Durham Cathedral towers

One of Durham’s most photogenic places is the cathedral.  There are a couple of what may be called iconic shots of the cathedral, but other than that it is not always easy to get a shot of the cathedral that makes it stand out.

I’ve taken a few images from different aspects and i’ll share them over a series of posts.  In this post i’ve put in two images as I can’t really make up my mind which one I prefer.

Durham Cathedral towers in monochrome

The colour image gives a sense of the morning with the tower reaching majestically up into a warm summer sky.  The monochrome image seems to give a sense of power, strength and solidness – a sense that the building is timeless and will be there hundreds of years into the future.

It never ceases to amaze me how changing an image from colour to monochrome can completely change the feel of a place (or an item or person, etc.).  I’ve seen images of warm inviting places, places where you would feel safe and want to be, turn into places that would send shivers up your spine and be places to avoid.

It used to be said that the camera never lies, but that has never been true.  It has always been possible to change what a viewer saw on the image.  It goes from the simple methods of dodging and burning using your hands or cut out pieces of cardboard on wire while exposing photographic paper with the negative in an enlarger (I remember it well) to sandwiching negatives together, right to the modern methods using Photoshop and the like.  The truth of it is more probably that the camera always lies.

Let me know what you think and which of the two images you prefer and why.

Remains of the rail delivery gradient

As I said in a previous post (Derelict Mine Workings) about the derelict mining site, its good to get away from the usual commercial photography and, indeed, the normal landscape photography I do for relaxation.

As you will see from another photograph i’ll publish later, I did go onto the start of this bridging structure, but it didn’t appear prudent to go any further. The reason for this is fairly obvious – the tracks themselves were corroding and the concrete supports, crumbling. In any case, there was little to be gained by going along the trackway – it wouldn’t have provided any sort of improved viewpoint.

Ivy covered house on the edge of Palace Green, Durham

Now living close to Durham City, I have had the opportunity to make a couple of visits in the early morning, before the crowds arrive.  Although the mornings have not always been that good for photographing, I was fortunate with the ones I chose.

On the edge of Palace Green as you come up towards the Cathedral from the city centre is this house which has Durham Castle in the background.  I’ve never seen a house so covered in ivy !  Some years ago, I visited the village of Matishall where a priest from the local church had gone to.  I and a friend had gone to help him with some tidying up work.  While there we were invited to participate in an “Ivy night”.  We didn’t know what to expect.  It turned out that every so many years the parishoners cleared the ivy off the church walls.  It was hard work, but understandable why they do it.  The roots of the ivy bury their way into the mortar and I guess over time will undermine the structural integrity (i’m no engineer – just guessing) of the building.  I don’t think I would like to have to start taking the ivy from this house.

I’ll put more images of Durham up from time to time as I have a few more I can use and will undoubtedly be making numerous visits to the city over the coming months. If the weather forecasts are right and we are in for a long winter, then there could be some interesting winter shots along the river.

Rusting rails coming out of mine workings

While out exploring in the surrounding area of where we live, I came across a field with what looked like a decaying pile of concrete. Pulling off the road I could see there was no gate, no warning signs or “Private Keep Out” signs, so I wandered in.  It turned out to be a derelict mine.  There are a number of derelict buildings, some of which have been on fire at some point and a concrete ramp with railtracks on for containers, presumably to empty into waiting trucks.  Unfortunately, the day was rather wet and overcast, but I managed to get a number of shots, some of which i’ll share over the coming days and weeks. It offered and interesting change and challenge from our commercial photography work.

Should you want to see some of the more traditional landscape shots that we do, visit the landscape gallery on our main web site.

Church stained glass window

Church stained glass window

I was asked to photograph a couple of stained glass windows in the local church.  Fortunately the day was reasonably bright and the sun wasn’t shining directly through the window. The colours in the windows are vibrant, but some of the detail is quite subtle. These sort of shoots always provide a bit of a challenge. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a PC lens so i’m afraid good old Photoshop had to come to the rescue. The windows were too high to get the camera in a position where the edges would be straight so corrections were necessary.  Fortunately I was able to correct to their true perspective.

You can click on the images to see a larger version.

Please keep coming back as the site will be updated on a regular basis.