GX GARNERINGS

  ^The view to River Avon from my room.  What a scenic view to greet one at dawn and dusk Contrary to the belief of people knowing little about photography, night scenes are best reproduced in pictures without firing flash.  Well, have you been to the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the Peak in Hong Kong seeing people photographing the beautiful night scenes with the flash on?  The best advice to them could be, "But you can't possible light up the whole city with your flash." ^The Circuit consists of several groups of old buildings forming a circular place in the middle of which grows a tree enormous enough to require ten people to hold around its trunk. Instead of a flash, you will need a tripod, a mini one if that suits you.  For me, I always bring along this one with me.  As we all know, the trick of photographing night scenes is to close down the aperture and drag the shutter speed.  Depending on the lighting conditions, I have fou...

Pardon me for the cliché, but: What a Bath!  In case your knowledge about the UK is scant, Bath is a small town famous for a Roman Bath relic.  It is next to another famous city to the lower west of England, Bristol which is regarded as the garden city of the big island.  I made a change at a Bristol train station which was quite atmospheric in an old fashion. ^The shadows were of the other tourists dropping off the train which are included in the picture with an intention to give reference and interest to the scene.  Otherwise, the picture could be (much more?) boring. The whole town area is within easy walking distance.   Apart from the Roman Bath, its big attraction is the Georgian architecture of the buildings.  The architectural style, decorated with the picturesque River Avon flanked by the leafy banks, bestows the city with a crispy and light pace of life. ^I took this photo on the deck of a boat.  The scene presented itself sudde...

The university city has a special old and scholarly atmosphere to it.  Subconsciously, I was too charmed to run around the city with the camera.  Admiring the people and the landmarks at a leisurely pace were good enough it seemed. ^Taken in the famous Blackwell Bookstore in Oxford   ^The meadows by the Christ Church, which is now sought after for the chapel where Harry Potter was filmed, are situated next to the river where they rowing eight usually practises. ^A fountain in the courtyard and the interior of the chapel ^The intricate roof works of the chapels and cathedrals are always fascinating.   ^The Radcliffe Camera which has noting to do with photography.  It was built around 1740 to house a science library. ^An entrance to the courtyard of one of the Oxford colleges   ^The Bridge of Sighs is on the right connecting to the building under repair.

^Similar head portraits are commonly found near the doorways in the Oxford colleagues. Oxford is famous for a lot of renowned architecture and scholars, mostly recently also for pottering Harry's footsteps. It is one of the British cities to be enjoyed by simply walking around. There are lots of iconic scenes in the street by a glimpse of which you would say, "Ah, Oxford the university town." With a bit of creativity, I however photographed some iconic scenes more vaguely suggesting the place. The above are two street scenes displaying the main shopping stripe (St Aldate's; High Street/ Queen Street) in the city, which people having visited Oxford should be able to tell. The 4-storey houses (or at least 4 levels as known by counting the windows) are typical of Oxford's. The Carfax Tower in the second picture, first built in 1820 to attach to the ancient city church of St. Martin, can be climbed at a cost. I did and recommended it. The old photos in...

^A ring actually worn by William Shakespeare The charm of heritage buildings is that the spots you touched and stayed could have been done the same by the people in history.  Stratford-upon-Avon, the little medieval town where William Shakespeare lived, is a second most visited destination after London for its heritage relics. It is an atmospheric town with many half-timbered houses ideal for a photographic trip too.  But the place has been so extensively filmed and photographed that it is a challenge to give your photos a unique look, which is absolutely not helped by the grey grumpy British weather.   ^If you go to Stratford-upon-Avon, I would recommend buying the ticket to visit the three houses related to William.  The Nosh's House next to this site called New Place has the best guided tour among them.  make sure you join the English gentleman briefing you on the history of the house. As always, the best way to make the photos stand out is to think u...

A trip to Birmingham which was my first reminded me of Hong Kong. I hopped off the train running in a rather "unBritish" fashion (=punctually) at the Birmingham New Street Station and landed at the shopping district resembling the busiest ones in Hong Kong. It was bustling with shoppers and activities but without the hectic thrust among the throng as in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, the big chain stores were just too familiar to me. Window-shopping was fun though. So I made it neither much a shopping trip nor a photographic one. The skyline there was way better than in Coventry. But the sky was grey, which was great for doing portraits. ^A tip on freezing people walking if you don't know is people walking past horizontally can be frozen at 1/30s and towards at half that speed. Any shutter speed lower than recommended will blur the movement. With a bit wandering I ended up in Temple Row where a Louis Vuitton shop occupied a corner store. I went in to witness the rising economi...

They sat across from me, chatting in an affectionate way.  They young lady carried a very photogenic facial features.   I call it full of life and love. There I was with a camera.  I felt obliged to take photos of 'em. So, I went up and asked for permission.  I just felt obliged and the feeling of a day completed was in me after having taken the photos of them. Enjoy the Sunday.  Kiss someone you love.