, I wandered around the city centre with my camera.

Whilst most of the shots were taken on a DSLR, I did take a few on the iPhone too.

Just off the market square is a wonderful little camera shop with loads of second-hand stuff in the front window. Sadly I didn’t have any money otherwise I could have spent a fortune.

Letchworth at Night

Letchworth at Night

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ne thing the phone cameras have never really excelled at is low light photography.

The sensor is just so tiny that getting a good dynamic range without any noise in low light is near impossible, which is why so many photos taken at night and uploaded onto Facebook look so awful.

I tried some low light stuff one evening on my usual walk into town.

RTC

RTC

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drove over to Stevenage to sort out a new iPhone. I wasn’t impressed with the offers Orange were giving me to upgrade from the 4S, so I decided to go for
Three’s ‘unlimited data’ offer.

As I was driving down the dual carriageway into Stevenage, I became aware of a loud sound from the other carriageway. It sounded like a lorry load of gravel being tipped out onto the road surface. I looked over to see where the noise was coming from just in time to see a silver Peugeot doing about 30mph on its roof, smoke streaming behind it.

I pulled over on my side of the dual carriageway and ran across the road, climbing over the fence on the central reservation. By the time I got there the driver was out. I checked to make sure nobody else was in the vehicle. Flames were coming from the engine compartment, another motorist grabbed an extinguisher from a nearby hotel and put out the flames.

I called the emergency services. Then I managed to grab a couple of shots of the car before climbing the fence again and going back to my car.

When I got to the Three shop, I ended up ordering a gold iPhone 5S, which was delivered by courier the following morning.

Letchworth

Harsh B & W

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Iaux_dropcap]’m always taking shots when I go around the town centre.

It’s interesting photographing the same scenes and buildings and trying to get a different aspect or result.

These were taken with the ‘Provoke’ monochrome app on the most contrasty setting.

Lincoln

Lincoln Visit

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hilst visiting my daughter at Nottingham Trent Uni, we went into Lincoln for a small visit.

I left the females to go off and do their shopping and lunch thing, while I walked around the city centre with a couple of cameras.

I discovered Street Photography this year and tried a few shots out.

Letchworth Car Show

Letchworth Car Show

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here was a mini car show in the town centre today.

Unfortunately it was raining but this meant there were less people crowded round the cars, so it made it easier to get a few shots.

Also, the raindrops on the highly polished metal surfaces can make for some interesting shots.