Night

As Christmas celebrations begin on this twentieth of December, a bottle of wine to be opened accompanies this beautiful little chapel and Christmas lights. I wish all my viewers here a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Herb

As our ship pirouettes within the main Singapore harbour we wave goodbye to this magnificent city after only a few fleeting hours. This was taken only a short time after a major rain storm. For you technically minded this was taken hand-held on a rocking ship hence the slightly grainy ISO 2000!

A very cold December night tempts me out to try another star panoramic shot. This taken on the top of' 'Saddleworth Moor' where in all honesty I had expected it to be far darker. My tripod in about 12cm of icy snow and the temperature is -4C. This shot comprises of around 9 portrait photos (about 280deg) stitched for a panoramic photo. Each photo taken by my 18mm lens at around 6 seconds exposure. Freezing hands later, was it worth it?

Another Milky Way shot taken from Setttle in the Yorkshire dales. Autumn 2016

A rare sight for me. This is from our Eastern coastline taken in Summer 2016

Specially added here for my friends new MilkyWay group. This taken from near the village of Settle in Autumn 2016

A night shot from our holiday Gite in Normandy. 11 portrait 16mm shots in two rows stitched for panorama. See PiP's

Seen in Krakow main square. These wonderful horse-drawn carriages are nearly all operated by young ladies dressed in a particular style of that wonderful era of long ago. The many horses are just as beautiful with their coloured plumes and livery. The building in the background is the old 'Cloth House', now a fashionable market bedecked by cafe's and restaurants. Enjoy.

Almost two weeks after the outbreak of this fire on the peat moors of Saddleworth the fire burns on. This taken from my bedroom windows at 23.15 last night also shows one of the fire-fighting appliances on its way nearer to the top, no doubt to drop off and collect more fire-fighters. This is now thought to have been started deliberately by someone with a bonfire. Copy-cat fires are also appearing in other places in the NW of England as I can testify after driving through thick smoke smog about 40 miles North of here near the moors fire on Winter-Hill. PiP : www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/winter-hill-fire-cordon-zone-14869219

Part of the main square in Krakow with St. Mary's Basilica with its twin towers. This taken at around 21.30, note how many tourist are still around in this momentary quite moment for me. In the left tower, high in the top windows a trumpeter plays a 'bugle call' on the hour every hour of the day and night. (I believe three people do that in shifts) This is done in succession from each compass point window so four trumpet calls per hour in reality and always a ready audience as the sound echos from the nearby other buildings. (Maybe a thing to note if you consider staying in one of the many hotels around this square.) Best viewed full size. See PiP for Cloth Hall view,

We have had our restaurant dinner only to find ourselves confronted by heavy rain. Taxis seem rare at this time of night here and so its a fast walk back along these roads back to our hotel. Of course I cannot stop myself trying to catch the marvellous reflections in these cobblestones and tram-tracks, even though I only have my trusty little Canon pocket camera with me. - Just in case...

Taken just outside the town of Richmond. My first bow! Not too sure if the white line is an aeroplane or 'shooting star. A dark night but the lights of Richmond town shown on here too. A big thanks to my photo mate Steve Paxton for his help and tips in producing this.

One of the few remaining streets in our town retaining the old cobbled streets of long ago. At the end sits the parish church of St Mary with its old graveyard.. Do I hear a soft footsteps behind me.............?

A rare waning moon mixed with an almost rare clear night sky tempts me out to the far reaches of our Saddleworth Moor towards Yorkshire, in order to catch the illusive Milky Way from here. In fact you can just make it out as the smears of cloudy light rising diagonally left from the white-hot light of the Greater Manchester conurbation. Seen here also is the red glowing communications transmitter mast of Holme Moss. The white horizontal scratch line is most probably the International Space Station which was due across here at this time (aeroplanes leave a coloured dotted line). PiP For the technically minded, this is a four photo, portrait stitch. Each photo at 20s F2.8 -Tokina 11mm. This photo covers roughly 120° of the horizon. My grateful thanks to our Ipernity friend Steve Paxton without who's help and encouragement, this would not be here.

Another rare clear night with hardly any moon coaxes me out again to our moorlands between Manchester and Holmfirth, Yorkshire. Here we see the now familiar red glowing transmitter of Holm Moss but also a moorland reservoir called Digley. We can still see the light pollution of our great city of Manchester some 15 miles away from here, shetered somewhat by the trees and hills to my right. The tower is directly south of me. Best viewed full size on black. This photo is another massive stitch panorama of 15 photos. Yes 15! all portrait taken in three rows of 5 across.Each photo taken at: ISO1600, F2.8, 20 secs using my Nikon 7100 self times and Tokina 11-16mm F2.8G. Again I am indebted to my Ipernity friend Steve Paxton for his help in all this.

A night view from my local Hartshead Pike looking west towards my hometown of Oldham with the city of Manchester on the left too, including some of the brighter stars. I have left this at a very big 4000px wide so that you too can bathe in all its glory. This is a four photo stitch, 11mm, 800iso, 2.5s @ f5.6 Enjoy large, in black & F11 pip

If you have never seen a patterned shot like this before one can be forgiven for asking "what am I seeing?" No, it is not a giant kaleidoscope nor big Ferris wheel but rather hundreds of bright stars in the black sky. As our planet revolves around its north south polar axis, then so looking from our planet, the stars move around the Stella NS axis too. As Cyprus is in the Northern Hemisphere, all the stars seem to revolve around our northern star: Polaris, which is aligned to our North Pole . Polaris is indeed in the centre of this circle. In practice, this shot is made up of 150 separate twenty second exposure photos of the stars, all on an unmoved tripod pointing to the star Polaris. The 150 photos are then layered on top of each other (stacked) resulting in actually seeing here the circular motion of our stars. The foreground is part of the very rocky and dried clay coastline. Enjoy full screen on black. Thanks to Steve Paxton for his invaluable help in me capturing and creating this.

Taken from just north of Pafos at Sea Caves, looking south. This is a nine shot panorama, all done in portrait mode. Each capture taken via my Tokina zoom at 11mm, 15secs, F3.2, 1600iso. The edges are the coastal rocks of chalky limestone hence the light nature with the low foreground being the sea itself. The lighter low spot is in fact an island, Centre left shows us the constellation of Orion with its bright belt and sword. The bright star to the left of this is Sirius. The light milky bow of the Milky Way, consist of course, of millions of stars. All in all , a far better experience taking this in the mild black evenings of a new moon Cyprus than my Northern England. Again my gratitude to Steve Paxton for his invaluable help in me capturing and creating this.