Andy McDonald Black and White Photos

  The Building Opened in 2010 and designed by McCullough Mulvin Architects in Dublin, the Trinity Long Room Hub is located in the heart of Trinity College's historic campus in Dublin. The building serves as the Humanities Research building. Its tall rectilinear form is stone clad with a broken pattern of incised granite slabs and deeply inset vertical windows. It was shortlisted for several awards, including the 2011 RIBA Awards but was awarded Best Educational Building in the 2011 RIAI Awards. The Photograph This is a panoramic image taken using a Laowa 12nn f/2.8 lens mounted onto a Sony A7RII via a Laowa Magic Shift Convertor. The angular, stark structure appealed to me - though I actually assumed that it was built a lot earlier than 2010. I've tried to highlight the bold structure whilst also using sympathetic lighting to attract the eye, I chose to lighten the staircase at the front somewhat as I think this gives a good lead-in to the main building. See more of my work at ...

  The Building Opened in 2022 and designed by CPMG Architects, the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Building is one of the newest buildings on the Science Park in Nottingham. The hub space contains a prominently positioned café, meeting rooms and outdoor seating located on the pedestrian route between the science park and the nearby tram stop. The hub space is celebrated visually with a double height glazed curtain wall under a large cantilever of office space which serves as a protective canopy. The façade is a rhythmic pattern of modules in a combination of full height glazed elements and high quality dark grey cladding panels with featured vertical seams, at car park level a complementary gold coloured open mesh screening system is used. The Photograph I'd arranged to meet a friend at the Science Park for a photo walk. It was a  dull and somewhat damp Sunday morning in December but flat diffused light works well for me as deep shadows and bright reflections can be very difficult ...

  The Building Designed by Building Design Partnership and opened in 2001 as part of the Science centre. The building is clad in Titanium, one of the first Titanium clad buildings in Britain, as well as being the first IMAX cinema in Scotland.  The Photograph Although I have only processed this picture this week, I took this back in October during a short trip to Glasgow. Staying in the city centre, we took a short-ish Subway trip out to Govan and then had a pleasant walk to the Science Centre at Pacific Quay. The main building is impressive, but the IMAX particularly caught my eye due to its barrel-like shape and Titanium cladding. This picture is a single image taken with a Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Shift lens on a Sony A7RII. See more of my pictures at my Gallery

  St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Church, Keyworth This building dates back to the mid 1980s and was purpose built to be the village Catholic Church. The construction is mainly brick, but I was drawn to the gothic style arch and glass panelled entrance. Although this building has a fairly simple overall design, the use of contrasting colours for the arch and cross, plus the semi-circular paved area at the entrance offer some interest, and I chose to highlight those (along with the roof ridge) whilst preparing this photograph.  The photograph was taken using a Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D MF lens on a Sony A7RII camera. This lens is the widest full-frame lens with an f/2.8 aperture. My main reason for purchasing the lens is for interiors but I was testing the lens out on the morning that I took this picture. See more of my pictures at my  Gallery

  Had a very friendly welcome at my old club - Nottingham Outlaws Photographic Society last night, as I gave a talk on my black and white photography. It was great to see some old faces and to meet new ones.  My talk (titled “Into Darkness”) centres around my successful ARPS submission and how that process took me from a more traditional black and white style, to the noirish look I favour nowadays.  Perhaps surprisingly, this is the first time that I have seen my complete ARPS panel displayed in the flesh, thanks to Chris Houldsworth for making a print stand available and thanks to Lois Webb for the picture. I’m happy to come out to any other local camera clubs whose members might be interested. See more of my pictures at my  Gallery

The Building Designed by Foster + Partners architects and opened in September 2013, the OVO Hydro is the largest entertainment venue in Scotland. It is built on the site of the former Queen's Dock and is part of the Scottish Event Campus. The unique façade of the OVO Hydro, made up of pneumatic translucent cushions, has been made possible by using a special film originally developed for the space industry. This allows natural light to illuminate the foyers during the day and the arena to ‘glow’ at night. The distinctive elliptical sloping shape of the OVO Hydro was inspired by ancient Greek and Roman amphitheatres. This shape offers the optimum balance of viewing angle and distance from the stage. The Photograph This is a single image taken using a Laowa 15mm f/4.5 lens on a Sony A7RII.  The main features of this building (to my eye at least) is the uniqe cushioned main body and the sweeping kerb at the base, so I have ensured that they stand out as the brightest parts of the build...

  ARPS Distinction What is ARPS? ARPS stands for Associate of the Royal Photographic Society, it is the middle tier of their three distinctions which run from Licentiate to Associate and then finally Fellow.  The criteria for achieving ARPS is set out in the RPS website but in summary is: A Statement of Intent that defines the purpose of the work, identifying its aims and objectives. A cohesive body of work that depicts and communicates the aims and objectives set out in the Statement of Intent. A body of work that communicates an individual’s vision and understanding. A high level of technical ability using techniques and photographic practices appropriate to the subject. An appropriate and high level of understanding of craft and artistic presentation. Unlike Licentiate, both Associate and Fellow level distinctions are awarded based on genres. At the time of writing (late 2024) the Genres and their definitions are: Applied Photography: Photography which has been produced for...

SEC Armadillo, Glasgow The Building Designed by Foster + Partners and opened in 1997, the SEC Armadillo forms part of the SECC complex on the river Clyde in Glasgow. The unique design was inspired by the shipbuilding legacy of the Clyde and represents an interlocking series of ship's hulls. The building has a capacity of 3,000 people and hosts conferences, theatre, music and comedy. The Photograph This is a large, impressive building with unique look. Last time I visited this area I was using a Laowa 9mm f/2.8 on Fuji X-T3 and I struggled to capture the scale of the building, and ended up with a more abstract image concentrating on the cladding and lighter coloured "hoops". For this visit I was using a nominally less wide angle lens, a Laowa 15mm f/4.5 on a Sony A7RII. However, the Laowa 15mm f/4.5 allows +/- 11mm of shift which allowed me to take a series of four images which I could then stitch into a single image. You can try the same thing without a shift lens but it ...

  Bell’s Bridge, Glasgow Welcome New year, new blog site. As part of rationalising my online presence I have migrated my main site to Andy McDonald Black and White Photos  where I will regularly post new content, but will also be posting more descriptively here. This photograph shows Bell’s Bridge in Glasgow, which is a footbridge across the Clyde around Pacific Quay. I took this photograph from the southern bank, close to the BBC building looking towards the SECC. If you look carefully you can see the OVO Hydro and SEC Armadillo in the background. This bridge was built in the late 1980 as part of the Glasgow Garden Festival. The designers evoked butterfly wings with the design of the canopy, which I have chosen to emphasise in this photograph. I took this photograph using a Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Shift lens on a Sony A7RII camera. This lens is the widest angle full-frame lens with shift capability. I had only had the lens a few weeks when I took this picture, but am pleased that it...