I like to road-trip. When I do I take long windy but pre-planned routes on the lookout for anything interesting to photograph and potentially post. Many of my journeys end up taking me on minor roads as I dutifully follow my sat-nav. I zigzag my way mostly from petrol station to petrol station photographing them, but the serendipitous nature of the task means I see a lot of other things too. I also like to take long walks with my camera and see what I encounter that way. Shots of cars and trains have become frequently posted onto my stream but in time more categories will be added. However the main feature always has been and probably always will be the petrol station, still open or closed or abandoned or re-purposed - I don't mind.

Petrol Stations, Garages.

The petrol station may seem a fairly humdrum subject of interest but since I started to build model railways some years ago I came to realise that they were one of the few permanent features on our roads which add colour. The huge majority of all landscapes excluding the sky, be they urban or rural, are dominated by just two colours, green and grey. The petrol station has in recent times become an ever more colourful sight on roads with larger canopies and signs in the livery of the brand. Ever since I was a kid I've had a thing about petrol stations, garages and oil transportation - I have no idea why except they were something to look out for on long journeys when back in the 70's and 80's there were so many more of them - they were everywhere - and of course the colour they brought to any given journey!

In the USA, where they are far more revered, probably due to the huge distances one drives and a much greater dependency on road travel, there is a much bigger interest in all aspects of the gas station. Here in the UK there seem to be far fewer records of the history of the humble petrol station so I aim to put that right by amassing a collection of a suitable scale to fully illustrate the ever changing history of them. Apparently we've gone from around 36,000 outlets in 1980 to around 8,000 today. They are fast disappearing and I'm keen to capture as many as possible before they are only a thing of the past. I'm also trying to collect as many examples of older photos as I can and will post most of these as I get them.

All my petrol station/garage photos appear in the main album but there are separate smaller albums for the older images and also the abandoned ones. Albums also exist for many different brands of petrol both contemporary and historical. I also have one for photos of just pumps, pole signs and forecourt furniture.

Oil Tankers

This is a natural associated category to also both take and collect images.

Railways

I grew up very near the main railway lines from London to Cambridge, between where the Liverpool Street and Kings Cross lines merge and Cambridge station. As a result I have a long standing love of both the sight and sounds of trains. In my lifetime I aspire to visit every heritage railway in the UK but in between times I take what photos I can of Britain's contemporary and occasionally abandoned railway network.

Cars

I've had a few nice "poor man's sportscars" over the years, several Capris, an XR3i Escort and now a Fiesta ST. The Fiesta ST is just about the perfect car for my road trips and it does me well on narrow tracks and single track roads just as much as it does on motorways. I like spotting older cars when I'm out and about so some of those get posted

Model Railways

I've so far only posted photos of my model petrol stations but I think I'll create an album for more shots of them soon.

Old Motoring Advertisements and Signs

Another natural associated category to go with the main subject of petrol stations and garages.

Petrol Branded Nik-Naks

Any other petrol related items with branding or petrol station imagery.

Future albums to come will include Flora and Fauna, Motoring, Buses, Public Houses, Strange or Funny Place Names and Signs, Abstract and finally, as Britain is such a photogenic country with so much variety I'll have an album called Britain's Eye Candy for the pretty stuff and one called Abandoned Britain for the ugly stuff!

Some of my digital photos of petrol stations have been cropped, photo-shopped and/or processed but everything else is presented exactly as taken, straight off the camera, warts and all.

Some of the older ones have been amended either to tidy up blemishes, increase clarity or just present the best view possible.

I'm a violin maker - so I'm also into all sorts of woodwork and model making. I'm also a lapsed musician, can play a number of instruments and used to play in bands and do all that gigging malarkey but then life got too busy with other things. When I was younger I was a full time driver for a couple of years and that's where my love of driving really became apparent!