Parque de la Casa de Campo
17/04/10 16:51
One of my favourite places to take photographs in Madrid was in the vast landscape of the city’s largest urban park Casa de Campo. The park was originally a royal hunting estate and covers more than 1,700 hectares. According to Wikipedia, in 1936–39, during the Spanish Civil War, the front lines of the Siege of Madrid ran through the Casa de Campo when the Republicans had halted a nationalist offensive in November 1936. 
Taken at 03:20pm in Casa de Campo, Madrid. Thursday 1st April 2010.
The day before I took this photograph I had travelled above Casa de Campo on the cable car ride. Being in the cable car gave me a fantastic view of the park and the beautiful snow covered mountains in the distance. I’d seen tree plantations and vast areas of land dedicated to regenerating the park from the air and I decided to take a closer look and take some photographs on foot the following afternoon.
I climbed a rather steep path up a hill in order to take this photograph, but I certainly think it was worth the extra effort in the end. The playground hidden amongst the trees and tree plantations in the lower right of the photograph go someway in showing the scale of human intervention for regeneration against the vastness of nature.
Technical Information
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM
ISO: 125
Focal Length: 105mm
Shutter Speed: 1/125th sec
F-Stop: f/16
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Madrid Metro Stations
05/04/10 18:39
In the early hours of Saturday morning I arrived back in the UK after six wonderful days exploring and photographing the Spanish capital of Madrid. Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing a selection of documentary photographs that I took while encountering life on the city streets and wandering in Madrid’s largest urban park Casa de Campo. 
Taken at 03:04pm in Tribunal Metro Station in Madrid UK. Tuesday 30th March 2010.
(view the Madrid Metro Stations gallery)
While I continue to make my way through processing and editing the 900 photographs I shot during the trip, I thought I’d start things off by posting a short series of six portraits taken in Madrid Metro Stations. The metro is one of the quickest modes of transport in Madrid, yet there are plenty of passing moments which take place at station platforms that reflect a more tranquil side to the city’s busy cosmopolitan image.
Technical Information
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM
ISO: 1600
Focal Length: 105mm
Shutter Speed: 1/100th sec
F-Stop: f/4.5
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Coney Island : A Seagull's Playground
07/01/09 14:02
Taken at 01:06pm in Coney Island, USA. Saturday 31st March 2007.
Today I thought I’d post this photograph that I shot during a day trip to Coney Island in 2007. While I was writing my MA dissertation on contemporary views about Blackpool I came across an article written by J.K Walton entitled ‘The People’s Playground’ which discuss the similarities between Blackpool & Coney Island. They were both mecca’s for working class popular entertainment in their hey-day, but what had become of them now? Well, I went for the today during a week long trip to New York City in March 2007 to find out for myself. I love going to places that I’ve never gone to before, yet Coney Island felt rather familiar to me. Perhaps this was due to the reminisce of by by-gone era all around and its seaside locality. If Blackpool should be twinned with any other town in the world it should be Coney Island. There is an interesting blog article on the Coney Island Blog ‘Kinetic Carnival’, which offers some interesting thoughts on the Coney Island/Blackpool debate.
This photograph shows the Playland building occupying a space on what is now derelict wasteland, while in the foreground several seagulls fly up and out of the frame. I only recently started work on this photograph after finding it during another look at my New York photographs from 2006 & 2007. Sometimes its best to go back to what you’ve shot before with a fresh pair of eyes and I think I’ve found one of my favorite images from the day. More photographs from my trips to New York City can be found in the portfolio section of this website.
On another note, I’ve just added a list of useful links relating to my photography practice.
Take a look if you so wish.
Technical Information
Camera: Canon EOS 20D Digital SLR
Lens: Canon EF-S 17mm - 85mm IS USM
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 85mm
Shutter Speed: 1/200th sec
F-Stop: f/14
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Victoria Peak
04/01/09 19:09
Taken at 09:49am in Hong Kong. Saturday 29th November 2008.
Victoria Peak (known locally as The Peak) is a popular destination for tourists as it offers spectacular views of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon & Victoria Harbour. I took this photograph from the new sky terrace at the top of the peak and spent a good hour enjoying the wonderful view and taking lots of photographs. Going to Victoria Peak was certainly one of the highlights of the trip as the view was simply stunning. I went early in the morning and took one of the first trams to the summit (which meant there were very few tourists to get in the way of the me taking the photographs I wanted to take). I always make an effort to get the highest vantage point that I can and Victoria Peak certainly didn’t disappoint. You can see many of Hong Kong’s most prominent buildings from the peak (such as The Bank of China Tower & the International Finance Centre). I thought that New York City was a fantastic city to photograph but I’m starting to think Hong Kong could now give it a run for my money! I took enough photographs to make a massive panorama of the view from The Peak that I’m hoping to start work on this month.
In other news, I’m really pleased to announce that I’m going to be a North West artist represented by Visual For Business which is “a unique and flexible service from Arts & Business bringing high quality contemporary art to businesses”. If your interested to learn more about Visual please do take the time to view their website. I will have my own profile on their site in the near future, so I’ll post any further details here on my blog as soon as I know more.
Technical Information
Camera: Canon EOS 40D Digital SLR
Lens: Canon EF-S 17mm - 85mm IS USM
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 17mm
Shutter Speed: 1/100th sec
F-Stop: f/10
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Central Plaza Project
28/12/08 17:45
Taken at 12:02pm in Guangzhou, China. Tuesday 25th November 2008.
Apologies for the lack of blog posts this month, December always seems to be a hectic month and this year is no different! I still have plenty of photographs from my trip to China, so I thought I would share & discuss this photograph I took during my first full day in Guangzhou. I have always been fascinated with documenting large scale developments and regeneration projects; whether it’s the construction of the new promenade in Blackpool or new skyscrapers on the other side of the world.
Massive technological projects offer a mélange of creative possibilities and viewpoints, which is perhaps best described by David E. Nye as the “technological sublime” in his book ‘American Technological Sublime’. The Central Plaza Project in Guangzhou is certainly what I would describe as technologically sublime as it allowed me to explore the area from many different angles, from the topography of the site to the workers themselves. At 6ft 4” tall, I found that I could quite easily stretch over the barriers around the circumference of the site to take photographs (which is how I managed to take this particular photograph). The scene is an incredibly busy and seemingly chaotic one, yet the atmosphere around the project was surprisingly relaxed and very well organised. In order to show the fine detail in the background of the image I’ve included a close-up shot below. 
As you can see, there is plenty of detail in the background of the photograph that isn’t apparent in the top image. Many of the workers live on the construction site, which is evident by the number of clothes hanging out to dry outside their temporary housing. I’m currently sourcing a venue/space to exhibit some of the work I produced in China somewhere in the UK in 2009. I will, of course, keep you up to date with any developments on this matter.
Technical Information
Camera: Canon EOS 40D Digital SLR
Lens: Canon EF-S 17mm - 85mm IS USM
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 17mm
Shutter Speed: 1/100th sec
F-Stop: f/11
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Downtown Macau
10/12/08 14:33
Taken at 02:12pm in Macau (Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China).
Wednesday 26th November 2008.
As promised in my last blog post, I thought I would share my experience of my day trip to Macau (which lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta, bordering Guangdong province in the North). I went on to China with my father and we were both in agreement that it would be a shame for me not to go and explore a little further out. Having heard that Macau was only a two and a half hour coach ride away, off I went for the day by myself. The coach wasn’t very busy and I spent the journey looking out at China as it passed by the window. I saw lots of rural areas that would make for great photographs, but unfortunately I couldn’t really ask the driver to pull over while I took some pictures!
A couple of hours later I arrived at a very crowed bus station at the border of Zhuhai and Macau. I had been told that I would need my passport to cross the border and went through customs without any problems at all. Once I was in Macau, I headed downtown to see what I could find and see what it was all about. There is certainly a notable contrast between the thriving tourist areas of the region and its residential areas, so I hoped to capture some of this while I was there. After walking the streets for an hour or so I saw something quite promising down one of the side streets. I noticed some steep steps that looked as though they might take me to a higher vantage point and would (hopefully) lead to some photographs of the city. My luck was in. I followed this maze of steps all the way to the top and found a great open space that allowed for a fantastic view of Macau. This best thing about it was that I had it all to myself! There were no tourists or locals, just me! I spent the next hour or so there, enjoying the view and the sunshine on my face. I took some photographs that I could later stitch together in Photoshop (which can be seen in the China Gallery of this site) to make a panorama of the scene. All in all, I had a great time and was so pleased with finding such a stunning location.
I realized that I’d been up there for a little longer than expected, so I made my way back down into the noise of the city. I was gasping for a drink and it was only when I went to buy some water that I noticed that they had their own currency in Macau (the Macau dollar). After persuading the woman at the counter to take Chinese Yuan (I didn’t have any Macau dollars) I decided to head back to Guangzhou to meet my father for tea. I got to the border and queued up to go back through...
But they wouldn’t let me back through!!!
What I hadn’t realized (nor my father) was that Macau isn’t classed as The People’s Republic of China and my Visa was no longer valid (it was for one visit to China only). The duty manager of customs told me that I would need to get a new Visa and that could take a day or two (not good news) and she directed me back towards Macau (where I had to go through customs again). After a moment of sheer panic (all I had on me was what I was wearing, my camera & passport) I knew that this was something I needed to get sorted straight away. It was late in the afternoon and any place where I could get a Visa would be closed soon. I got a taxi to a place where I could (apparently) get a Visa, but they told me I couldn’t get one to go back to Guangzhou. The guy there told me that I would have to go back to the border and ask for a temporary Visa just to go to the other side (Zhuhai). So I went back, eventually finding the place I needed to be and asked them for the temporary Visa. Luckily it was only 4:30pm and I still had half an hour to get the Visa (which cost around £45)!
Needless to say, as soon I got though the border I jumped on the first coach back to see my father and tell him all about it!
All's well that ends well I suppose!!! It was all worth it just for the photographs...
Technical Information
Camera: Canon EOS 40D Digital SLR
Lens: Canon EF-S 17mm - 85mm IS USM
ISO: 125
Focal Length: 78mm
Shutter Speed: 1/80th sec
F-Stop: f/20
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Welcome To Hong Kong Island
06/12/08 13:30
Taken at 09:39pm from The Avenue Of Stars, Kowloon. Saturday 29th November 2008.
On Sunday 23rd November I departed on one of my most eagerly awaited trips in years, South East China & Hong Kong. I’d never visited this side of world before but I had seen countless photographs from the likes of Edward Burtynsky and other global topographers/photographers that made me dream of seeing it with my own eyes.
Well...I got the chance to go and had a great time!
I arrived in Guangzhou on Monday 24th November and spent the following two days exploring the city and seeing the sites. As I only had a few days there, I thought I would approach documenting the city in a similar way to my Blackpool project, responding to the journey as I went along. I decided quite early on that the tour guide route wasn’t really for me and that I would navigate the city for myself. I wanted to experience the real China and I think the best way of doing that is by not following a path already set out. I also spent a day in Macau (which is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China) where I had a somewhat eventful day with immigration on the border (I will explain in the next blog post!).
The most rememberable experience has to be Hong Kong Island, it was simply stunning. Everything from the landscape to the buildings, the people and parks were a pleasure to be surrounded by. The noises, smells and colours are so distinctive and really do add to how you experience the place. I only had two full days in Hong Kong but I managed to pack in as much as possible. I spent the last night photographing the city from The Avenue Of Stars in Kowloon, which is where this photograph was taken.
I have to say a huge thank you to my father who allowed me to tag along with him during one of his business trips (without him I could’ve have gone). I must also thank my director Lawrence at Chards (1964) Ltd for being so gracious with me borrowing equipment from him, such as his fantastic Canon EF 70mm - 200mm IS USM lens
(I would’ve missed some great opportunities without it, so thank you LC!).
Technical Information
Camera: Canon EOS 40D Digital SLR
Lens: Canon EF-S 17mm - 85mm IS USM
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 38mm
Shutter Speed: 30.0 sec
F-Stop: f/16
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