Shepherd's Shadows

There was a great sunset tonight. I managed to catch the last rays as I passed by the university. The cloud formations were quite strange as you can see. At first I thought there was a fire, but they were just unusual shapes.

Look!

One of my latest street photos. I like the symmetry between the wording on the girl's T shirt and her pointing something out to her boyfriend.

The Deer Hunter

There are warning signs all over Wollaton Park at the moment, announcing that it is the rutting season & so to keep away from the deer that roam in parts of the grounds.
Here's a shot of a stag who is selecting his next 'girlfriend'. I wonder how he feels to live in such a wonderful harem?

Manga Management

I went for a bike ride around Wollaton Park today. I'd read that there was some sort of WW2 show on in the park, as it had been used by the Americans in the early 1940s. But I was a bit disappointed, as it was only 2 guys dressed up like soldiers. Still I had a look around the hall. Took quite a few photos of the grounds & then by accident I stumbled on some university students who were dressed as Manga (Japanese comics) characters. I was asked if I would pose for a photo with one of them, so of course I did the same.

There Were These Two Girls..

Whilst watching the boxing weigh in, I was looking for suitable subjects for my interest in street photography. I saw these two friends chatting animatedly away. They are probably students at one of Nottingham's two universities and either discussing the days lectures, or the lad they both fancy.

Weight A Minute

The Old Market Square was the scene of great excitement this evening. A big boxing match is taking place here tomorrow night, and the two boxers involved; local champ Carl Froch and American champ Andre Dirrel were being weighed in live on tv. I left work early to try and catch it, but just missed it by a few minutes. Apparently Dirrel was a bit overweight, so had to be re-weighed a little while later. I don't know how he managed to lose it, but he did. Much to his delight, as my photo shows.

Cobbles

This rather cleverly designed cobbled area is straight outside the castle. Usually an ice cream van is parked there, selling cornets and 99's to visitors. But today was different. It was raining. So not many people about. The rain had cleaned the cobbles and made them glisten.

Pussy Galore

I showed you Marmalade way back in July, while he was visiting our garden. But things have since developed, and now he's moved in. Whilst I'm writing this, he's asleep on the chair beside me. I never knew cats slept so much. Last night, he fell asleep about 10pm, and didn't wake up until 7.45 this morning, as I was getting up. He mews, so we know when to let him out, but soon comes back. He also waits for us to come back from work. Gail bought him a little bed the other day,which he has been sleeping in. But last night he somehow managed to drag it off the chair. I keep saying he. But we have no real idea how to tell girl cats from boy cats.

Golden Glow

There has been a number of great sunsets lately. Last nights was a corker. Unfortunately where I live is quite built up, so getting good shots is quite difficult. So instead of fighting it, I used it to get the picture here. I stuck my camera out of the attic window. The good thing with the G1 is the tilting screen. I think all cameras should have them. And so managed to get this.

Spider Man

Unlocking the front gate a couple of mornings ago, I noticed this large web spun between some plants in the front garden. Had to take a snap or two, as I know they tend to get broken quite easily. Webs that is, and not my plants.
Looks like the spider had to do a quick patch job, by the odd weaving its done. Either that, or it knocked off early.

Deer Me

Another stall, this time from Finland, who were selling, strange looking hats, wool rugs and these cuddly toys. An assortment of dogs, bears and reindeer. They were also advertising a scheme similar to the Cabbage Patch Kids of the 1980s, where you 'adopt' a reindeer. Only this time it's a real one, and you get a toy one as a reminder. I'm not sure why you would want to adopt a reindeer, as they are hardly an endangered species. Looking at their website, it costs £30 to do this, and the animals are living in Kent, rather than in Scandinavia.

Hello Dolly

Besides the beer festival, an international food and craft market was taking place in the Market Square. I was particularly drawn to this collection of Russian dolls for sale.
Besides the usual female ones, there's one featuring a rather kitsch looking President Obama, Elvis, the Beatles and a rather dapper looking penguin. Something for everyone in fact. But I resisted parting with my money.

Roll Out The Barrell

I popped along to the famous Nottingham Beer Festival today, which was being staged at the castle for the second time. The festival has been going for over 30 years now and previously it has been held at the Victoria Leisure Centre. I'm not really a beer drinker, so have never been before. The entry fee is meant to be £10, which includes a commemorative glass, but I got in for nothing, as I said that I wanted to see the castle and had a Nottingham City library card, which allows you free entry.

The marquee contained quite a number of the cliched idea of a beer drinker; a man in his 50's, beard, slightly scruffy and a tad overweight. There were some women there too, and they looked exactly the same. No, only joking!
Over 600 beers were on offer at £1.25 for half a pint. There were plenty of portaloos available too.

Not Quite A Blue Moon

It was bread and jam for me tonight as Gail had gone out with some workmates for a drink and a bite to eat. When she came home, she said that the Moon looked odd, as it was very low in the sky, and not in its usual position for that particular time of night. So of course I had to go out with my camera & tripod. It was difficult trying to take a picture, as there too many street lights about, and it confused my G1. But after various goes, I managed to get this shot with my 45-200mm lens.

Weeding Things Out

For the last few months aerial gardeners have been clearing weeds and scrub from the sandstone rocks that the castle is built upon. Hopefully you can see what a difference they have made with more of the craggy rocks uncovered.

Show And Tell

As hopefully you all know I have a Flickr page, and often post photos on there that are different to what you see on here. A few weeks ago, someone asked for photographs for a new website that was starting. It's main aim would be to promote events, musicians and artists in Nottingham.
Some Flickr members were a bit negative towards the idea, but I am always happy to see my pictures elsewhere. Through consent though, and not theft!
So submitted a few. I looked this morning, and found that one had been used. The website is called Creative Nottingham. Here's the link, so you can see the site yourself. My picture, like all the others pop up randomly. And here's the full photo. Which you may have seen before.

Making A Pig's Ear Of Things

A Flickr friend of mine has recently introduced me to a nifty bit of free software called Poladroid. As the name suggests, it produces fake Polaroids. It's very easy to use, and once you've produced a picture, you can open it in other software and 'improve' the photo even further.

Go on, give it a go. You know you want to!

Here's another of my amusing signs. A local butcher that has been in Beeston years and years. Although I don't eat red meat, I'm glad he's still around and not been killed off by a supermarket.

Singin The Blues

Here's a young talented lady by the name of Natalie Duncan. She was also on the bill at yesterday's concert, which was part of something called a Global Weekender; a concert to celebrate cultural diversity.

Natalie writes a lot of her own material besides covering jazz and blues standards. She has her own page on Myspace, so have a listen and see what you think.

Musical Roots

This is Iryna Muha, a Ukrainian musician who now lives in Lincolnshire. She and her band were playing at a local free venue tonight. A few weeks ago, Iryna left a message on one on the Flickr groups that I belong to, asking if anyone would be willing to take photos of them for their website. So I went along and took quite a lot. Some of the better ones I have posted on Flickr for them to have a look at. Another Flickr man called Alan was there too, so why not pop across and compare our pictures.

Shepherd Moon

Tonight Gail and I went to see a band call The Bad Shepherds. It was formed by Ade Edmundson, whom many of you of a certain age will remember from The Young Ones. No, not the Cliff Richard film, but the BBC comedy show of the early 1980s. He was also one of the Comic Strip gang and worked on Bottom with Rik Mayall.

The Bad Shepherds play punk and new wave hits in a Celtic folk style. A bizarre combination, but somehow it works. A packed Playhouse audience enjoyed versions of songs by The Jam, Kraftwerk, Squeeze and even the Sex Pistols!

This isn't the best photo I've ever taken. But it's the best I could manage to get. At least it shows what he looks like these days. For something better, try this YouTube video

Night Riders

I attended my second evening photography class earlier this week. Tuesday's topic was slow and fast shutter speeds. Although I already knew about these techniques, I haven't used them in years. In fact I don't think I've ever taken a blogging picture using either of them. So here's a example of what a slow shutter speed can do. Car headlights. Not very original I know. The other cliched shot is one of a steam, with the water bubbling over the rocks. Making it look all dreamy and mystic.

A Light Meal

Tonight I and a couple of local guys who post on Flickr went for a stroll around Beeston, to see if we could find anything worth photographing at night. How different buildings look under streetlights, and things that seem to be invisible during the day, come alive when it's dark.

Here's a local restaurant that caught my eye. It's nothing exciting by day, but looks very welcoming after dark. I had caught someone else's eye, as if you blow the picture up, you can see one of the diners staring at me from her chair!

Laughed Like A Drain

I enjoy reading cleverly named companies and shops. This drain cleaner is a prime example; "The Rodfather". Even the style of lettering and logo are a cheeky spoof of the Marlon Brando film.
Priceless!

Art For Art's Sake

Here's one of those pictures that can divide people. Some may think it's great; others, rubbish. I'm undecided myself. To be honest, I put it on, as I haven't really got anything else. Things have been a bit quiet here recently. Hopefully things should pick up, especially with the big 'C' fast approaching.

Ding Dong

Here is a rooftop view of the Council House. The dome contains a bell called Little John. It's chimes are quite distinctive, and can be heard all over the city. To the right is the steeple of St Peter's Church, which is only a stones throw away.
Just a shame the modern building on the left spoils the picture.

There's No Place Like Dome

I always find the top of multi-storey car parks very useful for taking photos. As you get a different perspective on the action below. Although to be honest, being that high up scares the hell out of me if I stand too close to the edge. Thank goodness for the anti shake function on my camera when I took the top of this Victorian building close by.

Skywatch Friday - Extra Late

Here's another of the classic 'shepherd's delight' skies, that we all seem to love. This one taken a couple of weeks ago just outside Nottingham. Anyone living in the block of flats would get a good view of the surrounding landscape. It's something I miss, living in a suburban street that is full of houses, telegraph poles and tall trees. Only a small patch of uncluttered sky to photograph.

Talking of poles, I do like the way the electricity cables stretch through the pylon, bringing light, heat and power to all the surrounding households. You may have to enlarge to see properly.

Ashes To Ashes

No, today's entry isn't about the 1980's retro cop show, but a more close up view of the fire ravaged nightclub. care of my trusty FZ18. As you can see, a fair amount of damage was done and the police are now treating it as arson. They are probably right, as the club was boarded up nearly two weeks ago. In fact I was actually walking past the building as workmen were nailing boards up at the windows.

Down The Drain

Yesterday, I promised I'd show you a better picture of the fire damaged building, taken with my FZ18. I have taken some, but there was more excitement in the city centre today. Diesel had leaked from a supermarket tanker and had rolled down Derby Road. The fuel that is, not the lorry!
The police had blocked off Maid Marian Way whilst the council arrived and threw loads of sand over the road. The incident happened at about 10:30 this morning, whilst I took this picture at 12:10.

Fire photo will appear tomorrow. Promise. Unless some other disaster occurs!

Raising The Roof

The city centre was in chaos today, as firemen had shut part of a major thoroughfare, due to a large fire at a nightclub early this morning. Buses were diverted; shops had to remain shut. Even Tesco's! You couldn't walk on some sides of the streets. The fire services were worried that the five storey building might collapse

With my journalistic eagerness I went to have a look at lunchtime, but alas you couldn't really see anything from the road. So I went to the top of one of the local multi-storey car parks, and managed to get this shot. Not brilliant, as I had the wrong lens. I will have another go with my FZ18, to see if I can get a closer view. I'm saving up for a longer lens for my G1.

Do You Want Crisps With That?

I managed to swag a day trip to Birmingham last Thursday through work. Whilst waiting for my task to begin, I took a few shots of where I had gone. I thought this was a very strange name for a pub. It is bound to be popular with students, as it is next door to Aston University. In fact I had to wait a few minutes for a gang of students to go back inside, so they wouldn't ruin the shot. I also took this photo using the black & white option in my G1. Rather than converting it in Picasa.

Sparks May Fly

I have no idea whether this switch works or not, as it looks very old and untouched in years. But I'm not stupid enough to find out, as I might get electrocuted or set the building on fire. I have no idea who EMSEG are, or even if they still exist. So it may never get switched off.

Tree Of Life

Last Sunday Gail and I went for a little drive out. We stopped off for some food at a village called Plumtree; which is about 15 miles away from where we live. This isn't a pub sign, but a sign showing the name and a motif of a plum tree.
I think it is a very good piece of fretwork. Possibly done by hand, or someone who is very skilled with a powertool.

Seat Of Learning

This is Castle College in Beeston. I will be going there next Tuesday evening, as I have signed up to do a photography course. It used to be known as Broxtowe College, and I did an HND in Business & Finance there some years ago. But it looked nothing like this then, as it's just been rebuilt and is one of several colleges across the area that come under the Castle College branding.

X Marks The Spot

Today is Skywatch day. I've not participated for a few weeks, so here's one I took earlier, to misquote Blue Peter.
The East Midlands Airport isn't too far away from where I live, and as it is a busy airport lots of planes fly over throughout the day and night. Alas not big ones like you get at major airports. So these vapour trails are always in the sky, but not so joined up like this.

For more delightful sky pictures from many countries around the globe click here and enjoy.

Pig Sick

I haven't taken much notice or mentioned the so called swine flu epidemic, that supposed to have acted like the plague over the summer. Like most things it's hyped up to hysterical levels. I have enjoyed some of the jokes and cartoons that have appeared though. Some have been very funny.

So I was quite surprised to see this poster in the window of an office on Upper Parliament Street showing where you could get hold of the drug. Don't know if many people have been in for their potion, but it didn't look very busy when I walked past.

He's Behind You

I had a touch of serendipity today. For some reason I decided to walk back to my office past the Theatre Royal. I was going to go via the Old Market Square. Luckily I did, because the theatre was promoting it's pantomime: Jack and the Beanstalk. Yes, I groaned too at the thought of Christmas just being around the corner.

It stars, OK girls, swoon!, Nigel Havers. A puppeteer called Paul Zerdin. No I've not heard of him either, and panto's biggest giant called Blunderbore. It also stars the former Emmerdale actress Jenna-Louise Coleman, who played would be journalist and trainee lesbian, Jasmine. Although she did a better job of murdering a rather nasty policeman. Alas I missed both of them, so you'll just have to make do with these three.

The Time Machine

A strange thing happened to my friend and work colleague Jill this afternoon. She was putting some information into someone's Outlook Calendar, when all of a sudden her screen started flickering and the calendar dates started going back in time. Just like in HG Wells' novel.
It was fascinating to watch. I thought it would stop around 2001. But it kept going backwards. When it got to the year of her birth, Jill looked closely to see if she could find out what day she was born on. But the calendar flicked by too quickly. Here's a photo of one of the last dates we saw before she clicked on Windows' task manager. I would have liked it to keep going to see what would happen when it got to year zero.

Flat Packed Transport

IKEA were in town the other day handing out copies of their new catalogue. I didn't bother taking any photos of the assistants, as they were only dressed in yellow T shirts and jeans. Ho one dressed as Billy Bookcase or a meatball. So here's the bus that bought them all the way from Giltbrook.

Glass's Guide

The annual heritage weekend is now underway. All over the country various buildings are open to the public. Yesterday I had a look around St Peter's Church in the centre of Nottingham. It's a very old building and some of it dates from 1140AD. I'm always amazed at the amount of work and detail that goes into the building of such places. The Bible appears to go on about living simply and without worldly goods etc, yet churches are full of gold, decoration, and were expensive to build. Here's one of the many stained glass windows that St Peter's contains. I wonder how long it took to make and how much it cost?

Street Of Knowledge

I like vandals with a sense of humour. Not that I am condoning the act of ruining someone else's property, but sometimes it can be tolerated. Here's a good example. Ogle Drive is in the area known as the Park. It's very close to the castle. As you can see, some wag has added 'go' to the sign, to make it 'Google Drive'. Funny eh!

The best example I saw was on a fire exit. There was a sign warning people that the door was alarmed. Someone had scribbled underneath 'But sometimes it is just upset.'

Disco Diva

There's a upmarket, trendy furniture shop called Zoo, that I pass every morning on the way to work. The other day this mirrorball like statue appeared in the window. I decided to capture it for prosperity today, as it was sunny and so the glass would reflect more light. Fortunately I didn't get too much reflection from the shop window itself.

Nine, Nine, Nine

No, I'm not learning German, or pretending to be an emergency service, but as most people will have noticed, today is the 9th of the 9th, of the 9th. I found a website the other day called the Worldwide Movement through Facebook. People were asked to post a photograph that they had taken this morning at nine minutes past nine. Always up for a challenge, I of course signed up. As I cycle in to work, I had no idea as to where I'd be at the aforementioned time. Not too much traffic this morning, so I was near the castle and fortunately I found something worth taking: more workmen cleaning the weeds and shrubbery from the sandstone that the castle stands on.

Tide's Out

The rides are down, the sand is back on the truck. Yes at long last the Nottingham Riviera has closed for the season. It's strange how quickly the novelty wears off and how much people want things back to normal. Trouble is, it's coming back next year.

There's a cooking festival on all week next week. I'm looking forward to seeing what's on offer, both for my eyes and my stomach.

It's not too late to vote for this site at the photoblog awards. Here's the link:
http://vote.photoblogawards.com/search.php?search=nottingham
Once you've registered, you are able to vote. It's easy, just click on the number of votes cast so far to make your vote count. You know you want to.

A Ship To Live In

This is Marine Court in Hastings. I was amazed and stunned when I saw this, as it's another wonderful Art Deco designed building. Looking it up on Google, I found it was built in 1937 and was based on the liner the Queen Mary. Some of the apartments are for sale, and for a sea view they cost about £60k. It became a listed building in 1999, and it seems that work has started to restore it to its former glory. Apparently it has an underground car park, which I would have liked to have seen. In fact I would have enjoyed a tour around the whole building as it just looks so fantastic. As the tide was in I couldn't go on the beach and take a full view of the building.

Took A Deco

We left Rye today and decided to have a look at some of the other seaside towns along the south coast. We stopped off at Hastings and Bexhill on Sea. The latter town is famous for its Art Deco designed seafront pavilion. It has featured several times in the Poirot films with David Suchet, and I have always wanted to see it. I took several quick snaps, as it was going to be nearly a four hour drive back home. I got chatting to another photographer who was taking pictures of the same building, but with a much more expensive camera.

A Walk Into The Past

This weekend Gail and I are in Rye, East Sussex. It's partly a break and partly to say a final goodbye to my dear friend John Ryan, whose memorial service we attended today.
The local church was packed. Estimated at around 400. Afterwards close friends and relatives were invited to the town hall close by for lunch. We then were invited back to the family home, where we ate some more of the buffet and remembered his life and work.

Rye is a wonderful quaint little town, that is very old. We are staying at the Ship Inn, a former smuggling pub that is over 400 years old. It's quite eccentric, and the floor or our room slopes, and comes complete with wooden beams. But they are in the 21st century, as I am writing this in the bar, which has Wi-fi.

Blowing In The Wind

Blimey it was windy today. And rainy. Think it rained all last night. The good old British summer is well and truly over. Trying to walk against the wind at lunchtime, some pieces of newspaper flew past me. Looking around I saw these pages from a newspaper having a dance in the breeze. I think it's an edition of the Sun or the Daily Mirror, if you were wondering.

Hot Off The Press

This young woman is clearly jobhunting, as she has the employment pages in the Nottingham Evening Post open and is calling for an interview. No time to waste sitting down somewhere quietly over a cup of tea, it's a case of quick, ring that employer, see if the jobs still vacant. Even if it means kneeling down in the middle of a busy street.

Gone Up In Smoke

This rather neat Victorian building is part of the Eastcroft incinerator site. Household rubbish is burnt there everyday and turned into heat for some local residents. It's been in the news quite a lot recently, as they want to expand it, but environmentalists say no, because of the gases it produces.

I rather like the grand clock tower, with the weather cock on the top. It looks like it should belong on a far grander building.