Category: Photography

Sunset sky over sheds

Everything on this planet is recycled sooner or later, if not by us, then eventually by nature. Even city buildings, bridges, roads and all of out technologies will go the same way in the end.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image 126 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Enlarge

The sun is setting over these old sheds in more than one sense, not only is the sun getting lower in the sky, but the sheds themselves are no longer useful, have been roped off as they’re unsafe, and will fall down completely in the next few years or decades.

There must have been a time when these structures were a handy place to store farm equipment, maintain and repair things, perhaps make tea or eat lunch before starting the afternoon’s jobs. At a guess it might have started as a smaller building, extended over the years as more space was required. It had glazed windows (though some of the glass has fallen out) and must have been weatherproof earlier in its existence. Perhaps it was even painted, though more likely creosoted.

The corrugated iron roof is rusty and most likely lets in the rain. Various fungi and bacteria will be attacking the timber. Assuming nobody dismantles what remains and removes it, what will happen as the years go by?

Everything will return to the earth from which it originally came. Iron will rust and crumble to powdery iron oxides of one kind or another, the corrugated roof, nails and screws holding the timbers together, door and window hinges, they’ll all go the same way. If there are any brass fittings they will last a lot longer, but eventually they’ll end up as oxides of copper and zinc. Glass will last a very long time (many thousands of years) but will be ground down to smaller and smaller sizes with any disturbance. The putty used to hold the window glass in place will also crumble away to clay as the remnants of oil it contains are digested and metabolised by bacteria. And the commonest material used to build the structure will be one of the fastest to decay; all the timber in the framework, walls, floors, doors and window frames will be digested away and crumble to dust as well.

We ourselves will end the same way whether simply buried in the ground after death or turned to ash by cremation. It’s true for all living things, we develop from one cell, become many cells working together, and die through accident or disease or else of old age. Everything on this planet is recycled sooner or later, if not by us, then eventually by nature. Even city buildings, bridges, roads and all of our technologies will go the same way in the end.

We don’t look forward to our inevitable dissolution of course; but the awareness of it, whether we are young or old, should encourage us to do what we can in life to help others, care for the sick, give good advice to those who seek it, and be kind and generous in everything we do.

When: 27th September 2023
Where: Cirencester

See also:

This YouTube video discusses what would happen to our various structures in the most unlikely event that everyone suddenly vanished for no apparent reason:

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome!

Photos the old way

I have a lot of old negatives and colour transparencies, and little by little I’m scanning these on an Epson Perfection V600 Photo scanner. It gives excellent results.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image 125 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Enlarge

My digital photo collection is growing – in two ways.

On the one hand I have my Pixel 7 phone and take many photos with that, and I also have an old Canon G16 with basic telephoto zoom capabilities that provides much better results than the phone can manage in some circumstances. Unlike the phone it can’t fit in my pocket. Horses for courses.

On the other hand I’ve been copying old photos from years past. My photograpic hobby began when I was nine-years-old, I was given a Kodak Brownie and a roll of black and white (B&W) 127 format negative film (probably an Ilford film). Later I used a Kodak Starmite with flash and two aperture settings, and used it for my first colour shots as well as B&W, also on 127 format. When I was sixteen I graduated to 35 mm format using a Kodak Retinette camera with a range of apertures and shutter speeds available. And finally, of course, I moved to a single lens reflex camera.

As a result, I have a lot of old negatives and colour transparencies, and little by little I’m scanning these on an Epson Perfection V600 Photo scanner. It gives excellent results.

Today’s photo shows some of the 35 mm transparencies in a storage box. The different designs of mount (some plastic, some card) come from several different film manufacturers. Things were so different back then. You had to buy a film from a chemists or from a photographic shop, load it in the camera, and expose the photos. Usually a film would provide 8 or 12 photos (127 roll film) or 24 or 36 photos (35 mm film). It was a costly hobby because film wasn’t cheap and there were development costs to consider as well. As a result,you might make a film last for weeks or even months.

The exposed film had to be taken for development to a local chemist, or sent back to the manufacturer for 35 mm processing. And then – finally – you could check the results.

When: 9th October 2023
Where: At home

See also:

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome!

Mixed mushrooms

Cook them with a good sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image 110 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Enlarge

Mushrooms are such a useful cooking ingredient, they add a lot of savoury flavour to any dish. Cook them with a good sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper and a little olive oil (or butter if you prefer) and tip them onto hot toast – mmm… Try this search for mushroom recipe ideas.

When: December 2023
Where: At home, Cirencester

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome!

Fog…

If you can see further than a kilometre it’s mist, less than a kilometre and it’s fog .

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image 109 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Enlarge

Here’s a foggy day about a year ago, captured by my camera. When warm, moist air mixes with cold air – this is the result. Some of the moisture condenses into tiny droplets, distant objects are obscured, and closer object lose much of their contrast and colour. Everything looks washed out and grey.

Everything is still (even a light breeze will sweep away any hint of fog). The world seems mysterious because so much is hidden from view. Do you know the difference between fog and mist? it’s all about what is hidden from view; if you can see further than a kilometre it’s mist, less than a kilometre and it’s fog (technically). But in everyday life it’s normal for the cut-off to be much closer, around 180 metres.

Time for a Haiku, perhaps?

Winter fog and mist
Hidden heavy blanketing
Cold and damp and grey

When: 6th December 2023
Where: Cirencester Park, Gloucestershire

See also:

Mist, fog and haze– Met Office

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome!

Chastleton window

The panes of old glass are held in place with lead, reinforced by a horizontal iron bar for additional strength and rigidity.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image 108 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Click to expand

I wonder what past events might have been witnessed by this lovely, old window at Chastleton House in Oxfordshire? Windows are not made like this any longer, the window frame is stone-built as part of the structure of the house. The panes of old glass are held in place with lead, reinforced by a horizontal iron bar for additional strength and rigidity.

Chastleton is on the eastern edge of the Cotswolds, between Stow-on-the-Wold and Chipping Norton. It’s famous for its amazing plaster ceilings but it would still be an architectural gem without those. It’s managed by the National Trust these days.

The house was built in the Jacobean period between 1607 and 1612; it was owned by the same family for almost 400 years until the National Trust took over in 1991.

When: 15th December 2023
Where: Chastleton House, Oxfordshire

See also:

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome!

Fallen tree

Some things are important…we should do the things that matter most right away…we should not fritter away our time…life really is precious.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image 107 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Larger view

Winter storms occasionally bring down mature trees, even if they are healthy. That happened on the road between Stratton and Cirencester on 21st December 2023. The picture shows the clearing up afterwards. The car driver had a very frightening experience and a lucky escape; the tree trunk crushed the right hand side of the bonnet and I imagine the car was a write-off. Amazingly the windscreen was undamaged and the driver presumably shaken but unhurt.

The road was completely blocked by the trunk and branches of this large, mature lime tree, but the team worked quickly and it was clear again later the same day.

Life is full of unexpected events, most of them entirely harmless, some of them inconvenient, and occasionally something that shakes us up and makes us think about life in a different way, at least for a time. It’s probably good for us to face these think-about-life-differently events once in a while. It helps us to realise that some things are important, that we should do the things that matter most right away, that we should not fritter away our time, that life really is precious, and that we should be sympathetic to those who have suffered unexpectedly in life.

I suppose in the end the important thing is to love others regardless of whether they are close family, complete strangers, or somewhere in between. Everybody matters!

When: 21st December 2023
Where: Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

A417 roadworks, Advent Market, Bishops Walk, Baunton, Canal 1, 2, Castle Street, Christmas lights 1, 2, Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Churn flood, Countryside, Fallen tree, Fleece, Gasworks, Gloucester Street, Hare 1, 2, Hospital, Market Place 1, Phoenix Fest, Riverside Walk, Stone plaque, Stratton Meadow, Tank traps, View, Wonky 1, 2, Yellow Iris

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome!

Churn flood plain

You can see the Churn’s flood plain very clearly in this image. The treeline on the horizon marks the border of Cirencester Park and is on much higher ground.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image 106 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Larger view

This is a view of the River Churn overflowing into fields, the village in the background is Stratton, where Donna and I live. As you can see, Stratton is on higher ground and is not at risk of flooding, though some parts of nearby Cirencester are at risk during the winter.

You can see the Churn’s flood plain very clearly in this image. The treeline on the horizon marks the border of Cirencester Park and is on much higher ground, and beyond those trees the beech woodland is criss-crossed with rides at different angles, very different from farmland and home to roe deer and many kinds of wild woodland plants and animals.

When: 23rd December 2023
Where: North of Cirencester, Gloucestershire

See also:
Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

A417 roadworks, Advent Market, Bishops Walk, Baunton, Canal 1, 2, Castle Street, Christmas lights 1, 2, Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Churn flood, Countryside, Fallen tree, Fleece, Gasworks, Gloucester Street, Hare 1, 2, Hospital, Market Place 1, Phoenix Fest, Riverside Walk, Stone plaque, Stratton Meadow, Tank traps, View, Wonky 1, 2, Yellow Iris

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome!

Churn flooding

Some buildings, like the lovely, old Cotswold stone house in the photo, were often built quite close to the area of flooding, choosing ground just high enough to stay dry.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image 105 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Larger view

This view of the Churn flowing through the village of Baunton, a little north-east of Cirencester, shows it spilling over its banks and spreading across a field; this is normal, winter-time behaviour for the Churn for much of its length. Rising near the top of the Cotswolds at Seven Springs south of Cheltenham, it has cut a winding valley running towards Cirencester, the southern half of which is liable to flood.

Some buildings, like the lovely, old, Cotswold stone house in the photo, were often built quite close to the area of flooding, choosing ground just high enough to stay dry. Many other buildings in villages like Baunton were built a little higher still.

Historically, the regularly flooded land would serve as summer grazing and provide a hay crop in late summer. In this way, cattle could be kept on the land with a stock of hay as supplementary feed when winter grazing on the hillsides was prevented by snowfall. Higher (and drier) land could provide other crops like barley and wheat.

South of Cirencester, the Churn joins the Thames at Cricklade, and the combined flood plain is quite extensive. North Meadow on the edge of Cricklade is bordered by the converging rivers and is famous for its huge colony of snakeshead fritillaries By the time the Thames reaches Lechlade, it is navigable all the way to London and out into the North Sea.

When: 23rd December 2023
Where: Baunton, Gloucestershire

See also:
Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

A417 roadworks, Advent Market, Bishops Walk, Baunton, Canal 1, 2, Castle Street, Christmas lights 1, 2, Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Churn flood, Countryside, Fallen tree, Fleece, Gasworks, Gloucester Street, Hare 1, 2, Hospital, Market Place 1, Phoenix Fest, Riverside Walk, Stone plaque, Stratton Meadow, Tank traps, View, Wonky 1, 2, Yellow Iris

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome!

Cirencester Hospital

The old house is still interesting on the inside, at least one beautifully oak-panelled room is now a patient waiting room, and gives a hint of how the house would have appeared in its heyday.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image 104 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Larger view

Cirencester had two hospitals in the 1950s. There was the Cirencester Memorial Hospital, the main part of which was demolished recently and is now one of the town’s car parks. And in 1948, the new NHS took over a large house near the Bull Ring (the town’s Roman Amphitheatre) and converted it internally as a maternity hospital – The Querns Maternity Hospital. Later, this was repurposed again as a general hospital and modern extensions were added. The Memorial Hospital closed.

The photo shows the rear view of the old house, you can see part of a modern extension on the extreme left. The old house is still interesting on the inside, at least one beautifully oak-panelled room is now a patient waiting room, and gives a hint of how the house would have appeared in its heyday.

I was born in this building when it was a maternity hospital, I was either the first or the second baby after the hospital opened in 1948.

Today, the NHS is struggling with insufficient funding and too few staff leading to long waiting times and impacting the wellbeing of patients, I hope the present government will be able to start correcting this, bringing the service back to full strength and effectiveness. That aside, the NHS remains a wonderful service for everyone who lives in the UK, a job it’s been doing for more than 70 years.

When: 9th January 2024
Where: Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

A417 roadworks, Advent Market, Bishops Walk, Baunton, Canal 1, 2, Castle Street, Christmas lights 1, 2, Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Churn flood, Countryside, Fallen tree, Fleece, Gasworks, Gloucester Street, Hare 1, 2, Hospital, Market Place 1, Phoenix Fest, Riverside Walk, Stone plaque, Stratton Meadow, Tank traps, View, Wonky 1, 2, Yellow Iris

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome!

Cotswold skies

One of the joys of these walks is the sky. Sometimes it’s grey and overcast, sometimes it’s blue from horizon to horizon, but sometimes it’s full of interesting cloud formations at various heights.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Image 103 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Larger view

Traditional Cotswold fields were quite small, but as in many parts of the UK, farmers have removed hedgerows to combine small fields into larger ones that can be more efficiently cultivated, planted, and managed. Although this has some deleterious effects on wildlife and biodiversity, it does create some big skies. Here is an example.

This field is an easy walk west from Stratton where I live, along a permitted route along a stony track. I come out this way from time to time to enjoy the wide open spaces, to look at the nearby polo fields, to listen to the larks that nest here in considerable numbers, and to watch them rise higher and higher before plummeting down to land.

And one of the joys of these walks is the sky. Sometimes it’s grey and overcast, sometimes it’s blue from horizon to horizon, but sometimes it’s full of interesting cloud formations at various heights.

This wonderful world is full of beauty in big skies and also in tiny details. And it’s always different, no two days are alike.

When: 19th January 2024
Where: North-west of Cirencester

Favourites

For convenience, here’s a list of my favourite images:

Anemone, Cloud, Honeybee, Hydrangea, Kiftsgate1, Kiftsgate2, Large White, Mugshot, Nelson, Robin, Rose, Spilhaus, Sunset1, Weston beach

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome!