The Leaning Tower of Albert

Now I never assume I will get comments on a particular picture or what those comments will be but in today's case, I truly hope that nobody says to me that this picture isn't straight. It's not me, it's the tower! Not a likely phrase but this is the Albert Clock in Belfast and does indeed have a pronounced lean. The 'Albert' it refers to is Prince Albert, as in Queen Victoria's husband who had recently died, therefore this tower was erected as a tribute to his memory. I had to go quite far back through my RAW files to find a picture I wanted to post today but I'm surprised I never did post a picture of this tower, as it was always my intention once I returned from Belfast last September.

I mentioned on Sunday having a 'major announcement' coming soon and I just want to state that I did not mean that as a shallow PR trick to get people coming back to this site. I'm not good at that stuff anyway and I know how annoying it is when websites go on about a big announcement in the near future, only to find out the announcement was completely underwhelming and of only real value to the person announcing it. So just to clarify and be specific, I will definitely have something to announce this upcoming Sunday, it's not life-changing but hopefully you will enjoy it and it won't cost you anything! I was hoping to have it ready by today but that was optimistic and saying this Sunday gives me plenty of time to finish the preparations.

Belfast City Hall

After my relatively provocative post the other day, I've decided I'm not going to comment on other people's methods on my blog posts anymore. I still stick by what I said but I know as well that what will be will be. If other photographers want to raise their profiles by whatever means, then I shouldn't really judge them but my post was mainly about the divide between success and art and what each individual person is motivated by.

Today's picture is one I took last September while visiting Belfast. Belfast City Hall is probably the most famous building in Belfast and was completed in 1906. There are many statues adorning the building but the most prominent one at the front is of Queen Victoria. It's an HDR from 3 exposures and I also used Topaz Adjust to bring out more details of the hall. I used Lightroom 4 extensively as well, as always.

Belfast City Hall

I was very lucky last year to visit 3 countries I had never been to before - Italy, Czech Republic and finally Northern Ireland. I don't think I have been to The Netherlands before either, but driving through it doesn't really count as having visited it. I still work full time in customer services for a pharmaceutical company and one of the perks of that job is that sometimes we do have company outings to other countries. On this occasion I was helping out our sales rep in Belfast and was delighted to get the opportunity to wonder round Belfast for a couple of hours, before catching a flight home.

I managed to fit quite a lot into that couple of hours, walking all the way up to the Titanic Dock amongst other places to get some pictures, but my journey that day began here in the city centre. Belfast City Hall is over 100 years old now and is a fantastic piece of architecture. It's very much still a working building, being the base of Belfast City Council, but is obviously very popular with tourists as well and apparently office workers relaxing at lunchtimes.

Spent most of yesterday in and around The New Forest, trying the new sigma lens and also my new tripod. Had a fantastic day, I actually felt like a real landscape photographer for the first time - lugging around a massive tripod, while carefully planning and taking shots. Haven't processed any yet, but hope to have some good ones from it!