A lovely day for Reetta and Jonathon's wedding at Crook Hall and Durham Town Hall with a few twists:

1. Cybermen kidnapped Jonathon, and to Reetta's d̶i̶s̶a̶p̶p̶o̶i̶n̶t̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ delight they returned him promptly.
2. Moomins were spotted flying around (they were tossed instead of bouquets).
3. A T-Rex crashed the wedding! (no not really, that was added in Photoshop, but it was a lot of fun getting that shot!)

Here are the highlights:

Haven't posted for a while due to concentrating on my dissertation, haven't had any time to go out and take photos... until now, the Easter holidays! :D

Took the time off to visit Seal Sands near Hartlepool / Middlesbrough, and yes, there are actually seals there! (Guide on getting there below)​
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After the ents finished at Mary's Midsummer Ball around 2:30am, I went up to the nearby Observatory Hill and set up for one of the most amazing experiences ever - watching the sun rise form behind Durham Cathedral! We were lucky with the weather, there was a tiny bit of cloud in an otherwise clear sky. I can definitely see the attraction and why so may people come to this spot to watch the sunrise, if you haven't yet, do it! (Wear plenty of warm clothes though, I was there for two hours from "start to finish")

Apologies for the slight flickering at places, and the lens kept fogging up near the end - something to mitigate next time. 
(remember to watch in HD!)

It's been a very busy summer season, here's what I have been up to over the past couple of months. Thank you to everyone involved in organising these events, really enjoyed them and very glad I got to photograph everyone having a great time and help forge memories!

It's been a very busy summer season, here's what I have been up to over the past couple of months. Thank you to everyone involved in organising these events, really enjoyed them and very glad I got to photograph everyone having a great time and help forge memories!

I was walking home a couple of nights ago and noticed it was full moon and the clouds were clearing up. So I grabbed my camera and dragged my friends out to one of the highest spots around Durham that I knew - the "mound" at Josephine Butler College. 

It was never going to be a night for star's because a full moon is very bright and overpowers most but the brightest of stars. So the night was mostly going to be about the moon! Tested out a new telephoto lens with the moon and attempted a timelapse video as the clouds weren't too thick but there was a bit of wind moving them quite quickly. 

In the end the midnight adventure paid off, here are the results:

Last Sunday sports teams from York University Colleges came up to Durham, for the annual College Varsity between the two universities. Fixtures included Lacrosse, Rugby, Badminton, Football, Hockey, Basketball and many more. Thank you to the organisers and everyone involved, what a great day of spectacular performances! 

It was very entertaining watching so many different sports played at a high level in the same day. Truth be told, it was very cold (I believe the appropriate scientific term is "bloody freezing") but I had a good time taking photos for the Palatinate (Durham University's student newspaper - http://www.palatinate.org.uk/). Here are my favourites from the day (full album on my Facebook page can be found here ).

hit "Read More" to see the rest:

(Part 2 of the Summer Season 2014 series)

This year's Trevelyan College Summer Ball took place on 18th June and the theme was "Cool Britannia". Blue, white and red decorations everywhere with actors in fancy dress dotted around. There was a lovely drinks reception with strawberries in the , and there was an ice cream stand right next to the table of bubbly! Very fitting for a Summer ball (ha, summer get it?)

I had the pleasuring of walking round with a picture frame (Trev's ball chair, Hannah's idea) and the frame was extremely popular! Everyone loved the frame and wanted a photo through it. Even the "Queen" had a portrait through the frame! (Although Her Royal Highness got her footman, Humphrey to do the hard of work of holding the frame for her) Also the frame was surprisingly roomy, record for the night was fitting something like 11 people in the frame! 

Plenty of ents (=entertainment) around the college site (I think they really packed in as many as possible). There were some crazy ride in the car park which swings people around (I can't remember what it was called, please see the photos of people screaming their faces off below) and another one that literally spun you around (wasn't quite brave enough to find out what it was called...). Another notable one were dance machines inside, so much fun that even the "Queen" joined in (see photographic evidence down below).

Thank you to all the entertainers, live bands, DJ's staff, organisers and lastly, the guests for a great night! 

You can see the full album over on Trev's facebook here.

"Can we pretend that airplanes, in the night sky are like shooting stars? I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now..." (The little voice in your head sang that to the tune didn't it?)

If anyone is looking for a wish or many wishes, now is your chance to make them properly, to some real shooting stars...!

The Perseids are a meteor shower that occurs every year around mid of July to late August. The name "Perseids" originates from the shooting stars appear to come from the constellation Perseus, whereas in reality they are courtesy of the comet Swift-Tuttle (thank you!) 

Even though the showers occur over about a month, they usually peak between the first and second week of August, this year they are projected to peak on 12th-13th August (make a note or even check the weather now!) If you are lucky, you might be able to see some when you are out watching the Supermoon too!

Some comet viewing tips:

• Go somewhere far away from light pollution, ie really dark! (Dur... that almost goes without saying)
• Let you eyes adjust to the darkness, this would normally take around 10 minutes, give it 15-20 just to be safe.
• Avoid looking at bright sources of light to preserve "night vision". So avoid phones, torches etc.
• If you really must use light, like checking out the path or whatever, use red light wherever possible because that's apparently best for keeping your night vision. Google SkyMap has an "astronomer mode" built in, or you can even use free apps like Lux to give you a nice red filter on your phone)
• Wrap up warm. Speaking from experience, it still gets fairly cold despite being summer time, because you would be sat still most of the time. I was wearing 3-4 layers last year and was just about comfortably warm (yes, multiple pairs of trousers as well as tops)
• Bring something to sit on because the ground/grass is likely to be wet from condensation
• You might want to bring a friend/family member/significant other/loved one to keep you company. I think this would make an excellent occasion for some deep conversations/"romantic hang out"
• Lastly, prepare what you need in advance and get up earlier than you think you need to. For a special annual occasion like this one, it is probably better to be too early than too late (I learnt this the hard way....)

Last year, I tried to capture the Perseids with no success. Unfortunately I got out of bed too slowly at around 3am. It was nearly 4am by the time I got dressed and got out there. The sun had "half risen" and it was too bright to see normal stars by then, let alone shooting stars. I did see a truly epic sun rise with not many clouds in sight though!! See the photo at the bottom.

I wish you the very best of luck if you decide to go out and look for the Perseids! Even if they don't show, you never know what else you might find :)

Wow it's August already! I meant to blog about every event that I covered individually but I forgot due to moving house and other reasons. Sorry guys, here are the highlights in “double bills” to make up for my lack of blogging.

Click Read More for the photos and short posts about each night :)