Camera Day.

After our late night last night we took a while to get going this morning. I summoned up the energy to write the blog for yesterday after a lovely day. The trip down the tunnel was very informative and we even got a medal each for doing it! Mind you they are left over from the Year of Culture here in 2008.

We had applied for a timed ticket for the National Trust Hardmans' House via email. We had had no reply but the home isn't open until Wednesday so we waited to see if we heard from them or not. We eventually did and we were due at 1400. We left a bit early and ended up at the Philharmonic pub to await the allotted time.

Philharmonic Dining Rooms.

The 'Phil' was named after the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall opposite. It is said to be the most ornate pub in Britain. It is built like a Gentleman's club with several rooms all separated by paneled walls.

The large room in the Philharmonic pub.

The pub is just on Hope Street that actually runs between the Roman Catholic and Anglican Cathedrals. We have been to the RC one, or Paddy's Wigwam as the locals call it, on a previous visit. I have to say it did not have the same impression on me as the Anglican one but they do make a big contrast with each other. The original design for the RC Cathedral was for a huge stone more conventional basilica. It was so huge that in the end they realised that they couldn't possibly raise the money in a timely period.

The Liverpool Roman Catholic Cathedral.

Mr. Chambre Harman and his wife Margret we portrait photographers to the high and mighty in the Liverpool area. Their home and studio was on Rodney Street and it was full of the professional people and is still known as the Harley Street of the north as can be seen by the name plates at most doors. They moved in in 1948 and the house is set as it was the 1950's. They hadn't thrown anything away and there were many reminders of my childhood. Although he was a portrait photographer he and his wife took many landscapes in their spare time and these were much more interesting. He took many street scenes of Liverpool which now present a social record of a life that has now passed. The guides were informative and you were ushered from room to room. The Hardmans' only lived for the craft and had little regard for their own living and their rooms were a shambles really. There are about 400,000 photographs that were just stored in the house but are now being catalogued at the newly refurbished Central Library. It was a very interesting 1.5 hours.

A few days ago our main camera seemed to give up the ghost. It seems to be a software problem. We do have a small compact camera but the quality is nowhere as good. We will send it off for repair but thought we would treat ourselves to a new one. After a bit of research we decided on a Fuji Fine Pix S4400. We had a look round a few places to check out the feel etc and ended up buying it from Curry's as the price was almost as good as the internet with no delivery charge and we could have it now! I hope you will see an improvement in the photographs in future. Helen is the main camera person as she says she has a much better eye than me. I am just the director.