Autumn Leeds Churchyard

Picture of St Stephen Kirkstall churchyard in Autumn Leeds.

Yesterday was a damp and very dull day here in Leeds. Driving through Kirkstall I stopped off at the church of St Stephen to have another look at the churchyard before the leaves have gone.

By chance as I passed the church doorway I noticed someone waiting, the meter reader come to read the church electricity meter. So I got to look inside the church of St Stephen and the treasurer told me a little of the history.

The North window is I think the best one and a stunning example of the art of making stained glass windows. There is a coloured drawing of the window hanging on a wall opposite, I believe done by the makers James Powell and Sons of Whitefriars, London. I will photograph these on another day that is not quite so dull. Stained glass photography I find does not need a sunny day but you do need a reasonable amount of light behind the glass. I have photographed the windows in many churches here in this bit of Yorkshire, some for my Leeds photography and this blog and others further afield because its a subject that interests me.

On a different note, a chance remark as we parted led to another story for this Leeds blog about some alms houses in Kirkstall but I will have to find them another day.

Steps Woodhouse Moor

Picture of steps on Woodhouse Moor, Leeds.

These steps are on Woodhouse Moor just across from Harrison's almshouses. I walked up them a few days back heading across to the University and as seems normal I was the only person using them. I have more than once pondered these steps, partly because they are more like a staircase but mostly because they do not seem to serve any purpose. I guess that sometime long in the past there was a building here on this bit of Woodhouse Moor, there is nothing now and no indication of what might have been there, just a covering of cinder.

Quite close to this spot is an old cast iron box, not sure what it was used for but I guess it could have been for an electrical supply.

The day I took the above photograph it was pretty miserable, dull and damp too.

Whoops

In this I suspect I am not alone, my photography is a journey. Sometimes something works and sometimes like the above picture, it cleary does not.

This is my old Olympus camera in action, its rather dated but I like it because with 3 lenses in my bag including a macro its pretty light for those days when I just like to carry it around wherever I may be. One of the snags with this older Olympus rather than my heavier Canon gear, is that the lens hood can show up in the picture.

Recently down by the canal I dropped the lens hood and it rolled away across the towpath and bounced into the canal, whoops. But its OK I thought its light plastic it will float and so it did for perhaps 2 seconds before sinking into the murky water! Oh well I thought pretty minor loss, easily get another lens hood. I casually mentioned it to a friend with a canal boat nearby and thought nothing of it. I got a text a couple of days later, the water had been clearer and it was lying on a swath of coloured leaves, he had seen it and fished it out.

I would be the first to admit I am not the best photographer in Leeds, far from it. Thats fine by me, I am and will most likely always be unpretentious by nature. There was a period, a year or so back when someone would comment, anonymously of course, that they would not have done it like that. At first it wound me up but then I thought, its easy to have a photography website with perhaps as few as 10 photographs showing off your work. I would not be too difficult to find a dozen great photographs and showcase those. That is not what my Leeds photography is about. Its about the days when the weather is just dull and damp rather than dramatic. Its also about everyday life here in the city of Leeds and the surrounding towns and villages so I often feature cats, dogs anything that I might think could be of some interest or not.

The above photograph was taken around a week or so back in Roundhay Park.

Autumn Tree - Woodhouse Moor

I love the colours on trees at this time of the year, but its not quite the same on dull and rather dank days. This tree is in the park on Woodhouse Moor next to the tennis courts.

Leeds Bonfire 2012

Picture of poster for Woodhouse Moor bonfire night 2012.

I noticed this poster in the trees on Woodhouse Moor yesterday promoting the Bonfire Night Fireworks in the park here in Leeds. Remember, remember the fifth of November goes the old rhyme. Leeds city council run bonfires and fireworks across Leeds in many of the cities parks.

I have been to the fireworks held at Roundhay Park several times and I thought they were great. The fireworks at Woodhouse Moor are on Monday the 5th of November with the bonfire at 7pm and fireworks at 7.30pm.

Guy Fawkes whose plot is remembered in the old rhyme, was born in York and was executed in 1606 for treason in trying to blow up parliament with gunpowder would be perhaps surprised that more than 400 years later he is still remembered. Almost every week here in the UK there is another story about the misdeeds of our politicians, showing if nothing else how little they understand about how they are viewed by the populace here. They just do not get it! First it was the expenses scandal, followed by flipping their houses to gain the most money and to me this problem seems to be common to far to many of them.

Yellow Flowers

Another plant picture today I do not now which plant these rather pretty small yellow flowers belong to at a guess from where I saw them possibly a herb?

Normal service will be resumed ASAP once I have killed that pesky virus.

Mint Flower

This picture of a mint herb plant in flower is not at all the photo that I would like to post but I have recently had a computer virus!!!

I am struggling to access the web at the moment, so please forgive me if my daily post here are erratic. The virus turned into a major problem when I tried several different anti virus programs to remove it this made a minor problem much worse!