Minehead

West Somerset Railway

Minehead

Although I probably had enough trains to use for my book I wanted another that was working with the smoke billowing from the chimney as it moved tirelessly down the track. With this in mind  we headed to our final destination the West Somerset Railway.

As a working railway there are a number of stops along the line and the first port of call was to Blue Anchor which is run by a small team of volunteers. With its quaint little station built in 1870 next to the seaside village with a long sandy beach the station has a small gift shop and ticket office on the one platform and museum and book stall the other. Whilst speaking a volunteer working in the museum regarding my college project he asked whether we would like to see the signal box and after quickly arranging access we were allowed entry and a description of the signals and purpose of all the levers which operated the track, lights and level crossing.

After photographing the steam train and signal box and a few hours to spare before heading to Minehead we stopped at Dunster which is also the next stop on the trains’ destination. The town was built around the Norman castle which is now owned by the National Trust. This is worth a visit especially the castles gardens with the river meandering through.

The final stop on the route following the railway was Minehead, a coastal town which grew in popularity in the 1800s as a seaside holiday destination and the station was built in 1874. As we were too early for the arrival of the last train we wandered along the promenade towards the harbour to gain some fresh sea air.

As the time was close to arrival we made our way to the station and waited for the train to arrive. In the distance we caught sight of the steam as the train was puffing its way through the countryside towards the town. As it came closer I realised that it was a different steam train to the one I photographed in Blue Anchor. Once all the passengers had alighted from the train she was uncoupled from the carriages and with the tracked changed she then puffed her way back into the shed for the evening after completing the last journey. The photographs taken during the day are shown below.

Planes,Trains, Automobiles (&Ships)

Planes, Trains, Automobiles (&Ships)

Finally all the hard work is over and the book is now complete. 

Overall I must admit that I am extremely pleased with the finished book once I received the printed version. The Colours of the images have come out really well and I was a little concerned that the two page images would not print correctly but as my first book I could not have wished for better. I have since shown the copy to a few family and friend before handing it in and they could not believe that I created it which hopefully means that I pass my course. Fingers crossed.

If you read my blogs and think I should publish this through Blurb and Amazon please let me know as all feedback would be gratefully received.

 

Fleet Air Museum

Fleet Air Arm Museum

After taking enough photographs of trains, cars and ships I wanted to increase my options of aircraft and speaking with a friend they mentioned the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton would be worth a visit. 

Run by the Royal Navy, the museum has the world’s largest naval aviation collection situated across four large halls with two floors explaining the whole history of the collection and the Navy Air Arm. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect but this place was fantastic with a collection that spans all eras of aviation including WW1 bi-planes, WW2 carrier borne aircraft and modern Sea Harriers and helicopters. 

The place is huge which allows them to spread the collection out and although some aircraft have barriers around them, others you can walk freely around and beneath the wings. If you thought you were getting bored with the brilliant exhibits, the third hangar is interactive and you ‘fly’ onto an Aircraft carrier by helicopter and can see the planes taking off and landing whilst walking around more modern planes.  

The fourth hall is dedicated to leading edge technology including my favour plane, Concorde which is the first British built version used for testing supersonic speed, plus you can also sit in a fighter jets cockpit.

This was a brilliant day out and as you can see from my photographs below I took a huge number of shots which now makes it an extremely difficult decision what to include in the book. The only guaranteed place belongs to Concorde. 

If you are looking for a great day and are slightly interested in Aircraft, I could not recommend this place more. I have since learned that the Royal Air Force have their own museum so this will have to be a trip for another time after the book is completed. I hope the photographs below inspire you to visit.

Naval Fighter Plane photo joining

Naval Fighter Plane

During my visit to the Fleet Air Museum for photographs to include into my book project I noticed that the Grumman Martlet was situated within the hangar on its own with no obstructions from other Aircraft. As the background was vibrant with colours and textures I realised this would make a good subject for another photo joining experiment.

Once all the photos were stitched together I tried to crop the image into an oval shape, but unfortunately I did not take enough photographs of the background. With hindsight I could have used the same photographs of the floor overlapping each other multiple times to complete it, but it would have left gaps at the top.

When you are looking through the camera lens panning around the room it is difficult to know whether you have captured enough images. You only realise when joining the photographs that you have gaps together within the image.

Next time I perform this type of experiment I will try photographing the scene two or three times to ensure I cover all parts of the image or I will draw a grid of the image either mentally or on paper and tick off the areas that I have photographed.