Category Archives: Art and architecture

Oct 12 2016
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Art and architecture, Daily Post

Prague castle guard

Tuesday 11th October 2016, 2.15pm (day 1,874)

Prague castle guard, 11/10/16

The conference here in Prague has been in full swing since Sunday lunchtime, but we were given this afternoon off, so I went to Prague castle, reputed to be the world’s largest castle (though it seems to me that the Kremlin in Moscow would give it a run for its money). It remains the home of the Czech president as well as being a huge tourist attraction, and judging by the pomp and circumstance in evidence today, he was in residence. It’s a good way of getting people employed, by the looks of things.

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Oct 03 2016
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Art and architecture, Daily Post

On Portland Street

Monday 3rd October 2016, 9.40am (day 1,866)

Portland Street, 3/10/16

I have been meaning to put this building on the blog for a while and today it gets its chance, partly because not much else happened (I spent all day in my office, and it was a nice sunny day too), and partly because of the coincidence of the sun taking out the upper floor window. How did it end up like this? If it was built on its own, why so much taller than its neighbours? On the other hand, if it was once part of a longer terrace, how come it survived when the others were demolished and rebuilt? Someone must know….

POSTSCRIPT: See http://www.theskyliner.org/82-portland-street/ for more info. Apparently it is a newer building than its neighbours, so was deliberately built like this, but no one really knows why. Maybe the builders just had a narrow plot and decided to maximise the floor rentals they could acquire from it (like the tall houses of Hebden Bridge). Thanks to Katie Carina Homer for this link.

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Sep 20 2016
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Art and architecture, Daily Post

Beetham Tower, Manchester

Tuesday 20th September 2016, 8.55am (day 1,853)

Beetham Tower, 20/9/16

At 554 feet, or 169m, this is the tallest building in the UK outside of London, and also one of the world’s thinnest buildings: not apparent in this shot but the unseen third dimension is very slight. Only the topmost floors are seen in this shot, but these are the highest residential apartments in the UK. And apparently it makes a great noise when the wind is high. I like the way the windows had caught the vague sunlight this morning.

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Sep 11 2016
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Art and architecture, Daily Post, Hebden Bridge

Chimney pots

Saturday 10th September 2016, 6.10pm (day 1,843)

Chimney pots, 10/9/16

A weekend at home, but the weather is still pleasant and the good evening light allows for photo opportunities even with the mundane sights around the place.

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Sep 08 2016
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Art and architecture, Daily Post

My night’s accommodation

Wednesday 7th September 2016, 6.25pm (day 1,840)

Mosedale Cottage, 7/9/16

Welcome to Mosedale Cottage in the Lake District. You’ve seen it before, on the inside, a couple of times (31/8/12 and 15/4/14). On both those occasions I was passing through and having lunch, but tonight I stayed there, having walked 13 miles to get there (and 8 miles out the following morning). Amenities: well, it’s got a stove (but not necessarily any fuel), a rather dubious toilet and a sofa. The rest, you bring on your back. Was it worth it? See tomorrow morning’s post.

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Sep 06 2016
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Art and architecture, Daily Post

National Graphene Institute

Tuesday 6th September 2016, 9.55am (day 1,839)

Graphene institute, 6/9/16

As a few recent photos have suggested, we are entering a good time of year for dramatic skies. I like the NGI building, it somehow matches its main host substance — which I guess is the point, architecturally. Well, my employers have spent enough on it, so it’d better be good I suppose….

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Aug 27 2016
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Art and architecture, Daily Post, Sport

St. James’ Park

Saturday 27th August 2016, 6.05pm (day 1,829)

St James's Park, 27/8/16

St. James’ Park, Newcastle, is the greatest, and certainly the largest, true city-centre football stadium in England. Capacity over 50,000, and all ten minutes’ walk from the train station — well, 10 minutes to the bottom of the main stand anyway. If you are an away fan you then have about another 10 minutes’ climbing of stairs to negotiate: I don’t think I’ve ever been so high up in the air watching a football match before. Good views therefore; better than anything we endured on the pitch today, a poor performance (Newcastle United 2, Brighton and Hove Albion 0).

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Aug 08 2016
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Art and architecture, Daily Post

Conwy Castle

Monday 8th August 2016, 10.55am (day 1,810)

Conwy Castle, 8/8/16

Conwy is a few miles from Llandudno. First-ever visit there today, and what a beautiful and interesting place — there were many potential candidates for today’s photo. But in the end, had to go with the castle. This is premium castle. Built, along with its accompanying town walls, in only four years, in the 13th century by Edward I. Public engineering projects in this epoch take longer (look at Manchester city centre for instance). Then again this was a fortress of occupation: no Welsh were allowed to live within the Conwy walls.

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Jul 12 2014
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Art and architecture, Daily Post

St Michael’s church, Mytholmroyd

Saturday 12th July 2014, 5.35pm (day 1,052)

St Mike's church, 12/7/14

Back home. The trouble with committing (still) to do this every day is that some days, even when the light is good (warm, sunny day today) and there are opportunities to get some good shots, the technique fails. I didn’t really get any good pictures today. This one is OK, a bit of a study of shape and texture, but that’s about it.

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Mar 08 2013
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Art and architecture, Daily Post

Sydney Opera House

Thursday 7th March 2013, 3.45pm (day 560)

Sydney Opera House, 7/3/13

Task one on arrival in Sydney – head straight to this place. I’ve long admired this building from afar and I was very keen to see it for real – and my high opinion of it has been in no way diminished by being up close to it. (Although I never realised it’s effectively three separate buildings: and it’s also somewhat smaller than I thought.)

Task two – take a photograph of it that is not the same old cliched photo of it that everyone else takes. How have I done?

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