Lightning on a hot August night

It was a hot August night, we were sitting on the beach on the Costa de la Luz, Spain when lightning started to flash all around us, a spectacular show that lasted around an hour.

Beautiful Summer Evening

It was a beautiful summer evening walking along the River Suir in Co. Tipperary, Ireland. The fish were jumping and the wild flowers high along the river bank. The clouds glowed orange in the afterglow of sunset, the clear air holding the light until late in the evening.

White light

Staying at a friend's house in Ireland on a changeable day, these lilies in the garden suddenly lit up, caught by a shaft of sunlight, I rushed outside and captured this image, the beauty and delicacy of the blooms revealed by the strong backlighting.

The seconds before sunset

Last night the sky was ablaze with colour just a few seconds before sunset over Crosby beach.

The beauty of fruit

This simple bowl of apricots caught my eye, there was not a lot of light but it seems as though the fruit is absorbing what light there is, soaking it up and glowing with colour.

Wild Flower Field

In Victoria Park, Crosby is a field of wild flowers in glorious bloom. I captured this image late in the evening after having photographed the field earlier in the day in bright sunlight. I love the soft muted colours so reminiscent of a Monet painting.

Rainbow Rocks

A recent visit to Chatsworth House in Derbyshire on a gloriously sunny day and a stroll through the gardens provided this interesting image. The spray from the fountain was being blown around in different directions but, by waiting until the water fell directly onto the rocks around the fountain, this wonderful rainbow of colour surrounded the base of the fountain

Truly, a stolen moment of peace

A hot sunny afternoon in the Piazza della Republica, Cortona, Italy. Time to sit, relax, watch the world go by and maybe grab a few minutes of sleep.

Poppies in Bloom

Poppies seem such delicate flowers, their paper thin petals flutter gently in the breeze through an Italian olive grove, their bright red dazzles as they seem to cling to life everywhere spring.

Trees full of Life

May in Tuscany. The false acacia black locust trees are heavy with sweet scented creamy white blossom, a magnet for bees. When you stand and listen the trees hum with the sound of the bees.

Reflections, art in water

Passing through the Albert Dock in Liverpool this morning I was struck by the reflections of a yellow and orange painted boat in the smooth surface of the water, an impressionist painting created by the gently moving liquid on a hot spring morning.

Spring Blossoms Forth

Spring has suddenly arrived, the trees in our local park have burst into life with rich, verdant foliage, the cherry blossom that delicate pink shade. The trees are laden with blossom, branches heavy with flowers and yet each flower is so delicate and short lived, a shower of rain or a gust of wind and petals descend from the trees like confetti.

Orchid design

Strong sunlight was pouring through this orchid and I noticed that the inside petals formed this eerie winged bird of prey.

Light, Shade and Colour

The strong saturated colours in the outside courtyard contrast strongly with the monochromatic interior
in this shot captured in the Real Alcazar in Seville, Spain. I love the way the shadows of the window bars create the black and white foreground to the strong colours outside.

Painted Surface

In Venice the water reflects the light and the surrounding colours, here the bright blues and reds have been brush stroked onto the surface of the water, an artist's canvas in fluid motion, the image forever changing.

Flickering Light

In Venice you cannot escape the water and the light, the water captures the light and bounces it back onto the buildings, a flickering shimmering light that pervades the air and saturates the buildings. Venice is a city of moving light, driven by the flowing water.

Winter Moon Rising

Through branches laden with snow, tinged with pink from the last light of the sun; a silver white moon makes her presence felt in the cold blue of a winter evening sky.

Golden Light

Walking through Venice one evening, I turned the corner from the Riva degli Schiavoni into the Piazzetta San Marco and saw this wonderful golden light hitting the centuries old columns of the Palazzo Ducale. This effect only lasted a few minutes, a few stray rays of light from the setting sun had slipped through a gap in the buildings and filled the loggia with their warmth.

Mersey Mist

A foggy morning in Liverpool, at noon the sun was just piercing the mist and casting these shadows from the top of the Royal Liver Building. The Liver Bird on top like a phoenix rising out of the light.

Fragile Beauty

This is a close up of frost crystals on the inside of the car windscreen, after one very cold night. The sun had just hit the windscreen and the crystals were starting to melt, their fragile beauty soon to be lost forever.

Timeless

The patio of the Hotel Des Baines on the Lido, Venice. Timeless elegance, echoes of a bygone era.
This is the hotel that was used in the film Death in Venice and also as the Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo in The English Patient.

Morning Mist, Tuscany

A beautiful may morning in Tuscany, I had been photographing the sunrise over the hills from a high vantage point and as I walked back down the lane to the farmhouse we were staying in this scene appeared before me.

Venice at Dawn

Dawn in Venice, the sun has just risen, flooding the island of San Giorgio Maggiore with a misty light, a magic moment in the day with the gondolas still at their moorings and the city has yet to burst into life.

Early morning, Venice

St. Mark's Square, Venice, captured just after sunrise on a misty May morning, this is one of the few times of day when this area is free of tourists and you can feel the history in the buildings around you.

Clear Atlantic Air

A hot summer day in The Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland. Memories of crystal clear air, vibrant green grass, myriad wild flowers blooming between the limestone paving, sun sparkling off the Atlantic and the scattering of the Aran Islands, low mounds rising out of the blue green waters.

Italian Days

An image captured in a hotel room in Tuscany, I just loved the way the light poured through the window .

Timeless

The Poulnabrone Dolmen, the Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland. These stones of this burial chamber are
reckoned to have stood here for over 5000 years withstanding the elements that come straight off the Atlantic in this beautiful wild area in the west of Ireland.

Step back in time 2

Further along the same street in Lucca was this little jewellery shop.

Step back in time

This Coffee bar in Lucca, Italy is a fabulous remnant of a bygone era with its polished wooden frontage.

Jewelled Web

The delicate tracery of a spider's web in ultra close up. This was captured early one morning in the garden, I love the way the dew has formed tiny drops along the strands of the web, minute strings of diamonds sparkling in the light.

Ethereal Trees

The pattern of light and shade on these lichen covered trees just took my fancy as I walked through St Anne's Park in Dublin. The sunlight was bouncing off the white path below the trees, flooding the shadow with light.

Winter Mist and Frost

A scene from near where I live, a beautiful cold and frosty December day. The fields were covered with sparkling white frost and the late afternoon sun shone gently through the mist.

Reflections

Reflections in the River Liffey, Dublin, Ireland. A still, grey day, the buildings were swaying gently in the water, their colours muted in the soft light.

Full Moon

I was waiting for the light to fade, to capture some floodlit buildings. Whilst I waited this full moon rose out of the orange purple haze, the birds just flew into place.

Shadows

Something about the light coming through these windows appealed to me, the large empty room, the solitary chair and the shadows on the floor.

Welcome to the stolen moment

This blog is for images of mine which do not fit into any particular category. They are just pictures I have taken during my wanderings because the subject appealed to me at the time. This is a picture taken on a beautiful spring day in Sefton Park, Liverpool. As a colour image it is quite ordinary but as a black and white picture it seems to come alive.