Cycles At The Oxford Train Station

I think I have taken a photo of all the bikes parked up at the Oxford Train Station before, but if my memory is correct it was before they put up this shelter a couple of years ago. It's a good idea with all the bad weather that we get in Oxford, however they only covered about a third of the bike racks, so it is always the most popular place to leave your bike. I love riding around Oxford, it is so much easier for me to quickly stop and take a photo when I am on the bike.

Oxfordshire Science Festival Hits Queen Street

I didn't know anything about this Festival until I was out walking about Oxford's busy shopping streets this afternoon. I started see a few tables in Queen Street with young scientists showing a few experiments like these guys opposite M&S, and in Bonn Square there where more displays, demonstrations and hand on stuff. This is all part of promoting Oxfordshire Science Festival which started today and will run till the 20th of March, check out there fab website. I am hoping to go to a few events over the month.

Ede And Ravenscroft

With most High Streets in England looking the same no matter which town your are in, I am pretty sure that not many town's have a store like Ede And Ravenscroft. Claiming to be the oldest taylor in London, established in 1689, this very up market taylor supplies graduation gowns to a lot of the students of Oxford University.

Little Lost Shoe In Cornmarket

This shoe was so small and was placed where hopefully it's owner or there parents would find it should that walk past. I bet having little children is a nightmare for losing things. This shoe just looked so lonely sitting there on a BT box in the middle of busy central Oxford street.

Rubbish Collection At Hertford Bridge

Was out this evening trying to take a classic night shot around the Colleges of Oxford when I spotted this rubbish truck parked up under the Hertford Bridge. It was collecting in New College Lane, and I know that this is not your normal photo of this famous Oxford landmark, but hay everyone needs there rubbish collected.

Dinosaurs Walking In Cornmarket This Afternoon

Well a couple of days ago we tanks in the street, this afternoon while walking around Oxford's busy shopping street, Cornmarket a dinosaur along with a group of kids enjoying half term in Oxford walked past. Oxford is one of those places you must always have a camera with you, as you never know what you are going to see. Not sure where the dinosaur was going, but I have a feeling it come out of the Natural History Museum in Oxford.

Hockey At Oxford Brookes

With the two University's in Oxford and sport being supported by both in a big way,we are lucky to have great playing fields in Oxford, like the this hockey field at Oxford Brookes University.

Not only do the students of the university get to play on these great facilitates but the local clubs, like the Rover Oxford Hockey Club also taken advantage of these very modern grounds.

It was hard trying to get a good action shot of these players, there always moving!

Snowdrops Everywhere

Went out for a walk in the woodlands around Oxford today and spotted plenty of Snowdrops around, so that can only mean one thing, Spring and the warmer weather is on it's way. Oh I do hope so, I am looking forward to the warmer weather. Are you noticing the season's changing in your parts of the world?

Residents Rally To Have Tank & Cars Removed From Street

Following yesterdays photo of the tank in St Peter's Avenue sent in by reader GMc, I was contacted by another reader who invited me up to St Peters Avenue this afternoon where a gathering of local residents was taking place objecting to the number of cars and tanks being parked on there street.

About 50 people from this normally quiet street gathered around the tank expressing there frustration to the local press about the number of cars, trailers and the tank that one resident has parked in the street.

Apart from being an eye sore, the number of old cars, vans, trailers and now the tank are taking up valuable space that these families would like to use to park there cars which they use on a daily basis. Additional photo here.

What do you think? Should one resident of a street be allowed to park old cars, trailers, vans and now a tank on a residential street which is stopped others from parking?

This tank story is going big, see more stories in other press here:

Oxford Mail : This is Oxfordshire : The Telegraph : Okezone : Metro : Dutch Press : Daily Mail : Small World News :

Old Tank In Wolvercote

Living in Oxford you do see a lot of different things, like this old tank just parked up on a side street in a residential area in Wolvercote. Not exactly sure why it is there, but it is a little bit out of place I would think, perhaps it is going to a military reenactment? Bet the residents of Wolvercote where surprised to see this parked in the street! Thanks to reader GMc for sending this photo in.

More Tank News here.

106 High Street Oxford

On the High Street this afternoon, and decided to take a few photo's of the stores on the street. Not sure exactly why but I have decided that the University of Oxford Shop should be my photo for today. It is the place to visit if you are in Oxford and want to purchase items associated with the University, I think it is often over looked as a place to visit due to it location on the High Street, little bit out of the way.

Blackwell Broad Street

Out trying to take a few low light photos this evening, this photo of Blackwell's main book store on Broad Street was probably the best shot that I took. I don't really have a tripod so I am having to use street furniture and posts to get the camera to stay still. I am hoping to see the play that is currently being performed inside this bookstore, it must be a unique setting for a play.

I Love To Riot

I very big thank you to Tim, Christi and Alex for looking after ODP while I was away for three weeks sunning myself on holidays. You guys did fantastic, WOW, I did not always have internet access while I was away, but I have just looked at all the photos on my return to Oxford, loved them. Thanks once again, hope I can keep everyone interested with my view of Oxford.

I know that it is Valentines Day, so I wanted to get a "Love" shot of Oxford and while I was out and about this afternoon trying to get that shot, I noticed this bit of graffiti, which while not totally Valentine Day themed, still has a lot of passion.

Oxford on Screen 7: Spy Game

For my final post on Oxford Daily Photo I've got something really quite bizarre. Today's film is Spy Game, a thriller that came out 2001 and stars Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. Now when you think of Oxford being featured in a spy you maybe you'd imagine it could be an elite espionage training school? Or perhaps an agent could be sent to the University to pose as a student and befriend the heir to a foreign oil empire? You probably wouldn't imagine it filling in for the location of a cholera infested Chinese prison, but in Spy Games that's exactly what it does.

The film features Oxford prison made up to look very run down. It would have been filmed in the period between the prison's closing and it's makeover into a luxury hotel. Queen's Lane was also used as a road leading up to the prison, complete with extras with stereotypical straw hats on riding bicycles.

I find it quite funny that while usually things are filmed in Oxford because of the beautiful old buildings, the makers of this film chose it because they thought it looked destitute and poverty stricken.

I'd like to thank Percy for the opportunity to contribute to his blog while he's on holiday. I'd also like to thank everyone who's commented on my posts over the past week, it's been really lovely reading your kind words.

Oxford on Screen 6: Brideshead Revisited

When looking at places in Oxford that have been used for film locations it's almost impossible to avoid Radcliffe Square and it's centrepiece, the Radcliffe Camera. This is probably because it looks so quintessentially "Oxford", is relatively untainted by modern additions and is big enough that it can be used in many situations.

One of the many films that it's been featured in is 2008's Brideshead Revisited, based on Evelyn Waugh's novel of the same name.

Oxford on Screen 5: the Golden Compass

Today I've chosen the Golden Compass, the 2007 fantasy film based on the first book of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. It tells the story of a little girl who goes on an epic journey in an attempt to save the life of her best friend who has been abducted by a mysterious organisation. On it's release it was met with quite a poor reception.

The central character, Lyra, played by Dakota Blue Richards, lives in an alternate version of Oxford. Christ Church College was used for the filming of the fictional Jordan College. The shot shows Richards with Nicole Kidman as they enter Christ Church's quadrangle. If you look carefully you might be able to spot a couple of additions.

Oxford on Screen 4: A Fish Called Wanda

Here we have a shot from a Fish Called Wanda, a 1988 crime comedy jointly written and directed by John Cleese and Charles Chrichton. It's about a group of criminals who commit a robbery and the aftermath that follows.

The still shows Jamie Lee Curtis approaching John Cleese in Osney Lane. I'm really not sure why the filmmakers chose this rather ordinary side street for this scene. Maybe they were in Oxford to film some other scenes and happened to need a generic looking road?

Oxford on Screen 3: the Oxford Murders

This post is about the Oxford Murders, a 2008 thriller based on a book by Guillermo Martínez. It's about a young Mathematics student and a professor who get caught up in a series of murders and must use their skills to try to solve them.

The photo shows Elijah Wood and John Hurt, the two stars of the film, having a somewhat heated discussion on Broad St.

Oxford on Screen 2: True Blue

Today's photo shows a location from True Blue, a slightly cheesy rowing-themed drama that was released in 1996. It's plot revolves around the lead up to the 1986 boat race, and the mutiny that was carried out by several American rowers on the squad.

The shot I've chosen shows a snowy footpath next to the University College Boathouse. However, as the one in the film burned down in 1999, the one you see in my photo is the new, much more modern one.

Oxford on Screen 1: Inspector Morse

Hi everyone, I'm Alex and for my week of guest-blogging on Oxford Daily Photo I'm going to do a series on films and television programmes that are set or were filmed in Oxford. Each day I'm going to post a still from a different film or programme that features an Oxford location, along with a photo of that location now.

The first post is on Inspector Morse, the ITV series based on Colin Dexter's books that ran from 1987 to 2000. The still frame above is from the end of the first episode, the Dead of Jericho. A lot of the action in the episode takes place in Canal Reach, which as you might have guessed from the title is in Jericho. The actual street used for filming was Combe Road, just across from the Old Bookbinders pub, which also features in the episode.

A very familiar view from a very unfamiliar angle

Most residents of Oxford have probably walked across Magdalen Bridge more times than they can remember. I wonder how many people notice the moss growing on it, or the trees on the river banks. I like this photo because it tries to do something different with something very familiar. A wider depth of field would have helped, but I'm not sure it's even possible to pull off this shot with background and foreground in focus.

And this brings to an end my guest week. I hope you've enjoyed the photos.

It makes perfect sense to me

Oh dear, late again. This picture I provide for your edification simply because I adore the fact that Oxford contains a Logic Lane. It's a small alley off the High Street, and presumably mostly privately owned by one of the colleges, but nonetheless, there should be more places named things like Logic Lane.

Trampled underfoot

There are quite a few of these little plaques set into the pavement around the Plain and the town end of the Cowley Road. They are the only example I'm aware of of what computer programmers would term an easter egg in town planning. Doubtless there are more - I once speculated with a friend that one of the best things about being a town planner would be the ability to name roads in such a way as to create bad puns like "Sailor Way". Perhaps it's for the best that I never went into town planning. These are far more fun than anything I could have come up with. Sadly I know nothing about their history.

Round the back

Yesterday I mentioned that you're never far from tranquility in Oxford. This photo is another example of this phenomenon. The centre of Oxford is full of little streets like this, rarely travelled, and invariably beautiful. Their omnipresence is testified by the fact that I'm unable to recall which of these streets this particular photo is taken on, although it's somewhere in the vicinity of St. Aldate's. Like a lot of these back streets, it has what I think of as a Narnia light fitting.

Summertown by night

I like night shots, but my camera and photography skills aren't really up to them. This is the only semi-decent exposure of about thirty taken that night. What it tells you is that a lamppost is not great as an improvised tripod, but I do like the way the streetlights and car headlights (I think), play off each other in the picture. This road is Rogers Street, right in the middle of Summertown, but you'd never guess from looking at it here than it was so near to the centre of things.

One of the things I like about Oxford is how little distance you have to go from the beaten path to feel a sense of tranquility. You'd need to head a bit father than this, however, as Banbury Road is just behind the camera. Yet this scene would not be out of place in a country village.

Death in a graveyard

I said in my last post that I don't have a theme for you, but my photos of Oxford tend to be based around the theme of the hidden Oxford - bits and bobs that are part of what makes the city unique, and yet wouldn't necessarily appear in an image search.

This picture is of the cemetery of the Church of St. Mary and St. John in Cowley, taken from Leopold Street. I found the image of these dead trees in a graveyard to be strangely evocative. I took other pictures of the graveyard, including one of a memorial for someone who had died only last year, but they seemed too personal to share. I felt as though I would be betraying a trust, despite the fact most of the graves there are old enough that no-one living is likely to remember the person.

On the other side of the graveyard is a notice indicating the council's intent to ban dog walkers from the graveyard, due to antisocial use of dogs in the area. I'm not sure how you use dogs antisocially, but I guess it won't be happening for much longer.

A stately home in Oxford

Sorry for the late update - you'll get another picture today to make up for me having plain forgotten I was supposed to be updating yesterday.

I'm afraid that my week as guest photographer won't have a particular theme, although I have toyed with the idea with following on from the seven virtues with a week of seven deadly sins in Oxford. If I were doing that, today's photo would serve well for the sin of Pride. Headington Hill Hall is currently occupied by Oxford Brookes Univerisity, and houses the law department there, but I am by no means suggesting that lawyers are a prideful bunch. The reason it would fit in with such a theme is that this was the former seat of press baron Robert Maxwell, and taking this photo twenty years ago would probably have resulted in my unfortunate ejection from the grounds. It's odd to think that there's a stately home like this within the borders of Oxford, but at least the fact that it is part of the university means that it now serves the public good.