the electrical language picture gallery

the electrical language picture gallery has moved

2006-06-11T21:47:00.000Z

I have moved my photo blog to my domain electricalanguage.co.uk. Please click here to be redirected.

sculptor at work

2006-06-09T08:21:00.000Z

vapour trails

2006-06-05T09:17:00.000Z

Over Southampton Common, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, 4 June 2006.

tv lights, Chartres Cathedral

2006-05-26T22:32:00.000Z

For various reasons, I'm waiting a few days before I start posting the next series of pictures, so here's one from last month's holiday in France that shows the television lights in Chartres Cathedral.

Bluebells

2006-05-24T21:17:00.000Z

Oak Tree, near Botley

2006-05-21T00:06:00.000Z

Taken last Sunday, 14 May 2006.

lime trees, Chartres (revisited)

2006-05-19T21:15:00.000Z

I thought the last one might look better in black and white. Any thoughts, please post a comment. Also, this is my first attempt at doctoring a photo: spot the difference!

lime trees, Chartres

2006-05-16T20:27:00.000Z

Chartres Cathedral, Easter Sunday (4)

2006-05-14T22:23:00.000Z

I think I saved the best of this series till last.

Chartres Cathedral, Easter Sunday (3)

2006-05-13T21:20:00.000Z

Chartres Cathedral, Easter Sunday (2)

2006-05-10T20:46:00.000Z

Chartres Cathedral, Easter Sunday (1)

2006-05-08T20:44:00.000Z

On Easter Sunday we continued our drive back across France to Caen, where we stayed overnight before catching the ferry the next morning.

We arrived at Chartres cathedral just as the congregation was leaving after celebrating Mass. Inside, the Cathedral was lit up, clearly the Mass had been televised. It was a photographer's dream. As the crew were taking the lights down I raced round the cathedral, and took some of the best photographs I have ever taken. The next few photos will be from those few minutes.

Driving through the Massif Central

2006-05-06T16:16:00.000Z

Caroline took this photo shortly after we left Millau. Not the best day, but an impressive drive nonetheless.

the bridges of Millau

2006-05-04T21:45:00.000Z

I've tried my best with this picture taken on a drizzly day in Millau. Millau is in a gorge on the river Tarn. In the background is the Millau "bypass". The viaduc de Millau, a motorway bridge, is about 2.5 km long. The roadway itself is about 250 m above the valley floor, and the tallest of the 7 columns is about 350m high.

le grau d'agde by moonlight

2006-05-02T23:01:00.000Z

a 4 second exposure. the camera was propped on a rock.

street lamps - montpellier

2006-05-01T20:40:00.000Z

I loved these old-fashioned street lamps in the narrow streets of old Montpellier.

plane trees - montpellier 2

2006-04-28T20:41:00.000Z

The same place as the last one.

plane trees, Montpellier

2006-04-23T09:48:00.000Z

Many cities in France have tree-lined avenues, to provide shade in the summer heat. Here, we were sitting at a cafe in the southern city of Montpellier, preparing to embark on some vigorous shopping.

On the ramparts - Aigues-Mortes

2006-04-20T21:33:00.000Z

A rare photo (for this blog) of Caroline and Jessica, walking along the southern wall of Aigues-Mortes.

Rooftops - Aigues-Mortes

2006-04-19T20:23:00.000Z

Aigues-Mortes (literally "Dead Waters") was built in the 13th century as the French Port on the Mediterranean. It is an almost rectangular walled city. The walls are intact, and visitors can walk around the ramparts, as we did. All the buildings inside, except the churches, are 3 stories at the most, leaving views across the rooftops for those walking the walls.

In the 1200s, France controlled only a narrow strip of land leading to the Mediterranean sea. It was a smaller country than it is now, controlling neither Provence in the south-east nor Languedoc, Rousillon and Aquitaine in the west.

Aigues-Mortes did not last long as a port: the silting of the Rhone delta saw to that, leaving the city bypassed by history after about 1300.

Restaurant - Beziers

2006-04-18T21:56:00.000Z

Just behind the Cathedral. The sun was shining, but there was a strong, cold wind.

street lamp, Beziers, 10 April 2006

2006-04-17T21:05:00.000Z

We have just returned from 10 days in France, so I will be posting several photos from that trip. The further south we went, the more advanced Spring was. Beziers is almost on the Mediterranean coast in South West France.

woods near west marden 2

2006-04-06T11:38:00.000Z

The same scene as before. This flash of sunlight came and went so quickly, I only managed one shot.

woods - near West Marden

2006-04-02T18:53:00.000Z

glass

2006-03-19T19:48:00.000Z

through a window at the University of Southampton Oceanography Centre.

From Old Winchester Hill

2006-03-14T22:02:00.000Z

taken 2 January 2005

Trees - Upper Swanmore

2006-03-13T22:26:00.000Z

blur

2006-03-03T20:14:00.000Z

when it's spring again ...

2006-02-28T21:30:00.000Z

experiment gone wrong

2006-02-27T22:10:00.000Z

massively overexposed

snowdrops and birch bark

2006-02-25T22:58:00.000Z

snowdrops

2006-02-24T21:53:00.000Z

I took this photo in our front garden on Wednesday morning, 22 February 2006.

flotilla 2

2006-02-19T20:39:00.000Z

HMS Pembroke leads the flotilla into Falmouth to celebrate Trafalgar Day. Princess Anne was on board:

(click on photo to enlarge)

Flotilla 1

2006-02-17T22:33:00.000Z

Trafalgar Day in Falmouth, 4th August 2005.

Lonely tree

2006-02-15T20:06:00.000Z

This was an experiment to save a dull photo I took on our walk on 22 January. I increased the brightness a little and the contrast quite a bit. Also, the tree was not lonely. That's just how I framed the shot.

le Grau d'Agde

2006-02-14T21:31:00.000Z

Taken Easter Sunday, 2005. This is where the Canal du Midi enters the Mediterranean Sea. We'll be here again in 8 weeks' time.

Irises 2

2006-02-10T23:44:00.000Z

From the same set as the last one. This time I adjusted the colour settings with Photoshop. Quite an improvement, don't you think?

Irises

2006-02-10T22:57:00.000Z

An experiment. Caroline bought these lovely flowers today.

web

2006-02-09T20:11:00.000Z

taken 26 September 2005

Groynes at Bracklesham Bay

2006-02-05T17:29:00.000Z

Another one from the archives. This was taken on 30 January 2005.

reflections

2006-02-03T22:49:00.000Z

This has been a bad week. Cold and overcast. I haven't seen the sun for days. So, to cheer myself up, I've raided the archives. This photo was taken in Venice in 2002, with a disposable film camera.

Playing with fire

2006-01-31T21:30:00.000Z

Street entertainer, Winchester, 28 January 2006.

shopping

2006-01-29T23:34:00.000Z

signs above shops in Winchester

Keystone

2006-01-28T17:04:00.000Z

brickwork detail above a door in Winchester this afternoon.

Woods near Swanmore

2006-01-22T21:23:00.000Z

A sunny weekend, but fairly cold. A woodland scene, late afternoon.

My prize winning photo

2006-01-19T20:55:00.000Z

Last year, I entered this photo of the moon through trees in a competition my company was running for staff. The staff magazine wanted the best creative photograph taken over the Christmas and New Year break 2004/5. I won, the prize being a Fuji Finepix A-120 digital camera, which I have given to my son Richard.

The last time I won a photography competition was at the Muswell Hill Scouts show, in about 1973 or 1974.

This photo was taken with a long exposure - naturally - but entirely hand held. I had no tripod and braced myself against a wall. It's still a bit shaky.

cornish tree (3)

2006-01-14T18:23:00.000Z

this time, at the end of a pleasant day.

Cornish tree (2)

2006-01-12T13:09:00.000Z

Taken the following evening.

Cornish tree (1)

2006-01-11T16:04:00.000Z

While I wait for the chance to take more photos in interesting light conditions, I am going to post three images of the same scene, taken late evening on three different days. The view is from our holiday cottage just outside Truro, looking approximately south west. Our holiday was one week at the end of July and beginning of August 2005.

Statue of Sir Francis Drake, Plymouth Hoe

2006-01-10T13:03:00.000Z

This is from my archives. The photograph was taken on a gloomy evening at the end of July 2005, the first day of our family summer holiday.

teazels

2006-01-07T00:18:00.000Z

I was pleased with the overall effect of this photo, again taken on New Year's Day.

Sunset

2006-01-04T22:32:00.000Z

Another shot taken at Titchfield Haven on New Year's Day.

New Year's Day

2006-01-01T17:55:00.000Z

or "Boat with Ducks"

taken at about 3.45 pm on New Year's Day at Titchfield Haven.

New Forest, 29 December 2005

2005-12-29T22:52:00.000Z

These photographs were taken on a walk near Lyndhurst, in the New Forest. This was about 2 pm. It was very cold; overnight frost had not thawed for a couple of days. The sun was not breaking through heavy cloud cover, giving typical winter flat dull light.

new camera

2005-12-22T21:30:00.000Z

My new camera arrived today, a Konica Minolta Dimage Z3. This is a replacement for my much-loved Dimage Z1 which had been misbehaving, so I gave it to my brother. When it arrived by post, it had obviously been knocked around so much in transit that it is now fully functional again. Oh well, I had already paid for the new one.

This shot is a detail of a piece of pottery in our kitchen, and the brown in the bottom left is a piece of yellowy-brown slightly glossy card. This was taken from about 10 feet away, with the camera on maximum zoom - 12 x optical and 4 x digital - and flash. I usually disable digital zoom as on these cameras the resulting photos are very grainy. But here I was playing around with a new toy.

(All earlier photos in this blog were taken with the Dimage Z1, as were those on the Eden Project and Cardiff pages of www.electricallanguage.co.uk)

what are you looking at?

2005-12-04T20:43:00.000Z

These sheep were in a woodland area planted with avenues of poplar trees. Usually we pause to admire the trees. Today, all these sheep were staring back at me.

Cardiff - September 2005

2005-09-19T22:52:00.000Z

A family visit to Cardiff in September 2005

Eden Project

2005-08-04T00:03:00.000Z

A visit on a gloomy - and rainy - evening.

Longstock, Hampshire

2005-06-19T23:57:00.000Z

A beautiful day at Longstock gardens, near Stockbridge in Hampshire. 2 splendid trees.