Virtue is its Own Reward

Virtue is its Own Reward, originally uploaded by John the Monkey.

This photo is 10th July in the photo a day for July challenge. I walked down to the Manchester International Festival on this Monday, and took a few shots of the "Chilled Summer Treats" beach huts. I really liked the way this was set up, with specially painted benches, beach huts, and sounds from the sea (gulls, waves etc) piped out over the PA. It all seemed a bit incongruous in the Manchester rain, but pleasant nonetheless.

My only gripe with the festival would be how unfriendly it seemed to be to photographers. I was challenged at the Heston Blumenthal thing (although by a very pleasant chap who did let me snap some shots of the beach huts), and turned down flat at one of the musical events - the latter being a shame, as there was some great material there. Which isn't to say that anyone was unpleasant, it was just slightly disappointing that so many great opportunities went begging (neither event had an accredited photographer working them so far as I could tell).

In the same week, I was shooting at the "Wild in Art" event on Albert Square, who could not have been more welcoming and co-operative, and I found the comparison quite telling.

The shots from this day were all ok, but would have worked far better in colour. With that in mind, I decided to go for something of a "street" shot, with the arrangement of recycling bins and advertisement making for a message of sorts, I thought.

Ropes, originally uploaded by John the Monkey.

The shot for the 11th is this one - I had no chance of grabbing my lunchtime shot on this day, and so had a mooch around the house looking for stuff to photograph. Those of you who follow my stream will recognise this as a fairly lazy shot, as I've done it before, twice in fact. I have, however, until now, not shot it on home developed black and white (or slide film, or C41, for that matter), so here it is.

My progress today means that the frame counter on the F3 stands at 17, and the FE at 16. I took absolutely nothing in Manchester today, but I did wander about the house and, mirabile dictu, managed to come up with some original shots too.