The Spider Hill

Rest in peace, East Oxford

Here’s a shot from the graveyard on Cowley Road in Oxford. It’s a rich source of decent photo opps, and I keep meaning to go back at night and do some long exposures, but there are all sorts of insalubrious characters doing their own kinds of exposures there most nights, so I’ve not braved it [...]

Tube bench, Marylebone station, London

On my way back from a meeting (at an uber-swish five star hotel, no less – get me), and the platform on Marylebone tube station was completely deserted, affording me the opportunity to grab this shot of one of the benches. Depth of field was way too shallow at f1.8, but I like the level [...]

No unauthorised access, Iffley village

Joel and I went out to Iffley village in Oxford to take some night shots on Iffley Lock, which was bitterly cold and a bit spooky at that time of night. This one’s my favourite – the gate leading down to the gushing torrents of lock water, which if you fell into them would be [...]

An authentic slice of Italy, Oxford

Err, just kidding. It’s only a Peroni glass. Probably brewed in Stoke-on-Trent or something. Anyway, this was my well-earned pint after From Light To Sound had finished our Oxford show on Friday night. The streetlight coming in from Jericho outside and the position of the Helen & Douglas House booklet behind it made for a [...]

Stairwell, Temple, London

Yep, it’s a photo of some stairs. Bet you’re glad you clicked on this now, right? This is personally notable for me as it’s the first time I’ve tried any of that pseudo-HDR stuff. Well, basically taking an under-exposed, well-exposed and over-exposed version of the same pic and layering them together to get some nice [...]

Abandoned SIM card, Oxford

‘The photographer follows in the footsteps of the ragpicker, who… was directed to finding beautiful what other people found ugly or without interest and relevance – bric-a-brac, naive or pop objects, urban debris.’ – Susan Sontag. show other people this

The Queen, Oxford Street, London

Aww, The Queen. Everyone loves Her Maj. Here she is, beaming beatifically at her subjects from a postcard rack on Oxford Street. Also a good chance for me to test out f1.8 on my prime lens and marvel at the LOVELY BLURRING in the background. Oh my goodness it’s nice. Going to be hard pushed [...]

French girls talking, South Bank, London

I went to London this week and took some photos with a 35mm prime lens. Some of them turned out quite nicely – I really like this one. The two French girls stood there for ages just chatting away and let me take their picture, presumably assuming I was shooting Big Ben or the river [...]

Bike racks, Temple Cowley, Oxford

Oxford: it’s not all dreaming spires and centuries-old architectural beauty. On a grey day in Temple Cowley, it’s as grim as any Coventry, Hull or Swindon you care to mention. As ever, there are interesting things to be seen even on the most mundane housing estate on a bleak February afternoon. But then I’m clearly [...]

Light mouth, Oxford

Not much to do on these cold winter nights but freeze my arse off sitting outside on benches. This shot took quite a few attempts to make the light go in my mouth – it’s unsurprisingly tricky to position your head in the right place if you can’t see the shot at all. This is [...]