Features of the Modern Cityscape

Posted on 16/07/201611/07/2016 by Alastair

Returning towards the starting point of my walk this week I passed All Saints Church of England church (which is also a cafe) and admired the stonework of the architecture. The patterns and textures of old stone combined with the insertion of more recent stone worked well for me. I was going to take a detail shot of some of the patterns and as I was selecting my angle a person slipped into the frame and huddled in the corner of the church for a smoke.

This is a distinct feature of any modern cityscape in Britain today – individuals or small groups of smokers huddling in corners to keep out of the wind or rain – it seems to me to defeat the purpose and is what enabled me to give up after our first child was born. Giving up smoking is not an easy thing to do but going outside every time I wanted a cigarette certainly helped me to do so. Good luck to those of you who are trying.

Church wall and smoker

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All Saints C of E Church

Church wall and smoker

subway entrance

subway

Ignoring the Signs – Walls, Flowers and Brickwork

Posted on 14/07/201611/07/2016 by Alastair

Not so much ignoring the signs as cropping them out – all these photos required me to either choose an angle or make a crop that avoided the inevitable street signs for restricted parking, no entry, and restricted access. I couldn’t avoid the cars and I didn’t want to avoid the peeling paint of the gable end brick wall to this building of formal design that is typical of this part of Hereford City centre.

I like the patterns, colours and textures of the wall at least as much as I do the flower displays.

Hereford Houses

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Hereford street wall

Wall Patterns

Frontage Flowers

Music, Trees and Architecture

Posted on 13/07/201611/07/2016 by Alastair

Walking around the outside of Hereford Cathedral you can find some fascinating views of the architecture. Sir Edward Elgar appears to be enjoying the view but the inscription on the periphery of the base to this statue reads:

“This is what I hear, the trees are singing my music or am I singing theirs?” “Sir Edward Elgar, resident of Hereford 1904 – 1911”

In both shots of this statue I like the other activities taking place in the frame – the woman attending to her child in the pushchair and in the second shot, the men in conversation in the background. These activities seem to fit very well with the pose given to Elgar with his bike, pondering, perhaps, a composition inspired by his cycles around Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Sir Edward Elgar

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Hereford Cathedral

Cathedral architecture

wooden fence

Sir Edward Elgar

My Walk this Week – City Centre Walk

Posted on 11/07/201611/07/2016 by Alastair

Sticking with the urban environment, my walk this week describes aspects of a different city centre to last week. This is Hereford City centre and as Hereford has a cathedral, it can legitimately be described as a city. Strange but true (sort of), though I certainly don’t have a problem with Swansea being called a city even if it does not have a cathedral. Actually that is a little simplistic so here is a Wiki article that will explain in more detail.

All photography for this week’s walk was done on my iPhone.

Hereford City Centre

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city footpath

Hereford City Centre

city alley

The Grapes

Church Street

Flower Cycle and Reviewing the Week

Posted on 03/04/201603/04/2016 by Alastair

My last flower of this week is not one from our garden, though I look forward to the tulips opening outside our studio.

Appropriately, as we end the week, these bought tulips are at the end of their cycle. They are no less beautiful for their age though, and I am often attracted by dying flowers with their colour changes and withering patterns.

Suburban Night Walk and Reviewing the Week 53

Posted on 17/01/201617/01/2016 by Alastair

The location of this walk and the time of year (a mild winter in Middlesbrough) is the same as the pervious week’s daytime walk, but the sense of it is quite different at night. Once again this is not a StillWalks video, but I hope you can still enjoy listening to the soundscape while viewing the images.

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Night Walk Soundscape

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Colour and a Ghostly Light

Posted on 16/01/201616/01/2016 by Alastair

The colour in these night lights and their reflections in the water of Hemlington lake is clear, but whatever colour may be in the branch below as it stretches into the night under a desaturating street lamp, is lost almost entirely – I find it quite ghostly.

Light and Dark

Posted on 14/01/201614/01/2016 by Alastair

The view of and colours in the night sky over Middlesbrough changed as I walked around the other, unlit side of Hemlington Lake. The shapes and silhouettes of trees enhanced the reflected colour on the clouds and proved there was light to be seen. However, the footpath on this side of the lake was very dark and it was only because I know the path well that I had no problems seeing where I should walk.

As I came round this side of the lake I disturbed some of the birds roosting in the vegetation at the lake side. So at this point in my night walk, there was a little more sound than perhaps there should have been.

Night Birds