Bridges

Signs, colours, and a lovely carving

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In my previous blog post about photography, I wrote about heavily editing pictures with Snapseed. I wasn’t satisfied with the results and felt that I’d been too heavy handed.

Last weekend, I went out again with an iPhone camera. I cropped the photos but made very few edits this time. Overall, I’m much happier with the results. However, I’ve noticed that the pictures look far better on a phone screen than they do on a much larger computer screen. I guess that may be one of the limitations of camera phone photography.

I took this photo in Birmingham on a sunny day in September 2026. I’d remembered the scene slightly differently, so I was annoyed with myself when I saw it again.

I took the above photo in June 2026, towards the end of a heatwave. It wasn’t raining yet, but the sky was thick with clouds. I don’t think I appreciated how dark this picture is. I’m not sure if it’s because of overediting or simply the weather. I love the colours in this scene. The newer photo does a much better job of capturing them.

This time around, I tried to pay more attention to colour. This picture above shows a school in Essex. I love this building because of the repeated shapes and the colour on the panels. (September 2026)

“Tiredness can kill. Take a break.”

I love the blue used on motorway signs. I only noticed the dead bird on the ground after I looked at the photo on my phone. (September 2026)

These two photographs show the footbridge at Toddington Services on the M1 motorway. It’s quite unusual to see one without a covered walkway added. This bridge is historic because it dates from the construction of the M1 in the 1950s. I saw it with someone who remembered the M1 when it was new, so that made it quite special. (September 2026)

Motorway bridges can be quite beautiful. If you like lines and harmonious balance, they’re well worth looking at. I often think of the bridges in Japanese prints when I see them. (September 2026)

I saw this carving on a tomb in the churchyard of St Peter and St Paul at Stondon Massey in Essex. I’ve edited this photo a little to bring out the lines. There is some orange lichen on this tombstone. I wish I’d taken a few more pictures to capture the lichen and the other carved details. (September 2026)

I love the shape of alpacas when they’re sitting down. These animals live at Mulberry House Hotel in Essex. (September 2026)

“Hello” and “Goodbye”

I’m fascinated by signage because taken out of context it can look quite odd. I took the above photo at Tesco’s in Harlow in Essex. (September 2026)

The word “End” has so many different connotations. In this case, it is the end of this blog post. (September 2026)

Shapes and forms in everyday scenes

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Like many people, I enjoy taking pictures with my phone. I keep an online photo album on Foto. During the summer, I spent a lot of time following photographers on Instagram. Looking back now in early autumn, I can see how much their pictures influenced my subject choices and photo editing at the time.

The industrial sublime and the beauty of the ordinary are both very popular on Instagram. I can easily understand why. There’s a thrill in spotting beautiful shapes and forms in seemingly everyday scenes. It’s a way to enjoy life as well. Why assume that beauty only exists in popular tourist destinations? Why wait for your holiday to recognise it?

Some Instagram photographers favour an editing style that gives pictures a smooth, glowing sheen. I saw it most often on colour photographs. It’s often used with great results on Americana, such as roadside diner scenes. This look can be achieved in Snapseed by fiddling around with the different tools, including one called “glow.”

You can see these various influences in the photographs in this blog post.

I took the first picture in a village called Parkgate. It shows Black-headed gulls attracted by tourists and their food on the promenade. I’m not sure whether the birds at the back really had such pale heads or whether I overedited the photograph.

Gulls at Parkgate in Cheshire

The two street scenes below are quick shots taken through a car window. They’re both somewhere on the Wirral Peninsula. The signage and the colours really caught my eye. “Dog happiness” sounds wonderful.

“Ten minutes from here is dog happiness”
Hays Travel

The two photos below show bridges on major roads. As you can see, they’re heavily edited to give them a very glowy look.

The proportions on motorway bridges are often quite beautiful.

Some motorway bridges would make good landscape paintings. I’ve seen several where the bridge, the curve of the road, the surrounding trees, and the colours of nearby lorries combine to create a pleasing scene.

Triangles formed by the exit ramp of a bridge doubling back on itself.

In the picture above and the two below, I liked and still like the repeated shapes.

How many repeating triangles can you see in this picture?
I saw this from a motorway in the Birmingham area. I like the colours.

I’m fond of these photos because they remind me of things I did this year, but I’m not that keen on them aesthetically. I think I went too far with the editing.