The band

A few years back we attended a friend's 'Life begins' birthday party and we got to dress up nicely for a change. But we are not the story here. A group of talented musician friends have provided live band music for the glitzy birthday party. The birthday celebrant and her spouse joined the band and entertained the crowd with a couple of songs.

The lighting during the band performance was not very good for photography though. It was quite dark and the background lights were quite distracting on the photos I have taken. So, I decided to convert these photos into black and white with a bit of tweaking to ensure the viewer's focus will be on the musicians themselves.

As the band performed in the dark with only minor lighting, nailing focus was quite hard for my amateur hands. It was a good thing I brought fast prime lens, otherwise I would not have gotten decent photographs.

All photos were taken with a micro four thirds camera (mostly from an older version of https://amzn.to/2nuWd35 and a few from an older version of https://amzn.to/2kSIQc4) attached with a prime lens (mostly from https://amzn.to/2nDAW7H and a few from https://amzn.to/2mXefei).

Early morning photowalk in Ferry Meadows

One mid-spring day in early April 2015 I joined fellow photography enthusiasts for an early morning photowalk in Ferry Meadows. It was a wet and gloomy day, not ideal for photography but we made do with what we had. There was no specific subject we wanted to capture, only that we take a walk in the park and shoot whatever we like. That means shooting landscapes and wildlife. I did get to practice on my close-up photography.

I went there to scope out the area for future visits and while there took some images, too. I am not a morning person so it was a bit of a shock to be up early. As expected, I reacted slowly and did more sightseeing than photographing. I've been to Ferry Meadows several times but mostly for walking exercises, but part of the route we took was not so familiar. We ended up our hour-long walk with a coffee before we went our separate ways.

All photos were taken with a micro four thirds camera (https://amzn.to/2SZwtaS) attached with a telephoto zoom lens (https://amzn.to/2SYS7ff).

The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent: Photo Gallery II

Museum | Gallery I | Gallery II

Flickr

If you have not read the story of our visit to the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent please go here or click Museum link above.

The following photos were taken in the museum's Spitfire, Ceramics and Fine Art galleries.

All photos were taken with an Olympus PEN E-PL5 micro four thirds camera attached with the pancake Panasonic Lumix G II 20mm f1.7 lens.

The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent: Photo Gallery I

Museum | Gallery I | Gallery II

Flickr

If you have not read the story of our visit to the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent please go here or click Museum link above.

The following photos were taken in the museum's Staffordshire Hoard/Anglo Saxon Kingdom of Mercia, Natural Science, Archaeology and Local History galleries.

All photos were taken with an Olympus PEN E-PL5 micro four thirds camera attached with the pancake Panasonic Lumix G II 20mm f1.7 lens.

The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent

Museum | Gallery I | Gallery II

Flickr

In summer of 2015, our family together with other friends visited The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent to get a glimpse of the city's cultural past. The museum was located in Hanley, one of the six towns of the federated city and admission is free. The museum houses Designated Collections - displaying fine and decorative arts, costume, local history, archaeology and natural history as well as the world's greatest collection of Staffordshire ceramics. It is also home to the Staffordshire Hoard.

As we approached the museum building we were greeted by the Light Source statue, which was created by the Scottish artist David Annand to celebrate 100 years of Stoke-on-Trent's federation as a city in 1910. The building itself is huge compared to our museum in Peterborough. Walking past the Light Source, we were then greeted by another work of art, the Industries of the Potteries, a long relief made up of 6,000+ bricks showing images of the history and industries of the city.

Dayout in Rutland Water Park

NOTE: Re-posted (with minor edits) from pinoyborian photography blog; originally posted in 13 August 2015

One bright and breezy Sunday, our family joined other family friends for a picnic day out in Rutland Water Park. It was our second visit to the park in two years. The first visit was nothing to write about as it was a wet April day to do a picnic.

Garden flowers and bugs from Stoke-on-Trent

NOTE: Re-posted (with minor edits) from pinoyborian photography blog; originally posted on 27 August 2015.

The family went to Stoke-on-Trent to spent the last weekend. We stayed at the house of one of my wife's best friends in university days. They've since moved to their new house just opposite from the last one we've visited a few years back.