Saturday 11th October 2014, 3.40pm (day 1,143)
Not natural clouds coming down the valley, as posted a few days ago — this fire was unnatural. But hey, it’s autumn. There’s lots to burn.
Not natural clouds coming down the valley, as posted a few days ago — this fire was unnatural. But hey, it’s autumn. There’s lots to burn.
This is ‘my’ courtyard because I never see anyone else in here. There are — and I know them all — three entrances into this courtyard, surrounded by the brown-grey concrete expanses of the Ellen Wilkinson building. One is a fire exit, one looks like it’s just a conduit for the trash and one is a gate that is always closed, but never locked. None are welcoming, so this place is always deserted. Fine by me… this is my space.
Remember, the greener the landscape, the more it rains. West Yorkshire has become very green the last couple of weeks.
OK, so I know it’s a bit weird to take pictures of other people’s laundry. But it’s not like I climbed over anyone’s garden fence to do it.
The Earth orbits the Sun with a tilt to its axis and every day of each year the light falls on us all in different ways. Today at 4pm was one of those points where it shines straight down the channel of the Hebden Water as it runs below the retaining wall of Keighley Road. Nice to be in the right place at the right time to see it.
My perambulations through the centre of Manchester do seem to get later and later, don’t they. If the city has a symbolic centre, Piccadilly Gardens is probably it — no, not Old Trafford (which isn’t actually in Manchester anyway). This shot makes it look vaguely pastoral, which is why I like it: actually the place is a concrete jungle. A pretty intense rain shower stopped a couple of minutes beforehand.
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.
Still in Wetherby – the wedding celebrations lasted all weekend. The Wharfe is one of England’s most beautiful rivers from its spectacular course through the Yorkshire Dales, in Wharfedale, and right on down to here. Eventually, like most rivers in the region, it enters the North Sea through the Humber estuary.
You might also have noticed that it’s day 731. 731 = 366 + 365. Which means this brings to an end the second full year of this blog, one photograph posted every day since 26th August 2011. I did say at one point I would stop here, but I’m inclined to keep it all going for now. See you tomorrow. I will also add another top 10 at some point soon, of my favourite photos from the second year.
Having never actually been to Torquay, UK, I was today taken to its namesake south of Geelong, where a spectacular beach – just one of many such beaches in this country – fringes the Bass Strait. I like the way the light catches this forest of blue plastic triangles beside the walkway to the sands, part of a dune regeneration project.
….if only for another 8 days in my case. Taken at Schiphol airport, from out of the plane window, towards the end of that interminable taxi to the outer runway.