FALLING SOMEWHERE AS RAIN

I recently reported on a photographic dérive around Liverpool and my visit to St James Cemetery which sits in the shadow of the Anglican Cathedral. St James is situated in an abandoned 15th century quarry, which provided much of the construction stone for the old docks and Town Hall. Converted into a mausoleum and graveyard to house the manifold dead, especially following the Victorian Cholera epidemic, which ran through the city due to improper housing and unsanitary conditions, leaving thousands dead and the main necropolis in north Liverpool literally overflowing. In the shadow of the huge gothic cathedral, the peaceful gardens have now had many of the original internments removed and the statuary and monuments left to decay. However, the site is now maintained and secured by a working group and it has become a popular tourist destination. Naturally, any ancient site such as this will engender myths and stories and a wealth of historical detail. Many of the cities luminaries, as wel...

JUNE 2023  Almost as soon as I bought my first digital camera, I wanted to be able to take photographs of the Moon. It has been a source of fascination for me, since childhood, so being able to see it more closely is naturally something I had to pursue. The 300mm lens I got with the Samsung camera gave me a fair insight into the possibilities, especially as the lens and camera include dedicated astrophotography settings. The reach on the lens wasn't quite enough to reveal much detail, but did give me some nice shots of the full lunar disk. As with other photographs, it wasn't till I moved to analogue lenses again, that I got the ability to really fine tune the focus and exposure and using RAW format for post processing, helped improve results. The Maksutov MTO-500 lens, with its catadioptric mirror really opened up the opportunities for me, as being comparable to a small telescope itself, was ideal for the task. One thing I immediately noticed when attempting to photograph the ...