A rusting ornate cast-iron balcony railing on a historic building, photographed from below against a vivid blue sky. The ironwork features decorative scrollwork and spindles, heavily weathered with peeling paint revealing rust beneath. The curved balcony edge and supporting column show significant decay, with moss and lichen adding to the sense of long abandonment.

The rusty balcony of Beckenham Place in S London for a #texture fix.

#OMsystemsOM1 #olympus12100f4

#Photography
#decay

A young parasol mushroom (Macrolepiota procera) emerging from a grassy woodland floor, its cap still tightly closed in a spherical "drumstick" shape. The stipe (stem) displays the species' characteristic snakeskin-like brown mottled patterning. Soft bokeh circles fill the background, with warm golden light filtering through trees, suggesting early morning or late afternoon. Dry grass and leaf litter surround the base of the mushroom.

Throwback Saturday

This pic from 2018 of a newly emergent shroom is as much about the #bokeh #background. The theme for today's #BlueSkyArtShow .

Konishiroku 47mm f1.9 from a fixed lens #Konica rangefinder - helicoid mounted on Sony A7ii.

#photography #macrophotography #naturephotography #fungi

A close-up photograph of a tree trunk covered in climbing ivy with rust-orange autumn leaves. The leaves display prominent white veining against their warm terracotta tones. The textured grey-brown bark of the trunk is partially visible beneath the dense foliage. The blurred background suggests a wintry, dormant landscape with bare branches and a stone wall or structure.

5/5 colour #infrared

Ivy, but not as we know it. Snapped on a footpath somewhere near #Brentwood.

#fourthirds #Olympus14_35mmf2 lens #fullspectrum EM1ii - 590nm clip-in filter

#photography

#landscape #scape #naturephotography

A gravel path winds through a winter landscape, flanked by tall dry golden grasses and dominated by large, bare-branched trees with gnarled, twisting limbs reaching across the sky. The warm amber and rust tones of the dormant vegetation contrast with an overcast blue-grey sky. The scene has a quiet, late-season stillness to it.

4/5 colour #infrared

Another path and more trees in #590nm #IR - Harold Wood Park in E London

#fourthirds #Olympus14_35mmf2 lens #fullspectrum EM1ii - 590nm clip-in filter

#photography

#landscape #scape

A dirt path winds through scrubland in early spring, flanked by a flowering blackthorn bush in full white blossom on the left and bare, tangled bramble or hawthorn shrubs on the right, under a dramatic, heavy grey sky.

3/5 colour #infrared

I like the way the blossom has stayed white in this #ir snap taken on Tylers Common in E London a couple of weeks ago.

#fourthirds #Olympus14_35mmf2 lens #fullspectrum EM1ii - 589nm clip-in filter

#photography

#landscape #scape #naturephotography

A quiet winter or early spring landscape featuring a small winding stream or drainage channel cutting through overgrown wetland vegetation. Bare-branched deciduous trees dominate the scene — including what appears to be a weeping willow in the middle distance — their skeletal forms reaching across a pale, cloudy blue sky. The ground is carpeted in russet and burnt-orange dead ferns or bracken, contrasting with patches of muted sage-green grasses and reeds. The overall palette is soft and muted, with a slightly warm, film-like tone to the edit. The scene has a peaceful, melancholic feel typical of the dormant season.

2/5 colour #infrared

This is the River Ingrebourne in Harold Wood Park E London. This is a 4 shot #panorama / #vertorama as my lens wasn't wide enough.

#fourthirds #Olympus14_35mmf2 lens #fullspectrum EM1ii - #590nm clip-in filter

#photography #ir

#landscape #scape #naturephotography

A narrow dirt path winds through a woodland in late winter, flanked by bare and semi-bare trees whose branches arch overhead to form a natural tunnel. The forest floor and surrounding undergrowth are covered in warm russet and amber tones from dried leaves and grasses. The colour grading gives the scene a rich, slightly surreal quality — deep oranges and teals — with a pale blue sky just visible through the canopy in the upper left corner. The perspective draws the eye down the vanishing path into the misty distance.

1/5 #infrared colour

This week recent colour #IR work - a change from my usual black and white.But this coppery/orange does work for me.

This is south of #Brentwood.

#fourthirds #Olympus14_35mmf2 lens #fullspectrum EM1ii - #590nm clip-in filter

#photography
#landscape #scape #naturephotography

Close-up of an ornate black cast-iron garden bench backrest, with "TRADES" and the numbers "32 to 53" embossed in raised lettering across an arched panel. The bench features decorative scrollwork and circular motifs. In the background, a formal garden with a stone pathway, neatly trimmed hedges, and colourful flower borders is visible, softly out of focus.

The Trades entrance to a mansion block in Kensington.

That's put me in my place.

#photography #trades

#OMsystemsOM1 #olympus12100f4

A black-and-white photograph of a Gothic cathedral cloister corridor. The long, vaulted passageway features elaborate fan vaulting on the ceiling, rows of slender stone columns with pointed arches along the left side opening onto a courtyard, and a solid decorated wall with memorial plaques on the right. The stone-flagged floor leads the eye deep into the receding perspective. The architecture is richly ornamented with carved stonework throughout.

Throwback Saturday

Here's a 2017 snap from #CanterburyCathedral of the cloisters for the #stone theme of today's #BlueSkyArtShow

Taken with #OlympusEM1 and a PanasonicLeica 12-60mm f2.8 - 4.

#photography #churchphotography #architecturephotography #blackandwhite #classicmono

Close-up macro photograph of female catkins on a Silver Birch (Betula pendula) branch, showing multiple elongated, scaly green and reddish-brown seed catkins hanging from a slender twig against a softly blurred dark green bokeh background. Early spring.

5/5 It's #Spring

Silver Birch catkins in Holland Park. Nothing says spring like catkins.

#OMsystemsOM1 #olympus12100f4

#photography #flowerphotography #naturephotography #macro #macrophotography

Thanks. Though not a puddle but one of London's canals.

A close-up photograph of a Camellia japonica bloom, likely the cultivar 'Adolphe Audusson Variegated' (or a similar variegated japonice such as 'Tricolor'). The semi-double flower displays striking irregular streaks and marbling of deep crimson-red on white petals, with prominent golden-yellow stamens and cream filaments at the centre. The bloom is surrounded by glossy, dark green camellia leaves, with a softly blurred background of branches and foliage.

4/5 It's #Spring

A Camellia in a garden in Kensington.

#OMsystemsOM1 #olympus12100f4

#photography #flowerphotography #naturephotography

A bare-branched tree dominates the left side of the frame, its sprawling limbs reaching across a dramatic sky of deep blue broken by billowing grey-white clouds. A narrow stream winds through the centre of the scene, flanked by muddy banks, green grass, and wooden fence posts. Woodland stretches across the background, with an open green field visible to the far left. The overall feel is early spring in the English countryside — bright but cool, with that particular quality of light you get on a blustery March day.

3/5 It's #Spring

I particularly like the beginning of spring when you get a mix of new growth and the bare structures left from winter.

River Ravensbourne - Beckenham Place Park in S London.

#OMsystemsOM1 #olympus12100f4

#photography #landscape #scape #naturephotography

Close-up of Corylopsis sinensis (Chinese Winter Hazel) in early spring bloom, showing pendulous clusters of delicate, pale primrose-yellow bell-shaped flowers hanging from bare brown stems, with green leaf bracts at the tips and small reddish-brown anthers visible within each tiny floret. Soft bokeh background of yellow-green foliage.

2/5 It's #spring

Shot in Hyde Park ,AI suggests this is Chinese Winter Hazel. It also told me "It's a beautifully sharp shot"

Who am I to argue?

(It's probably wrong about both)
#OMsystemsOM1 #olympus12100f4

#photography #flowerphotography #naturephotography

A magnolia tree in full bloom, its branches densely covered with large, cup-shaped flowers. The petals are white on the inside and flushed with soft pink to deeper pink-purple on the outside, creating a beautiful two-tone effect. The blossoms appear against a clear blue sky, with bare brown branches visible throughout. Some buds are still closed while others are fully open, showing the progression of the bloom. The photo is taken looking upward through the canopy.

1/5 it's spring

This week some random snaps that say #spring is here (meteorological spring starts on March 1). Here are some rather lovely magnolias in s London.

#OMsystemsOM1 #olympus12100f4

#photography #flowerphotography #naturephotography

A pile of assorted scrap steel sections and structural metal profiles — including I-beams, square hollow sections, channel sections, and angle iron — stacked haphazardly in a yard or warehouse. The black and white photograph emphasises the varied textures, geometric cross-sections, and industrial character of the discarded metalwork.

Scrap metal in a yard near Lower Sydenham station this week.

#OMsystems OM1 #olympus12100f4
#photography #texture #blackandwhite

A futuristic-looking enclosed pedestrian walkway or bridge bathed in vivid blue and cyan lighting, shot from a low, central perspective that creates a strong vanishing point. Angular steel and glass panels line both sides, with benches visible along the walls. Two silhouetted figures can be seen in the distance. The reflective floor and symmetrical composition give the scene a sci-fi, tunnel-like atmosphere.

Throwback Saturday
The much-snapped tunnel on Canary Wharf in E London from 2018 with the strong #horizontal #leadinglines for today's #BlueSkyArtShow

Shot with the #fourthirds Olympus 9-18mm F4.0-5.6 on my EM1 (Stupidly at F9 I see from the EXIF).

#photography #architecture #streetphotography.

A ornate decorative ceiling featuring a symmetrical neoclassical design. The central focal point is a circular medallion with radiating panels of deep blue adorned with white acanthus leaf scrollwork. This is surrounded by concentric geometric layers — diamonds, triangles, and squares — in white plasterwork set against teal and sage green painted panels. The outer border is framed with an intricate white egg-and-dart moulding. The overall palette of white, teal, and green gives it an elegant, period interior feel.

5/5 #Pitzhanger Manor

#Lookingup at an ornate ceiling in Ealing's Pitzhanger Manor - where I used to change my library books 50 years ago.

#microfourthirds #Laowa6mmf2 #OMsystemsOM1

#photography #architecture #architecturephotography #georgian

Symmetrical interior shot looking toward a gridded glass partition, with richly veined warm beige marble walls, arched recesses with carved bronze decorative elements, a shallow ribbed dome ceiling with a large acanthus-leaf boss, and a continuous strip of warm yellow lighting running along the base of the walls, creating a vivid golden glow. A green-tinted arched window is visible in the upper right corner.

Upward view of an elaborate neoclassical ceiling featuring warm sienna marble with a central square skylight lantern topped by an octagonal white dome with a floral boss, flanked by two large oval bronze relief panels depicting dramatic figurative scenes, framed by arched mouldings and decorative carved medallions.

View looking down from a staircase into an ornate entrance hall featuring dark green veined marble walls with arched niches, a barrel-vaulted ceiling with warm wood panelling and decorative carved rosettes, a semicircular stained glass fanlight above a mahogany double door, and two brass wall sconces with candle-style bulbs on marble ledges.

4/5 #Pitzhanger Manor

The first snap looks like a room but is a kind of skylight - just over a metre square- built on top of the third pic's entrance hall and seen from below in the second .

#microfourthirds #Laowa6mmf2 #OMsystemsOM1

#photography #architecture #architecturephotography #georgian

A grand Georgian interior room featuring floor-to-ceiling hand-painted chinoiserie wallpaper depicting flowering trees, exotic birds, and decorative rockwork in soft pinks, greens, and corals on a cream background. The elaborately decorated ceiling is painted in slate blue with intricate white plasterwork including swags, medallions, and scrollwork, with a central domed alcove. White Ionic pilasters divide the walls. At the centre is a tall sash window looking out onto a green landscape, flanked by two small uplighters. A single antique wooden chair with a white cushion sits alone on the wide-plank oak floor, directly in front of the window, giving the scene a quietly contemplative feel.

3/5 Pitzhanger Manor

#Georgian elegance at Sir John Soane's former house.

#microfourthirds #Laowa6mmf2 #OMsystemsOM1

#photography #interior #architecture #architecturephotography #georgian

A grand, symmetrical interior room featuring warm honey-toned wood-panelled walls lined with framed artworks and gilt-edged arched alcoves containing books and glass display cases. The vaulted ceiling is decorated with an elegant lattice grid pattern painted with delicate floral motifs. A bold geometric rug in dark green and cream echoes the X-shaped pattern of the ceiling. At the far end, a modern sculptural artwork sits atop a white plinth, contrasting with the room's classical architecture. Candelabra-style lamps and a marble fireplace add to the refined atmosphere, while an open doorway on the left reveals a glimpse of a red-painted room beyond.

2/5 Pitzhanger Manor

Another shot from what was Sir John Soane's home. The Laowa 6mm (12mm ff equivalent) is tricky to use but very effective when you get it right.

#microfourthirds #Laowa6mmf2 #OMsystemsOM1

#photography #interior #architecture #architecturephotography #georgian

thanks👍

A grand Georgian-era room featuring an ornate plasterwork ceiling with green and white decorative panels, a central medallion, and intricate scrollwork. The walls are covered in detailed chinoiserie wallpaper depicting trees, flowers, and birds in greens, pinks, and reds. The wide-plank hardwood floor is largely empty, with a small grouping of elegant wooden chairs with cream upholstered seats placed symmetrically around the room. A white marble fireplace with a mirror above it sits centrally on the far wall, flanked by period furniture including a bureau and a decorated cabinet. Tall sash windows on either side flood the room with natural light, revealing trees outside.

1/5 Pitzhanger Manor

50 years ago this was Ealing Central Library. Long before that it was where Sir John Soane lived. Now the house has been restored and has an art gallery attached.

#microfournerds #Laowa6mmf2 #OMsystemsOM1

#photography #interior #architecture #architecturephotography #georgian

A grand Georgian-era room featuring an ornate plasterwork ceiling with green and white decorative panels, a central medallion, and intricate scrollwork. The walls are covered in detailed chinoiserie wallpaper depicting trees, flowers, and birds in greens, pinks, and reds. The wide-plank hardwood floor is largely empty, with a small grouping of elegant wooden chairs with cream upholstered seats placed symmetrically around the room. A white marble fireplace with a mirror above it sits centrally on the far wall, flanked by period furniture including a bureau and a decorated cabinet. Tall sash windows on either side flood the room with natural light, revealing trees outside.

1/5 Pitzhanger Manor

50 years ago this was Ealing Central Library. Long before that it was where Sir John Soane lived. Now the house has been restored and has an art gallery attached.

#microfournerds #Laowa6mmf2 #OMsystemsOM1

#photography #interior #architecture #architecturephotography #georgian

Four mute swans in flight against a grey overcast sky, with bare winter trees visible along the bottom edge of the frame. The swans are arranged in a loose diagonal formation, wings fully extended mid-wingbeat, their white plumage contrasting softly against the muted background.

Here's a lucky shot of swans in flight in London's Hyde Park. Had no time to set up the camera or even focus - luckily it was already at 100mm and I'd just shot a distant scene.

#photography #swans #birdsinflight

#OMsystems OM1 #olympus12100f4

Two tourists wearing yellow disposable rain ponchos stand on a wet observation platform at the base of Niagara Falls (Horseshoe Falls). The powerful waterfall cascades dramatically in the background, with heavy mist filling the air. One person shields their face from the spray while the other looks down. The wet stone ground and metal safety railings are visible, conveying just how close — and soaked — visitors get at this vantage point.

Throwback Saturday

From a trip to Canada in 2018, here's the Niagra Falls for the #flowing theme of today's #BlueSkyArtShow. I think it captures the scale of the place.

I got wet too.

#photography #niagra #streetphotography #waterfall

A black and white photograph of a dense, overgrown wetland scene in winter. A multi-stemmed tree or large shrub — likely a pollarded willow — dominates the centre-right of the frame, its bare branches fanning upward and outward. Around it, tangled undergrowth, dried grasses, and leafless shrubs fill the foreground, while a still body of water — a pond, ditch, or slow-moving stream — is partially visible in the middle ground. More bare trees recede into a flat, overcast sky in the background. The image has a quiet, melancholic mood, emphasising texture and natural complexity in the absence of colour.

5/5 Another #infrared walk

This is #panorama / #vertorama as I didn't have a wide enough lens or enough space to get further away.

Tylers Common between #HaroldWood and #Brentwood in #Essex

#fourthirds #Olympus14_35mmf2 lens #fullspectrum EM1ii. 590nm

#photography
#ir
#blackandwhite
#classicmono

A pylon's reflection ripples across a still puddle on wet ground, its form distorted by the water's surface into something ghostly and abstract. The muted blue-grey tones of the water contrast with the muddy gravel edges of the puddle, giving the image a quiet, melancholic atmosphere.

4/5 Another #infrared walk

A reflection of a pylon in one of the puddles that made this walk something of a mudbath.

Shot on Tylers Common in 590nm infrared between #HaroldWood and #Brentwood in #Essex

#fourthirds #Olympus14_35mmf2 lens
#fullspectrum EM1ii.

#photography #ir #reflection

Thanks - horrible pollution becomes foreground interest.

A rusted metal drum lies on its side among fallen leaves and tangled undergrowth, partially decayed with a jagged hole torn through its face. Behind it, bare-branched trees rise against a pale winter sky, their skeletal limbs interlacing overhead. The black-and-white treatment emphasises the desolate, overgrown atmosphere of what appears to be an abandoned woodland clearing.

3/5 Another #infrared walk

A rusty oil drum on Tylers Common in 590nm infrared between #HaroldWood and #Brentwood in #Essex

I took my new #fourthirds #Olympus14_35mmf2 lens for a test run with my #fullspectrum EM1ii.

#photography #ir #blackandwhite #classicmono