Snap Map and a new home for my musings?

My New Home?

With the demise of Google+, I kind of felt like I'd been made homeless.  I no longer had a place to share my random thoughts and ramblings.  Reddit seemed the next best place, but it's not quite the same and I don't feel quite as accepted there.  I still use Twitter for brief quips and moans, but there's still a hole.

So, I thought maybe I should resume posting random shizz here on my old blog.  Maybe that will fill the hole that Google thrust through my soul when they nixed G+ (and don't get me started on Google Play Music...!)  Why Google has to kill off all of their best services, I'll never understand.

Anyway, let's get things off to a random start.  Where does SnapChat's Snap Map get its mapping data from, and who chooses what's shown?

Snaps, Maps and General Nerdery

Random runway in the middle of nowhere

I'm a closet map nerd and I regularly lose copious amounts of time looking at features in overhead imagery.  Have you ever noticed lines or curves in fields in the middle of nowhere and wondered what they were, what had created them?  Have you ever noticed how many former airfields are still visible from the air, whether they're now industrial estates, or farm shops?

One thing I've noticed about Snap Map is that it seems to "recognise" certain patterns in aerial imagery and show them as certain features on the Snap Map.  Here, for example, it appears to have put an airport runway in the middle of nowhere.

I know this area to be a trading estate not far from where I live.  I see lots of heavy goods vehicles coming & going and it is adjacent to a relatively major road in the area.

So, curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to have a look at the same location on Google Maps to see if I could also spot a runway in the same place.  And, sure enough, this little industrial estate in the middle of nowhere is indeed another one which has sprung up on the site of an old airfield.

Google view of the former airfield

As you can see in the Google view, it definitely still has those classic lines of a 3-way airfield.  But, comparing it to the Snap Map image, I still can't clearly see a runway exactly in the same spot.

What I can see in that spot is a strip of grass which presumably used to be one of the runways running roughly east/west.

So, why does Snap Map see this as a runway, but not the north/south or NW/SE strips?

Let's zoom in a bit more and see how much extra detail we can see in the Google data...

Now things get interesting.  This little trading estate in the middle of nowhere, which has sprung up on a former airfield on that site, actually seems to have something resembling an active grass airstrip!

Close-up showing markings on grass airstrip

On zooming in to the Google imagery, you can clearly see dotted lines painted on the strip and brackets denoting each end of the runway.

So, has Snap Map detected these markings and decided that this must be an airstrip?

Planes, Trains and SnapChat

Another thing I love to do on Google Maps is find and follow disused railway lines.  My local pub is around 500 years old, so it has seen a fair few changes in the small town where I live.  One of those changes would be the name of the road on which it sits.  It's called Station Road.  Now, there are probably thousands of Station Roads in the UK, but most of them have one thing in common; they either currently or previously led to a railway station.

In the case of my local, it's the latter.  There is no longer a railway station in my town, nor has there been in the time I have lived here.  What there is is a residential housing estate with road names like Railway Crescent, The Sidings, Signal Road, etc.  That tells me there used to be a decent sized station here many years ago.  So, to Google!

Aerial evidence of a former railway line

And well, well, well, would you look at those curves!

As you can clearly see in the picture, whilst there may be absolutely no sign of a station or any rails or signals, the landscape still bares the scars.  You can see the former line coming up from the bottom right of the image above (heading north out of my town) and curving to the west to join the main line.  If you look closely, you can even see a colour change where the line would have crossed the field just to the left of centre.

I have followed that non-existent railway line for about five miles through the countryside before losing the trail.  I think I've picked up the trail a bit further up the line, but I can't be sure and that could be a separate former line.

But wait, here comes the Snap Map again!

Snap Map showing the same curves of the former line

It's a bit harder to see (I've tried to boost the sharpness & contrast a bit to help) but those same curves are visible in the Snap Map data.  The line heading north out of my town and curving west, then curving slightly northward again to the far left of the image.

The line actually goes north to the next major town (with potentially a few stops at villages along the way) where it actually meets the line you might be able to spot running to the north east of the airfield above.  It doubles back on itself a few times as it snakes through the countryside when you follow it.

From the first horse-drawn trams nearly 200 years ago, to the last steam-powered engines around 60 years ago, the line saw a fair amount of change.  But it has been gone for 60 years, and whilst there are still stretches where there are rails and bridges and converted train carriages along its length, the only evidence that there was ever a railway in my town are the road names, some geological features visible in aerial photographs, and the Snap Map.

Another Food Post

Is this turning into a food blog?  Who cares?  It's my blog and I'll post about whatever I want!

Did I ever tell you how much I love Italy?  Tonight, I love her a little bit more.  Whether any Italians would actually make/eat what I had for dinner tonight, I've no idea, but it was certainly inspired by the colours & flavours I've come to associate with Il Maggior Bellissimo Paese.

Tagliatelle Tricolore

This is Tagliatelle with Chicken, Anchovies, Tomatoes & Basil.  But I call it Tagliatelle Tricolore because it's the colours of the Italian flag.

The recipe is dead simple:

Chuck a small tin of anchovies, including the oil, into a frying pan with some medium-hot oil.  Don't worry, the anchovy flavour isn't strong; this just gives the dish a background element which highlights the other flavours.  Allow the anchovies to dissolve into the oil.

Roughly chop a decent handful of vine-ripe tomatoes - into halves or thirds will do.  Add to the frying pan and adjust the heat so the juices are just about sizzling.  You want to soften and reduce the tomatoes, not brown them.  Add a pinch of salt and a few turns of the black pepper grinder at this point.  The salt will help to soften the tomatoes.  Use white pepper for better aesthetics; I just prefer the flavour of black.

Chop 3-4 large cloves of garlic and add to the frying pan.  Waiting until some of the tomato juice has escaped will help prevent the garlic from browning, preserving the flavour.  Add a generous four-finger pinch of unrefined soft brown sugar.  It seems like a lot for a savoury dish, but it really helps soften the tartness of the tomatoes, balancing the dish.

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and add a pinch of salt.

Thinly slice 1 large or 2 small chicken breasts and add to the frying pan.  Adding it raw at this stage allows it to absorb all the flavours from the sauce, prevents it from browning and results in tender & juicy meat.  Slicing it very thinly ensures it will cook through and big cubes wouldn't work so well with this dish.

Dunk 4 nests of dried tagliatelle into the boiling water.  Keep the sauce moving whilst the pasta softens for 5 minutes or so.  Once the pasta is a few minutes short of al dente, transfer it to the frying pan.  Add maybe a ladleful of the water from the pasta and stir everything together.  Finishing off the pasta in the sauce helps it to really absorb all those wonderful flavours.

Once most of the liquid has been absorbed by the pasta (3-5 mins) grab a good handful of fresh basil leaves and toss through.  Like spinach, they'll wilt almost immediately, so you really do want to add them just before serving.

Slap the whole lot unceremoniously onto a plate, shave some parmesan over the top and garnish with some fresh basil leaves.

Serve with an ice cold Chenin Blanc.  I know it's not Italian, but it bloody works with this dish!

Simple, quick and delicious.  Bellissima!

Non Photography Post

Just a quickie because I really enjoyed my dinner tonight and wanted to log what it was!

You'll want:

• Oil (cooking, not motor or massage);
• Butter (that pasty Euro stuff actually works quite well);
• A large white onion;
• A garlic.  Use as much as you want, especially if you're single;
• Some ginger.  Not of the red-headed stepchild variety;
• Chilli to make it sing;
• Chorizo;
• Prawns.  The larger and fresher the better;
• Vino.  White, obvs.  Chardonnay works well with creamy, spicy seafood dishes like this;
• Rice, cooked.  It's like a risotto, but the quick and lazy way;
• Smoked paprika and turmeric for both colour and flavour;
• Parmesan for seasoning and to give the rice that velvety smooth texture that makes everyone go "Mmmm...!"

Heat some oil and butter in a pan on low-med heat.  I don't do measures, but a good couple of glugs of oil and a thick wedge of butter are about right.

Add a large onion, finely diced and soften in the oil until it starts to go transparent.  You brown it, you bugger it.

Finely chop (or grate) 3 large cloves of garlic and a 1 inch cube of ginger and add to the lightly bubbling pan.

Finely chop some chilli & toss it in.  No measure here, as I used a scotch bonnet because that's all I had.  This would work better with a couple of birdseye chillies, or even a couple of large green jalapeno peppers for the sour element.

Slice up half a ring of chorizo and add to the pan.  You could put this in first and brown it a bit, but all you need is the flavours from the oils to bleed into the dish.

Turn up the heat and add two handfuls of fresh king prawns, peeled.  If you only have cooked prawns, add them later.

Once the prawns have started to colour, pour in a good glug of Chardonnay.  I'd say a small glass, but just pour until it stops searing and starts simmering.  Do this before the onions start browning, even if the pan isn't hot enough and the prawns just went in.

Turn the heat down to a simmer until the alcohol has boiled off and the sauce is velvety & golden.

Add a couple of handfuls of cooked rice, a good pinch of smoked paprika and a good pinch of turmeric.

Bring it back to a simmer and stir until the rice has taken up most of the liquid.

Turn the heat off, then grate in a couple or three tablespoons of parmesan cheese.  Stir it all in and leave to melt into the sauce & rice.

Pour another glass of that Chardonnay, plate up and enjoy.

Big, juicy prawns with garlic, chilli & ginger (always a winning combo) with smoky, meaty chunks of chorizo and a velvety coat of golden rice.  Paradise.

Let me know what you think, if you try it.  Also, let me know if you vary it and how you think that went.

Devon

Having spent a week in Devon, I thought it'd be remiss not to post up a few snaps.  No particular theme, other than the pictures were all taken in South Devon and most were taken in the village of East Prawle.

I also took a couple of pictures with a third party telephoto lens (remember, all of my pictures are taken on a smartphone - in this case a Sony Xperia Z2) which attaches via a phone case with a threaded ring over the camera sensor aperture.  Unfortunately, it looks like the threaded ring causes some unwelcome lens flares in bright sunlight, so I'll have to remember to remove it in future.

Horizons Veranda

This was the house we were staying in for the week.  It's a large bungalow with absolutely stunning, almost completely unobstructed views of the sea, although the beach is about a two and a half mile cross-country walk.  Which is rather nice!

Inner Horizons

And then, here's a picture of the interior.  The house consisted of a mainly open-plan living area with huge swathes of glass on the sea-facing sides.  The bedrooms & bathrooms were in the part of the house without such a beautiful outlook.

Gateway to the sea

And in typical Devon fashion, the village was only accessible via half a dozen country miles of high-sided single track roads.  When they open out to a view like the one here on the left, you realise that all the paint scratches and emergency stops for a tractor coming the other way really were worthwhile!

Seaview Road

And below that, another view of the same road.  This time from slightly higher up and towards the centre of the village.

We walked up this road every day to visit the village shop for our daily provisions and a paper.  Oh, and to visit the village pub of course.  But that's a story for a completely different blog post!

Zoomified Cliff

Next up, we've got a couple of pictures taken through the telephoto lens I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post.

This first one is a picture of the cliffs as seen from the veranda of the house we were staying in.

Tilt-Shift Cliff

The second zoom experiment is also from the veranda, but aimed at the more level ground towards the beach.  It's actually a snap of the cliff-top coastal footpath, but there are some people on the rocks down below, so I added a bit of tilt-shift effect to make them the more obvious subject.  The 'miniaturisation' effect doesn't really work when there's already a blur, but it still looks okay.

Bellevue Breakfast

I See No Ships!

The lens is rated at 12x, which seems about right to me, but the optics are obviously very cheap (the whole kit was only a tenner from eBay!) and the result is some pretty severe loss of focus around the periphery of the image.  On the extreme edge, there's also significant darkening.  If you're a serious photographer, you'd probably be really disappointed with the results from this lens, but I actually really like the effect.  I tend to add some blur and vignetting to my pictures anyway - digitally - but this lense does it the old fashioned way.

The next image (above) is another shot of the house & veranda from the perspective of the gardens.  There was actually a permanent barbecue stand right next to me, but we didn't get a chance to make use of it.  That's my father enjoying breakfast & coffee in the fresh morning sea air.

Clifftop Clarity

Second star to the right, and on 'til morning

After breakfast, and after we'd taken our morning walk to the shop, Dad, brother and I decided to take a picnic down to the beach.  On the way, I stopped to snap the above photo of Dad & bro admiring something in the distance.  My old man seems to have peculiarly excellent long distance eyesight, as he was often pointing things out to both of us which we couldn't see until we were much closer.

And the next photo is of the same cliffs I photographed from the house with the zoom lens, but this time from a normal perspective.  It just goes to show how much better the optics in the phone are than those in the cheap accessory!

Basking Case

See the photo above for further comparison.  The subject (a small sailing boat, snapped with the zoom lens from the veranda) is in reasonable focus, but the rest of the image is very poor quality.  A great effect though!

Speaking of the veranda, it was a lovely place to do a spot of sun worship.  This was the sight which greeted us on Thursday lunchtime.  Mother, Aunt, Grandmother, Great Aunt and Uncle basking in the midday sun.  It must be gin o'clock!

More pointing

Off for another walk, then.  This is another picture of Dad & Bro when we went for one of our walks.  The rutted farm track which formed part of one of the public footpaths around the village.

Fields of Gold

And on that walk, I took the picture below of a corn field overlooking the sea.  The contrast was too good to pass up.  The golden yellow corn swaying in the wind in great swirls & waves, contrasted against the seemingly tranquil aquamarine sea and deep blue sky...

In fact, I like this one so much, it's my new desktop wallpaper.  Hopefully it will serve as a reasonable reminder of the last days of Summer as we seem to be rolling relentlessly into another Autumn.

And the last picture for this blog post represents what we went to Devon for in the first place: a trip to the seaside.  The beach may not have been on our doorstep, it may have been a bit of a trek to get down there and it may not have been one of the golden sandy variety, but there's just something about lolling about on a deserted beach with nothing but the sound of the crashing waves to keep you company.  Relaxation at its very best.

The Sounds of the Sea

Random/Not Categorised Pics

This will likely be the last update post of old stuff, unless I discover some really cool shots (unlikely!)

These are all utterly random pictures which wouldn't be worth blogging separately.

Shrooms.

So, let's start with a picture of some mushrooms. Yes, really, mushrooms.  I just saw this outcrop of bright orange mushrooms bursting out amongst some newly seeded fresh green grass shoots.  Oh, and it just happened to be at sunset, so the lighting was gorgeous.

This was actually taken in the grounds at work, as was the next picture.  Which is of a tree.  Yep, I'm that kind of photographer, I suppose!

Golden Branches.

This was one of those weird moments when I saw this old tree in the grounds at work, with its autumn leaves all shades of green, yellow & orange, and the deep blue morning sky in the background, and I actually tried to frame an image.  I failed completely because I was still about 200 yards away from the tree and there was all sorts of other rubbish cluttering it up.  Then I found myself standing under the tree and looking up.  Click.  No edit required.

Sepia Snow.

After autumn comes winter.  This crumbling farm gate is a short stroll from my house.  I went for a walk one day with the express intention of taking some pictures of Stratford in the snow.  Not many of them came out, and even this one was a bit of a waste of time, so I just started messing around with a few filters.  Nothing really worked until I was demonstrating the temperature setting in the G+ photo editing software to my housemate and dragged the slider all the way up.  Sepia.  So tacky, but it somehow worked for this one.  Well, I thought so anyway!

Thawing Thistle.

On the same expedition, I saw this thistle with a cap of snow.  The macro focus on the Xperia S seemed to work pretty well and I ended up with a well focused subject and completely defocused backdrop.  Just a vignette to frame it and job done.

Burning Branches.

After winter comes spring, and we're back to the grounds at work for another picture of a tree.

I caught this one at sunset on my way out of the office.  Again, I just really liked the contrast of the orange sunlit tree against the cool blue sky.  It did come out a bit noisy, which is why I've added the blur.

I'm not 100% happy with it, but it's a compromise.

Moving on, the next snap is of a very fine spring blossom.  I'd noticed the buds coming out a few days earlier, but by the time I got around to snapping this one, the petals had already started falling.

Again, the macro worked really well and gave me a decently focused subject with a nicely blurred backdrop.

Tweaked for atmosphere and framed with a simple vignette.

Blushing Blossom.

Perky in Pink.

Another flower up next.  This one is actually a weed growing in my lawn, but the tiny pink petals caught my eye against the green lawn.

Once again, macro working a treat.  Sony phones always seem to perform really well at close quarters.  You can see just how tiny this flower is by comparing it with the blade of grass right next to it.

Rusty Rope.

And I'll leave you with possibly the most random image of the whole bunch.  In some pathetic attempt at trying to continue a vague theme of seasons, this one was taken on a summer camping trip to the Lake District.

On a walk up the Old Man of Coniston, we went past the ruins of the old mine.  There's lots of derelict buildings made of slate and lots of old rusty rails and pulley systems.  Something of a photographer's dream, really.  I couldn't do any of it justice, but I kind of like this one.  It's an old winch line which would have moved the rail carts up & down the mountain side.  You're looking down the mountain, back towards Coniston Water where our campsite was.

A bit of a mixed bag, this lot.  I hope you like some of them.  The images are free to use for any purpose, but please do link back to this blog if you use them.  Thanks.

Landscapes

I wasn't going to bother with another post today, but why not?  This time, landscapes.  No particular theme, just photos of landscapes.

Love Is.

First up, a picture from the beer garden at the Crab & Lobster Inn at Bembridge on the Isle of Wight.  A bit of a heart warmer for all you romantics, as a couple rest up after being out on their bikes and take in the sea view.

Taken on a Sony X10i in 2010.  Sharpened.  Vignetted.

Sunny Stratford.

Next is probably one of the most photographed scenes in Warwickshire, but it is pretty.  This is the view from the pedestrian bridge over the river Avon in Stratford.

Taken on a Sony Xperia S, sharpened and vignetted.

I should think this bridge sees hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, and many of them stop to take a picture in this direction, often as a background to a family snap.  I dread to think how many of them I feature in, as I can't always stop before the shutter fires!

Gorgeous Gorge.

Off to France next, and this is a view of some French types enjoying the water running through the Verdon Gorge in the south of the country.

I think this was actually one of the challenge pictures when we were competing in Chronicle Rally's Mountain Madness adventure through Europe, but it's just a lovely picture and I had to share!  Taken with a Sony Xperia S, sharpened, vignetted.

Lovely Lavender.

Still in the south of France, there were loads of these lavender fields everywhere, but they're just so beautiful.  This was actually taken from a moving car, so I'm surprised it's so level and there's not much motion blur.  I guess that's a complement to the designers of the camera in the Sony Xperia S!  This is pretty much as it came out of the camera.

Biker Vista.

I must confess, I'm not entirely sure where this one was taken.  The rally was called Mountain Madness because we spent a lot of time in the Alps, traversing all the most amazing mountain passes, but that did mean doing a lot of border hopping between Italy & Switzerland.  This could have been either, but the vista is certainly bella either way.  No, I don't know whose the bikes are, I just thought it looked cool to have them in shot.  Again, this is pretty much as it came out of the camera.  I've just played with the colour balance/saturation.

English Countryside.

Heading back to Blighty, this is an image snapped on a camping trip to the Lake District.  In fact, this is actually on the campsite and is basically the view I woke up to each day.

Xperia S again.  Just given a little pop to bring out the colours.

Green Mountain Pass.

And finally, I'll leave you with another British sight.  This time, back in Wales.  Yes, I do spend a lot of time in Wales!  Why not, they've got awesome roads.  This is actually known as the Black Mountain Pass.  It's a mountain pass which goes through the Black Mountain National Park.  Imagine that.

This was another Chronicle Rally adventure.  The work takes me to the coolest places!  This was last year's Run to the Hills rally, and it was great fun.

Also snapped on Xperia S, sharpened & vignetted.  I'm nothing if not predictable!

The usual small print: please feel free to use any of these pictures as you see fit, but please include a link back to this blog and also credit Chronicle Rally for those I've mentioned were taken during a rally (those in France, the bikes and this one in Wales from this post) by including the URL http://www.chroniclerally.co.uk/.  Thanks for looking.

Wood & Stone

Continuing my edit & post fest, here's a post featuring photographs of things made out of wood and/or stone.  Because I like stuff like that.

Rings & Ripples.

After some pretty major flooding in my home town of Stratford upon Avon a few years ago, there was a lot of debris and detritus strewn along the river bank.  This wooden palette was teetering on the edge down by the Lucy's Mill weir.  I liked the contrast between the obviously distressed wood, the concrete edging on this part of the river, and the now-calm water gently lapping at the shore.  And then I went and defocused almost everything because I thought it would look good.  Meh.

Chesterton Mill.

The palette pic was taken on a Sony X10i - an 8mp smartphone snapper.

This picture from inside Chesterton Windmill was taken on my 13mp Sony Xperia S.  Aside from a slight vignette and some sharpening, this is how it came out of the camera.  I had many more images of the mill I wanted to post, but the Google+ photo editing software - which I use for all of my edits - wasn't playing ball and would only allow me to edit landscape images for some reason.  I may try again another day and do a separate post, as there's some lovely shots in that set.

Don't look back.

Next is an image from a Chronicle Rally planning trip to Wales.  It's another Xperia S snap which didn't come out of the camera too well at all.  It was wonky, slightly out of focus and the contrast was all wrong.  A few edits have put most of that right, but a moody/stormy affair was about the best I could do to make it presentable.  Funny really because it was a really nice day when I took the picture!  Creepy Causeway.

Weedy Window.

Here's another one from the same expedition to Wales, and it's another one which came out very poorly.  The phone sensor couldn't handle the huge contrast between the dark interior of the tower and the bright vista beyond.  The result was an excessively overexposed window and poor detail on the stone.  Once again, Google+ came to the rescue and I was able to bring out much of the detail in the stone work and recover at least some of the countryside in the background.

Don't look down!

More from Wales, this one was fairly early in the day.  As such, there was still a lot of cloud cover.  Good news for the phone, as there wasn't such a great contrast to deal with.  Again, I've just sharpened this up and added a vignette, otherwise it's as it came out of the camera.

Technicolour monastery.

Grey Friary.

Now, here's two versions of the same picture.  Actually, it's two separate exposures, but they're almost identical.  I couldn't decide whether I liked it better in colour or black & white, so I did the two versions.  On the one hand, I love all the colours in the stone, the purple heather behind, the red stained wooden benches and lush green of the grass.  On the other hand, I like the atmosphere afforded by the B&W version.  There's also a processing artefact in the B&W version.  It's slightly less obvious with the colour taken out, so that helped me to decide which one should be which!

Purple hills.

There was no such uncertainty with this picture of the ruins.  Those purple hills deserved to be presented in all their glory.  As it was overcast, and slightly misty, there was little to be done with this one.  I tried straightening it up, but it just looked worse the more I fiddled, so I just plonked a vignette on it and left it as Sony intended.

Colourful Cloisters.

Grey Gable.

Alas, the indecision returned with this one.  The myriad colours in the pillars and the vivid green grass look fantastic, but then there's this drab void in the upper right corner.  Stone always looks just fine in black & white and it balances out the dull spot.  That said, removing the colour seems to remove something of the soul in the stone.  That's why I present them both here.

And you'll no doubt be glad to hear that little dichotomy represents the last of the images from the monastery.  You may be slightly less relieved to hear there are more pictures of Wales yet to come!

White Cross.

Another Welsh ruin snapped with a Sony Xperia S.  Again, the contrast was all over the place, but not as bad as the window in the tower from before.  Still, it was very dark, so I went with a black & white job.  For something so simple, I think this picture says a lot!  I can just imagine being a Welsh bowman aiming my weapon at the invading English through that little slit.

Right, just one more Welsh castle and we'll move on.

Below is a picture from the now English village of Whittington in Shropshire.  The castle you see would have been right on the front line during any tests on the border, but it was pretty tiny.  You're looking at the gate house.  There's a moat, gardens and a few ruins inside, but you'd still describe it as sweet rather than imposing.

Cute Castle.

With good lighting, this one's much as it came out of the camera.  You guessed it, I just added a vignette.  And sharpened it up a bit.

I love that a duck just happened to be landing as I took the pic (completely by luck) and cast a bunch of ripples onto the moat.

Don't jump!

And a final image from Wales!  This time it looks like a seagull about to throw itself off a pier.  I can't decide if I like how this one is framed or not, but it's the contrast between the wood, rope and iron on the pier with the water & rocks beneath which I like.

Perhaps the gull is simply taking in the view!

Reach for the sky!

Leaving Wales behind altogether, we head off to Belgium for this one.  Antwerp, to be precise.  Still using a Sony Xperia S but in bright daylight now.

There's a little bit of faux HDR applied to this to help with contrast, otherwise the tower was mostly in silhouette.  Aside from that and my usual edits of a little sharpening and a vignette, this is pretty much as it came out.

Right, just one more before I call it a day on this post.  I'm going to bring it home to Stratford with a picture of Holy Trinity Church, below.

This is one I took on a snowy January afternoon in rapidly fading light.  I could have included it in my earlier low light post, but you would have thought I was cheating!  The image was noisy and not particularly sharp, so I've actually dropped the contrast and left it looking a little bit washed out.  Obligatory vignette to break up the otherwise white sky, give some depth and draw the eye to the subject.

Chilly Church.

As I always say, my pictures are free to use as long as they're attributed back to this blog.  All of the Wales images on this page should also be attributed to Chronicle Rally with a link to http://www.chroniclerally.co.uk included.