In search of the fiery ball
I think the sun almost appeared… right at sunset!
24th January 2026
It has been three weeks since my last wander with camera. There are a few reasons for this including my AuDHD keeping me indoors. Another key reason has been the bloody awful weather! The sun seems to have been stolen or has thrown a hissy fit and refuses to visit the north-east of England. Whatever the reason, there was a suggestion on my phone’s weather app that there me be some sunny spells this afternoon. That managed to buoy me enough to depart my abode and see if I could find this elusive sunshine.
Once more I stayed quite local – I’m not feeling the whole idea of travelling at the moment. It is one of the joys of the autistic side of my brain. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t get some fresh air and enjoy my surroundings when the urge occurs. It proved to be an interesting walk.
There is a garage not too far from me which attracted my attention. I have travelled past hundreds of times but never really looked at it. I mean really look at it. So, it was quite surprising to find it really take my interest. Actually, it was less the garage and more the wonky sign on a pole which stood outside. It drew my attention and it made me think if the work of Stephen Shore. If you are unfamiliar with his work, check out his book Uncommon Places if you can. It is a beautiful collection of images.
I tried numerous ways to capture the sign, but the sky made for a largely uninteresting background. I did get one reasonable image, but the fun in trying to work out the photograph had me engrossed. My focus (pardon the pun) was pure with no distractions. A victory for the photo walk!
Next up saw my attentions drawn to some heavy machinery parked up. An old pub is being demolished, and they were on their well-deserved weekend break. Their shapes and colours attracted me, and the challenge became finding ways to shoot through the security fencing whilst trying to create interesting images. I did achieve a couple I quite liked, and I enjoyed the encounter.
I continued to walk to a spot where I could overlook a quarry. You cannot get too close in most places, for obvious reasons of safety, but there are a few positions where you can get a better view. Although this was good, I became more fascinated by some fly tipping and the remnants of a car accident. Welcome to my head everyone! An interesting vista but I like some old tyres and a bit of bumper.
The sun only appeared for about 90 seconds on my walk, but it did make for an interesting late afternoon sky over a nearby farm. I watched it for a while and then tried to capture the beauty on camera. I couldn’t do it justice via digital sensor – see the image at the top of the page. However, it was glorious to watch from the roadside and that it was time well spent.
Here are some of the images I took on this non-sunny day.
