Like most people however I found new ways to amuse myself in my downtime, and i threw myself into improving my photoshop work.

As such i now feel confident in expanding my services to include a number of new things. please drop me a message if your interested in any of the following:

• Visualisation work,
• Poster and banner creation,
• Business cards and letterheads &
• Pet photography.

You can find examples of these works on the relevant pages of my site. Pet photography, Design services. I have also now added a page to showcase my personal artworks. please check out my creations here.

Please feel free to drop me a line for a no obligation quotation.

It is also the final resting place of the Victorian heroine Grace Darling, and was said to be the location where St Aidan died in AD 652.

It also has some of the cleanest and most beautiful beaches in the region.

It is a very popular tourist location and with views like these you can see why.

Before I begin I would say it is a fantastic resource for budding photographers.

Recently I have been posting some of my images on the members forums to receive some critiques from fellow photographers. When i started out with my night time photography I submitted one of my images to a “best of the week” threads. The idea being you show what you feel to be your strongest image just for sharings sake.

Around a week after I posted my image I received a private message from Rachael, One of the Kelby One staff member asking me if they could showcase my image and feature me as their member of the week.

I gladly accepted. Check out the article by following the link below

https://insider.kelbyone.com/member-monday-featuring-kenneth-horn/

A crossing was first proposed in 2005 but financial uncertainties caused the scheme to be delayed significantly until funding was finally approved by Her Majesties Treasury.

The finished bridge was not the original design. A more ambitious design was dropped after several contractors withdrew from the scheme.

The scheme was part of the Sunderland Arc regeneration plan and was dubbed SSTC2. SSTC2 was constructed by the contractor Jacobs. A further phase labelled SSTC3 is to follow which will construct a new link road which will connect the new bridge to the St Mary’s roundabout. This has been designed by the engineering arm of CAPITA. At the time of writing SSTC3 is currently in a tender process to determine who will be constructing the works.

The scheme as a whole is designed to provide improved access to the Sunderland port

Not only do I have the pleasure of taking pictures of the Northern Spire, I have also been a part of the design team that is working on SSTC3.

When the pylon for the bridge was erected on the 10-11 February 2017 it officially became the tallest structure in Sunderland. It stands at an impressive 105m (344 ft).

At night the central pylon is lit by a series of programmable lights so that on special occasions the bridge can be lit in various colours.

So far the it has been lit red for Rememberance Sunday, Purple in memory of still born children and orange as part of an international campaign against domestic violence.

In my opinion the northern spire is a very beautiful structure that stands tall and proud within the Sunderland skyline.

If you like bridges in general, you can view my other bridge shots here.

Recently on a night time photography shoot at Armstrong Bridge in Newcastle I came up with such a dilemma myself.

I am a member of various photography groups on social media and I put my images out there to find other peoples opinions. Personally I’m leaning (but only slightly) towards the colour version.

I think both images have differing feels. The colour image gives a cosy winter image feel, whilst the black and white gives off greater detail in areas.

Regardless I’m still stuck on which image to go with so I will have to consider pondering this one.

Feel free to leave me your thoughts.

The answer to this all depends on what you are going to do with your image after that shutter button has been pressed.

Now everyone who has used a digital camera has heard of a JPEG. It is the default file format on the majority of cameras at the moment.

A Raw file is larger in size than a JPEG and it contains all of the information that was collected by your cameras sensor at the time of shooting. This is particularly useful when files are then taken into image editing software such as Adobe’s Lightroom and Photoshop packages.

With JPEG’s you are severely limited in your editing capabilities. This is because the camera has already removed what it believes to be the non-essential information from the image; and further compressed the data by grouping together pixels of similar colour’s. This type of file is perfect for day to day shooting where you are not looking to further process your images.

If you are shooting in RAW you should be aware that this is a large and un-processed file. When the file is then taken into your chosen editing software it can look very lack lustre or bland, compared to how the image looked on the screen on your camera. It will then require you do to the work to really bring your image to life.

Personally I am a canon shooter, so my Raw files have a .CS2 extension when I take the off my camera so don’t get hung up on this to much if your using a different manufacturer and your file extensions are different.

In summary, if your shooting a few pics for the family album for example and have no interest in post processing; then JPEG is the file for you.

If like me however, you want to have complete control over you image or wish to change certain fundamentals after shooting. i.e. changing  white balance or you want to really open up those blacks without sacrificing image quality; Then RAW is the way to go.

If you are unsure which to use some cameras will also have an option to save both RAW and JPEG at the same time. Beware though as you can fill your memory cards up very quickly this way.

I hope you found this useful. If you have any question or comments and are too lazy to do a Google search then please feel free to drop me a comment below.

So i thought it would be good of me to go all out cliche and do the typical ’10 things you didn’t know about me’ post. Here goes!

1. My main job is in Civil/Highway engineering. Do you see those roads you drive on? Those traffic signs you ignore and crash into? Those road markings you ignore? Yup that’s me, I design those. Some local projects I have worked on include the new Tyne Tunnel (well it was new when i was working on it), and the upcoming link road that has been designed to meet up with the new Northern Spire bridge in Sunderland.
2. I’m not a drinker. It’s not that i don’t like alcohol, Its just that i can’t handle the hangovers. I could tell you a few irresponsible stories from my younger years……..but I’m not going too. Statute of limitations and all that :p
3. To look at me now you wouldn’t believe it, but I actually used to be quite fit in my younger years. I used to take karate lessons three times a week from around the age of 9 to 19. I achieved my 1st Dan black-belt too. One of my biggest regrets was stopping.
4. I love movies! I can’t get enough of them in fact. I don’t have a favorite genre or even a favorite film. There’s just too many to choose from. I am also fortunate enough to be married to another movie buff. That in itself causes problems; If she gets her way (and she usually does….) it would be horror movies every night. Put it this way, my bald patch is the shape of her thumb for a reason.
5. At school my favorite lesson was called ‘Graphic Communication’ (Sounds posh doesn’t it!). In truth it was the only exam I had that I actually studied for. I feel like I have to say at this point, kids if your reading this then do as I say – not as i did! Graphic communication was just a posh way of describing technical drawing. It is what got me into my career choice. back in 1997 i used to do this by hand, these days you will find me doing all my drawing on PC using AutoCAD.
6. I have had many different jobs over the years. My very first job was a short period packaging up baby bottles. From there I moved onto to a 3 year stint working at McDonalds whilst I also completed my civil engineering apprenticeship. During the economic downturn in 2010 I was forced to change careers over a four year period at which point I ended up in a call center as technical support for accountancy and customer relationship management software. Eventually though I managed to get back to my chosen career in traffic engineering.
7. My current ambition is to own a camper van and travel around the UK and Europe to see the various photographic gems our section of the world has to offer. I cant think of anything better than dragging my wife and kids around in comfort, whilst boring them senseless while I take my photos.
8. I am USELESS at DIY. Want a computer building, then I’m your man! However want some shelves or a curtain rail putting up then your just looking for trouble. Saying that though I am a dab hand at putting together a flat pack or two……which is strange because I hate going to IKEA.
9. I am a massive child at heart. even at my current age I just love Transformers, no not the latest Michael Bay films; although some of them were OK. I’m still a massive fan of the original cartoons. When I worked in a call center my desk was covered in the toys. Who said work was no fun!
10. Finally, it should come as no surprise to people that I love my photography. In all truth my wife gets sick of hearing about it, and I’m not entirely sure I blame her. I would love nothing more then to be able to spend the rest of my days making a reasonable living from traveling around and capturing the wonders of of world and sharing them with you. As it stand though for the time being I’m going to have to continue designing those roads so that you get get from A to B.

That’s enough of my babbling anyway. My name is Kenneth Horn.

Nice to meet you!

I have said before that I believe we have some of the most beautiful countryside in the country here up north.

Sometimes when I venture out I am taken by surprise at just how nice it really is.  Then I am brought back down to earth again. Despite the fact I am in the middle of nowhere and their is not a soul around, why am I then seeing rubbish lying around?

what is that empty water bottle doing floating in this idyllic stream? Why is that crisp packet blowing around my feet?

If you have taken the time and effort to actually come to these places, then surely it’s not too hard to tidy up after yourself.

I chose the image for this post for that very reason.  From memory I had to clone out a broken bike helmet and an empty 2 litre coke bottle.

As the old saying goes “leave only footprints, take only pictures”.

My plan is to add to thes images in the coming weeks and months so please do check back regularly

Any comments you may have are also welcome.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed taking them.