A Good Week

First of all, I've got my fotopic site back! Find this at www.arrivabishopauckland.fotopic.net

On Monday, I paid a visit to Jessops in Darlington. I really want to like Jessops, but the staff are either stupid or lack training. Previous visits to various branches of Jessops included an incident enquiring about "slide film". I was informed that most toy shops sold slides......

Anyway I used their 1 hour processing service, with a roll of Tesco film. Well I wasnt expecting too much, and a charge of £7 nearly took my breath away but I was told that included a free film and was actually given two rolls. Kodak gear as well.

I got my pictures back....well, the quality was fantastic. Although pricey, you do get a free film, and they come highly reccommended. I've been looking at their slide processing, it's quite cheap too so I'm going to have a bash at a roll of slide film I think very soon!

This is an example of the type of pictures I'm trying to take. This is Escomb Village, where we see an Optare Spectra double decker rounding the ancient Saxon church the village is famous for. I'm pretty pleased with this effort, alas, the shawdow from the lamppost spoils the effect a little. (taken with my Kodak Z1485)

Welcome

Welcome to my blog!

My name is Stuart (though I prefer Stu), I live in Shildon, County Durham, England and I am married with two beautiful daughters.

I have a couple of hobbies, aside from spending time with my family, I am what is commonly termed a "Bus Spotter", though I have never found any attraction to collecting bus numbers! Rather, I am more interested in the actual vehicle, and through this, in 2002 I achived my lifetime ambition to become a bus driver and found employment with Arriva North Eastm based at Bishop Auckland depot. I still work there, though in 2006 I was promoted to a Leading Driver/Relief Traffic Officer, and I spend most of my worktime in the depot but still get to indulge in driving a bus in service occasionally.

My other main hobby developed from my interest in buses. I enjoy photography. I started to photograph buses, using a digital camera but then was tempted to use good old fashioned film. My wife bought me a second hand Olympus OM-10 SLR camera in 2008 for my birthday and I was very impressed with the results. Now, I also own a classic Olympus Trip 35 and I am about to become the owner of an Olympus XA rangefinder. I enjoy taking photos of my family and countryside, and I am starting to photograph buses with interesting scenery in the background. I still use a digital camera (a Kodak Z1485 14mp), but where I can, I prefer to use my film cameras. Digital is OK, but they lack the "realness" of a film picture.

So, this blog is going to showcase my work, I hope you find it interesting. I do have a fotopic site, but I'm currently in dispute with them and my site has been suspended :-( When it gets back online, I will provide a link from here.

Thats all for now....
Stu