Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, with the night sky revolving around Polaris, the Northern star. 1 Exposure for foreground, 714 shots for the stars, stacked together to produce the star trails over a period of around 90 minutes and an Astro light pollution filter used. Luckily this was at the end of the road our Hotel was on, so I nipped out when the others had gone to bed to stand on the bridge for 90 minutes or so, which was remarkably peaceful for such a busy city! I was hoping to try this down at the Colosseum, but it was way too busy and I couldn't really get a good composure facing North so I didn't bother in the end. I might tidy it up and remove the satellite trails at some point.

Finally, it's time for the Pro/Am section of @ukvertseries, Wales Rampage at @spitandsawdustskatepark 1: @ethan_la_dood 2: @stew_bacca 3: @lachuchi999 4: @ellyturnersk8ter 5: @lachuchi999 6: @jjakeanderson 7: @thelangram @operaskateboards @deeznutz_hardware @speedlabwheels @triple8uk @verticalzine @rollersnakes @heathenskateboards @skeletonkeymfg @dead_yard @clinker.coping @missionprint_uk @wahoiiindustries @threesixtylondon @koncretekillerz @operaskateboards @stay.a.while.and.listen @pigcity_skates @the_asylumskatepark @187killerpads @gromusa @triple8nyc @ramp1_skatepark @MHVertClub @dopegamestv @ade_shoes @falsecoffee @4dgrip @theevetrucks @bawbagsunderwear

Time for the venerable Gentlemen of UK Vert skating to show their thing for the @ukvertseries, Wales Rampage at @spitandsawdustskatepark Rumour has it local shops were fresh out of supplies of Ibuprofen and Radox bath salts after 3 of the 6 managed to scale the dizzying heights of Pen Y Fan the day before, without the need of oxygen. 1: @streetnowik 2: @ountain79 3: @a_fraserjones 4: @matmarlow @operaskateboards @deeznutz_hardware @speedlabwheels @triple8uk @verticalzine @rollersnakes @heathenskateboards @skeletonkeymfg @dead_yard @clinker.coping @missionprint_uk

Right, next up are some shots from the Women's section of @ukvertseries, Wales Rampage at @spitandsawdustskatepark 1: @oliveandkit 2: @rubydolanskates 3: @yeh.i.sk8 4: @islaroseskater 5: @nuggetskates8 @operaskateboards @deeznutz_hardware @speedlabwheels @triple8uk @verticalzine @rollersnakes @heathenskateboards @skeletonkeymfg @dead_yard @clinker.coping @missionprint_uk @triple8uk @4dgrip @sessionssurfandskatepz @radicalclothinguk @mounthawke @skateboardgb @pigcity_skates @sourceskateco @learn_to_skateboard_uk @therevsquad @altar_skate_shop @capetownskates @deeznutz_hardware @the_chopped_collective

That's the @ukvertseries Wales Rampage at @spitandsawdustskatepark done for another year! Always a cracking day out and so far the weather's always been kind to us! Here's some shots from the Male open , in no particular order.. 1: @enzoboarding 2: @enzoboarding and @jack.harps14 3: @giddy_pl 4: @gmcfly_sk8s 5: @jack.harps14 6: @zak_briggs 7: @jack.harps14 @operaskateboards @deeznutz_hardware @speedlabwheels @triple8uk @verticalzine @rollersnakes @heathenskateboards @skeletonkeymfg @dead_yard @clinker.coping @missionprint_uk @enzodrillafam @pigcity_skates @kyloeinthewild @the_chopped_collective All the shots should be up at https://www.flickr.com/photos/keetyuk/ by the end of the day. I also took some more documentary type shots with my Daughters camera... no idea if they came out or not, but I'll start looking through those later in the week! I'm going to go and sit and chill in the garden now!

So yeah, here are some more shots from yesterdays wanderings.... believe it or not my camera does actually still shoot in colour.... I think some of these work better than others, but it was a fun thing to do and I'm getting a lot more confident in taking pictures of random strangers! I should probably have a go at trying it properly in Southampton one day... That's it for these anyway, off up Pen Y Fan tomorrow and then Spit and Sawdust on Sunday, Via a Premier Inn breakfast!

Spotted - After managing to heroically battle my way through a lovely bout of the flu over the past 4 days (Massive thanks to whoever on the plane passed that on last week!) I spent the day wandering round London after dropping the kids of at Thorpe Park (That's not a euphonism by the way) This is One new Change, which is somewhere I used to occasionally go to eat my sarnies when I was up in London as my office was right next door and weirdly for a place with a superb view over St Pauls it was always fairly quiet up on the roof at lunchtime. So yeah, I did a shed load of walking, took a shed load of photos and surprisingly some of them look semi ok... also met and had a short chat with @p.murrell , nice to meet you! I've got another couple of days and then its off to Cardiff for the Spit and Sawdust vert comp! I might post some more pics up tomorrow or I might not...I guess it depends if I can be arsed or not! Ta ra!

St. Vincent de Paul - I spotted this shaft of light as we were walking out of the Basilica and I ended up hanging around for 10 minutes or so waiting for the right subjects to walk past. Whilst St Peter’s Basilica is incredibly impressive it’s not really my thing. I’m quite anti religion and I’m not a fan of Baroque architecture and its ostentatious styling, much preferring the ancient Roman sites in Rome which I found increadibly interesting and far more awe inspiring. I’m not sure why, but I’ve always been fascinated by the Roman Empire, possibly due to loving the Asterix books when I was a kid. Anyway, that’s it for Rome… off to London later in the week and then Cardiff at the weekend for the Vert comp.

A few more shots from my Rome wanderings. I had the camera set to black and white for the most part as I much prefer the look when the sunlight is super harsh as I love the contrast you can get. I dunno, you can call it arty farty, but I like it….although they’ll probably look terrible on here… And on the last pic... that's my Daughters standard look....

Hotel View - We were staying in a small hotel just off the main drag through Centro Storico. It was a cracking spot, with everything we wanted to see within a short walking distance… for anything a bit further we could jump on a bus, be warned though, watch out for pick pockets on busses. I actually managed to catch one in the act and was about to start shouting and pointing at him until we made eye contact… luckily I was twice the size of him and he thought better of it and jumped off pretty sharpish. Anyway, the view from the bedroom window looked down onto the cobbled streets, which twice a day were treated to some fantastic light, so I shot these looking down, stood in my undercrackers… which was actually quite liberating!

Back home now from a short 5 day family break in Rome. I'd say it was relaxing, but we did around 25k steps a day on average (over 5 days) in the 38+deg heat which felt a bit like walking around in a pizza oven with sweaty pants on. I don't really think this location needs any kind of description as just about everyone in the world knows where this is... I had to take a bunch of shots and stack them together so I could cleanly edit out all the people (there were a lot!) Rome's changed a lot since we were last there on our honeymoon 22 years ago. It's still got that magic but it was much much busier and it feels like everywhere and everyone is trying to get a pound of flesh from you. The Pantheon was the biggest disappointment. Last time it was free to get into and there were benches all around the edge that you could just sit on and chill in relative peace and quiet - Now it's 5 Euros to get in, the benches have gone, there's some weird art installation in the middle and it was rammed full of people. The trip wasn't meant to be a photographic outing, I pretty much stuck to using my cheap and light prime 28mm lens with the equally cheap and light 16mm prime for wider shots (like this), so I went with minimal kit but I've come away with some shots that I'm pretty chuffed with and it was cool to have both of the kids getting into it, Tom with his film SLR and Kate with the Fuji X100VI.

I made the very last-minute decision last night to pop over to Durdle Door to shoot the moon through the arch. I try and avoid the place in the summer like the plague, its always super busy, the lights normally too harsh and it looks much better in Winter conditions. I've still yet to figure out what the attraction is with it as a beach, its crap for swimming, its uncomfortable to sit on and it's a pain to get to with no facilities, especially when you have some amazing beaches just down the road. The previous night I'd taken the kids (I say kids, they're 19 and 15 now) to Christchurch the night before to try and get the moon rising behind the Beach huts, but there was way too much atmospheric haze on the horizon to see the moon until a good 20 mins after it had risen, so I was hoping for something a bit better than that, which as it turns out I got! It ended up being a super warm night and it was great to meet @neilharrison_photo and all the other photographers there who all had the same idea, I hope your shots all came out! So this is a blend of two exposure, one for the foreground and one to get a tiny bit of detail in the moon, so that it doesn't end up looking like the sun. I've got a few more different compositions, but I got back late, got up early today for a 10k run and I've got to go and setup @viewfindersroms annual photo exhibition in @romseyabbey shortly, so I'm going to try and snatch a quick 45 min power nap! The Exhibition is open from Saturday the 12th until Sunday the 20th and it's to celebrate the work the members have create over the past year or so, with over 50 prints and around 100 digital images. It's a cracking location and a great place to cool down!

Popped over to @poolespeedway last night to watch their match against @glasgowtigersspeedway . I've never been to the speedway before and it's always intrigued me, so I thought I'd pop along and take a look, cracking stuff and really enjoyed myself. Took a handful of photos as the light was pretty good! 1: @freddy44x Tobias Thomsen @khowarth29 2: @khowarth29 3: andersrowe111 4: @danyonhumeracing__257 Paul Starke @bomberharris37 andersrowe111 5: @will_c145 @danyonhumeracing__257 Tobias Thomsen @freddy44x

I spent the morning at the @wealddownmuseum , photographing the members of @history_r_w who were demonstrating their Elizabethan Law & Order re-enactment. I'd not been to the museum since I was a kid.. it's somewhere I used to go on school trips and my parents would take us along once a year for a wander round, normally fitting in Fishbourne as well ... it's grown in size quite considerably since the 80's though and apparently the Repair Shop is filmed there (Don't watch it myself) Anyway, I had fun shooting everyone, even if I'm really not that comfortable doing portrait type stuff (or have any real idea of what I'm actually doing), pretty happy with how they turned out though and a massive thanks to Pete B for the invite!

Finally, the Pro/AM section of the @ukvertseries comp at @ramp.city in Blackpool 1: @adampacynko 2: @jjakeanderson 3: @jack.wallbridge 4: @freddiearnold_ 5: @snipersk8 6: @lachuchi999 7: @thelangram @operaskateboards @speedlabwheels @deeznutz_hardware @verticalzine @skeleton_key_mfg @triple8uk @venturesocks @rollersnakes @heathenskateboards @clinker.coping @dead_yard @hemphasize19 @MHVertClub @dopegamestv @ade_shoes @sullenclothinguk @4dgrip @theevetrucks @falsecoffee @bawbagsunderwear @lividskatecafe @lividskateboards @momentumskateshop @skate.jezebel @etnies @187killerpads @triple8nyc @boardstoreshop @verticalzine @route_one_southampton @triple8uk @deeznutz_hardware @_yesmush @route_one @pigcity_skates @the_asylumskatepark @gromusa @187killerpads @triple8nyc @skatelite #vertskateboarding #skateboarding #skateanddestroy #vertskaters #ukvertseries #ukvertseries2025 #skateeverydamnday

The OAP’s dragged their creaking bodies up the M6 for the Masters section of the @ukvertseries comp at @ramp.city in Blackpool 1: @styzee 2: @streetnowik 3: @5kateboarder 4: Gaz Hughes 5: @nixonatorsk8 6: @skaterdad88 @operaskateboards @speedlabwheels @deeznutz_hardware @verticalzine @skeleton_key_mfg @triple8uk @venturesocks @rollersnakes @heathenskateboards @clinker.coping @dead_yard @thehighlandhideout #vertskateboarding #skateboarding #skateanddestroy #vertskaters #ukvertseries #ukvertseries2025 #skateeverydamnday