I think that the steps to or from a building or area are supposed to give you a particular impression, that is how they are designed, not just as a way of getting from one level to the next.  If a building is well maintained then the original impression may remain.  These steps however, are being taken back by the ivy that is climbing from the bottom.  The tendrils seem alive and in the process of going further; the peeling paint on the woodwork is not the only thing that gives away the fact that this house doesn’t have regular visitors.

What do I like about this photo apart from the fact that it has steps in it?  I like the fact that the ivy growing up the stairs leads the eye into the picture, the wood of the porch continues the journey, but there is nothing but the corner of the doorway at the top, so you are left to imagine what the house is like.  The steps aren’t very well worn, so maybe the house isn’t that old, or maybe there is another way in?  I also like the warmth given to the steps by the Winter sun, even if the house isn’t inviting or maybe because it isn’t, there is a reason to linger on the steps and not go in.

This was again taken with my 50mm lens, this time ISO200, f/11 and 1/250 secs.

I have recently started taking some shots using film, but am still learning about the development process, but I have found that when I do take my digital camera out now I am taking about half as many shots as previously.  It would also appear that I am starting to think about my photos a little more.  Today I decided to go out to try and capture the Winter light.  I had been thinking about getting up early and catching the sunrise, but that would mean going out in the cold and scraping the ice off the car!

I set off towards the Northamptonshire countryside and, as usual saw lots of photo opportunities.  Unfortunately what I didn’t see was somewhere to stop the car!  I therefore made a stop in Preston Capes, the second village I came to.  This is somewhere I have driven through, but never stopped in, mainly due to the aforementioned lack of somewhere to put the car.  Today I was in luck and quickly abandoned the car on the main street and made my way to the church, partly in the hope that I could get some views of the countryside as well as pictures of the church.

I saw this picture and, although it wasn’t the one I set out to get, it came out in the camera exactly as I had hoped when I pressed the shutter.  Well, almost, what I didn’t notice until I put the image into Lightroom was the transmitter showing behind one of the trees and, I am ashamed to admit it, I am tempted to try and clone it out should I wish to enter any competition.

However,  the light, the shadows, the rolling landscape, are just as I wanted in the photo.  This was taken with my 50mm lens, ISO200, f/9.0, 1/320secs.

Anyway, this is what you get – this is part of the sculpture that is on the side of the new Coventry cathedral which I have taken many times before.  I am now trying to work out which is more at fault for the grain and poor focus – me, the camera or the developing.

Anyhows, the film was a 36 exposure (bit of an error there) Ilford FP4.  I did the developing with the prerequisite chemicals, although, they were admittedly suffering from cold as it was Winter (despite sitting in the house all day – the water came from the tap!!).  So, whilst pleased that I have actually developed a film, I am a little disappointed in the results, but as they were of steps, I thought I would put them on anyway.  I now have to work out whether the issue is the camera (it isn’t the lens because it was my favourite 50mm lens) although there isn’t much to go wrong, the age of the film and the fact that it has been sitting around for ages, or my developing.  I am placing my bets on the last two, and, so have loaded the camera in the last week and am going to attempt to take 36 shots and develop the film in the next week or so.

The second thing that struck me is that it is very similar to a photo I took at the Papal Palace in Avignon.  Whilst this should not be a surprise as the two buildings are contemporary, I still think it is interesting that there are similarities in buildings built for different purposes hundreds of miles apart in different countries.  However, I also found it interesting that with my 50mm lens in hand I was drawn to the same feature on each building.  But that’s just me.

The light wasn’t brilliant when I took this shot and the side of the church is in shadow for a lot of the Winter, so at ISO200 I was down to f/5.0 to give a shutter speed of 1/100secs.

I have taken to travelling lighter these days and so just had my 50mm lens with which I am obsessed (along with taking photos of steps) attached to the EOS 400D.  The light levels were quite variable, so I was mainly using ISO200, which at f/8.0 gave me a shutter speed of 1/640secs which allowed the water droplets to be frozen.  I converted it to black and white in Lightroom, and cropped a little off the top and a little off the bottom.  Out of all the shots I took around that feature I think this one works the best, possibly because it also has the highest level of contrast with the area of shadow beneath the window.

This was taken on my first ever tweet-up in London on the last Saturday of November.  We met outside the Tate Modern before going on to Borough Market, but I have to admit to knowing nothing about London and I had no idea that the replica of the Golden Hinde was there.  I am not particularly interested in boats, but I did like the different lines criss-crossing the sky.  It isn’t framed well, but I couldn’t find a better way of cropping it.

Changing to Black and White makes up for the dull grey sky a little, although it is still a little mottled.  I took this on my EOS400D with the 50mm lens set on ISO200, f/5.6 which gave a shutter speed of 1/800secs.  (OK I admit it was just a fired off shot and that is why the shutter speed resulted in a need for a lot of fill light.)

This is an example of a photo that could have worked a lot better than it did.

This is another picture where I couldn’t decide whether it looked better in black and white and whether to crop it in.  The wall is a warm yellow colour with lots of green from where the damp has allowed algae to grow and the leaves were a lovely bright, autumnal brown.

I decided to crop the photo because I wanted to highlight the main leaf (I may put a non-cropped picture on Flickr) and liked the way they seemed to spread themselves down the steps.  I put the picture into black and white to emphasize the texture of the wall next to the steps.  However, the cropping to a square format and converting to black and white were the only modifications that I made.

The photo was taken with my 50mm lens, ISO200 f/5.6 and 1/40secs (only just got away with that shutter speed!).

For those, like me, who know next to nothing about London, Borough Market is a big food fest, selling pretty much everything you can think of and there were many stalls trying to tempt me with sweet stuff such as these meringues.  Fortunately the place was so packed that I couldn’t get anywhere near a stall to try anything.

I was trying to take a photo that made me want to eat the subject, hence the subject to appeal to those with a sweet tooth.  The meringues were layered in an appealing way, but I had to crop out the bottom to remove a part of a price board.

As the market was quite dark I had to up the ISO to 400 and reduce the aperture down to f/5.6 (although I did get a shutter speed of 1/200 secs).  As a result, there is not as much depth as field as I would have liked.

The result of exposing for a light coloured subject means that the background is darkened which makes the subject stand out even more.

I am quite pleased with my first attempt at food photography!

These are the steps from outside the city walls to the Rocher des Doms – a public garden near the Palais des Papes and overlooking the River Rhone.  It was quite a trek to get down them to get to the free shuttle boat across the river.

The reason for the photo – obviously it is the pattern of the zig-zag steps working up the frame, the texture of the stones, and the light on the weeds that have grown on the steps.

I converted it to black and white to highlight the details, but it also has the effect of making it busier.  I have included a colour version, I am not sure which is better.  Once again, 50mm lens, but ISO100, 1/80secs at f/9.0.