A Durham photowalk
I live just 10 minutes drive from Durham and have spent many an hour having a coffee and watching the world go by in one of Durhams coffee shops. Its a great source of inspiration for images with some grand old architecture such as bridges from the 12th century, a castle from the 11th century and a wonderful cathedral from the 12th century.
With all that age and history its hard not to be awed by their walls and construction and they are stalwarts of the Durham city landscape.
However I think I have become a little immune to them in that way that is only natural when surrounded by it all the time. In fact just the act of writing this has convinced me to have another wander round the historical elements and try to tell a historical story of Durham a little more - but that’s for a future blog.
I recently popped in with the intention of once more trying more of a street feel out, looking for shadows, angles, people and walking different routes to normal. All in all I was happy with what came out and even managed a couple of people shots that I do struggle a lot with!
So here are a few images from the wander:
It should come as no surprise that that the first image I took was nothing to so with street photography, although I would argue that pigeons are very much urban creatures so that’s my justification.
This was around 11 am and usually this fella was just sunning himself on a branch. It could be that the poor thing was not very well, but they were very still for me so I managed to grab a half decent shot
ISO 200
f/7.1
200mm
1/125 s
These stairs always jump out at me because they always remind me of a series of stairs images in book be M C Esher that I am convinced my parents had when I was a child in Belgium.
If you have not seen or heard of MC Esher I recommend looking them up. They drew amazing studies that played with perspective and are fascinating pieces of art.
My main annoyance with this image is the small piece of bridge I have in the lower right - I will have to go back and try to improve the framing of this one
ISO 200
f/7.1
52mm
1/400s
This was a very interesting character with a small electric lute on one of the bridges in Durham that frequently has buskers on it. I like the sun highlights on the roof behind and edge of the bridge.
This image was taken from the riverside so needed the full 200mm of the lens
ISO 200
f/7.1
200mm
1/100s
This is one of the small lanes just outside the city center. The warm brick work and cobble street gives an impression of age and I particularly like the leading lines provided by the curb (intended) and the telegraph wires (pure fluke lol!)
I don’t know why I like this one, it just shows a lot about Durham - look at the lovely street lamps, only present on certain streets in the city.
ISO 200
f/7.1
28mm
1/250s
Durham has wonderful rooftops, a great selection of purples and greys with numerous chimney pots scattered all over. Because the Wear valley is quite a steep one, there are many different levels and layers to these kinds of shots. I will have to come back next winter when more of the chimneys are in use and we have lots of steam and smoke trails.
ISO 200
f/7.1
200mm
1/160s
Now this one was all about that big block of colour, although upon reflection I think its too much and I should have gone for a wider angle to provide more of a sense of scale, regardless that the workman on the ladder is there to do just that.
I have de-saturated the background in the edit to make the red pop whilst also making sure it’s not too vibrant and artificial looking. The shadow makes a nice element in the image too.
ISO 200
f/7.1
68mm
1.6740 s
This image was all about symmetry, the three windows at the top, the two larger lower ones with the spire in the centre and the paving leading our eye in. After some reflection and review though I wonder whether I should narrow the edit to remove the distractions of the wall to the left and the break in the roof to the right?
I’ll add that edit in next:
It’s a closer crop but not sure whether I lose al little too much of the overall image. I like the improved symmetry, it could almost be folded over on the central axis!
ISO 200
f/ 6.3
104mm
1/500 s
Finally my favorite image of the day. I think this image asks so many questions about the subject, exactly what I was looking to grab in an urban image.
ISO 200
f/ 5.6
200mm
1/100 s
That was it for this walk - I learned a lot and in reviewing and displaying them all here I have even more to consider - this a such a great process for improving my work - please do let me know me know what you think on socials or by messaging me via the website
Martin