Tag Archives: 42

Feb 03 2012
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My roof

Friday 3rd February 2012, 11.20am (day 162)

Roof slates, 3/2/12

Another day at home working. Freezing cold outside, though bright and sunny. On current rates, of the 206 days this blog still has to run I can expect to spend about another 100 of them at home in HB, so will have to find a few more nuances in the local scene yet, if my posts are not to become repetitive. So here’s today’s attempt: poke one’s head out of the skylight on the shady, frosty side of the house and see what I can do. This was the most interesting shot I got today.

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Feb 02 2012
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Daily Post, Interior Gallery

The Alma Mater: Parkinson Court, the University of Leeds

Thursday 2nd February 2012, 12.05pm (day 161)

Parkinson Court, 2/2/12

Alma Mater (noun): ‘The school, college or university that one attended. ORIGIN [17th Cent]: (in the general sense of someone providing nourishment): Latin, literally ‘Bounteous Mother’.

I was here from 1993 until I achieved my doctorate in 2001, then I worked here until 2005. I’ve not been back much since, but I was here today for a meeting. Nice to see it again. They say ‘never go back’, but sometimes you should do.

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Feb 01 2012
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Daily Post, Landscape Gallery

Another Hebden Bridge sunset

Wednesday 1st February 2012, 4.20pm (day 160)

HB sunset., 1/2/12

Spent the whole day at home grading papers. Ah well, at least there’s the view from the house to keep me (and the blog) going on such an otherwise monotonous – and cold – day.

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Jan 31 2012
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Daily Post, Urban scene Gallery

Thatcher on a bus: Oxford Street, Manchester

Tuesday 31st January 2012, 4.55pm (day 159)

Thatcher on a bus, 31/1/12

Recently, throughout Manchester, this face has been appearing on the side of buses. Now I was sure that Margaret Thatcher had once said, “Anyone seen regularly on a bus after the age of 30 can count themselves a failure in life”.

However, I checked out the veracity of this quote and according to a Wikipedia talk page, it may be apocryphal.

Still, how much funnier it would now be if she had really said it.

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Jan 30 2012
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Daily Post, Friend, Portrait Gallery

Rebe, Kro Bar, Manchester

Monday 30th January 2012, 4.40pm (day 158)

Rebe, 30/1/12

Bye bye to Rebe, who – via a roundabout route – is now off to live in Belgium for a year while her husband does post-doc work there. One of my recently-graduated students (see Dec 14th), and a very good advert for her native Costa Rica.

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Jan 29 2012
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Daily Post, Interior Gallery

Before the movie: Hebden Bridge Picture House

Sunday 29th January 2012, 4.55pm (day 157)

Picture house, 29/1/12

One of this town’s greatest assets is its old-fashioned (1920s) cinema, with its good mix of movies and lots of legroom. It is so great that Joe is growing up within walking distance of a proper movie theatre – particularly when Halifax, a town ten times the size down the road, doesn’t have one at all. I love movies; a far superior medium than TV, which I never watch. (Except Masterchef.)

Even though I went back to my little compact camera today after yesterday’s vision of the future, I did learn one or two things about it yesterday; such as how to take better photos in lower light. I like this shot; the line of heads, the light reflecting off the two follicly-challenged guys.

And the movie? Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Well, you get asked to go to these kinds of things when you have pre-teen boys. Actually I thought it was pretty decent. Silly, but entertaining.

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Jan 28 2012
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Daily Post, Family Member, Portrait Gallery

Joe, Nutclough Woods

Saturday 28th January 2012, 2.20pm (day 156)

Joe, Nutclough Woods, 28/1/12

This blog is as much about my personal development as a photographer as anything else. Today I had a one-to-one development session with Sarah of Zebra Photography, a professional from Hebden Bridge; the session was a Christmas present (thanks Carol). I could say a great deal about what I learned, but suffice it to say that a considerable number of photos that I took today, for various reasons, I could not have taken the day before. Don’t expect them all to be like this from this point on – I need a new camera first – but I’m proud and a bit surprised by what I managed today. Hard to know which to choose – other highlights are on the Flickr site. Thanks, Sarah.

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Jan 27 2012
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Daily Post, Interior Gallery

Clare’s luggage (and opportunities missed)

Friday 27th January 2012, 1.50pm (day 155)

Clare's luggage, 27/1/12

No offense, but I’ve never seen a man who can take this much away for a one-night journey, regardless of the circumstances. I quite like the mild optical illusion with this picture: the reason the rucksack to left appears to be balanced on its side, and the ID tag on the right is hovering in mid air, is because this pic is actually taken from above.

However, the moral of the day is – Always Take The Camera. In the evening, after I’d given up seeking a better shot in a grey and dreary, uneventful day, there was a half-hour snowstorm that left Hebden Bridge dusted with white in the evening light. But… you’ll just have to take my word for it. Two hours later it was all gone.

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Jan 26 2012
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Daily Post, Landscape Gallery

Spurn Head

Thursday 26th January 2012, 11.50am (day 154)

Spurn Head, 26/1/12

From Mike Parker’s book, Map Addict (2009, Harper Collins):

Page 3: “I’m the one who will annoy anyone I’m sharing a flight with by repeatedly jabbing at the window and telling them which town we’re flying over, just because I recognised its shape and road pattern from decades of map scrutiny…”

Page 81 [referring to Spurn Head]: “Driving down this tiny thread of land is like walking a tightrope in a gale. The concrete road is poor and rutted, with drifts of sand blocking the way and sea spume whacking your windscreen like a scorned lover. At times, the road is virtually all there is between the two banks of angry, choppy sea falling away on either side. There is no safety net…. It is one of the ugliest, rawest places of beauty I have ever experienced. And it is quite wonderful. Twenty years it had taken from running my eager finger along my first Ordnance Survey map to standing on the point itself, but it was worth every minute of the wait.”

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Jan 25 2012
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Daily Post, Interior Gallery

De Rokerij, Amstel

Wednesday 25th January 2012, 3.55pm (day 153)

de Rokerij, 25/1/12

In my life I have been to the Netherlands about 12 times: mostly in Amsterdam but I have also visited some provincial towns. And even though there will be many people who will look at certain surface features, particularly in Amsterdam, and think that this is sometimes a sleazy place, they have got it all wrong. In all those times I have been here, regardless of what state I have been in, I have never once felt threatened, and no one has ripped me off for even the slightest Euro. This is, in fact, the most civilised country in the whole world.

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