autofantasia's photos with the keyword: building

I came across this large and somewhat unsightly block of flats in Harrogate last week and for some reason it immediate reminded me of the side of those massive big cruise ships. Maybe it was just because of the small sailing ship that someone had placed in their window or maybe it was the harshness of the structure. Whatever the reason I decided to capture it with a Dutch angle and then added some texturing before taking the selective colouring option ... overall I think it works? Please view on black for best effect. For Sight and Sound ... what else but Rod Stewart with "Sailing": youtu.be/KCgJXuOqTYY youtu.be/u1v60FITAfY youtu.be/yqs0ZAJngls

A belated entry for this week's Sunday Challenge , for which we were asked to produce an image that matched our idea of maximalism . This is actually 3 images combined of the glass façade of the new £53 million Ayrshire College, which opened this year and occupies the area of the town where the old Johnnie Walker factory was located. Travelling through the town last week on the way back 'home' to North Yorkshire following a family funeral this was the first time I'd seen the new building up close and I was blown away by the scale of it. The design of the main entrance incorporates so much glass that it seemed an ideal subject to shoot for the challenge. As it happens, the world famous brand of Scotch whisky owned now by Diageo actually originated in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. It is believed to be the most widely distributed brand of blended Scotch whisky in the world, sold in almost every country, with annual sales of over 130 million bottles. Sadly, in 2009 Diageo announced that under a restructuring programme production would be moved from the brand's original home to Diageo plants in Leven, Fife, and Shieldhall, Glasgow. So in March 2012, the Johnnie Walker plant (then the largest employer in the town of Kilmarnock) closed its doors and the name joined a long list of world famous brands that had once originated from or been heavily associated with the town: names such as Massey-Harris (later Massey-Ferguson) and Saxone Shoes. We can only hope then that some of the bright young students that will pass through the doors of this most impressive looking new college will go on to develop ideas, products and businesses that will in time become equally famous and provide employment for local people because overall it has to be said my hometown needs to find a new direction. Incidentally, the old Kilmarnock College campus on Holehouse Road, which was the predecessor if you like to the huge new Ayrshire college is still there although I'm not sure what the long-term plans are for that particular site.

For this week's Sunday Challenge , for which we had to use the online random point generator to generate (not surprisingly) a random point that we then had to visit and photograph. Sounds easy, but if you live in a rural location more often than not the random points were in the middle of nowhere and barely accessible. So, I reduced the parameters somewhat so as to hopefully get some points in town that I could get to easily and eventually it sent me to Friarage Street in Northallerton, which is where they are currently building a new Marks & Spencer food store. The shot I've posted was taken from the corner of the building site looking up at one of the gable ends where they've rather interestingly left many of the bricks protruding out. At first glance I thought they were all sticking out an equal distance, but on closer inspection (although perhaps not evident from this shot) I found that the amount they stick out decreases as you get nearer the apex of the building. I'll bet that was a fun job for someone and I can't help but wonder if they were left asking ... what's the point of that then? By the way, I've added a screen shot of this random point from Google into the Notes. Interestingly nearly all of those buildings have been demolished, including the bungalow (top centre) to facilitate the construction of this new store.

Since visiting the water tower located at Lovesome Hill for a recent shoot, I've discovered that it actually features in a track by Rebekah Findlay: a singer songwriter based in North Yorkshire. The song, not surprisinly, is entitled "Lovesome Hill" and appears on her second album "Improvising Around The Sun". It's a rather sinister tale, which apparently takes its inspiration from a rumour that a murderer did actually live at Lovesome Hill for many years before being caught. I don't know how true this is, but he was apparently known as 'The Mechanic' and it's also claimed his ghost can often be seen stood by or even atop the tower. Not sure I'll go back up there again! Now, if I've not scared you off with that tale and you want to know more ... This creation was produced for The Sunday Challenge and published on 26 October to try and satisfy the theme of Spooky/Halloween . www.ipernity.com/group/305069 Apparently, when Rebekah was recording her first album she would pass this place every time on the way to the studio. The actual song "Lovesome Hill" was written behind the steering wheel developing over a few months of journeys back and forth. www.rebekahfindlay.co.uk The main image of the tower as seen in the shot was taken by me. However, I deleted the grey sky, which surrounded it that day as I wanted something a little more dramatic. I also flipped the tower horizontally and repositioned it somewhat to give me a little more space above. Here's the original image pretty much as it came out the camera. The only changes being that I've resized it and added my watermark and a fine line border. www.ipernity.com/doc/autofantasia/35625607 The lightning background I've used to gve the scene a sense of drama was taken by Mathias Krumbholz. Entitled "Thunderstorm near Pritzerbe (Germany)" it needs to be attributed as: "Lightning Pritzerbe 01 (MK)" by Mathias Krumbholz - Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lightning_Pritzerbe_01_(MK).jpg#mediaviewer/File:Lightning_Pritzerbe_01_(MK).jpg You can see more of his work by following the link below: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Photos_by_Leviathan1983 Finally, the rain texture was developed by me from an image I found online entitled "misc rain element png by dbszabo1". Check it out here ... dbszabo1.deviantart.com/art/misc-rain-element-png-309954950 I took his original work and produced a new image using several copies of it merged together, but smaller in size and with another layer produced going in the other direction to give the effect of a blustery night. And there you go, that's how it was done. What's that you say, what about 'The Mechanic' ... well all I can say is he wasn't on the shot when I uploaded it!

Here's the original image which was used as a basis for Beware The Mechanic pretty much as it came out the camera. The only changes being that I've resized it and added my watermark and a fine line border. You can see the final creation in the notes or click through by using the link below: www.ipernity.com/doc/autofantasia/35620327

Here's another shot of the strange looking water tower located at Lovesome Hill on the outskirts of Northallerton. This was taken for the recent Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of grey , but in the end I opted for a different shot.

This week's Sunday Challenge was the colour grey/gray. I took it that it was okay to have some colour in the shot as long as either the subject was grey or the overall look of the image as a whole was grey, hence the fact that there's some green in the foreground of the shot I decided to use. This tower is somewhat of a mystery, to me at least. It stands in a field just a few hundred yards away from the A167 between Northallerton and Darlington, but I have no idea what it is. I've often passed it whilst driving, but from the road you can only see the top third or so of it and it is quite difficult to judge the scale of it. However, as you can see from this shot it is rather large and the fact that there's a door on the far side and windows on the central structure would suggest that access to the top is possible, most likely via a spiral staircase. And it appears to be made from almost entirely concrete, hence the predominantly grey tones, but as I say I've absolutely no idea what its purpose is. EDIT: Now identified as the Lovesome Hill water tower ... thanks Ann!