November 9th – A wet night in Walsall, returning later than usual through the area near the Civic Centre, I noticed the fallen leaves were forming a glistening, multicoloured carpet. This area is surprisingly beautiful at any time of year, with usually unnoticed mature trees and wide pedestrian areas, but in autumn, after dark, even with the peculiarly strident street lighting this place is special.

Walsall is a place of many hidden beautiful and unexpected corners.

November 9th – Passing through New Street on a drizzly, cold November evening, I caught the lights and signals of New Street mingling with the city skyline, centre stage the brilliant Brutalist gem, Alpha Tower.

One of the joys of winter is seeing this view, the signals, the reassurance of light, warmth, machinery safely in control and life above going on as normal.

Birmingham is glorious in it’s beauty sometimes.

November 8th – For the past few months, I’ve been running different tyres to my preferred, trusty Schwalbe Marathon Plusses – I was wanting to go back to 28mm tyres, but the frame is just a tad too slim to use marathon plus 28s, so I bit the bullet and tried Specialised Armadillo 28s instead. I’d heard great things about them, but wasn’t expecting them to be as good.

They haven’t been bad, actually; maybe not as tough, but the tread is wearing better than I’d have expected, and they’re only a little less grippy than my favoured brand. 

Despite being classed as ‘all condition’, I’m not sure they’ll be suitable on ice, but we’ll see. So far, so good. Genuinely shocked.

November 8th – Back to the Nikon S9900, and this is what I was after yesterday. I love the harsh way can be set to pick up on light sources. It doesn’t suit everything, but I think it works better on the bridge scene that the fuzz the Panasonic does. The light was completely different tonight, sadly, as I travelled home in steady rain – but I may flip back to this camera for a while and see how I get on…

November 7th – I’m still not happy with the low light performance of the TZ-80. In lichfield I’d been using the Nikon, which seems to love the night, but this particular incarnation of the Panasonic compact seems very middling.

When you can get it right, as above, it’s not too bad, but the reflection of the street light is better than the light itself. 

On the TZ70 if I munged with the aperture, I could get the hard sharpness I liked, but not on this one.

Something is obstructing me, but what? This was the best of 20 odd shots, most unusable mush. I suppose if it comes down to it, I could always read the manual…

I’ll crack it.

Novemebr 6th – Lichfield on a dark, damp and nearly deserted Sunday evening was a treat. Armed with a tripod and some time to kill, experimentation was undertaken. I managed to get the hard light I wanted, and loved the effect long exposeure have on passing strangers, rendering them ghosts. 

There are few better urban spots for night photography than Lichfield.

November 6th – I saw the deer on the scrub between Chasewater Dam and the bypass – just the two, what I assume to be mother and child. They were contentedly loafing, and although interested by the human attention, they didn’t seem nervous, at least until a dog appeared.

I’d not seen he dear at close quarters for a while, and on a wet, grey and very cold-seeming afternoon, seeing these graceful creatures cheered me up.

November 5th – Stopping on the Pool Lane bridge over the M6 Toll to try another long exposure shot, I noticed the lights here seem to have been changed to LED white from the old orange sodium ones.

Whilst the change is undoubtedly for the better, I miss the orange glow and the peculiar light of the older types – but it’s interesting to see a shot like this with such clear and true colour.

November 5th – It was bitterly cold as I headed out just after nightfall on a run up to Chasewater and back to the supermarket to get some shopping.

I’m fiddling with the camera settings, and it’s getting better, but I still can’t find that magic spot I had with the TZ70. Perhaps I never will with this one, it’s an odd box.

I was lucky to catch the firework at Chasewater on a long exposure. I was less lucky at Catshill Junction where I tried repeated shots to just miss the action every time. Still, the view wasn’t bad.

Practice makes perfect, I guess.