City Square at Dusk

This picture is a photo of City Square in the heart of Leeds facing towards the old Post Office building.

The daylight was very nearly gone when I took this photograph last week on my way to meet and hopefully get some photographs of structural engineer Jane at work on Centenary Bridge on the Leeds waterfront.

Primula - City Centre

I am not really a fan of gardened primulas as shown in this photo, I much prefer wildflowers.

These plants were in a large planter near the Leeds Town Hall and the planter itself was being used by smokers to discard their cigarette ends. As a non smoker I can put up with the idea that some people want to smoke but I am not happy when their cigarette ends pollutes our city. It really is not a nice image, I did not want to show them in this photograph, so worked around them.

Tomorrow I have another local railway story and there is another Railway Children connection.

The Railway Children - Bradford International Film Festival 2010

This years Bradford International Film Festival concluded with a new restoration of The Railway Children. This 40th anniversary world digital premiere was held here in Yorkshire at The National Media museum in Bradford.

This picture is of Jenny Agutter, Sally Thomsett and Bernard Cribbins who came together here for a unique reunion screening of this wonderful 1970 film, The Railway Children.

Jenny Agutter played Roberta 'Bobbie' Waterbury in the film based on the novel by E Nesbit and later went on to play Alex Price in An American Werewolf in London, Jessica 6 in Logan's Run and many other film roles. More recently Miss Agutter has been seen on BBC TV in Spooks (broadcast on American television and released on DVD in the US under the title MI-5).

Sally Thomsett played Phyllis Waterbury in this family film and appearing in many TV productions perhaps best remembered as Jo in "Man About the House".

Bernard Cribbins played Albert Perks a wonderful comic performance and is well known for his many film, TV and stage roles.

The newly restored version premiered at the Bradford Film Festival will be followed by a digital theatrical re-release in cinemas nationwide for the Easter Holidays (2 April) and then on special edition DVD and Blu-ray in May.

Centenary Bridge In The Rain

This picture of Centenary Bridge on the Leeds waterfront is far from the best photo I could have taken. Firstly I would not have photographed whilst it was still raining heavily and worse than that this bridge moves as people walk across it. In daylight the movement would not matter because the shutter speed would be much faster than a night shot allows.

This photo was taken from partway across the bridge heading from the Calls towards Brewery Wharf. In the photo can be seen structural engineer Jane (in day glow orange at base of uprights) and her two rope access colleagues (one part way up the bridge upright and one at the top).

One of the great things about doing my Leeds Daily Photo is that it gives me an excuse to venture to places I have never been to and to get to talk to people that I do not know. I cannot but admire people who climb bridges at night and in the rain too!

Jane - Climber and Engineer

This picture shows Jane a structural engineer about to examine Centenary Bridge on the Leeds waterfront up close, the hard way.

I had spoken with Jane a couple of days ago when I saw a man abseiling off the bridge and could not help but ask what they were doing. They were examining Centenary Bridge for defects, using ropes to get access to the structure. Jane said that they would be back to do the top of the bridge structure on Friday evening, so I turned up to get some pics.

Friday evening I met them at the bridge just as it started to rain quite heavily, argghh not really good for taking photos in the dark. I had wanted to get some pics of them climbing the bridge but soon discovered that because they were above me the rain landed on the camera lens when I tried to raise it for the shot.

The above photo of Jane at work is perhaps the best of the frames I took. As you can see Jane looks quite cheerful, considering the rain. There are blue lights shining down from the top of the bridge onto the footway, hence the lighting is perhaps not quite right.



In this picture above you can see Jane ascending the ropes to get to the top of the bridge structure.

Jane, thanks for being so patient in the rain while I played around with the camera to get the light almost OK.

Decorative Tiles Seen in Leeds

I passed these decorative tiles on the wall of a building above a shop in Leeds city centre and could not resist taking photo and posting a little about them.

I must have passed this building many times in the last few months and cannot understand how I missed them before now. Perhaps they were covered up, the building looks newly decorated at least on the outside.

Leeds was at one time a centre for decorative pottery, having the Burmantofts pottery. These tiles have a vaguely classical theme, with a diaphanous female, a bust and the words Wedgewood, Minton, Worcester and Doulton, these all being famous potteries producing table china. I guess this shop on Commercial Street, Leeds was at one time a shop selling tableware.

The View Under The Bridge

This picture shows the underside of Centenary Bridge on the Leeds waterfront.

I was walking back towards the Calls from Brewery Wharf when I saw this man abseiling off the bridge and dangling over the river Aire. I went and asked what he and his colleague were doing, turns out that they were inspecting the structure of the bridge.

I knew that people did this kind of work but had never before seen anyone doing it. I was pleased I had my camera with me and that Paul did not mind me taking his photo and putting picture on my Leeds Daily Photo.

I have photographed Centenary Bridge, Leeds before but not like this.

Saint Anne's Cathedral - Leeds

This is a picture showing a front view of Saint Anne's Cathedral, which is the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Diocese of Leeds, and is the seat of the Bishop of Leeds

The current cathedral building on Cookridge Street was completed in 1904, and was restored in 2006. Today this Arts and Crafts neo-Gothic style cathedral is a Grade II* listed building.

There is a photo with and internal view of Leeds Cathedral here.

Leeds Cathedral

This picture is a view of the inside of Leeds Cathedral, consecrated as Saint Anne's Cathedral here in Leeds.

In the normal way of things I would have long since posted pictures of Leeds Cathedral, but there has been some restoration under way and every time I looked at it there was scaffolding and or workmen.

It is the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Diocese of Leeds, and is the seat of the Bishop of Leeds.

On a totally different note, today 23 March 2010 it is 100 years since the birth of Akira Kurosawa (黒澤 明 or 黒沢 明 Kurosawa Akira?, 23 March 1910 – 6 September 1998).

Apart from photography, which I came to later in life, I have had a love of film since I was a small boy. Partly this was either directly or perhaps less obviously indirectly due to the 30 films that Akira Kurosawa directed over his long movie making career.

I still today have a love of Samurai films, but Kurosawa was much more than a maker of films about samurai. Google logo today 23 March is changed in honour of the birth date of Akira Kurosawa and deservedly so.

Spring Arrives in Yorkshire

Spring has come to Yorkshire at last, although many of the flowers like daffodils are yet to flower, having been delayed by the cold winter. I saw this sunflower in a local flower shop and thought thats just the thing to brighten things up.

So today this picture is a photograph of a sunflower in a glass vase taken by me this weekend after some experiment with the light from a single flashgun. I quite like the resulting image. What do you think?

Freddie Trueman Yorkshire Ale

This picture shows several bottles of ale, a brew called Freddie Trueman Yorkshire Ale, brewed by Skipton-based Copper Dragon.

This ale dedicated to Yorkshire fast bowler Fred Trueman was available at the unveiling on 18 March 2010 of a bronze statue to the cricketer in Skipton.

Fiery Fred Trueman Statue - Detail

This picture shows a detail from the statue of Yorkshire cricketer Fred Trueman unveiled this week in Skipton, Yorkshire.

Fred Trueman - A Yorkshire Cricketer Unveiled

Picture of unveiling of Fred Trueman statue at Skipton.

This picture shows the unveiling in Skipton yesterday of a bronze statue of Yorkshire and England cricketer Fred Truman by his widow Veronica.

In the photograph can be seen Veronica Trueman, Dickie Bird former Yorkshire teammate, Graham Ibbeson the sculptor and Steve Butcher, deputy managing director of Northern Rail.

Fiery Fred as he was known was a true Yorkshire icon and a sporting great. Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE (6 February 1931 – 1 July 2006) was regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history, he was first man to take 300 Test wickets.

The bronze statue showing Fred larger than life in full flow at the sport in which he excelled can be seen at the canal basin in Skipton, Yorkshire. The £90,000 Fred Trueman sculpture was funded by the Fred Trueman Appeal which was set up by Northern Rail and Craven District Council in 2007.

I was pleased to have a few words with Yorkshire born sculptor Graham Ibbeson, I think his statue of Leeds airman Arthur Aaron VC that stands at one end of Eastgate, Leeds is thought provoking and well done.

I also caught up with Look North's (BBC) very own Crista Ackroyd, but I will save that for another day.

Scotsman's Arms - Kirkgate

This picture of a figurehead above a doorway on Kirkgate in Leeds city centre is the head of a Scotsman.

This building at 106 Kirkgate, Leeds was once a Public House called the Scotsman's Arms and all I know of it is that in 1881 it was run by Waller & Sons. Today the building has seen better days and it is home to an amusement arcade.

There are several pubs in Leeds with these carved heads over the doorway, I will try to visit them all and photograph them.

Vera Leigh - SOE Secret Agent

My photo today shows a Rose Valois brown wool felt hat with feather and wood ornament trims, c. 1940. Parisian millinery Rose Valois founded in 1927 had as a designer Vera Leigh who when the Germans invaded France in 1940 joined the resistance.

Vera Leigh was (born Vera Glass) here in Leeds on this day the 17th March 1903, abandoned by her parents as a baby she was adopted by American Eugene Leigh who trained horses in France. After training in the fashion industry Vera worked as a designer at Rose Valois.

After helping allied servicemen escape from France, in 1942 Vera too escaped and found her way to England. Vera volunteered her services to the war effort and I guess because she spoke French like and native and had lived and worked in France she was recruited by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) for dangerous work in France.

Given the codename Simone, Vera was flown back to France on 13 May 1943 as a courier and was arrested by the Gestapo in October the same year in Paris. Secret agents like Vera Leigh were subject to the Nacht und Nebel (German for "Night and Fog") order that effectively meant that captured agents would disappear.

Along with fellow SOE agents Diana Rowden, Andrée Borrel and Sonya Olschanezky, Vera was taken to the Concentration Camp at Natzweiler on 6th July 1944. Later that same day (one month after the D Day landings in Normandy) the four women were injected with phenol and pushed into the furnace.

Vera Leigh was 41 years old at the time of her death in the only concentration camp run by the Germans in France (the French ran one at Drancy). Vera was nominated for the George Cross for her work in occupied France, but after the war the powers that be wanted to forget all about SOE so nothing came of it.

In France the SOE Memorial is a monument to the members of the Special Operations Executive F Section who lost their lives for the liberation of France. The memorial was unveiled in the town of Valençay in the Indre département of France on May 6, 1991. The memorial lists the names of the 91 men and 13 women members of the SOE who gave their lives for France's freedom.

Vera Eugenie Leigh was one of 39 women agents sent to France from F section of SOE and you do not have to be good at maths to work out the odds. On this her birthday I thought it would be nice to dedicate this little post to Vera, a brave and resourceful woman.

This photograph is courtesy of Jonathan Walford at Kickshaw Productions and the Fashion History Museum.

Anyone wishing to know more of the women of SOE, I can recommend the following:

A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE written by Sarah Helm, I have almost finished reading this book and it is well written and full of detail.

Les femmes de l'ombre (2008) AKA Female Agents, available on DVD, I saw this at the cinema and also have the DVD. Lest we forget says it all, this film is not for the squemish and like the book I think this film is well worth watching.

Teasel at Meanwood Valley Urban Farm

This picture is of the seed heads of a teasel plant, a wildflower that has become popular with some gardeners.

I spotted this teasel plant at the Meanwood Valley Urban Farm and with blue sky in the background I could not resist getting my camera out. I had gone to this city farm to look around and to get some photographs for my Leeds Daily Photo.

I think the teasel is quite an attractive plant and because it attracts butterflies when in flower and finches like the seeds later in the summer I would be pleased to have this in any garden I might have. I can see though that some might not want this weed that can grow to 2m in height in their flower beds.

Dipsacus fullonum, syn. Dipsacus sylvestris, is a species of flowering plant known by the common names Fuller's teasel and wild teasel. The teasel was formerly widely used in textile processing, providing a natural comb for cleaning, aligning and raising the nap on fabrics, particularly wool. Yorkshire formerly had a lot of textile mills so I guess that may be why this plant is quite common here.

Rooster Meanwood Urban Farm

I am not sure what breed of chicken this rooster is, he was in the hen house when I photographed the eggs a few days ago at Meanwood Valley Urban Farm here in Leeds.

Sheep at Meanwood Valley Urban Farm

This photo shows another of the larger farm animals that can be seen at Meanwood Valley Urban Farm, a sheep.

I think that this sheep is a breed called White Faced Woodland sheep also known as a Penistone sheep from the Yorkshire town. The White Faced Woodland is one of the largest of the hill breeds of sheep.

Since I started my Leeds Daily Photo I have photographed quite a few farm animals and I now have a better idea of the various breeds of pig, cattle, chicken and sheep but I am no expert and usually check with the farmer just to make sure.

Dexter Cow at Meanwood Valley Urban Farm

This picture of a Dexter Cow at the Meanwood Valley Urban Farm shows the largest of the various animals that can be seen on the farm.

The Dexter is the smallest breed of cattle here in Britain, they are mostly black like this cow but can also be red or dun in colour.

I grew up in the countryside and had neighbours that farmed so I have a pretty good idea of farms and the various livestock that might be found there. I think it is a really good idea that children from the city of Leeds have this great resource here in Meanwood at this urban farm and that they can see and perhaps feed a real farm animal.

Meanwood Valley Urban Farm

This picture shows the front view of the main building, the EpiCentre at the Meanwood Valley Urban Farm site. The EpiCentre opened in 1999 and provides classrooms, exhibition space, a library and meeting facilities as well as office space.

Opened in 1980 Meanwood Valley Urban Farm is part of the City Farm movement and it is a registered charity. Covering a 16.5 acre site the farm offers educational programmes to schools and is also a leisure resource open to visitors daily, the cafe is closed on Mondays.

The Meanwood Valley Urban Farm is located on land originally granted to the monks of Kirkstall Abbey in 1240.

Theme Day - The Tenin Technique

Today my picture is of a wall at the Royal Armouries museum here in Leeds.

This is the first CDP Theme Day that I have joined in, this one I really wanted to join. Today is the 5th Anniversary Tribute to Eric of the Paris Daily Photo, so today my photo is a rather poor attempt at viewing the subject through an unusual angle, as used by Eric with such verve.

Back in 2005 Eric Tenin started a daily photo blog of his home city Paris. I doubt that he knew that 5 years later there would be hundreds of daily photo blogs around the globe following his simple concept. I was a late comer to the City Daily Photo community and Paris Daily Photo was one of the first that I noticed and followed.

I am pleased to congratulate Eric on this anniversary. Well Done!

You can see thumbnails from the many Daily Photo blogs that celebrate this day by clicking this link.

Thank You Google - The Search Engine

Few large industry dominant companies can perhaps be as well thought of by their millions of users and customers as Google the Internet search engine firm.

This picture is a photograph of an office PC user faced with the Google front page.

All of us and especially those under the age of around 25 take Google for granted. Google started life in the garage of Susan Wojcicki, now Vice President of Product Management at Google. Ten years ago Google had 40 employees, today there are around 20,000 and in the meantime Google is the beginning of most peoples daily web experience.

I like Google (the search engine), it is so simple to use and also I think very good at what it does. My Leeds Daily Photo is now 15 months old and my photography is looked at by people from all over the world, partly due to Google. When I was a young man this would have been very unlikely.

Today people from around the globe and especially the English speaking world can find my photography and short articles about life here in Leeds and Yorkshire just a few clicks away.

More than 90% of current visitors to the Leeds Daily Photo arrive through a Google search and the remainder come from some well known search engines like Yahoo and Webcrawler also some pretty obscure ones too.

Yorkshire Lambs - Meanwood

These two lambs shown in this picture are, I think, White Faced Woodland Sheep and I photographed them at the Meanwood Valley Urban Farm here in Leeds this weekend.

There are several new born lambs on the farm, but they were sleeping in the hay and so I took the twins photo and they are about 2 weeks old. This is something that can be seen on farms that keep sheep all over Yorkshire, I like to see the new lambs in the fields sunning themselves in the bright spring sunshine.

Where Do Eggs Come From?

Where do eggs come from? My little sister, not so little now, taught in a school in North London and many of the children thought eggs came from Tesco. My sister used to take the kids out of school to an urban farm and show these city dwellers where the food they ate came from.

Here in Leeds not far from the city centre is Meanwood Valley Urban Farm and today I was driving and saw the sign to the farm and called in. I have, despite living and working in Leeds from many years, never been to the Meanwood Valley Urban Farm so I called in to look around and get some pictures for the Leeds daily photo.

This picture is a couple of hens eggs in amongst straw in a hen house at the farm, the rooster looked quite put out when I put my head in to get this photo.

I shall be posting more pictures and information about this urban farm over the next few days.

Experiment With Photography

This picture is a photograph taken last night in my lounge with me playing with my camera and a sparkler firework.

This is something I have never done before, but after a few attempts I quite like the result, it does show my name. One thing I did learn, it would have been simpler and easier with someone to help. I do not smoke so it took me a while to get the lighter to work, I bought it with this in mind a while back. I gave someone some indoor fireworks for her birthday and thats what gave me the idea of playng with the light generated.

Photography for me has been a journey and whilst I have learnt quite a lot on the road there is still much to learn.

Red Rose Seen in Flower Shop - City Centre

With the resumption of sunny if cold days here in Yorkshire it will not be long till the countryside and gardens are washed by the colour of flowers. I have long preferred wildflowers to the garden variety but with spring only just here there are few wildflowers to be seen.

To add some colour here today my picture is a photograph of a single red rose that I was kindly allowed to photograph in a city centre flower shop. Normally I would name the shop, if only for their kindness but this was many months back and I cannot recall the florists where I took this picture.

I have not been into the city of Leeds this last week so I have been looking back over the many images of the people, places and things I have photographed in Leeds to be able to post daily here on the Leeds daily photo.

Tree In Mist - Roundhay Park

The day I took this photograph of a tree in Roundhay Park adjacent to Soldiers' Field North of Leeds city centre. The day was as can be seen in the picture quite misty.

There was a time when I would have given up on getting some photographs for this blog and my expanding picture library on a day like this with thick mist. These days I am more likely to think that perhaps it is a chance to get a different view of the things we see daily. Later this morning I went to Tropical World and took what I think is a nice image of a picture in a raindrop.

Picture In a Raindrop

This photograph is a picture of a raindrop with a reflected image inside. I took this photo of a plant at Tropical World at Roundhay Park, North Leeds.

This picture is from before I got a macro lens and really was just an experiment on a damp and misty day last spring. I do quite like the effect and really must explore this theme further sometime soon. One thing about my photography here on the Leeds Daily Photo I am always willing to experiment and try someting new. It may not always work, but I do think it is one of the best ways to improve as a photographer.

Natty Footwear - Circa 1360

This picture shows some detail from the the statue of The Black Prince that dominates and stands in City Square.

I would think many people walk past this large bronze statue quite often, sometimes daily for weeks, standing as it does opposite the main entrance to Leeds city station. Until I took up my Leeds daily photo blog and the photography of the city I passed much of the detail of the buildings and places without much more than casual glance.

There are some fine Victorian bronze statues around City Square, several of them are I think worth more than a quick look especially this imposing statue of this man who never became king. Edward, the Black Prince was buried in the cathedral at Canterbury, Kent his father was a king and his son was King Richard II of England. King Richard II died (murdered?) here in Yorkshire at Pontefract castle, today the town of Pontefract is most famous for liquorice sweets.

Guest Photographer - Lorne Campbell

Today this picture is a photograph of a red telephone box in the village of Saltaire, Yorkshire.

This photograph is another from guest photographer and my good friend, photographer Lorne Campbell who hails from Fife but now lives in Yorkshire and his photography takes him all over the North of England. This weekend Lorne had a nice spread of photos in and including the cover of The FT magazine, but I am pleased that he is still open for his work to be featured here on the Leeds Daily Photo.

This picture of a telephone box is available as a print in several different formats from Lorne Campbell at Redbubble.

Saint David's Day - The Daffodil

This picture is a photograph of a daffodil taken last March.

Today here in the UK and especially Wales the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales is celebrated.

The date of March 1st was chosen in remembrance of the death of Saint David on that day in 589, and has been celebrated by followers since then. The date was declared a national day of celebration within Wales in the 18th century

Many Welsh people will today, the 1st day of March wear a daffodil as a symbol, in earlier times wearing a leek was also popular and I think many people still do so. I whilst in the military sometimes worked adjacent to Welsh troops and they would be presented with leeks by perhaps HRH The Prince of Wales on this day.

Because of the snowy weather I have yet to see a daffodil this year, so here is a photograph of one that I took almost a year ago at soldiers' field in Roundhay park, Leeds. I well remember the day I took this picture, it was misty and I lay down on the damp grass to get the photo, visibility was around 25 metres at times.