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I spent an hour or two wandering around Leeds this afternoon, didn't take many shots.  I've added a few from today to some photos I took some time ago, to start a gallery on the City Centre.  It's changing so much now that I suspect a lot of these places will be very different in a few years.

Harrisons

Alia Takeaway

Las Vegas

Alley

This is the third year that I've attempted to photograph fireworks and I think I'm improving each time so that's pleasing.  Like a lot of amateur photographers I wanted to get some shots but was expecting it to be pretty tricky, actually if you have the right kit and follow a few simple rules the basic technical elements are pretty easy and once you've mastered that you can start thinking more about the composition.

How to photograph fireworks

Equipment -

• A camera with Bulb mode (ordinary long exposures are OK but much less flexible)
• A tripod (I've seen some good handheld firework shots, but I can't imagine you'd get many keepers from an evening)
• A remote shutter release
• A small penlight can be useful

Fireworks at Middleton Park

Bonfire Night

Fireworks at Middleton Park

Fireworks

Water droplets are one of those things that eventually every keen photographer with a macro lens will have a go at, it's a good wet Sunday afternoon activity and you can get some great results.  A couple of years ago I had a go and was pleased with the results, but there was nothing to differentiate them from hundreds of other examples I'd seen on the internet and in fact they were quite dull.  So, the other day I decided to have another go and see what I could do about getting something a bit different (when I say different I'm sure this has been done before but I haven

Water Drops

Water Drops

Water Drops

Water Drops

This is the second year that we've been to Southport Air Show and it won't be the last time (for one thing I want to be there when the weather's a bit better), this year we met up with my wife's parents and had a nice family weekend in the area.  The weather forecast was for clear skies so we headed over the Pennines with high hopes, unfortunately the reality didn't live up to the forecast and it was mostly overcast with some light showers, while this didn't affect the show too badly it did make the photography a bit more challenging.  I tried to make the best of the odd breaks in

Yakovlevs

N-167F Old Crow

Red Arrows

Break

Some more shots from our recent visit to South Wales.  The weather was great and we fancied a trip to the seaside, we ended up in Barry as that was the nearest place we could spot on the map.  What a place, like many British seadside resorts it's seen better days but it was great to see so many different types of people of all ages enjoying themselves.

I took the opportunity to practice some candid photography and tried to get some shots that captured the feel of the place.

Buckets of fun

Cosy Corner

I'm not looking

Help, save us!

We were in South Wales for a long weekend recently, the weather was gorgeous and we decided to visit Cosmeston Lakes near Penarth which was formerly a Limestone Quarry and is now a country park.

There was plenty of insect life enjoying the sun, including a number of dragonflies patrolling their territory (and fighting over it), there were several large Emporer Dragonflies (Anax imperator) over one pond and I finally managed to get a reasonable shot of a dragonfly in flight (after a number of less successful attempts last year). I used a Canon 100-400mm lens resting on a fence post for a bit of stability and manually focussed whenever the Dragonfly hovered for a while, it took quite a few goes but I eventually got one that I was happy with.

Common Darter

Emperor Dragonfly