Lux Fine Photography: May 2011

Saturday, 28 May 2011

I have moved!

I have moved to wordpress - just because they look better and give me better control over how I present my pictures. I am slowly transferring my photos over :) which will take me some time - so I wont be putting any new pics up for a while yet - just transferring.

From now on I am here:

http://theeyenology.wordpress.com

Cheers

Wednesday, 25 May 2011

Canary Wharf, London

I have a new favourite place in London - Canary Wharf. Lots and lots of glass, interesting architecture, skyscrapers, and reflections galore. The Canary Wharf Underground Station is a masterpiece in itself - has a very Metropolis feeling to it, and is a very deep hole in the ground! This building is the HSBC building on a Friday afternoon when all the suits were hard at work.

From Wikipedia:

"Canary Wharf is built on the site of the West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs. From 1802, the area was one of the busiest docks in the world. By the 1950s, the port industry began to decline, leading to the docks closing by 1980. Canary Wharf itself takes its name from No. 32 berth of the West Wood Quay of the Import Dock. This was built in 1936 for Fruit Lines Ltd, a subsidiary of Fred Olsen Lines for the Mediterranean and Canary Island (Insula Canaria (from canis) "Island of Dogs") fruit trade. At their request, the quay and warehouse were given the name Canary Wharf.

Today Canary Wharf is a major business district located in London, United Kingdom. It is one of London's two main financial centres, alongside the traditional City of London, and contains many of the UK's tallest buildings, including the second tallest (and tallest completed), One Canada Square. Canary Wharf contains around 14,000,000 square feet (1,300,000 m²) of office and retail space, of which around 7,900,000 square feet (734,000 m²) is owned by Canary Wharf Group. Around 90,000 people work in Canary Wharf and it is home to the world or European headquarters of numerous major banks, professional services firms and media organisations including Barclays, Citigroup, Clifford Chance, HSBC, KPMG, Skadden and Thomson Reuters."

Thursday, 19 May 2011

Morris Dancers

In the Autumn of 2009 we went for a short break down to Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, and next to the B&B was a car park. In the carpark one morning these two and about eight other men came out in all their glory to practice. It was kinda cool - I wasn't the only photographer there. I do think the Forest of Dean is absolutely gorgeous.

Wednesday, 18 May 2011

The Arts Quarter, Leicester

More of Leicester's architecture, this time a lovely building across from the Athena building, in the Arts Quarter. It houses a cinema I think, and a number of cafes etc. I liked how the building even though it was very modern didn't look too out of place in amongst the Deco, and Victorian buildings. Leicester is beginning to grow on me.

Sunday, 15 May 2011

May Day Parade, Quorn

These fine pairs of legs belong to members of the Quorn Pipe Band in the May Day Parade, 2011. You could hear them well before you saw them coming down the street, kilts swings, tassels flying.

Friday, 13 May 2011

No. 18

Monday, 9 May 2011

Mary Gauthier @ The Musician, Leicester

We went to see Mary Gautier last night at The Musician in Leicester. She really was awesome, wonderful musician. She was accompanied by Tania Elizabeth and Dave Glover. Tania Elizabeth was on fiddle, and was fantastic, really into the music, and a great accompaniment to Mary Gautier. Dave Glover was an Irish guy who is currently working in Nashville. He was good, I think he has potential, but MG outclassed him by miles. I would say go see them all if they are in the area.

From Wikipedia:

"Gauthier was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Given up at birth by a mother she never knew, Gauthier was adopted by an Italian Catholic couple in Thibodaux, Louisiana. At age 15, she ran away from home, and spent the next several years in drug rehabilitation, halfway houses, and living with friends; she spent her 18th birthday in a jail cell. Struggling to deal with being adopted and her sexuality, she used drugs and alcohol. These experiences provided fodder for her songwriting later on. Spurred on by friends, she enrolled at Louisiana State University as a philosophy major, dropping out during her senior year.

After attending the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, she opened a Cajun restaurant in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, Dixie Kitchen (also the eponymous title of her first album). Mary ran, and cooked at, the restaurant for eleven years. She was arrested for drunk driving opening night, July 12, 1990, and has been sober ever since. After achieving sobriety, she was driven to dedicate herself full-time to songwriting, and embarked upon a career in music. She wrote her first song at age 35.

She sold her share in the restaurant to finance her second album, Drag Queens in Limousines, in 2000. The summer of the release of this album, she was invited to play 11 major folk festivals, including the Newport Folk Festival. Drag Queens in Limousines won in The 1st Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Folk/Singer-Songwriter Song, and she was nominated for Best New Artist of the year by the Boston Music Awards. She was nominated for three GLAMA awards ( Gay and Lesbian American Music Awards) and won best country artist of the year. In 2002 her third album,"Filth and Fire" was named "Best Indy CD of the year" by Jon Pareles of The New York Times, in 2002.

She moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2001 and secured a publishing deal with Harlan Howard Songs, then secured a record deal with Lost Highway , a division of Universal Music, in 2003. Her first major label release, in 2005, Mercy Now was on the top 10 list for the year in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News, and Billboard Magazine. She was awarded "New Artist of the Year" by The Americana Music Association the same year. Mercy Now was voted the #6 Record of the Decade by No Depression Magazine. Her second Lost Highway release, "Between Daylight and Dark" appeared in September 2007. She has had her songs recorded by numerous artists, including Jimmy Buffett, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Bill Chambers and Candi Staton. Her latest release is called The Foundling and was released by Razor and Tie Records in 2010. It was named the #3 Record of the Year in the LA Times by music writer Randy Lewis."

Thursday, 5 May 2011

I went out walking...

It's funny when I was fifteen and full of grace - or is that face? I painted a picture of an imagined tree - it looked very much like this one. It is a very cool tree. The fields behind are hi-lighter yellow and very, very pretty. This was taken on the pathway from Shepshed to Belton, Leicestershire.

Monday, 2 May 2011

Spring has sprung!

I took this as the sun was setting and we were on the final leg of our evening walk through a field full of lovely flowers. I liked the movement in this shot, I tweaked it a bit with a golden yellow filter, the flowers were yellow to start with so it just deepened it a little. I think it works.