Atrium Roof, Newton-Arkwright Building

A long awaited day today. A workshop with Martine Hamilton-Knight on architecture, featuring some of the buildings of Trent-Nottingham university in the heart of the city. Thank you RPS.

I learned some really useful stuff, not least about reversing the direction of a tripod plate to enable a camera to be oriented looking up vertically. And it was the first time I'd ever seen a tilt-shift lens demonstrated properly. I really should have taken mine. As it was, I had the wrong tripod, the wrong camera and the wrong lens. Still managed some shots. And Martine was able to loan me a tripod with a geared head. Makes all the difference for vertically oriented shots.

Lovely light today. According to Martine, it's the perfect light for architecture photography in winter as the wind was coming from the north bringing 'clean' air.

I was able to stomp about with the rest but my knee became more painful and stiff as the day went on, and I was grateful to get back on the tram.

I'd been a little fearful about driving this morning. Should never have worried. Schools closed because of snow so hardly any traffic on roads in Shepshed and for some surprising reason the M1 and the A453 seemed almost empty. The unnerving bit was getting across the tarmac at Clifton Tram terminal. Black ice had formed and I was aware of my shoes losing grip.

Photo is of the roof of the atrium in the Newton-Arkwright Building, which is now the iconic representation of the university. Extra is of the building from outside, putting it in its setting, taken in the blue hour.