Toronto

A one-day client sales trip to Toronto afforded me a few hours to see the city.

Flock of geese in Eaton Centre shopping mall
Art installation, Flock of Geese in the Eaton Centre shopping mall

Downtown Toronto
Downtown Toronto, as viewed from the CN Tower

Ingo Maurer art installation
Art installation in Toronto Airport, Ingo Maurer’s “Earthbound… Unbound”

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Royal Botanic Gardens, Madrid

I’ve not really taken many photos in the last few months, but a spur-of-the-moment trip to Madrid was a great way to get my photo-mojo back in gear. While there were few photogenic subjects in the city, the Botanic Gardens contained a wealth of stunning visual treats. I also put together another Colour & Form montage from the Botanic Gardens .

Purple flowers
Purple Pansies

Close-up of Purple Iris
Close-up of Purple Iris

Water droplets on a leaf
Water droplets on a leaf

Textured wooden bark of bonsai tree
Textured bark of bonsai tree

Water droplets on red leaf of bonsai tree
Water droplets on red bonsai leaf

Water droplets on bonsai leaf
Water droplets on bonsai leaf

Orchids
Orchids

Fountain in Retiro Park, Madrid

Retiro Park, in central Madrid. A bright sunny day. Water fountains. Perfect conditions for capturing the water patterns of a jet of water, with time-frozen droplets of another fountain filling the rest of the frame.

Fountain

Earth's Treasury

The Natural History Museum houses a collection of beautiful minerals, gems and rocks. The sheer variety of colours and patterns made this a perfect subject for another of my Colour & Form montages.

Earth's Treasury

Earth's Treasury - Spectrum

Simply Sublime – Science Museum

After visiting the Natural History Museum, a few of us headed over to the neighbouring Science Museum to checkout the recently-updated LaunchPad exhibit. One of the displays demonstrated the phenomenon of sublimation (see the Wikipedia article on sublimation for a more detailed background). The simple set-up allowed small pellets of solid carbon dioxide (dry ice) to come into contact with water, whereby the carbon dioxied will sublime directly from solid to gaseous form, without becoming a liquid. The jets of gas spewing from the pellets caused them to skid around the surface of the water, creating mesmerising patterns.

Sublimation

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Cambridge Photowalk

I took part in Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photo Walk, which saw 7,500 photographers in 230 locations around the world go out together and take photos of their home cities. As I’ve lived in Cambridge for a long time, and photographed many of the buildings and scenes, I decided to start on a project that has been long overdue – creating a “Colour & Form” montage of my home town. I’ve already created several of these from other places I’ve visited, notably France, Costa Rica, Barcelona, South Africa and Italy. I managed to put together this rather nice one from a 2 hour walk through town. I now have plenty of ideas for creating a dozen more “Colour & Form” montages for Cambridge, so I’d better get cracking!

Colour & Form - Cambridge

Here are few of my other favourite photos from the walk:

Wooden hatch in Senate House Passage
Wooden hatch in Senate House Passage

Railings on Senate House
Railings on Senate House

Old wooden door in Senate House Passage
Old wooden door in Senate House Passage

Detail above the Gate of Honour, Caius College
Detail above the Gate of Honour, Caius College

Gate to Senate House
Gate to Senate House

Water Lily in Clare Gardens
Water Lily in Clare Gardens

Bicycle in archway, Clare College
Bicycle in archway, Clare College

Old wooden doorway, Old Schools
Old wooden doorway, Old Schools

Bright Frosty Morning

On a bright and frosty December morning on my way to work, I was able to enjoy some prime time taking photos in the wintry wonderland of St. John’s College Backs. I’ve taken many photos of the St. John’s Backs in the snow, but this is the first time I was able to catch a slightly wintry view in bright sunshine, rather than overcast snow-clouds.

Frosty Leaves
Frosty leaves

Ripples formed by droplets from melting frost
Ripples formed in the Cam as melting frost dripped from branches overhead

Frosty grass on the banks of the River Cam
Frosty grass on the banks of the River Cam

Frost
Close-up of frost on a stone bridge

St. John's New Court refracted in droplets
As the sun melted the frost on tree branches, water droplets formed pretty refractions of St. John’s New Court

Panorama of St. John's Backs
A 71 megapixel panorama of St. John’s Backs on this bright frosty morning

More photographs from this wintry set are available on CantabPhotos

Coloured Discs

Haven’t had much time recently to sort through my latest photos, but as I’d like to update this photoblog regularly, I’ll add some older photos that haven’t had public airing yet.

Here’s one I took at Strawberry Fair in June 2006.

Coloured Discs