Another midweek moan
Today I have used a picture of the churches overlooking the town where I live. When I’m out taking photographs, I often look at them and know I’m still close to home. They stand on a hill with steep sides on this side. A 1,000 years ago a castle stood there and Princess Ethelfreda fought the Viking invaders from there.
Neodigital Art | Defining Art
I used this picture last week and it was suggested that a colour version might look better. I did a lot of editing on this, cropping it and changing it to a watercolour image. I also edited out the cars in the background again.
Treasure in the Black Country
This could be the only treasure map in existence with a motorway running through it. You may remember that I wrote about Princess Ethelfleda’s hoard of gold in my post just a year ago. We’re still looking for it. It could be buried at King’s Hill, there is a park there that’s suitable for scouring with a metal detector.
Neodigital Art | More editing
I did this edit with PhotoScape. I took this photo on Sunday and I think the tree gives it some depth. The guard rail adds to the depth too. I tried to get some texture to the water when did the edit.
Neodigital Art | Winter blue skies
I took this photo yesterday and I had bright sunshine and a blue sky. The blue sky is reflected in the water and gives it a bright blue colour too.
Neodigital Art | Winter creativity
I managed to take a few photographs on Sunday, it was cold, but at least the rain stopped. This one was into the sun, but it looked a good shot at the time.
Neodigital Art | Editing for art
This picture was a bit boring, but it looks interesting now I’m edited it. It was simple a fence outside a factory. It was taken in bad light too:
A week of nostalgia
Full Moon
There has been a full moon this week and a week of nostalgia for me. On Facebook the new ‘The History of Wednesbury’ continued to get more ‘likes’ and contributions. There is a lot of interest in local history now, Distinctly Black Country is another Facebook page. I also went to an informal reunion for Wednesbury Boys High School last night. It’s not often I admit to having gone to a grammar school.
Neodigital Art | Seasons
I took this picture of the Milky yesterday, in bright sunlight. It’s not one of my better photographs. You can see how the colours are changing through Autumn though, they are slowly getting lighter.
Neodigital Art | Changing seasons
I took this photograph last October on a sunny day. You can see the colours changing and reflecting more light. The light was better in Autumn last year than we have had in summer this year. We have to be prepared for whatever nature decides to throw at us and make the most of it.
This week – the truth?
I have written a few blog this week both on this site and on a zillion ideas. The UK is still in recession, the government still insists on austerity and the rich get richer. I write my ideas on how to cope with all the things that are happening. This week saw the ‘truth’ as the Sun saw it after the Hillsborough disaster. They backed the police, who blamed the fans, but now we get closer to the truth. Am I surprised that a police officer claims that she was coerced into changing her statement by an officer from the West Midlands? Perverting the course of justice isn’t new. News International publishing total crap isn’t new either.
Sunday ramble | Freshers week
Introduction
Students will be starting at university this week. I have been helping university students a little and I expect to do so again this year. If any students want my advice for this year, it is to write your papers or essays with the reader in mind. The lecturer or professor reading them will be impressed with a good layout, clear text and a font that they don’t have to squint to read.
Neodigital Art | Seasons and light
I’ve started today with a photograph from July, that was the last time we had really good light in the afternoon for photography. The sun was bright that day in a Victorian Park. It does give a very bright picture though with contrasting colours.
Neodigital Art | Landscapes
Regular readers will probably recognise this stretch of water, I have taken photographs of it lots of times. I’ve got a rotten cold and sore throat and so I didn’t want to go far on Sunday. It looks like a huge lake, but isn’t really large enough to be called a lake. It looks bigger because I shot down the length of the lake and away from the sun. I had a blue sky and plenty of light, so quite a nice scene.
The weekly review
Today’s picture was taken at the top aqueduct in Wednesbury where I live. It was sunny a few evenings ago. The railings reflected well off the water. Have you noticed how much graffiti there is around the canals? That’s young people who are bored. I read this morning that an headmaster at a school is advising them to do all sorts of things. Do work at home, visit the sick and lonely, get a job and study… I assume while the kids are doing this, he will be watching his smart television, going out to a restaurant or maybe enjoying a barbecue in his expensively landscaped garden. It’s amazing how people with money and position in society, know what’s best for people who don’t have money and position.
Is it Sunday?
It doesn’t seem like Sunday today for some reason. I usually write my blog as lunch is cooking, but I’m late today; lunch is well and truly over. We do tend to be creatures of habit. We even drive habitually, not thinking about it too much. So I think Damon Hill has a point when he objects to the speed limit on motorways being raised to 80 MPH. People are half asleep much of the time and don’t realise the dangers for the rest of the time. I think it could be raised to 80 if it was strictly enforced but some idiot would want to do 90 or 100 or even faster. I think some changes should be made to all roads. (more…)
Neodigital Art | Light and colour
I was trying to get my printer/scanner working the other day and scanned this picture. This is an old picture, but it shows that you can do something interesting with a scanner. I used to play on that field as a child! The land and the road was actually on fire because of the coal and gas underneath. The coal has since been removed and there is a sports field and new houses there now. That row of little workers houses is still there! (more…)
The Black Country Season
The London Season
It’s all go in London, after the excitement of the Queen’s official birthday. People turned out to watch the trooping of the colour and waved their flags and took up the customary grovelling positions. Some of them were hoping that, if they sucked up enough, they would get a gong in the birthday honours list. We have a season here in the Black Country. Last night the London set, went to the Hampton Court Palace Festival to partake in champagne and canapés, be entertained by the likes of Jools Holland and end the evening with a really, really expensive firework display. Up Tipton there was bingo and karaoke. The Tipton set celebrated with Banks mild and prawn cocktail crisps. Entertainment was by an Elvis lookalike from Prince’s End. (more…)
This week near West Brom…
The road in the picture is the Black Country New Road. Notice the traffic lights, that’s a pelican crossing and a bit farther on there’s a speed camera. Do we really need to spend money on such things in these austere times? A little farther down that same road on the stretch from Wednesbury to Moxley island, Sandwell council appears to be trying out a new traffic calming idea. There are lights and the kerb juts out at Moxley Island; but before you get there, we have pot holes. Yes, potholes all the way from Wednesbury to Moxley, aided and abetted by manholes that either stick up in the road or are in a hole. This idea isn’t very successful yet, but wait until those holes are a bit deeper; that’ll slow the buggers down… (more…)
Neodigital Art | Sunshine at last
I took this photograph yesterday and it’s the River Tame. I remembered that the flowers grow down the edges in Spring. The Tame runs all over the Black Country or at least the brooks do, that feed it. These flowers seem to grow all along it and so I might go to another location and photograph that while the flowers are still in bloom today. I could take a picnic! (more…)
Digital Easter
I’m planning on taking photographs again this weekend, the roads will be quiet on Sunday. This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago in Wednesbury (England) where I live. I find lots to take photos of, both man made structures like buildings and of nature. I suppose we are lucky to have so much variety, but many people don’t appreciate what we have. I think wherever you live in the world, there must be something to photograph. It is so easy to share photographs now on Photo bucket, Facebook or Pinterest too. There is no real need to print them out. (more…)
The Wednesbury hoard
Princess Ethelfleda
Could there be a hoard of gold buried at Wednesbury, undiscovered for nearly a thousand years? Ethelfleda or Æthelflæd was known as the Lady of the Mercians and was a warrior princess who fought against the Vikings. Her younger brother Edward also led the fight against the Vikings throughout Staffordshire and beyond. It is said the hoard of gold now known as the ‘Staffordshire hoard’ belonged to Edward, given to him by their father King Alfred. But what happened to the hoard of his sister, Ethelfleda? (more…)
Neodigital Art | Apertures
Narrow aperture
If you read last weeks blog you will know the aperture is like a doorway that lets a lot of light in, if it’s open a lot and less light, if it’s open a little. How long the door way is open also determines how much light gets into the camera. You don’t have to set the aperture, most cameras have settings for landscape, portrait and so on. I set the aperture to wide for this shot of a couple of geese. I get more light into the camera and a short depth of field. (more…)
A chosen people?
How God made the English
I watched a programme called ‘How God made the English’ on the BBC last night, it was interesting, but I didn’t agree with the presenter, Professor MacCulloch, entirely. I think perhaps people at Oxford University and those in politics who were educated at Oxford, do think they are the ‘chosen people’. Certainly, Christianity has influenced England as a nation but many people rejected not only the Catholic religion, but the Church of England too. (more…)
