Many people struggle to get great black and white prints in this digital age. 

These steps work for me and result in better monochrome prints than the 'good old days' of spending hours in a smelly darkroom.

It was a sunny afternoon – with some banks of cumulus clouds scudding by on the breeze.

We went for a family walk with the dog to Summerleys Nature Reserve, just outside Wellingborough.

It was a real autumnal day – blustery, cloudy, with the very occasional glimpse of the sun.

The family were happy enough walking the dog (and he was perfectly happy) – but as a photographer – it was a real challenge.

We’ve been living in Cyprus for a whole week now.

Today’s Saturday, so we decided to call it the weekend and relax a bit.  And of course being the weekend, it’s also the first cloudy day since we arrived!

Almost on home ground this time, a charter at the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway with GWR 57xx 0-6-0PT 57xx no. 9682 (masquerading as 9789).

Got there for the 8am start – good breakfast and then a lot of hanging about.  It wasn’t until about 10.15am that we got the first run at Thame Junction.

On short winter’s days it just isn’t good enough to lose two and a quarter hours doing what should have been done for the 8am start.

If railways want to keep pushing up the prices of charters, so they need to be concious of the value they’re delivering.

Another day, another charter. This time it's Snibston Colliery, our victim is the fetchingly blue Wimblebury, and of course it's raining.

Yep - it's June - height of the British summer - and it's peeing down and blowing half a gale.

We're hanging around taking the mickey out of each other, watching the sun put in fleeting glimpses as the stock continues to be shunted.