It's been a while since I posted a keep out shot, as I don't often come across a new angle that I think's worth photographing. And this one's not exactly the best one of the series but I'm determined to post a bit more regularly, even if that does mean posting stuff that's not quite as vibrant as usual.

On another note: I got an email this morning from the team at JPG Magazine:

"We've spent the last few months trying to make the business behind JPG sustain itself, and we've reached the end of the line. We all deeply believe in everything JPG represents, but we just weren't able to raise the money needed to keep JPG alive in these extraordinary economic times. We sought out buyers, spoke with numerous potential investors, and pitched several last-ditch creative efforts, all without success. As a result, jpgmag.com will shut down on Monday, January 5, 2009."

I wasn't a regular contributor (as you can see from my profile), but did have one photograph published in issue 10, and did enjoy browsing through the site - there were some really top class contributors.

Anyway, they're going to be shutting down their website on the 5th so I'd recommend you head over there and have a good look round before they do.

First of all: thanks for all your comments/feedback on my idea to include the Google translation service on our tutorials page. I've decided, given that it doesn't seem all that accurate, that I wont include it at the moment.

As for this one: it's not one of my most striking shots but I did think it was worth adding to the collection :-)

As you might notice, if you saw the shot I put up the other day, there's been a bit of creative re-composition with this one, though only because I didn't want to post this one in portrait format.

First of all, thanks for all the great comments on yesterday's shot. It was good to finally find the time to produce something worth posting, but even better to hear it was well liked.

As for this one: it's been a while since I posted a keep out shot. I've been keeping an eye out for them, but there's only so much you can do with a series of old number plates on chains, so I haven't managed to get too many that I'm happy with this year. This one though, I like: mostly because of the upside down sign, and the hook hanging in mid-air, but also because it works well with the rest of the scene ;– i.e. it reads like a commentary on Blackpool in the wintertime ;-)

I don't imagine that anyone will be too surprised to hear that I much prefer this one to yesterday's. Both are part of a series, but, on the whole, I think this is a much better shot than my sixth 'keep out' shot.

As with the other shots in this series this is an HDR (high dynamic range) image. While I know that some of you find these a bit gimmicky, in my opinion it's definitely one of the best ways of capturing this sort of scene; mostly because it captures the richness and texture of the wood, peeling paint, and so on. Under absolutely ideal lighting, I guess a straight shot would probably be as good, but it's rare that such light comes along.

Oh, and I've finally worked out that HDR shots are a lot more successful when shot under very flat/even light. I shot a few this afternoon, and as the time went on the light improved: the HDR's I took at the time though, didn't.

Anyway, let's hope that this one gets a few more comments than yesterday's effort ;-)

This is the sixth in the keep out series, and it's probably the least successful, mostly because I'm finding it increasingly difficult to find a new angle on this theme. When I started chromasia things were a lot simpler; i.e. it was a sequence of almost random objects and scenes with very little repetition. As I've gone along though I've become more interested in developing particular themes, of which this is one. That said, I suspect that there probably aren't too many more 'keep out' shots that are worth taking, at least not that I can think of at the moment.

Oh, and this was taken a while ago as things are currently pretty hectic in our neck of the woods. Hopefully things will quieten down again soon.

This was taken at the same time as keep out #4 but I didn't put it up at the time as i) it's not as good, and ii) three 'keep out' shots in a row seemed a bit excessive.

On another matter: I may not be posting for a while as Libby, my wife, went into hospital this afternoon. At this stage we're not too sure what the problem is, and all being well she'll be home either later tonight or tomorrow (kicking my arse for talking about it on chromasia), but I suspect I'm not going to have the time or the inclination to take many photographs for at least a few days.

Update: just a quick update, as of the early hours of Monday morning, to let you know that Libby is still in hospital. She did come home earlier today, but ended up going back in again this evening. I'll keep you posted. In the meanwhile, thanks for all your kind words and thoughts: they're much appreciated, by both of us.

Update #2: well, still no new pictures, but Libby's home again. The reason I've been reluctant to say anything much is that it did look as though things might be pretty serious. The differential diagnosis was pleurisy or a pulmonary embolism, the first of which is painfully unpleasant, the other potentially lethal. Anyway, libby had a scan today which pretty much ruled out a pulmonary embolism, and she's had various other tests which didn't indicate any other life-threatening problems, so she's back at home. She's not feeling great, and the rest of us are pretty spaced out too, but at least there's now a clearly defined light at the end of what was starting to look like an impossibly long tunnel.

Fairly soon, when Libby's feeling a bit better, I'll get to around to shooting and posting some new material, but don't expect anything much until the end of the week at the earliest. I'm at home for at least the next few days helping out, and will have to catch up with work related stuff after that, but all being well I'll manage some photography over the weekend.

Once again, many thanks for all your kind words and thoughts - they're very much appreciated.

I don't have a great deal to say about this one other than that it's pretty much a straight shot with some minor tweaking of Curves and colour balance.

These signs appear all along the seafront at Blackpool: on sliproads and steps down to the beach. In summer they're taken down during low-tide, but at this time of year they tend to be left in place. Oh, and the title refers to the fact that I've put a couple of these up before: this one and this one.

On a totally unrelated matter: I wonder if anyone could tell me where I can get hold a B+W 113 neutral density filter with a 77mm thread. I've been trying to track down one of these in the UK since before Christmas, but with no luck – mostly because nobody seems to be importing them at the moment. So, if anyone does know of somewhere where I could pick one of these up (either in the UK or further afield) I'd be really grateful if you could let me know.

Thanks to a comment from cj I've now managed to order the filter from Germany.

John popped over for an hour or so earlier today and we did our customary walk along the seafront. Hopefully he had better luck than me today as I suspect this may be the only one from the trip that I put up.

All being well, we’ll be moving to Blackpool in a couple of months, so we took a trip over there today. Mostly so we could have a look round the area, but also to take the kids to the beach. This sign was at the top of one of the many flights of stone stairs leading down to the beach and looked as though it were made from a car number plate.

As far as post-processing goes, all I did to this image was to darken the sky a little. I was using a polarizer but the sun was at the wrong angle for it to make much difference. Had we had longer I probably would have gone back later in the day as I imagine that the late afternoon sun would have provided a much better shot.