Blackburn is where I have to change trains when going to see my parents and/or sister. But it’s a surprisingly photogenic place. On a sunny day the light hits it perfectly. Today’s picture is like a proof of that concept — if the light can make an empty plastic bag look this attractive, then we’re talking something special.
As grated into this reflective metal bowl this afternoon, while I was making blackberry wine. The reflections are cool, sort of like the old BBC globe that used to get smeared across a mirror while you waited for the next programme to start, at some point in the 1970s. Clearly I need a weekend.
Day 750. Gosh, three quarters of the way to 1,000 – which I believe I reach at some point in April, and might as well now go for. As it’s a multiple-of-50 milestone I’ve updated the Best of the Rest page with a couple more shots that nearly made the main blog.
I’m a little disappointed with the sharpness of the background but there’s a long zoom on it to get the right depth of field so I guess one can’t have everything. The focus is just a bit further forward than intended. Otherwise I like the sinuous sweep of these tramlines, as they come down past the G-MEX centre and head towards the city.
Now that’s something I don’t see out the back window of my house every day. Hence, it gets recorded on the blog. On days working (marking) at home, seeing something new is what keeps it going. The building work has been going on down there for some weeks now, but this was distinctive enough to be worth devoting a day’s photo.
Just another one of those corners that pop up at the periphery of my life. I had very little time as I half-ran back through Manchester today, to catch the best train home, but I did pause along the way to catch this shot. It’s not of anything in particular, it’s just a combination of cloud and architecture and light that I like.
To say it’s been a good year for blackberries does not even start to do it justice. If it’s possible to become addicted to these beauties then get me into rehab, I’m a terminal case.
Incidentally, it seems that the bloke I got a picture of on Saturday isn’t Edgar Davids at all. Whoops… sorry…
Sometimes there are places — like this — that are less than five minutes’ walk from your house, that you walk or drive all around most of the time, yet never actually set foot in from one year to the next. This little wood clings to the side of a very steep hill, the trees grasping on for dear life with these claw-like roots, and the image of them as Ents (the walking trees from Lord of the Rings) was made that little bit more believable by catching flare in the lens as purple light above.
With no top- or second-level football matches on in England today because of the international games, fans were encouraged to go and support their local lower-division teams through an initiative known as ‘Non-League Day’ — whether this added much to the crowd at my local non-league team, Halifax Town, I cannot tell but it did get Joe & I down there. They enjoyed a 2-1 win over Barnet FC.
Interest was added for the neutrals by the appearance on the touchline of Barnet’s manager, Edgar Davids, who played 74 times for the Netherlands, mostly in his trademark glasses; having graced World Cup Finals he now plies his trade in the fifth tier of English football, which I find amazing really, as if Wayne Rooney were to end his career coaching in the Dutch third division. But here he is, giving advice with his assistant; Barnet were 2-0 down at this point and on their way to a first defeat of the season.
Returning from my week working away was encouraged by the chance to join Clare at her photo shoot at Alt.studios in Manchester. I should in fact call it ‘our’ shoot because I also had my first experience of being in front of a professionally-wielded camera. Whether you get to see the results or not depends on how well I know you.
Having graced it back on my last visit to Bergen in June, Maria-Carme becomes the latest in a run of people to make their second appearance on this blog. This is her in her office prior to our project meeting today. I like her impressive chair and the way her hand seems to have become a separate, spider-like entity.
