Isle of Man TT, Parliament Square, Ramsey

                          Throwback, 2009


The event known as the Isle of Man TT Races is almost here. A throwback shot, race week 2009. Fading evening light casts bike shadows, and sometimes a sunset if the riders get all the laps in, though not here, just the rainclouds passing over blue skies.  Due to the inclement weather on the island, the day race schedule is subject to change and evening races occur. Best advice for tourists. Pack shorts, sandals and a umbrella. You're bound to need all of them, sometimes together. I'm a photographer, and the TT for me is both work and pleasure. Jane Hards Photography, an older image on a Nikon D50.


For more TT and Isle of Man images see here

For other skywatch images around the world see here

Cherry Blossom on Parliament Street

                                                                           Spring

A archive from a few years ago on the little point and shoot, taken around this time  of year on the local high street. A few regeneration changes to this area since this captured image, but pale green building is still the Mitre pub and the cherry trees still blossom. You know it's Spring when the blossom arrives. 

Parliament Street, Ramsey, Isle of Man

Jane Hards Photography

Image part of Our World Tuesday

Evening walk on Parliament Street

                            Between pubs


Standing outside Court Cafe, Parliament Street, the main high street and shopping area of Ramsey. Night time however, all closed apart from Bourne Plaice takeaway fish and chip shop, the tallest white building in view This area underwent a regeneration over the last few years. As you can see, unlike a lot of downtown areas, we having no chewing gum on the pavements (sidewalks) and no litter. Rarely does either occur. The street is a one way system. That one way has changed several time over the years. You can always spot a tourist, not knowing which way is the right way.  Photo take en  route between pubs. The town may look closed, but the pubs bars and restaurants/takeaways are open, ready for night time revellers.


Jane Hards Photography

Ramsey, Isle of Man

Part of Our World Tuesday

Homage to Henri Cartier Bresson - My World

Reality check

Anyone who knows me knows I have a thing about Henri Cartier Bresson. Well he was French( I am a Francophile too) and his photography is most definitely the single biggest inspiration of mine. Even before I knew the images I actually wanted to captured reflected his way of seeing the world. Considered the Godfather of modern street photography and photo journalism that is he captured the image as it was. No cropping, no desaturation, no tweaking in Photoshop. If it was blurry so be it. If someone wasn't quite in the best posed position does it really matter? In the real world, people are sitting around waiting for you to capture their image airbrushed, the sunset doesn't always looks beautiful and slush from that beautiful snowfall can make an equally interesting real image. Does every image have to be perfect, beautiful, geometrically balanced. The world is slightly askew, shoot it that way. You can always hold the camera at at different angle to capture the relatively dull scene to add your own creative twist. As he said he trapped life. Each image, especially the people I capture, traps that specific moment in time. The lone walker in the scene, unawares, whoever they were, braving what I can tell you now was a bitterly cold day midweek trapped through the lens. A moment never to be repeated. The pretty colours of Parliament Street reflected in the slush pools, the grim reality that when snow melts it's really quite miserable and horrible captured as it was. The way Bresson did.......



......Of course we all know that I am also barking mad. Throw in that element of quirkiness then all the above goes out the window and I can show you my very none Bresson images. Pics when I have specifically coaxed people to play the fool for the camera, or purposely shot the same inanimate object from quirky angles, waiting for sunlight to hit the bridge, because it seemed like a good idea at the time. 100 times, that being the abridged version of a very long story!

For more My World posts, Click here after 8pm.

Zero Tolerance

Cheats, thieves and liars I swear will be dealt with.

I usually have Zen for Z, but I am feeling most non Zen like. Instead I thought I would tell you all about a little known by law here about swearing or should I say not swearing on the streets and other Zero Tolerances. In fact not just swearing but saying anything that could be deemed offensive to another person. Seriously, tell my camera and I to shove off in a very discourteous manner alluding to multiplying the population whilst traveling then I could march you too the the local Police Station and have you arrested. So there. Certain parts of the town to have ZT when it comes to speed limits too and don't get me strated on litter louts. So next time you find yourself on Parliament Street above remember don't swear, be rude, drop litter or drive at breakneck speed(or park on those double yellow lines come to that!) as you could just find yourself in hot water at the local nick.



Zero tolerance too applies to thieves, especially those that steal photographs and images like mine above delete the copyright and pass them off as their own. Even worse are world dominating organizations who rip off small websites like yours and mine and fail to respond to polite contact re payment or removal of the image they are using. Taking a leaf out of my town's book, I will too be applying my own Zero Tolerance.


For more Z words by others see here.

Carry on up the back passage

Blinded by the light

Shall we have a little alley action? No alley cats hanging around or lowlifes just my camera and I.
This is one of those little slipways we have that links Parliament Street to the harbour side that you can see in colour by clicking a back post here. Whenever I see passageways like this I am prone to let my over active imagination run riot and believe that of course this was a secret runway for the smugglers escaping with their ill gotten gains. I have so many things I could say about bankers and taxes but I'll resist. Back to the back alley.

I took this with something called fill flash. Does what it says. Not that it was necessary just wanted a blinding light. Don't ask. Some crazy idea I had at the time about obscuring the image before I reveal it's secrets to you. Anyway let's carry on up the back passage. Into the bright light you can see over the road to a white van. That is no ordinary van but a Police van. Why? The Police station is just to the right of that van. Makes sense then. Behind that van is a lovely little local shop which I'll show you soon. As you can see the alley has two different types of wall.I have noticed a lot of the back ways have walls of differing styles. Each wall is the side of a local business. We will have to take a look at those sometime soon too. If you peer very closely you can see the Christmas lights strewn across the sky. Yes I did say Christmas lights. They stay up, but stay off until Christmas. A little gritty image today.Realism.

I hope you enjoyed wandering around my back passage virtually, anyway.

PARLIAMENT STREET

The photo above represents the not so picturesque side of Ramsey. It's a majestic buliding that has been sadly empty for some years now. The lower half (not photographed) used to be one of our local shops, but it's the top half I wanted to highlight.

This is the kind of building on the high street that is crying out to be renovated and turned into suitable living accommodation. It would be cheaper than a new building, and a once repainted much easier on the eye. Left empty and neglected for years now, it's rapidly falling into further decline, soon to be beyond repair. So any business out there looking for a retail outlet in Ramsey, with rental accommodation, here it is. Prime location, loads of floor space, easy access need I say more.?As you can see, this is particular pet hate of mine, but in this I know I am not a lone voice.

This is a last minute post. I have been out and totally forgot about the blog, had a drinkies with island visitors, put the world to rights ect. I do feel stromgly about these neglected buildings though, as you know.


Why I would like to know is the the island spruced up for Prince Andrew visiting? Surely the place should be spruced up for us residents, who actually live here.

Babooshka is off to bed. She has had a lot to drink. See you sometime tomorrow. What are your plans this weekend? Mine are sleep.

PARLIAMENT STREET, RAMSEY. WANT TO BUY A SHOP?

Gary and I had some chores to do down Parliament Street. Gary hasn't ventured to the far side of the high street for awhile and was surprised at the amount of empty property, namely shops. I had kept him informed, but reality really hit home when he saw it, the vacant properties for himself.

This is one of many building along Parliament Street, Ramsey that is currently up for sale. Parliament Street is the main high street of Ramsey, where the majority of shops, pubs banks etc are. This is the top half. The underneath used to be a computer shop. It's been on the market now for quite a few months. As you can see this is what you would call "Prime Real Estate. " It's central for starters. Near the Post office, opposite cashpoints, the Police station etc. I mean this is prime for a flat conversion and retail outlet underneath. So any budding business types out there, forget Douglas, come to Ramsey. If you could make it an Italian restaurant that would be perfect. Failing that a decent Greengrocers full of local produce.

Today we counted 6 empty shops. More soon possibly. There is a meeting to be held to discuss the situation in Ramsey concerning the retail economy. I mentioned the shop situation before to the powers that be that may stop by the blog. I ask again. New hotels and apartments are a fabulous idea in theory. Without retail outlets for tourists and locals to shop, eat, bank in tourists will not check in those hotels, and residents will not reside in new apartments they can't afford as their shop job in Ramsey no longer exists to pay the mortgage. Don't let Ramsey go under with the current financial climate.

I was sheltering in the doorway of another empty shop to take this as it was raining, hence the grainy quality. Of course I totally planned the intense blackest of birds to fly into shot against the light building. Ok, it was our old friend serendipity again flying past. Not the cheeriest or wittiest of posts but I want my voice heard, and that of other Ramsey residents who echo my thoughts. Ramsey is in the process of regeneration, but the cash has to go into the right ventures for it to survive. If you're a resident who follows this blog please have your say, even anonymously. It's our town and we want, no need it to survive in order to flourish.

PARLIAMENT STREET RAMSEY

"Do you always have a camera with you?" asked many a person. The simple answer is mostly. Not always, but 90% of the time I would have to say I do. That means I often take images that were never meant to be . Unplanned random shots that just jump out at me and beg to be taken. Like this one last tonight along Parliament Street. Gary and I ordered and Chinese, waited for the taxi to take us home, camera came out. Needless to say we had also had a drinkies or several down the Swan prior to the Chinese. Photography, booze and 5 spare mins a heady mix. So who's for a lesson in night time photography?

Firstly lets explode a few myths. You don't need a tripod. It can be done hand held, even when inebriated. You don't have to have fancy pants light meters. You don't have to have camera hoods. It's all about the settings. The shot itself is easy. Enough white building to bounce/reflect light. The sky although darkening still has a little tinge of light. The only bugbear are the artificial lights. This is where people go wrong and get those nasty trails of blurry orange or white light instead of sharp chunks of glow. So firstly forget the auto. Switch to manual and fiddle around with your white balance (ISO) and the F. stops. Take 3 or 4 at different speeds until you eliminate the trails. So this one was ISO 400, F2, low light(slow) wide angled lens on full zoom and a drunken photographer, although that is optional. You keep the warm tones, see the lettering clearly and the feel of a nighttime shot without sacrificing detail or sharpness. If I can do it drunk then you can do it sober. I want results people!

Well busy weekend. Apparently a big rugby weekend coming up and I have to drag my sorry ass up the Mooragh to photograph it, plus go to the clubhouse later that evening to see what we think is a Ska band or a Ska/Punk band. Who cares it's live music, and I love a live band. Ramsey you see knows how to have fun once in a while. What are your plans?

RAMSEY, PARLIAMENT STREET

Still sorting through the images. Laborious but it has to be done. The Babooshka household is a mess again at the moment. Lightboxes(yes a real one), printers, scanners cluttering the floor. Then of course it's Gary's artwork. The political pile, the vector pile, the scanned pile, the prints,
the BBC pile, the .. oh you get the drift. It's like playing hopscotch on the living room floor. No clear path, like avoiding cracks in the pavement. Like the schools, the Politicians go back in the UK after summer and that means Gary has to have his satirical, biting, political cartoonist head on for the next BBC gallery he's about to start. So he won't be cooking my dinner for a while!

The image today is just a stock pic for another project. Ramsey Skylines. As you can see it's a jaunty angle and incomplete either side. There is a reason why it's like that. It all about aging a town. It's not the shop fronts you should look at but the skyline. Ground level can go through many incarnations, new windows, doors, paint, tiles, clading, but the top layer tends to remain the same. The topline architecture is what I need to concentrate on as this is where the building can be accurately assessed and aged. So you have two clear buildings and one, the left top corner, the hint of the next building. The angle allows the chimneys pots(weeds optional) and tiled sloped roof to be viewed. A straight on shot would flatten that part of the image, which for the project is the pivotal point. Not so glamorous now this photography lark is it? If it was all sunsets though I would be soooooooooo bored! Note the colours are left natural and the image not brightened. Project images like this have to be as seen.

Are you still awake? Who is that out there I can see nodded off? You mean you did not take notes. Tsk! Ok for being good boys and girls you can have nice skywatch shot tomorrow. The possibilities. Arty farty, black and white, dripping with sunest hues or thunderclouds. Who knows. I'm just not that organised this week.

RAMSEY AND A FIRST DAY AT SHCOOL TALE.

This isn't graffiti. It's a mural by the kids of the now defunct Albert Road Junior and Infants School. The kids are moving to a new shiny building. I'll have to photograph the old soon. This is right along Parliament Street. Maybe we have some budding artists in Ramsey? What you can see? Three iconic images of Ramsey.

On the left is Albert Tower. The centre image is Queens Pier. The right image is a tram. Show anyone on the island this and they would instantly say Ramsey. I've shown you the pier already. The trams have only just come back to town, and the Tower I will do when I can hike up there. Again the blue hoarding surrounds an empty shop that has been demolished. What will be there next who knows. I kept simple shot as you see, shadow and all.

This leads me on though to a question posted by DAVID MCMAHON, AUTHORBLOG . Can you remember your first day at school.? Oh yes I can.! A detour today into the childlike world of days before I became er, me.

Nervous a kitten clinging to my mother. Remembering the nice blonde kindly lady teacher gently but frimly coaxing me from my mother into the classroom and ushering mother out the door. Coat pegs. We all had a big black coat peg where my coat with my name written inside would be hung. Tiny chairs and tables. Being so proud I could write my name in thick black pencil and nervously holding it aloft for approval. Wondering why so many did not know how to write their own name. Frowning! Recognising Peter and Jane in the books of the same name. Smiling. Oh yes I liked this school thing.

Running round and round the playground. Eating strange bland food. Yuck! Two lots of food. pudding at lunchtime? No I don't like this school food thing. The sand pit. Oh how I loved the sandpit. Not the dolls house, the bikes,the numerous other wonderment of assorted educational toys, no not for me. Making new friends. Bullies! The boy who pushed everyone, who stole the toys. The boys who took my bucket off me. The boy whose legs I threw sand at for taking my bucket. The kindly blonde lady teacher, smelt like sweets. I told her he was naughty, she put him in the corner. I smiled. He was bad. He was punished! The good were rewarded. Oh yes I liked this school thing.

The bell. Big loud pulsating bell. Scrapping chairs. Scrambling for coats. Thanking the sweet smelling teacher with the generous smile. Spotting mom, running, talking, talking, talking. Tired. I can come back. Tomorrow! Oh yes I liked this school thing.

Written staccato like. After all It was long ago. Lengthy memories fade, but snapshots remain. It was heavenly, exciting, scary and fun. It was ordered, uncomplicated. Life is seldom like that now. The good and bad are neither punished or rewarded in equal measure. Life is not black and white now, but a muddy grey. People aren't so kindly, or sweet smelling. Strangers do not become instant friends. I still like a sandpit, it's why I've gone from city to beach. I still metaphorically throw sand at the bullies in life who pinch my proverbial bucket, but instead of a teacher now it's me who fights my battles. Welcome to the unordered, complicated, scary, fun, unfair world of adulthood. No wonder I'm nuts.

RAMSEY, PARLIAMENT STREET

The photo above represents the not so picturesque side of Ramsey. It's a majestic buliding that has been sadly empty for some years now. The lower half (not photographed) used to be one of our local shops, but it's the top half I wanted to highlight.

This is the kind of building on the high street that is crying out to be renovated and turned into suitable living accommodation. It would be cheaper than a new building, and a once repainted much easier on the eye. Left empty and neglected for years now, it's rapidly falling into further decline, soon to be beyond repair. So any business out there looking for a retail outlet in Ramsey, with rental accommodation, here it is. Prime location, loads of floor space, easy access need I say more.?As you can see ,this is particular pet hate of mine, but in this I know I am not a lone voice.

On a lighter note, the infestation of traffic cones seems to be dwindling, which must mean we are expecting tourists. So to all those mad bikers out there who are coming here, a warm welcome awaits. Visitors also include the host of yesterdays ABC WEDNESDAY MRS NESBITT and friends of SKYWATCH FRIDAY host Tom and Jane at WIGGERS WORLD