Twenty Five Years
of Island Images - December 2000 - 2024
    
    
    
    
    
It was only after selecting
and editing these pictures that I realised that I'd already done a '25
Years - December' selection! It was at the end of last year and was
what inspired me to then carry on with the monthly '25 Years' sections
throughout 2025. Anyway, I'd edited the pictures so though I'd use them!
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2/12/25
Moonshine and Sunrise
DJI Osmo Pocket 3 &
Panasonic TZ95 2/12/25
  
    
3/12/25
Yesterday was nice and
sunny and I set out rather late in the morning intending a short walk around
Little Ness on the Marine Drive. However, time and circumstances
were against me and when I found the lifting bridge in Douglas closed for
some work, I decided to divert to somewhere a bit closer and ended up at
Braddan Old Church.
A Christian religious
building has stood here since sometime after the arrival of the religion
on the island in around the 5th Century, but the first record of an actual
church here dates from 1291 when a synod was held here. The church
had various alterations done over the years to accommodate increasing congregations
but in the late 1700s it was decided to replace it with a completely new
building, which was actually completed in 1873 but for some reason not
consecrated until 1876. I had hoped to get some interior photographs
of the old church and its celtic crosses, but as seems usual whenever I
visit, it was locked up.
Panasonic TZ95 2/12/25
    
    
    
I'd long had an idea
about shooting an aerial panorama from the Blackberry Lane area of Onchan,
to include Government House, and yesterday afternoon I actually managed
to get around to it, although time was tight and I ws only airborne around
three quarters of an hour before sunset! I also shot a few single
images.
DJI Air 2S 2/12/25
  
4/12/25
A new camera arrived
at the Island Images studios yesterday! It's from the very innovative
DJI company, the same one that designs and makes the drones I fly.
I already have their Osmo Pocket 3 stabilised camera, but this new one
can shoot 360 degree pictures in one take, and stitch them internally.
It only arrived yesterday lunchtime, but after the usual (for DJI products)
battery charging, registering and firmware updating, I managed a quick
trip out for some test shots, just going down the the old part of Onchan
and St Peter's Church there. More or less just factory default settings
on the camera, with some post editing on the computer. The camera
is equiped with two back to back cameras, both with fixed 9mm (equivalent)
lenses, for a panoramic photo or video, both cameras are used, but you
can select just one if wanted.
DJI Osmo 360 3/12/25
    
  
   
The 360 degree panoramas.
These were shot with the twin cameras, some editing in PtGui or Panit Shop
Pro, but otherwise as stitched by the camera.
   
5/12/25
Some more experimenting
with the new 360 camera yesterday, with some adjustments to the settings
now I'm learning my way around it. First location was St Luke's church,
on the ridge between the east and west Baldwin valleys, specifically to
try shooting the 360 degree panoramas in a higher resolution. I've
cloned me out of the first and last panoramas, but I didn't intrude too
much in the middle one so left myself in there! Unfortunately the
church was locked up, so no interior shots today.
DJI Osmo 360 4/12/25
  
360 degree Panoramas
  
After the St Luke's
pictures, I continued down the hill and stopped for some more test shots
at the Injebreck Waterfall.
   
Crops from 360 degree
panoramas
 
360 degree Panoramas
  
7/12/25
I wanted to do some
more testing with the 360 camera yesterday, but managed to miss the approximately
30 minutes of actual sunshine in between rain showers in the morning. After
lunch I headed west to Peel, hoping that the rain would clear by the time
I reached there. It actually got heavier so in a quick change of
plan I decided to visit the amazing House of Manannan and try some interior
360 degree panoramas there. It's quite dark in a lot of areas but
the camera coped really well. After that I managed a few shots in
the town during a short dry spell before the rain started again.
DJI Osmo 360 6/12/25
    
   
   
8/12/25
Whilst I was at the
House of Manannan on Saturday afternoon playing with 360 panoramas I also
shot a few conventional pictures.
DJI Osmo 360 6/12/25
   
 
9/12/25
Some more playing with
360 degree ground level panoramas yesterday morning. This was the
first time that I'd taken the camera out in direct sunshine, which showed
up some extra problems. The sun angle is very low here at this time
of year, at midday only reaching 13 degrees above the horizon, so with
a 360 degree camera you are always going to be looking directly into the
sun in some part of the picture. The camera seems to expose for the darkest
part of the picture, tending to 'wash out' the brighter parts, even with
-ev input. I'm still very much learning how to use this camera so I hope
you don't mind me sharing some more of the results. Don't forget to click
the images for the interactive ones! I've cloned myself out of some of
the pictures, in others I'm generally out of sight below the camera. In
one I'm a feature!
DJI Osmo 360 8/12/25
    
   
  
11/12/25
More adventures with
the 360 camera! Yesterday afternoon after a quick stop in Onchan for my
'flu vaccination, we headed across the island to Peel. It was really
a dull cloudy afternoon, but I took a few pictures around the Fenella Beach
area and from the lower slopes of Peel Hill.
DJI Osmo 360 10/12/25
    
  
After leaving Peel we
headed back inland to St John's, to visit the Tynwald Mills shopping area,
mainly for the brilliant Element Isle jewellery shop where Claire and the
team make some lovely pieces, but also it's new companion right next door,
Sacred Clan. I took some panoramas at Sacred Clan and hope to feature
those tomorrow.
  
12/12/25
I mentioned in yesterday's
post that I'd shot some panoramas at the amazing new Sacred Clan shop in
Tynwald Mills. To just call it a shop is an understatement, the interior
is a work of art in itself and really just worth visiting to see all of
the work that has gone into creating a lovely experience. We met
Ciara there who appears in the two interior pictures and she explained
how the shop was designed and where all of the fittings had come from and
how they had been renovated.
It's located right next
to Element Isle in Tynwald Mills, do go along for a look (and buy something!).
If you can't get there they have a fantastic website here:
Sacred
Clan Website
 
13/12/25
Although it was generally
cloudy and dull on Thursday afternoon I decided to go out and play some
more with the new camera. I was initially planning to head north,
but it looked brighter to the south as I was leaving the house, so I headed
down to Castletown instead, where I was rewarded by some sunshine!
I've cloned myself out of some of the pictures, but in others I didn't
really intrude on the scene so I've left myself in - I even posed for the
last one!
DJI Osmo 360 11/12/25
  
  
After taking the Castletown
panoramas I continued onwards to Scarlett, hoping to capture some of the
wave action. I actually remembered to shoot some 'single lens' conventional
pictures for thos of you who don't really like the panoramas. The
middle two are in fact 'slices' from 360 degree pictures, cropped into
a wide format.
   
 
The 360 degree panoramas
  
14/12/25
On Friday we had what
has been a bit of a rare occurrence on the island just recently, a day
of sunshine together with light winds! I took advantage in the afternoon
to carry out only my second drone flight of the month, and chose the ancient
settlement of The Braaid to take these pictures. The days are very
short as we approach the Winter Solstice, with local sunset being at 15:54,
the earliest it will be until it starts getting marginally later on the
18th of the month.
The Braaid is an important
historical site as it shows the merging of Celtic and Norse styles of accommodation,
with both a Celtic Roundhouse and two Norse longhouses. The roundhouse
probably dates from the Iron Age and would have been used as a living space,
before being later superseded by the Viking longhouse and used for livestock.
DJI Mini 4 Pro
12/12/25
    
 
After shooting the aerial
pictures at The Braaid, I headed back home and then onto Laxey to take
some shots of the Manx Electric Railway trams operating from there to 'Zen
at the Glen' at the Dhoon Glen. Unfortunately I made a bit of a mistake
in the camera settings so none of the pictures that I took at Dhoon Glen
were usable, but on the bonus side there were trains operating on the Great
Laxey Mines Railway!
DJI Osmo 360 12/12/25
    
  
At the Great Laxey Mines
Railway
     
16/12/25
On saturday morning
we went to a small Christmas Market being held under the canopy of Douglas
Railway Station.
I took a few shots including
two 360 degree panoramas and also shot a short video of 'Hutchinson' shunting
onto the Dining Car Train.
DJI Osmo 360 13/12/25
 
  
  
A short video!
17/12/25
Photographing the Alt
Falls in Tholt-y-Will glen presents quite a few problems these days.
The bridge across them was replaced a few years back with a very sturdy
one, which unfortunately makes it very difficult to see them and even harder
to get a good camera angle! I wondered if the new 360 degree camera
might make it easier, as it could be suspended over the side of the bridge
for a better view, so set off on Monday morning to give it a try.
The glen is still officially closed to the public after storm damage to
the trees and I wasn't even sure if I could reach the falls, but all of
the fallen trees from the top car park down to the waterfall have been
cleared and the path is in the same condition as it was before - rather
wet and slippery in places! I was also careful to make sure that no forestry
work was underway. The black 'Plastic Dogbone' that appears in some
of the panoramas is in fact the camera mount on the long 'selfie stick'
that I was using. Sometimes I can clone it out but not always!
DJI Osmo 360 15/12/25
  
  
I still didn't really
get the shots I wanted, even at its full 160 cm (5.2 foot) extension the
pole was still too short to properly get under the bridge from over the
chest high parapet, plus the huge rhododendron was still hiding the lower
section. I did consider if a drone might get the shot but it's a
very confined area for flying in with lots of obstructions and the bridge
and bush would still be a problem obscuring the waterfall. I think
I'll just have to give up for now!
18/12/25
After taking the Alt
Falls pictures, I continued further down the valley to take some pictures
of another two waterfall, but this time using a drone for easier access.
After heavy rains there's a lot of water coming down off the hills!
DJI Mini 4 Pro
15/12/25
    
    
   
After this flight I
drove a short distance downstream for another one
to look at a section of the river that I had walked along and swum in during
the summer.
  
   
19/12/25
On Monday afternoon
we had a trip to Ramsey and I took the 360 degree camera along and took
a selection of single and twin lens shots there.
DJI Osmo 360 15/12/25
    
  
The 360 degree Panoramas
    
    
20/12/25
On Tuesday morning I
did some aerial photography in Douglas. It was part of a collaboration
to produce some 'Then and Now' photographs for a forthcoming Loaghtan Books
publication and mission of the day for myself and George Hobbs of Loaghtan
was to produce some photographs to show the present day aspect of the location
of the first ever manned flight in the Isle of Man, which took place close
to the present day Sea Terminal in 1902.
On the 10th of November
1902, a gas filled balloon of the Royal Navy ascended from Prevail Square
in Douglas, to conduct some air to ground signalling tests with a surface
vessel. A couple of pictures of the balloon inflated in Peveril Square
exist. That whole area of Douglas had been redeveloped in the 1870s
and looking at the Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1866 very few of the
present day streets can be seen, plus many where names were retained were
altered. Peveril Square was one of the new developments. I've
reproduced an excerpt of the 1870 map below, under the CC-BY license, Reproduced
with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.
DJI Mini 4 Pro
16/12/25
    
    
 
21/12/25 - Happy
Solstice!
Wishing all website
visitors a happy Solstice, Yule, Christmas, Hanukkah or whatever other
festival you may celebrate around this time of year. At my latitude
(54N) this is the shortest day of the year, apparently we only have 7 hours
20 minutes and 24 seconds of sunlight today, and it will only reach a maximum
elevation of 12.4 degrees above the horizon. Based on the weather as I'm
typing this, we may be lucky to see any sign of it at all! Having
looked at the forecast a couple of days back, I took the precaution of
taking some pictures of yesterday's sunrise and (almost!) sunset.
Hoping you all have a lovely time whatever you may celebrate.
Yesterday's Sunrise
   
Yesterday's (almost)
Sunset
 
And Today!
 
22/12/25
Yesterday afternoon
we had a trip down into Douglas and I took the 360 camera with me to try
some shots including the Christmas lights.
DJI Osmo 360 21/12/25
   
  
24/12/25
Yesterday and today
the Queen's Pier in Ramsey is open to the public in the afternoon and we
headed up to take a look. It was a rather dull and cloudy afternoon
and we arrived as the light was fading, but I took advantage of the light
winds to fly the mini drone for some aerial shots first. Queen's
Pier Website.
DJI Mini 4 Pro 23/12/25
    
    
After doing the aerial
shots we took a stroll along the open section of the pier and I took some
360 degree panoramas, but starting with four single lens shots.
DJI Osmo 360
   
   
Last month when I was
shooting some aerial pictures on Douglas promenade, I also shot a couple
of video clips featuring the two 'not a roundabout' Roundels on the road
by the Sefton Hotel and Villa Marina. I then totally forgot about
it until yesterday, when I edited it up into a short video and uploaded
to Youtube.
DJI Mini 4 Pro
13/11/25
Birch Hill sunrise and
sunset on Christmas Eve.
DJI Osmo 360 & Panasonic
TZ95 24/12/25
 
25/12/25
Merry Christmas Everybody!
26/12/25
Yesterday I had a Christmas
Day afternoon excursion to watch the sunset at Niarbyl, on the west coast
of the island. I was using the 360 camera again, but the pictures
here are in three groups. The first five are conventional single
lens views, cropped to 16:9 format. The next four were shot as 360
degree twin lens panoramas, but have been cropped down in post edit to
give very wide angle 'flat' panoramic views. The final ones are full
360 panoramas, click the big images for the interactive versions.
DJI Osmo 360
25/12/25
    
Panoramic 'Slices'
   
Full 360 degree interactive
panoramas
   
   
A final single lens
shot.
27/12/25
Sometimes the best laid
plans of photographers just don't work out. I set out yesterday afternoon
with the intention of carrying out some aerial and ground level photography
in the area of Gooseneck, on the Mountain Road. However, driving
there I could see it was in deep shadow from the mountains (yes, I have
a program to show sun angle and should have checked it before setting out!),
but the northern end of the island was still in sunshine. I didn't
have that long until sunset but decided to continue on to Andreas and take
some aerial shots around the church, possibly followed with some ground
level interior (if the church was open) and exterior pictures.
DJI Mini 4 Pro &
Osmo 360 26/12/25
    
 
  
28/12/25
We had to do a little
trip out yesterday afternoon for some supplies and as we were going to
be not far away, I decided to call in at the delightful Marown Old Church,
up on the hill above Crosby. The church probably originated as an
ancient keeil, but the original church was constructed in around 1200 but
altered in the mid 1700s. It was superseded by the 'new' church down in
the valley in 1853 and fell into disrepair, but was renovated by volunteers
in 1959. There are still occasional services held.
I've left the single
lens pictures in the original 4:3 format as shot by the camera, instead
of cropping to my usual 16:9.
DJI Osmo 360 27/12/25
     
 
    
   
On the way to the stores
we were on the Braaid to DOuglas road when I noticed that the 'Plains of
Heaven' had some lovely illuminations from the shortly setting sun.
I stopped at a safe
place on the road and shot eight overlapping picture with my phone, later
stitched together in PtGui.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
27/12/25
After arriving home
I shot up to our little roof terrace to shoot a quick panoramic sunset.
This is a 'slice' from the full 360 degree view intended to be viewed on
its own. However, if you want to have a look at the 'full picture', just
click on the big image. I took the liberty of cloning out our TV
aerial from that though!
31/12/25
This is probably my
last upload for 2025, so I hope that you've enjoyed my pictures over the
past year, it was a bit of a bumper one with over 3,000 picture uploaded.
A bit of a boost this month as a new 360 degree camera arrived and I've
been experimenting with it a lot, both shooting panoramas and with single
shots. A few new videos added but still photography is still my main
interest so not too many of those. What's for 2026? Well I
don't really know! A couple of years ago I decided to finish updating
the current website when it reached its quarter century, but I couldn't
decide quite what to replace it with so it just carried on much the same
and I suspect that's what'll happen in 2026, we will just see. I
hope you all keep visiting to see what I'm posting, taking the pictures
is a great motivation for me to get out of the house and get some exercise!
Anyway, some new pictures
to finish off the year. Yesterday we had a few things that needed
done but I managed a quick photographic 'escape' at around sunset, driving
up to the Bungalow to take a few pictures of the sun setting there, before
heading along the Beinn-y-Phott road to catch a second sunset from there.
The buildings here have
always interested me. Constructed in the 1950s a part of the Air Defence
radar network for Great Britain, it seems unlikely that they were ever
actually brought into service, as the 'Rotor 3' project was cancelled before
completion, the two radar heads planned for Snaefell Summit were probably
never installed there. Subsequently the buildings were used as 'Murray's
Motorcycle Museum' and more recently the 'Victory Cafe', which is currently
closed for the winter period.
DJI Osmo 360 30/12/25
   
  
Wishing all visitors
a healthy and happy New Year, I hope that 2026 is good for you!
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