More Night Photography

I enjoy taking photos at night.  I'm not sure why, but as you can probably tell from this blog, I like different light effects and saturations and a certain amount of surrealism in my photos. This is a photo of Cuxton and Strood taken from Saint Margaret's church in mid-November at night, and I love the slightly ephemeral feeling captured with the vaguely blurred capture.  And the balance of black with the line of light is somehow visually appealing.  So there we go.  Another photo in the lineup.

Autumn Is On A Roll

This is what the Smoke Bush out in my front garden looked like this morning.  I hadn't noticed in past years just how vibrant this plant becomes in the fall, but I was really pleasantly surprised to take a closer look as I left the house today.  How I've missed these gorgeous colours the last few days/weeks/possibly months is beyond me, but I'll be the first to admit that when I'm leaving for work at 7am I'm not the most observant tack in the box.  Nor when I get home at 7 pm.  Nor at any point in the middle, really.

The Colours of Autumn

Sometimes, when the nights are drawing in and the days are growing colder and there just doesn't seem to be enough layers in my wardrobe, it's nice to look down and see how beautiful the ground has become and be reminded of why I put up with the autumn.  As if I had a choice.

I have no idea what kind of a plant this is, but the spider-like seed heads were intriguing, and seemed to be enjoying the warmish mid-November sun as much as me.

So Beautiful and So Impermanent

When a tree blew over in The Vines in a storm in '87, the artist Robert Koenig carved the stump into a sculpture of a monk to commemorate that destructive storm and also to nod towards the history of The Vines, as originally it was the location of Rochester's centrally-located monastery vineyard. The statue originally had a plaque on the front which essentially explained what I just wrote, but also, importantly, added: "Eventually the sculpture will fade, but we will replace it for perpetuity." And, in a truly appropriate and knowing manner, that plaque has since fallen away and the carving has started to fade and the statue is now crumbling from the inside. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that the Medway Council upholds their duty to eventually replace it for perpetuity. One can always hope, eh?

Photos taken in The Vines, in Rochester, UK, on October 25th, 2011.

These photos might not be available to capture in another 5 years, sadly.  So if you live in the area I encourage you to come and spend some time with this local living sculpture, and then find a moment to write the council and remind them about their duty to uphold the community's culture of arts and historical preservation.  Sometimes I think they may need some reminding.

Royston's Mum is Loud and Hairy...

... and I wouldn't have it any other way!  Last weekend the husband and I went out to Falconwood in Kent, UK, to support a charity gig.  Some of his life-long friends are in a band, Royston's Mum, who were headlining the show.  Well, I suppose, realistically they were the show, except for the 80-year-old loin-cloth-wearing Christopher-Lloyd-lookin' fire-eater named Ringo who came out in-between sets.  He was amazing.  So amazing, actually, that I put up his video on Youtube for you to check out!

And just to throw it out there - Disco balls are still awesome.

Photos taken in Falconwood, Kent, UK in the middle of October, 2011.  We rocked the heck outta that community centre.

Fun With Tilt-Shift

I know that tilt-shift should really be used on far-away things for far-away reasons to make far-away objects look far away.  But it also kinda works close-up.  It just seems to make the nearer things look nearerer.

Again, I'm using this tool completely incorrectly, but the effect is interesting at least.  Well, maybe "interesting" is an overstatement.  It's green, anyway.
Both photos were taken in Saint Margaret's Church yard in Rochester, Kent, UK.  The photos were taken a couple weeks ago - sometime in mid-September, I think.

Another Foray Into Black and White

What a beautiful cathedral we have!  And so pointy!
The last couple days have been blustery and cold in Kent, so I felt that this black and white snapshot I took a couple weeks ago accurately sums up the feel of Rochester recently; stark, grey, and slightly shiny.  This is taken from the High Street, looking most directly at what I guess would be the north wing of the cathedral, with Rochester's war memorial in the foreground.  This photo was taken sometime in late September, 2011.