The Night Sky. Again.

Jupiter & Venus combo, a crane and quite a lot of mist-induced light pollution. Taken from my hobby room earlier on this evening.

Towards The Evening Sky

The clearance of a rain belt coinciding with dusk time made for a half decent sunset this evening.

Moon And Venus

. . . Oh, and a crane.

As viewed from my hobby room this evening. The two photos were taken an hour apart from each other.

The Branch Line That Won't Die

The now-disused Folkestone Harbour branch line saw to a locomotive today - the first time in two years. However, the short trip hadn't gone without it's troubles as the loco's - an Electric-Diesel Class 73 - third-rail pick up shoe snagged itself on the buckled and rusty rail!

Class 58 Loco

A scale model of the Class 58 loco built by BR in the early 80's. I love model trains but I simply don't have the room to build a decent railway layout. I'm sure I will find a way round that, but in the meantime it doesn't stop me from buying bits and pieces towards it - such as this model loco.

Classic Car

Saw this Bentley parked outside a shop at the town center and thought it would make for a good HDR subject. The difficult part was waiting for people to stop milling around it and I could get a clear shot in. Finally the window of opportunity presented itself ten minutes later.

I took two lots of photos (both slightly different angles and using different settings) and found myself struggling which one is the best looking one to show in here. So I've put both in.

The Mecanno Set

It's like watching a giant Mecanno set as a crane was erected literally right on my own front door. Certainly must need a good head for heights for that job.

That's going to make for some excellent sunset shots over the next few weeks!

Harbour Lights

While popping out to post a letter, I thought I'd take the camera with me. This is the result of a short stroll around the harbour area.

Holy Smoke!

A Folkestone shop selling bibles and other religious-related goods (wooden crosses and plastic Jesus figurines) had caught alight this morning.

No, not even I could make this one up. But, thankfully there were no injuries. But I have a feeling "him" up there doesn't seem to like us at the moment.

Ice Transport

A lady friend had found a way to transport her little charge about the town as the "big freeze" continues.

Toy Town

Had an another go at the tilt 'n' shift method today (where it has the effect of making things appear toy-like).

Winter Has Arrived

Albeit rather late!

A snowstorm last night had turned Folkestone into a winter wonderland. I like the way the snow, driven in under strong southerly winds, had the effect of turning usual mundane everyday objects into works of art structures.

The Metropole

Another local landmark that has been given the HDR treatment. This was taken this afternoon when it was quite dry but bitterly cold.

Back In Time

Today, I have transported myself back in time yesterday and took this photo tomorrow.

This is the "old town centre" taken today, under grey overcast skies.

That's What I Call A Kodak Memory

As Kodak fight for it's survival (it is on the verge of bankruptcy). I thought I'd turn it into a themed photography project using an action man and a £2 Box Brownie recently bought at a boot fair.

It's A Small World

Decided to get back into this "tilt and shift" method - the art of processing a photo to give it the illusion of looking at a scale model. The two photos were taken today using local features, since the weather continued to be fine and settled - albeit rather cold.

Another Sunrise

Got to see another decent coloured sun rise this morning. This settled quiet spell is certainly producing the goods!

January Sunrise

Another lovely sunrise this morning, as seen from the back of my house.

I'm gonna have to be more prepared and take myself to a better location for this kind of thing, but colourful sunrises - and sunsets - are very unpredictable things! That's why I do miss my daily commute to work when I was working.

Bright Moon

The ol' moon has got his hat on this evening. Spotted from my back yard.

Virgii formation

Spotted over the Strait Of Dover earlier on today.

Caused by cloud condensing into as ice crystals - which can be seen as those wispy bits - but turning to as rain and then evaporating before actually reaching sea level.

Winter At The Beach

Snow may seem to be lacking so far this winter, but at least I was able to get out with the camera whenever the weather does become bright and settled (in between the stormy stuff, that is!). What you are seeing in this batch of photos are Folkestone Harbour and the beach to the east of it.

Morning Has Broken

After what it has been a rough and rather windy couple of days, things settled down enough to produce this nice hued dawnbreak this morning.

A Fine January's Day

It was a nice day here at Folkestone, so I went for a wander about the town to blow the cobwebs out of my lungs.