Astbury's Adventures in Photography

What was once the Loch Long torpedo range can be found near Arrochar. The building has long since been abandoned and has suffered from a fire but some of it still remains. Sets of parallel rails that intersect with a simple turntable arrangement can still be seen, these were used for moving torpedoes around the test facility. These photographs have been shot with a Fuji X-T4, the raw files processed with COP and SilverEfex.   Parallel rails run across the floor Only a small part of the roof structure remains, what was the main building now completely open to the elements. All the window glass has been broken. View out to Loch Long The site is located at the southern end of Loch Long, a sea loch chosen for the very straight run it offers. Rail turntable Once the torpedoes were moved to the firing area they would be lowered on chains into the water and fired up the loch. An observation post was immediately above the firing area. Firing area Fired torpedoes would be recovered (althoug...

Just a few flower photographs from the Scottish countryside to enjoy.

A selection of photographs taken at Edinburgh Zoo, Scotland. These were all taken with a telephoto zoom and natural light. A couple of them by necessity have been shot through glass. Not my usual subject matter but a bit of fun anyway and hopefully some good images. Meerkat Meerkat Meerkat Meerkat Meerkats Panda Red panda Red panda Sun Bear Gelada baboon Banteng Pelican Pelican pair Penguins Penguin Penguin

Here are a selection of recent photographs of subjects around the Oban area. Taken as digital raws, they have been processed through Capture One only as I continue to explore a monochrome workflow without Silver Efex Pro. Nose down in the dirt, Airds Bay Abandoned boat, Loch Etive Converted fishing boat, Oban Bay Kilchurn Castle Tree roots triangle Gate post Cabin in the woods Beyond a short caption I've opted not to say a lot about these photographs, please feel free to imagine your own narrative.

Lathallan House, originally known as 'Laurence Park', dates to 1826 and is attributed to architect Thomas Hamilton (who, along with William Burn were the first Scottish members of RIBA). The house was notably home to Henry Salvesen who built Scotland's first steam powered car, which he used around the estate. The car, dating to 1896, still survives and has been known to appear in the London to Brighton veteran car run. Curious repair, just this one small wall section Front entrance Pair of safes, now sitting in the porch, contents unknown The house was stripped of much of it's timber fixtures and fittings and at one stage suffered a fire (possibly started accidentally by a rough sleeper). Lantern Bathtub, plug still in, located near the stable block Barbed wire no longer required, stable block door Sadly the house is now a ruin, listed on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland, and only frequented by occasional urbexers and the ...

My plan was to take some photographs of the pet (dog) graves in the gardens at Hopetoun House. I wanted to shoot the small headstones from a low position so chose a Fuji X-T1 for the job as this is the only camera I have with a flip out rear screen which makes shooting at odd angles and positions easier. Light levels were likely to be low in the location beneath a canopy of trees and so I was thinking of using a flash to illuminate the subject and also to help with contrast, giving a light drop off for the background. I'd be shooting from close up so the little Fuji EF-X8 shoe mount flash seemed ideal (guide number of 8, metres, ISO 100). However when I came to start I could not get the flash to fire. I ran through a number of menu options and the obvious turn the camera on and off etc but it wouldn't play ball. So I was forced to rethink the shot, ambient light, higher ISO and a wide aperture (luckily I was using a prime lens, the Fuji XF 27mm f2.8). At f3.6 I was getting en...

I've been shooting away with my dad's old Nikon FE , loaded with some very old and long since expired film but progress was cut short by a problem with the camera. I was getting a situation where I would press the shutter release and the camera would lock up, the viewfinder would go black suggesting the mirror was locked in the up position, the shutter may or may not have been stuck open. The camera is a mechanical/electrical hybrid, what I found was that if I set the shutter speed to M90, the mechanical option, this then allowed the mirror to return to position, the film could then be advanced to try again. This gave me a temporary workaround however the problem quickly became more frequent, then happened every shot. So I decided to stop and develop the film with whatever was on it to that point. The colour negative film needed the C41 process, a time and temperature sensitive process which is usually best done by a lab, and I needed a lab that would process expired film, so...