Flickr Sets

A collection of my photos on Flickr - to which I've uploaded far too many pictures. Enjoy!

Museum of Communications, Seattle

Museum of Communications, Seattle

Last updated: Wednesday November 14 2012

The industrial district south of Seattle seems to have lots of interesting things to visit.

The other weekend, I finally got round to seeing the Museum of Communications - a somewhat-still-operational telephone exchange still crammed with gloriously obsolete electro-mechanical hardware, with the modern stuff long since condensed into a fridge-sized lump somewhere inside. Much of the old equipment is powered up - it's fantastic being able to dial in a number on one of the many rotary telephones, and hear the surrounding machinery rattle and clank into action as it routes the call from one side of the museum to another.

They've plenty of old teletypes, computers, terminals, modems and handsets too. Well worth a visit - but be warned, opening times are a bit limited...

Coming soon: the Living Computer Museum.

Photos of 2006

Photos of 2006

Last updated: Saturday November 3 2012

The series continues. Exciting*!

Eurotunnel - Le Shuttle

Eurotunnel - Le Shuttle

Last updated: Tuesday October 30 2012

Question: where should photos taken somewhere beneath the English Channel be geotagged? Which country was I physically in at the time? Or should we disregard international boundaries and pay heed to the USCSS Nostromo-alike interiors and pretend that interstellar law should apply instead?

Vancouver BC Explorations

Vancouver BC Explorations

Last updated: Saturday September 8 2012

Continuing to upload some of my ridiculously huge selection of Canadian photos, here's Vancouver BC. (Not to be confused with Vancouver WA, or Vancouver Is.)

May contain seagulls, cement works, bridges, skyscrapers and the occasional dismembered sheep.

Amtrak - Seattle to Vancouver

Amtrak - Seattle to Vancouver

Last updated: Tuesday September 4 2012

Something great about trains in North America is the speed. Or rather, the lack of it. What could be a brief jaunt up to the fully-metricated Vancouver turns out to take a sizeable amount of time - especially when a drawbridge over a bit of the sea gets stuck, and the train has to park for a while, and the driver wanders off to get a sandwich at a nearby shop. Plus when the train is moving, it tends not to go beyond a brisk dawdle. Still great fun, of course.

Here's a brief selection of dingy, vaguely-industrial imagery, shot through a monstrously tinted window in the train's dining car. As a result, colours are a bit on the imaginary side - the colour-balancing I had to do in order to escape the deep blue-green tinting was quite horrendous...

Photos of 2005

Photos of 2005

Last updated: Saturday September 1 2012

Another brief interlude for yet more in this pointless photographic retrospective, here's 2005!

Only nine photos. But ... a new camera at the end?

Canadian Science - Dominion Radio Observatory

Canadian Science - Dominion Radio Observatory

Last updated: Friday August 24 2012

While exploring near Penticton, a sister spotted the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory nearby. In keeping with the previous visit to the TRIUMF cyclotron, the impromtu survey of Canadian scientific facilities continued. Unfortunately, we'd missed the weekend tours - but fortunately, self-guided perambulations were still possible.

This time braving rattlesnakes and a radio-quiet zone, we went for a wander...

Canadian Science - TRIUMF cyclotron

Canadian Science - TRIUMF cyclotron

Last updated: Thursday August 23 2012

So, I was visiting Vancouver BC, having already visited Vancouver Island and Vancouver WA at various points in the past. Checking Nerdy Day Trips for interestingly off-beat destinations, I spotted the TRIUMF cyclotron did free tours for the public. Most importantly, photography allowed.

So, after finding a willing victim, sorry, volunteer to go with me (my dad seems quite accepting of the strange places I find), we braved radioactivity, strong magnetic fields and driverless trains (the latter in the public transport system).

Canada, land of the future!

(Coming soon: a radio observatory. A bit smaller than Jodrell Bank, but much more Canadian...)

Photos of 2004

Photos of 2004

Last updated: Saturday July 14 2012

I suspect most of these have been uploaded already, but continuing the pointless retrospective of ten years of digital photography, here's 2004! Months may be missing due to lack of photos in those respective months...

Volunteer Park Conservatory

Volunteer Park Conservatory

Last updated: Wednesday July 11 2012

I must be unwell - I'm taking pictures of flowers!

Part of Sunday's implausible day of photography, here's the beginning - where I set off to the nearby Volunteer Park Conservatory armed with a camera and a macro lens. Close-ups of cacti, orchids, bromeliads and whatnot resulted...