So far on this quest we've covered Newcastle, Durham and Liverpool and if you want to help or just find out more about the project you can view my crowd funding page HERE

On Wednesday my daughter Abigail and I climbed aboard a Northern Rail train for an amble through the pretty cumbrian countryside to one of my favourite smaller cities Carlisle

Carlisle has been a city since the middle ages and currently it's population is around 110, 000, it's the only city in Cumbria and being on the border of England and Scotland it's steeped in the history of the Border Reivers, something we Charltons are interested in as we were one of the main clans (even though my parentage is Scottish and I actually see myself as far more Scots than I do Border Reiver being that I came to be a Charlton by marriage.

Anyway, I digress, there are lots of things to do in Carlisle if you like history and between the Castle, the Cathedral and the Tullie House museum and art gallery there's bound to be something to keep the little people interested.

So of course my main quest was the all important cityscapes and here they are -

This is Bitts Park in Carlisle, I love that it's so green and full of trees and I'm sure many a happy afternoon could be spent with the kids, it even has it's own ice-rink.

This is probably the Cityscape which identifies Carlisle as Carlisle, because it's not a massively densely populated city, it's not quite so layered as other cities but the Cathedral is certainly a beautiful building.  

and so that was Carlisle, the beautiful Cumbrian town which takes around 45-60 minutes to reach by car or around an hour and a half on the train, a train leaves for Carlisle from Newcastle approximately once every hour and the trains are mostly run by Northern Rail, with a  family and friends rail card for myself and my daughter it cost just under £15.

All of the images on this blog were taken with the Fuji X-pro1 and the 35mm f1.4 lens, a truly fabulous combination

So onwards to city number 5, I spent all day in my office trying to fund raise and sending out corporate sponsorship requests and press releases and if you would like to help me in any way, you could even sponsor your own city!  You can either visit my crowd funding page or you can simply drop me an email, I would love to hear from you.

Durham City 3/69 in the UK Cityscapes Project

So we've covered Newcastle and we've covered Liverpool, the next city on my list was Durham

Durham is a petite beautiful old city in the North East of England, home to Durham Cathedral and Castle which sit on a hill above the city and immortalised by Roger Whittaker in his song Durham Town you'll never forget your visit to this beautiful city.

If you're travelling by train like me you'll step out of the train station to be greeted by this amazing cityscape

if you want even better views of the city all you need to do is go through the tunnel to the other side of the station and climb up the stairs to end up in Wharton Park where you'll see this

but that's not the only way to view Durham, I took a cruise on the Price Bishop Cruiser and an hours amble along the river at a leisurely pace commenced with interesting commentary by the captain full of facts and tidbits of information about all things Durham and these were a few of the views

There's also the view I found out of the window on the way up the stairs in the Prince Bishops shopping centre

Without a doubt, one of the things I've noticed about Durham is the amount of trees they have in the city, it's got to be one of the most tree lined citiesof the uk, so much so that they do obscure a few views but hey, it's better to be surrounded by trees than an urban jungle, incidentally if you look closely at this image you'll see Durham prison amazing how it's just nestled there at the back of the city!  I don't recommend you ask for bed and breakfast there though!

There is one other view which I didn't achieve, I was there with the girls and we made it to the Cathedral just after 5pm to find that it closes at 5.30pm, now you can climb the central tower of the cathedral but it's 325 steps up a spiral staircase and on the posters they warn that even the healthy may feel breathless, it didn't inspire me, mostly because I remember climbing 284 steps of the Scott Monument last year and my daughter telling me at the top that maybe I should have brought some water!

So that's Durham in all it's glory, next stop on this crazy UK Cityscape tour is Carlisle, I visited on a soggy day yesterday, photos coming soon.

If you would like to help me crowd fund my way around the 69 cities of the UK you can do so Here

if you would like to talk to me about corporate sponsorship, press releases or PR please email me here

or if you would like to buy any of the artwork you can either email or there's also a featured selection in my Etsy Store

Uk Cityscapes is happening, Can You Help?

Exciting news dear reader, I am about to attempt to photograph the Cityscapes of all the 69 cities of the United Kingdom, it's a massive project and as well as self funding I've reached out for help via the amazing crowd funding platform that is IndieGoGo, if you can help by making a pledge or even sharing it on your social media here's the link http://igg.me/at/ukcityscapes/x/7195313

There are lots of lovely perks you can claim including a photo shoot for you or your business, lunch with me when I visit your city, a copy of the book, or a limited edition print or postcard.  Lots of lovely things for wonderful people and businesses who want to get on board this exciting ride!!

If you don't know about Uk Cityscapes yet, where have you been?

I'm fascinated by the layered landscapes of our UK cities and I've set out to photograph all 69 cityscapes and turn it into a book!

So far I've photographed Liverpool, Newcastle and Durham and today I'm off to city number 4, that's one of the smaller cities of Carlisle.


here's a photo from each city so far -

I'll be updating regularly via my IndieGogo page and on this blog too so you can come along on my journey with me and there'll be a blog post from every city I visit so if you're a business on an individual and you want a mention then all you have to do is pledge £10 and I'll mention you and give you a link back if you have one right here on this very page.

If you want to contact me about anything in this post or on this blog you can email me here or you can find me on Facebook here or Twitter here

Happy Tuesday everyone, the future looks bright, I gotta wear shades  (you can thank ZZ Top for that one)

Newcastle Upon Tyne, City 2/69 in the UK Cityscapes Project...Part 2

Being lucky enough to live and work as a Newcastle Photographer in this beautiful city is a wonderful thing indeed, Newcastle is one of the most beautiful cities, especially in the sunshine, there is layer upon layer of amazing architecture from the oldest to the newest buildings, even those 1960's flats seem to add to the amazing landscape we have, and it's best seen from up high and that's really the fundamental thing about my Uk Cityscapes project, I enjoy getting on the river or getting up high to get proper layered cityscapes, I've set out to make them look like paintings or like those bright tourist and industry campaigns of the 60's/70' inviting us to come and holiday in the north or the future is bright why not base your business here and I believe that every city has at least one amazing view, I can't wait to find out really, now I've checked off both Newcastle and Liverpool from my list I feel like I know where this project is going even though it is pretty early days.  This week I have had a gallery and an online store present their contracts to sell my work, it's a very exciting time.  I am currently seeking some kind of sponsorship so I can go and photograph every city in Britain, I think it's going to end up making an amazing book and there's really never been a project like it.  However it happens and even if I have to fund every single city on my own I will do it, even if it might end up taking a few years!

I think having the very wonderful and super light Fuji X-Pro 1 was the instrument which helped unleash my creativity and set me free from hiking up hills, mountains and lots of old steps with bags of heavy camera gear, it's an amazing thing to use a camera which is so light and has an amazing dynamic range so that you can produce this kind of image.

I think these images are quite special and I hope you do to, some but not all of them are available as limited edition signed art prints and canvases in my Etsy store Philomena's Boutique currently and I'll let you know about the Gallery and Online store as soon as those details are finalised.  But for now lets enjoy Newcastle from above, my wonderful home city never looked quite so glorious!

Newcastle, City 2/69 in the UK Cityscapes Project...part 1

It's Friday and actually sort of the weekend for me which doesn't happen very often, I have 1 photo shoot tomorrow late afternoon and the rest of the weekend off, blimey!!  So earlier today I took a 3 hour walk with my camera around part of Newcastle, the Quayside mainly as it's my favourite bit.  I think you know when you live in a city you often forget to look around and see what's going on, it's like Ferris Bueller famously once said "Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it."

I've also heard that it's said that Liverpool is quite like Newcastle, I can sort of see how you could think that, if you read this post and then my last one about Liverpool you can make your own mind up.  What ever you decide, you must admit that Newcastle is pretty though I did notice that there's quite a lot of scaffold about at the moment in the quayside area.

Some of these images will shortly be available for purchase as fine art prints and canvases in Philomena's Boutique so why not pay a visit and purchase something lovely for yourself or maybe Fathers Day.

I actually think rooftops are s incredibly pretty, I went in search of non traditional views to create multilayered "painted" images and by multi layered I'm not talking about overlaying 10 billion photos in Photoshop, i'm talking about looking at the natural landscapes of cities and the way the buildings create layer upon layer of unusual beauty, give me this over a traditional bridge scene any day!

Panoramics are my favourite thing, I never did have the patience to sit and fiddle for hours doing them but the power of the amazing Fuji X-Pro1 is an amazing tool to have in your hands.

Again this image is multi layered, the corner of the Millenium bridge overlaps the law courts and behind it the quayside and then we have the bridges which all seem to sit on one another, it's a pretty amazing city when you see it like this.

I think the way I see things is with a touch of halcyon vision like a picture postcard from 1963 telling you to visit this great city, simpler times I'm sure and the quayside has changed so much.

These are mostly all legal offices now but I do love the multilayered canvas of cityscapes

The Newcastle Malmaison and Pitcher and Piano looking glorious in the sunshine, if you look closely you can even see St James Park

So the next time you're in your home town why not try and see it through the eyes of someone who's never seen it before, have an adventure and be an explorer in your own city

Liverpool, City 1/69 in the UK Cityscapes project

I hope those of you who have begun your Easter break are having lots of fun, Looby and I have been on one of our adventures dear reader, this time to beautiful, vibrant Liverpool, we really did find somewhere we truly loved and I think it won't be too long before we make another visit.

So, here's our review of things to do, places to see and wonders to experience if you find yourself in Liverpool with 48 hours to spare.

Here's some of our highlights in photographs, many of which will soon be available as fine art prints or canvases in my lovely Etsy store Philomenas Boutique

The Liver Building, possibly the most famous building in Liverpool, it's said if the birds ever fall then Liverpool will be submerged.

Looby on the Mersey Ferry, some great views from the ferry journey, well worth the admission of around £14 for both of us

The ferry terminal, with the Three Graces in the background.

If you really want the best views of the city you should go up this radio tower, it costs £8 for adults and £5 for concessions but it's worth every penny because at over 400ft high you'll never get views of the city anywhere else quite like it.

The next time I go to Liverpool I want to stay on the yellow submarine, a floating aparthotel, don't fancy the Titanic though ;)

Mrs bug!

These are all views from the top of the Liverpool Wheel, costs around £15 for 1 adult and 1 child, the ride is 10 minutes and we would have gone on again if we'd had time, possibly on a sunnier clearer day!

The Three Graces with Mann Island in front of them, I really love the architecture of Liverpool, the juxtaposition of the old with the new and quirky is quite amazing, it seems with every build the architects go a step further to create a very interesting and creative landscape, i don't think I saw two buildings which looked the same!

The Super Lambananas Outside of the museum of Liverpool, we also spotted these things in various locations around Liverpool, they're quite bonkers!

I finally got a panoramic with both the anglican cathedral of Liverpool and the Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral which the locals call "Paddys Wigwam"

For any photographers who might be looking in, all of these images were taken with the Fuji X-Prol and the 35mm f1.4 lens, next time when I come back to Liverpool I am bringing a wider lens!

Looby and I had an amazing time and she didn't mind at all that I was there on a photographic mission and I think the plan now is to photograph as much of the country as I possibly can,  it's something different and it fills in the time between portrait sessions and weddings and means I get to take photos every day for Philomena's Boutique, it's a great time to be a photographer.