Saturday 24 September 2011

Plawsworth, County Durham

Plawsworth, County Durham Landscape Photography by Alex Nichol (1/5)


I decided to try something different this morning and took a trip down to Plawsworth in County Durham for some inland shots. I spied this weird tree with a ladder in it, and jumped the barbed-wire fence to get a better shot - such are the hazards of shooting with a 50mm prime!



The ladder was swinging slightly in the breeze, making a creaking sound that was pretty creepy in the dead silence of day break with only the rumble of a passing train for company.



EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : 1/1250 sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad

 






Plawsworth, County Durham Landscape Photography by Alex Nichol (2/5)


I'd been shooting wide landscapes on the roadside for about 20 minutes when I noticed this little fella about 3 inches from my lens!



EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : 1/160 sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad

 





Plawsworth, County Durham Landscape Photography by Alex Nichol (3/5)


I see this landscape every time I travel down to London on the east coast mainline, and at dawn it's almost always shrouded in mist and looks amazing. I didn't know the area too well, so I just traced the railway line down from Newcastle to Durham, and took a wild guess at where the best shot might be, based on Google maps' satellite view. I didn't go far wrong, but it was difficult to find a good vantage point.



EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 1/5 sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad : Lee 0.9 ND Hard Grad

 






Plawsworth, County Durham Landscape Photography by Alex Nichol (4/5)


No sign of the little bugger that built this, but he's not finished. Like most in the building trade, he's probably got his feet up somewhere with a cup of tea and a newspaper.



EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : 1/80 sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad

 






Plawsworth, County Durham Landscape Photography by Alex Nichol (5/5)


All in all, a pretty good trip and something of a departure for me, being primarily a coastal photographer. I'll be heading down that way again soon to explore some of the back roads and trespass on some private land. Practice makes perfect.



EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 1/5 sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad : Lee 0.9 ND Hard Grad

 












Click on any of the photos to see them full-size against black, and please do leave a comment below if you like the photos.

Tuesday 20 September 2011

My Great North Run adventure

Okay, so this has nothing to do with design or UX, but a bunch of us at Riff Raff took part in the Great North Run yesterday, raising money for Finchale Training College, a nice group of people who help adults with disabilities to get back into employment. We've all been training for around 4 months now, and it has been quite an adventure.

Monday 12 September 2011

The future of retail is mobile

It seems that the humble mobile app is gaining traction in the offline world, as American home improvement chain Lowe's have announced plans to replace their checkout scanners with some 42,000 iPhones, according to Mobile Commerce Daily.