Category: doncaster

Home Town

April has been an absolute cracker of a month weather wise, and yesterday was no exception. With some free time on my hands I decided to take a bike ride and took along one of my Ricoh GRIII (the none X HDF version).

The GRIII twins.
Yes, I have two GRIIIs, what’s the problem?

I didn’t have a destination in mind, or any kind of photography goal. The only thing I wanted to do was have a steady bike ride, and if I saw something worth photographing at least I was prepared. 30 minutes after leaving the house I found myself in Doncaster City Centre (I’ll never get used to Doncaster being a City).

Doncaster has a bad reputation, and in some cases it’s warranted. It has the same issues a lot of town centres in the UK have since the internet killed shopping as a past time. But, there is a new Civic Centre, which is all new and shiny and worth a visit.

It doesn’t seem to fit the rest of Doncaster, and maybe that’s a good thing. The buildings are shiny and glossy and people seem to find it a nice place to sit and enjoy the sun.

As it was the middle of a very sunny day Decided to shoot with the B&W Negative +Red Filter from Ritchie’s Ricoh Recipes. You can find it here; https://ricohrecipes.com/the-bw-collection/
I love the almost negative look it gives, especially with the blue sky. It’s almost black. The sun creates a lovely contrast and it works really well in bright light. I left the HDF filter on to add a bit of glow.

This is my favourite image from the day. I love the tree. It looks like it’s reaching for the woman, and she adds a sense of scale.

Here’s the rest of the images from the day.

I was recently asked why most of my images were in black and white. I struggle to see details because of my sight loss, but I can see contrast. Black and white helps me see my subjects.

I enjoyed my trip into town. I’ve never thought of it as a photographic destination. Maybe I’ll go back and see what else it has to offer.

That’s all 2024…


Time flies, doesn’t it? It feels like just yesterday we were celebrating Christmas, but here we are at the end of 2024. 

I didn’t have any specific photography goals at the start of the year. I’m not really one for New Year’s resolutions. But life has taken some interesting turns. 

I switched from using Lumix cameras to a Fuji cameras. That brought its own set of challenges. The most positive being that I don’t spend as much time editing as I used to. I’m a big fan of the film simulations, so I focus more on getting the shot right in the camera rather than in Lightroom. 

I tried my hand at street photography for the first time. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but I had a blast. I love seeing other photographers’ street work, and I’ve been collecting books on the subject. Mr. Whisper’s work is really inspiring (more on him next week). 

I discovered new local spots to photograph, which got me into clouds (especially in black and white). I hope to explore that more next year. 

We also managed a few trips away.

So, while it wasn’t an incredible year overall, it wasn’t bad either. And most importantly, I still love photography. 

Unconventional Photography: Discovering Beauty in Familiar Landscapes

Whenever I watch my favourite Youtube Photographers (Thomas Heaton, James Popsys, Emily Lowry etc) they’re often off on some grand adventure to some amazing location to photograph something spectacular. That’s not really an option for the majority of photography enthusiasts. I’d bet most of us live somewhere boring? Other than the odd trip to the more scenic parts of the UK, I am usually stuck here in the flattest part of Yorkshire. No mountains, or hills, no cliffs, canyons, no beach, just miles and miles of flat farm fields, the odd tree, ditches and canals. But, despite all that I still love going out with my camera. And, I think anyone interested in photography should go out and photograph where they live and not just the cool places.

I bet there are millions of photos of Bamburgh Castle at dawn, or the Old Man of Store on Skye, but how many photos are there of these cows, in this field, with those pylons in Doncaster are there?

How many photos have been taken of the river Don with this gate and the houses in the background?

Some boring train gates that have never been photographed before (probably), because why would you?

Am I seriously suggesting that these locations are as good as the Lake District, or the Isle of Harris? Well, no. But, they are important because these are the places we really live and work. They’re where we spend our lives, and they’re our reality. They should be photographed just as much as the ‘cool’ places because they are our real history. What’s more, they’re challenging to photograph and make something interesting from, which makes it fun. I think most people could take a great photo using their iPhone at sunrise on a great beach, or a great mountain.

Going local gives us a chance to experiment and grow. I find it lets me slow down because I’m not in a rush to get to the destination. Try different lenses, and filters. Mess around with shutter speed and apertures. Go out at different times of day, not just golden hour. The photos I’ve added to this post were all taken at the brightest part of the afternoon, so I messed about with them in Lightroom until I was happy with how they looked. It’s a great way to learn.

I challenge people to try and take a great photo of something that’s ‘normal’ and every day to them, where they live. Go for a walk, or get on your bike and see what you can find. I bet you’ll enjoy the process.