Looking back at 2018 & forward to 2019

A personal report as the photographer for Polypodphoto

Over the past year I have increasingly been using a Canon compact camera rather than a DSLR and have been trying out a Huawei smart phone, I’ve been surprised with the quality of images achieved. 

The direction of my work has now moved away from commercial photography to a more personal interest based activity with a lot of time, effort (and expense) being devoted to the Neo-Gothic Guild Church Stained Glass Project. A series of exhibitions displaying stained glass images have been held and I’m now working towards a major exhibition of photographs to be held at Guildford Cathedral in January 2019.

My connection continues with the Guildford Institute where I teach photography and deliver courses on architecture and design, mainly with an emphasis on the Victorian period. On 4 April 2019 I will be leading a Guildford ‘PhotoWalk’ as part of an institute course and I’m now planning a course on stained glass for the summer term.

After exhibiting during March 2018 a selection of my photographs at the Allen Gallery in Alton I have been asked to give a talk at the gallery on 25 April 2019 about local church stained glass.

A selection of my photographs are online with fotoLIBRA and the number of my images on flickr is currently being increased. A revamp of the Polypodphoto website is due in the New Year, as well as a new website for the Neo-Gothic Guild Church Stained Glass Project.

I continue to contribute to my three Facebook pages but have rather neglected my two blogs and avoid regular use of Twitter as it’s too distracting and ephemeral. I plan to produce a booklet based on my PhotoWalks which will offer self-guided walks in a number of locations.

City of London Visit

A Sunday morning, sunny and quite nice for October. A walk around the city looking at the usual sights as visited on the PhotoWalks, to see what had changed and a chance to take a few photographs of things not seen in the past. 

A couple of doorways with armorial crests above spotted and photographed in Threadneedlle Street.

Always difficult to get good shots in the city due to the height of the buildings and the narrowness of the streets, not being able to get far enough away from the facades with some never seeing sunlight and always in shadow. I always prefer good bright lighting to give some shadow and depth to the buildings features.

Looked at the ‘CheeseGrater’ and was surprised to see that some of the nuts/bolts were still secured in place by string and they had got around to replacing them yet. I was amazed at the official comment when the bolts started dropping out that it did not effect the structural integrity of the building! 

But the CG is to my eye a good looking building which the ‘Walkie-Talkie’ is not. I hate the W-T it’s an overpowering lump, wrong shape and size for it’s location, it might have looked better within the main grouping of the city skyscrapers. At least they have now fitted the sunshades which should now stop it melting cars and shop fronts in Eastcheap.  

2015 PhotoWalks

The 2015 season of PhotoWalks run by Polypodphoto Courses is now under way. We shall be revisiting all the Historic Towns and Cities that we looked at last year. 

All walks start at 11am and last 3 hours for the main locations and 2 hours for local walks.

Booking for most of the main locations on specific dates can be made via the Hotcourses website. http://www.hotcourses.com/ 

For the shorter local walks these will be run 'On demand' and people interested in these walks can email Polypodphoto direct. polypod@gmail.com

Full details of all the PhotoWalks are on the Polypodphoto website. http://www.polypodphoto.co.uk/home 

'PhotoWalks' Sept & Oct.

Just over two months left of this years program of PhotoWalks. 

We will be visiting the following locations: Sat. 6th Sept. Kingston upon Thames, Wed. 24th Sept. Portsmouth, Sat. 27th Sept. London - Blackfriars to Waterloo Bridge, Sat. 4th Oct. London - Charing Cross to Westminster, Sat 11th Oct. London - London Bridge to Bank, Sun 26th Oct. Winchester.

There will be PhotoWalks in Guildford on: Wed. 3rd Sept. Wed. 17th Sept. Sun. 28th Sept. and Wed. 15th Oct.

The program will hopefully restart in March 2015, but short PhotoWalks in local towns can still be run 'to order' over the winter period.

More details on: www.polypodphoto.co.uk  with most of the walks pre-bookable on the Hotcourses website. 

City of London PhotoWalk 22 March

A windy and cold day but with bright periods for the PhotoWalk from Tower Hill to London Bridge with a small group of attendees.

High contrast scenes made getting the exposure right, especially the skyscrapers against the bright sky. Frustration with trying to set up the options on a compact camera, menu driven settings not ‘intuitive’ and we had to resort to using the Auto setting.

There are lots of buildings and details of interest in the city and this walk has a mix of Victorian and period buildings, together with the views across the River Thames. The Shard looking good across the water but the ‘Walkie Talkie’ looms over the area around Eastcheap  - I don’t like this building, it’s too big, overpowering and the design is poor (especially the defect of focusing sunlight so that it melts cars and shopfronts!).

Some good photos taken en-route. The next London PhotoWalk is Backfriars to Waterloo Bridge on Sat 19^th April. See: www.polypodphoto.co.uk for details. 

Guildford 'PhotoWalks'

Dates for 'PhotoWalks' in Guildford from March to June 2014 have now been posted on www.polypodphoto.co.uk 

Gift Vouchers for PhotoWalks are available from Guildford Tourist Information Centre

Guildford PhotoWalk GIFT VOUCHERS

A useful Christmas Gift for anyone interested in photography and architecture. 

'PhotoWalk's - excursions exploring History & Heritage. An opportunity to look at and photograph interesting buildings, architectural details and streetscape en-route. Suitable for any type of camera and all abilities - beginners welcome. PhotoWalks are leisurely and sociable events

PhotoWalk Gift Vouchers are now available from Guildford Tourist Information Centre at 155 High Street, Guildford GU1 3AJ. Tel: 01483 444334. www.visitguildford.com

Costing £15.00 the voucher is valid for a PhotoWalk in Guildford (or any other PhotoWalk location) during 2014.

Chichester PhotoWalk

PhotoWalk in Chichester this Saturday 3rd August, 11am - 2pm. Meet under The Market Cross at 11am.
For further information please see: www.polypodphoto.co.uk

'PhotoWalks' Update

The PhotoWalk in Portsmouth which was due to take place yesterday (23rd June) has been postponed to Saturday 17th August - lets hope the weather is better. Last year I also had to postpone a photowalk in Portsmouth due to the poor weather.

A new photowalk is being prepared which starts at Charing Cross ending at Hyde Park Corner and includes a couple of tourist traps (which I usually try to avoid!) - Horse Guards and Buckingham Palace. Hopefully this will bring in a few extra people on the walk. Details will be on my website ASAP: www.polypodphoto.co.uk

Breaking news and last minute changes to PhotoWalks and Photo Courses will be notified via Twitter @mikecsleigh

'PhotoWalks' June - September

The list of PhotoWalks from June through to September has now been published. All the 3 hour walks can be booked in advance through Hotcourses: www.hotcourses.com

Sun. 2nd Jun. Reading PhotoWalk. Sun. 9th Jun. London PhotoWalk. Sun. 23rd Jun. Portsmouth PhotoWalk. Sat. 29th Jun. Guildford PhotoWalk. Sun. 30th Jun. London PhotoWalk. Sun. 7th July. Guildford PhotoWalk. Sat. 13th July. Southwark PhotoWalk. Sat. 3rd Aug. Chichester PhotoWalk. Sun. 11th Aug. Winchester PhotoWalk. Sun. 25th Aug. Southampton PhotoWalk.  Sat. 7th Sept. London PhotoWalk. Sun. 15th Sept. Guildford PhotoWalk. Sun. 29th Sept. London PhotoWalk.

Weekday short 2 hour PhotoWalks available in Guildford, Godalming, Kingston, Farnham, Horsham & Aldershot.

For further details please see: www.polypodphoto.co.uk or phone 07970034498

Old Photos Course 2

The second course 'Old Photographs - Stop your Past Fading Away 2' will now by held on Monday 15th July, 2 - 4.30pm, at The Guildford Institute.

Bookings can be made through Hotcourses : http://www.hotcourses.com or tickets bought from Eventbrite http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/5953337593/eac2 

Old Photos Course

The follow up course on saving your old family photos and documents is being held on 21st May, 2-4.30 at the Guildford Institute.

This second short course will show what can be done to save your family photographs and documents from being lost to you, your family and to future generations.

If you are researching your family history and have a collection of old family photos or just albums of more recent photos that you would like to preserve, then this course can help you.

We will cover copying and scanning, image restoration, cataloguing & databases, keywords & metadata, digital imaging processing & digital image saving/storage solutions.

£12.00 per person. Purchase tickets from: www.eventbrite.co.uk or book online via: www.hotcourses.com

PhotoWalks 27th & 28th April

Following an excellent PhotoWalk in Southampton on 20th April, this coming weekend has 2 PhotoWalks on offer.

Saturday sees us walking in the City of London - the postponed (due to the weather) Tower Hill to London Bridge itinerary - see previous blog.

Sunday we are down in Chichester for the first time this year, itinerary on the website: http://www.polypodphoto.co.uk/home/talks-tuition/photowalk-itineraries/chichester-photowalk

Booking can be made via Hotcourses:  http://www.hotcourses.com/uk-courses/All-courses-at-Polypodphoto/hc2_search.adv_search_do/16180339/0/z/313998/page.htm

City of London 'PhotoWalk'

Next Saturday 6th April we have our first PhotoWalk of this year in London.

Starting on Tower Hill at 11am  we will walk to London Bridge finshing around 2pm. A full itinerary can be found at - http://www.polypodphoto.co.uk/home/talks-tuition/london-photography-courses

Booking can be done online through Hotcourses - www.hotcourses.com

Detail of one of the sculptures by Sir Charles Wheeler on the Mercantile  Marine Memorial at Tower Hill.

Saving Old Photos & Documents

As part of my ongoing project to conserve the Sleigh family photos and documents I've been scanning material and saving the images to DVDs with the intention of moving the files to a Cloud storage solution in the future.

My efforts formed part of the course that I recently organised and ran at the Guildford Institute - Old Photos - Stop your past fading away! a second course will be run on 21st May, again at the Guildford Institute.

One favourite book of mine has been damaged by water and is in a sad condition but scanning may be a way of keeping it. I just love the illustrations in Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor by Mervyn Peake (published by Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1945).

Guildford 'PhotoWalks'

Both PhotoWalks this weekend had to be postponed due to adverse weather, new dates will be advised ASAP. The next scheduled photowalk in Guildford is on Sunday 14th April. Hopefully the weather will be more 'Spring like' by then.

Keep any eye on www.polypodphoto.co.uk  for new Guildford dates and for dates of photowalks during the period July - September.

PhotoWalks

The PhotoWalk in Southwark which was postponed due to bad weather last Saturday now has a new date of Saturday 13th July. Book via www.hotcourses.com

The Guildford PhotoWalk due this coming Saturday 23rd March should be going ahead but may be postponed if the weather is too inclement, the same applies to Sunday's PhotoWalk.

Old Photos 2

Following on from the interest shown on the first Old Photos course there will be a follow up on Tuesday 21st May, 2-4.30pm at The Guildford Institute.

We will look at processing and dealing with digital images, keywording and digital image storage options.

Book direct with Polypodphoto by email: polypod@gmail.com or book online at www.hotcourses.com

Old Photos - Stop your past from fading away

Coming up next Tuesday:

A short introductory course to show what  can be done to save your family photographs and documents from being lost to you, your family and to future generations.

12th March 2013. 2-4.30pm

At the Guildford Institute

If you are researching your family history and have a collection of old family photos or just albums of more recent photos that you would like to preserve, then this course can help you.       We will cover copying and scanning, image restoration, cataloging & databases, keywords  & metadata, digital imaging & digital image storage solutions.

The tutor will be Photographer Mike Sleigh who has over 30 years of experience in professional photography and education.

£12.00 per person

Please contact Polypodphoto Courses by phone 07970034498 

email: polypod@ gmail.com or book online via: www.hotcourses.com

http://guildford-institute.org.uk/news/is-your-past-fading/

     

2012 - 2013

The past year has been very interesting whilst researching and walking the routes for my ‘PhotoWalks’ in London and at other locations. Some of the walks have been very successful, especially those in Guildford, but getting the walks (and photo courses) publicised has proved to be a challenge without having to resort to expensive advertising.

The London Bridge DealCard has been a good way of promoting the PhotoWalks around the London Bridge and Southwark area and I’m grateful to Team London Bridge for listing the walks on their website: http://www.teamlondonbridge.co.uk

I’m also grateful to Guildford Tourist Information Centre and their friendly staff at Guildford House http://www.guildford.gov.uk/article/10155/Guildford-House-Gallery  for displaying my flyers throughout the year.

The program for 2013 is already shaping up well with over 20 PhotoWalks planned for March – July, a second Photo Day at Charterhouse on April 12^th and a short course ‘Stop your past fading away’ at the Guildford Institute on March 12^th.

At the Guildford Institute http://www.guildford-institute.org.uk/index.htm  for their Spring Term I’m tutor on two day courses – Victorian Architecture on February 7^th and Victorian Church Architecture and Stained Glass on March 7^th. I’m also running the Digital Photography for Improvers course at the institute on February 28^th.

In planning is another photography day course at The Guildford Institute to take place during their Summer Term, also new PhotoWalks to take place over the Summer - so an interesting 2013 to come.