Neodigital Art | Update 23
Picnic place
This isn’t a great photo but it was intended as a picnic area and so looked interesting. Some idiot had lit a portable barbecue on top of the table provided and burnt it! There wasn’t that much of interest there.
Park Lodge
Next stop was a park and I photographed the park lodge which as you can see is covered in red ivy and makes for an unusual picture. This is Dartmouth Park which was established in 1876 on land leased from the Earl of Dartmouth. I just read that the new pavilion is due to open in a couple of weeks, it didn’t look like it would be ready. It appears to be built from timber, considering two buildings in the park have been destroyed by fire in the past; I would have thought it would be wise to use bricks!
Park Benches
One of the first photographs I took with my camera was a line of park benches and I thought these would make an interesting picture. There is a memorial in the centre of the circle to the dead of world war one, but the edge was much more interesting.
In this picture, you can see the memorial and just see the benches going around the edge; I think you can see why I took a photo of the benches. I also took this photograph offset, rather than standing in the middle of the path for a more interesting picture.
Sandwell Valley Farm
From the park there are steps down to a car park and near there is Priory Wood, the site of a priory and a holy well; this picture is of one of the farm buildings. It’s open to the public and they have a farm shop. Sandwell valley is quite big and we saw walkers in an organised group with sticks to help them walk the trails through the park. I used photographs of Forge Mill farm in a previous blog and that’s close by. I have to admit I couldn’t walk any farther after I took this photograph and so a walk through Priory wood to the ponds and Swan pool was too much!
There are more blogs on the Home Page. All today’s photographs were taken in West Bromwich, England.
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Mike10613's Blog 
Hi Mike, Okay, I admit it. I found the picture of the picnic bench interesting. I immediately thought of all the stories that happened there, including the bbq. The burn marks give the table character and tells a story.
I loved the picture with the red ivy house. Lots of stories there too!
I’m sorry, but I didn’t get why the benches were interesting. That’s my untrained eye. so please excuse my ignorance. Could you please let me know what I’m missing?
I like how you took a picture of the path off-center. I never would have thought of that. But it didn’t help me understand the benches.
Help! I want to understand the benches!
When do you find out about your hospital photo contest?
13, September 2011 at 2:22 pm
I just looked at that photo again. I think when benches are in a line it gives more depth, but the road was marked by trucks doing building and that sort of provided flow and depth. I liked the view through the hedge too. The gate house isn’t that good apart from being different because of the red ivy. I have just been showing my friend who was with me photos that are on Qzone in China! They are of Xiaogan university and one of the students I help, she looked at a blog on LinkedIn and so I checked it out. I think she will go far in business.
They judge the photography contest on Monday; so not long to wait! I want the camera but want the exhibition more! 🙂
13, September 2011 at 2:37 pm
Another tip when taking photos is to notice the position of the sun. All these photos are taken with the camera pointing in the opposite direction to the sun. The sun was behind me and so I got better light on the subjects, that worked well on the building and the benches. The shot a little later in a different direction of the boating pool was dark. It looked reasonable at the time, but later there wasn’t enough light.
13, September 2011 at 2:44 pm
Thanks for the tip about the lighting, Mike. The benches picture still doesn’t do it for me. I think it’s because I’m not seeing a story there. With your other photos, they seem to tell a story. The benches look pretty generic to me. I like the way you framed the shot, the curve of the road and the hedges with a gap. Where does the gap in the hedges lead to?
In the far shot of the benches, I like the light pole. That has character to me.
I will keep trying with the benches. 🙂
13, September 2011 at 3:02 pm
Yes, a picture either strikes a chord or doesn’t! The benches say Victorian to me and that was when the land was leased from The Earl of Dartmouth for the park. The gap in the hedge gives a glimpse of Sandwell Valley and over there is the farm that is in the other picture! There’s lots more too, like ponds, woodland and lakes! 😛
13, September 2011 at 3:11 pm
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