‘A Lamb in the gate’
You’ve heard of the expression ‘a hair in the gate’ from movie-making, where a stray fibre of some sort finds its way onto the film when it’s being loaded into the camera? The result is that a few frames of shot film have the erratic movement of the fibre embedded in their celluloid forever, thus causing distraction for the viewer. Well, here’s a post-modern variation on this very theme!
*Shot using a Fujifilm S8100fd 10MP bridge camera with settings at ISO-64, lens set at 44mm, aperture at f/5, average metering mode and an exposure time of 1/480 seconds*
The Monster’s foot (slight return)
An intrepid hero – or idiotic fool, depending on your opinion (thanks to Harvey for posing and displaying both of these qualities) – has managed to lasso the Monster and now attempts to rein it in by yanking on a length of orange nylon rope: is it bravery or just plain goonery? I’ll let you decide…
I’m fairly sure if this ‘rampaging Monster’ situation was real, the next photo uploaded would just show a red smudge of blood, guts and slops splattered across the leaf litter!
*Shot on a Canon 600d 18mp dSLR using a Sigma 18-125mm DC lens with settings at ISO-400, aperture at f/7.1, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/150 seconds*
(Alternate picture-based Google Blogger layout at www.stretchthehorizon.co.uk if anyone’s interested.)
The steps
This public footpath signpost points towards the adjacent darkened steps – plunged into murk by the enveloping tree canopy – tempting any hardy walkers brave enough to follow its Lichen-greened direction: perhaps just a short cut to save time and effort or a journey into a world where Nature still rules…
*Shot on a Canon 600d 18mp dSLR using a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 MKll lens with settings at ISO-100, aperture at f/2.8, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/20 seconds*
(Alternate picture-based Google Blogger layout at www.stretchthehorizon.co.uk if anyone’s interested.)
Cold yet again
A Spider’s web frozen with the latest tumbling UK temperatures, just when March had tricked us all into thinking change was in the air!
*Shot on a Ricoh GRD ll 10mp enthusiast digital camera with settings at ISO-100, fixed lens set at 28mm, aperture at f/5, centre average meter mode and an exposure time of 1/380 seconds*
(Alternate picture-based Google Blogger layout at www.stretchthehorizon.co.uk if anyone’s interested.)
Hardy Geranium in dark
Enveloped in dark shadows, deep among curled blades of grass peeks the pink-purple petals of a Hardy Geranium, its central stamen unfolding to beckon flying insects down into the pitch void where the growing flower lies…
*Shot on a Canon G12 10mp enthusiast compact camera with settings at ISO-80, lens at 12mm, aperture at f/5, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/640 seconds*
(Alternate picture-based Google Blogger layout at www.stretchthehorizon.co.uk if anyone’s interested.)
Springtime in Tandle Hills
Shot taken looking at the Monument situated in Tandle Hills, Royton – with Oldham behind and Rochdale off in the visible distance – and the beginning signs of the Springtime change after a long, cold Winter are visible for all to see in the surrounding faunas’ sprouting greenery…
*Shot on a Canon 600d 18mp dSLR using a Sigma 18-125mm DC lens with settings at ISO-200, aperture at f/8, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/1600 seconds*
(Alternate picture-based Google Blogger layout at www.stretchthehorizon.co.uk if anyone’s interested.)
Mars flyover…
… showing stunning High Definition details of winding chasms, vast canyons and huge craters etched upon the red planet’s dead surface many a light year away from our blue-and-green home world.
(Or maybe this picture is just a close-up macro shot of a frozen puddle, here on little old Earth?!)
*Shot on a Canon 350d 8.2mp dSLR using a Sigma 75-300mm f/4-5.6 DG macro lens set at ISO-200, aperture at f/11, pattern metering mode and an exposure time of 1/80 seconds*
Plastic flowers (slight return)
A rough wooden vase of plastic flowers, this time illuminated in full colour by the Sunshine from outside the adjacent window pane: now bathed in light, the fake flora’s petals and leaves’ orange and green pastel hues could almost pass as the real thing….
*Shot on a Panasonic Lumix LX3 10mp enthusiast compact camera with settings at ISO-100, aperture at f/2.5, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/500 seconds*
Our Lady’s High School, RIP
This shattered husk of a building is all that remains of Our Lady’s Roman Catholic High School in Royton, Oldham as of the 16th and 17th of March, 2013; reduced to a crumbling monument teetering in-between the pulverising motions of the unstoppable yellow mechanical beasts.
The school had been part of the community since it opened in 1961, but changed its name in 2010 to the ‘Blessed John Henry Newman RC College’ after failing OFSTED ratings spectacularly. However, change is always in the air when a local Council has money to spend, so this old educational establishment has been levelled as the newly-built ‘Oldham North Academy’ has been completed on the adjacent site of the Sixth Form school.
Now though, there is no Roman Catholic secondary school in the periphery of Royton and one must travel many a mile to find the site of the new ‘Super-sized Roman Catholic Academy’ – an amalgamation of three Catholic schools from the Oldham area – which begs just one question: why not just build the new Roman Catholic Academy on the same site a Catholic school presence has stood for the last 52 years?!
*Shot on a Canon 600d 18mp dSLR using a Sigma 18-125mm DC lens with settings at ISO-100, aperture at f/7.1, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/800 seconds*
Early morning drive
An HGV lorry thunders along wet, snaking tarmac beneath the dull glow of overhead street lights, as the retreating night casts its icy cold breath across the coming morning and greets all early risers to a chilly reception once their beds have been left…
*Shot on a Ricoh GRD ll 10mp digital camera with settings at ISO-200, fixed lens set at 28mm, aperture at f/2.4, centre average meter mode and an exposure time of 1/5 seconds*
Stretch the Horizon 