About
My name is Mike Osborn and I live and work in Manchester. I have taken photographs for most of my life.
I was born and grew up in Essex and lived in London for several years before moving north.
I took time off to concentrate on seeing new places around the globe, making travel photography a huge passion.
My primary camera is the Fuji X-E1, bristling with digital function but has retro styling. I prefer to stay in manual mode and maintain control over my shots.
I also own a vintage Soviet Zenit film camera, which is completely manual, and an Olympus-35 EC, a nifty little point and shoot film camera manufactured at the start of the 1970s.
I also have a shop where you can acquire my work as prints, downloads and other items.
Enjoy my stories, ideas and images. Please get in touch. You can follow this link to my contact details.
If you would like to sponsor this site, please use the button below.
Your contribution will help keep it cooking on gas. Thank you for your help!
Wow! I’m so amazed that you have a Zenit camera. When I was an art student in Manchester in the 70s most of the students had one of those – not me, I couldn’t afford one☹, but I did get one later when I started teaching😀. It was my first SLR camera. I don’t know what I did with it, I think I gave it to my son, and I was recently thinking of it and trying to remember the name of it. Now you have brought it back to me!! But hey – I don’t miss having to buy all those 35mm films, and having to be so sparing about how many shots I took!
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Ah glad to have jogged some memories, Helene! Zenits can be a little beastly and after ripping a finished film I lost all confidence :) And quite expensive to have processed these days. They’re great survivors though with many cameras still with us.
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Hi Mike, I love 35mm film, especially B&W and still have a darkroom in storage back in The Land of Oz – unfortunately, I can’t travel with the darkroom. ;-)
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Ah lovely! It’s an irregular habit of mine and I haven’t quite got into self processing. My digital Fuji does all the travelling with me :)
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Changed from Canon to Nikon back in 2013 and wished I hadn’t for many reasons. So, looking around for a good travel camera…too many to choose from these days. ;-)
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Aren’t there just? I’m a Fuji devotee and and it’s not too difficult to carry around one of their compact systems. They have plenty of very portable models too!
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Thanks for the tip, I’ll check it out. Haven’t used Fuji since the 35mm cameras but used to always use 35mm Fujichrome or film as the colours are great! Kodak was/is a warmer film…just rambling now. ;-)
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Fuji looks the part too. Call me shallow! But it also works well :)
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Hello Mike,
Thank you so much for stopping by and following my blog :)
I just stumbled upon your blog here and found it’s quite interesting…
Let me explore your work on architecture…
Have a great time :)
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Hi Sreejith, good to bump into you too. I hope to learn more about Kerala from your blog. I hope you’ll enjoy having a look around ‘my place’. With greetings from London.
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Always enjoy your posts and that old BBC “connection” have a great 2015 Mike!
http://belgianstreets.com/very-inspiring-blogger-award/
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What a nice start to the New Year. Thanks Andy! And likewise, I enjoy your lives in various parts of the world told through photographs. I’ll be interested to visit the other sites on your list and expand my horizons a little more.
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Thank you Mike, I think you will find a lot to enjoy!
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Yes, I feel new connections coming on! Thank you again and Happy New Year.
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Thank you!
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Thank you Mike for the follow at Move the Chair-I appreciate it-and I love your work, especially the architectural images-and I am looking forward to seeing more of your world.
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Many thanks, Meg – I came your way courtesy of Lee in Australia. I like your eye’s view too. I look forward to keeping tabs on your future posts.
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Hi Mike- Thank you for following my photography blog, Jane’s Lens. I hope you are inspired. I am enjoying your images- you have a terrific eye– will look forward to seeing more.
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Hi Jane, lovely to hear from you and I enjoyed discovering your blog (from the recommendations on my reader). I look forward to keeping track of your work from way across the pond and glad you’ve enjoyed some of what I have to offer here.
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Hi Mike,
Thanks for following http://www.geokult-travel.com. Your blog looks really interesting so am following back :-)
Cheers
Tracey
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Thank you Tracey, I really appreciate that. I look forward to seeing more posts from your travels :)
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Mike, your work stuns me with its diversity, clarity, and vivid composition. I am humbled that you chose to follow my fledgling foray into photo blogging. Your work inspires me.
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Donna, thank you so much for visiting and I’m quite taken aback by your words – in a good way! To even begin to think of being an inspiration with my photography keeps me striving. I look forward to following your work and regular visits in this direction. Warm greetings from London.
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Thank you, Mike.
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Hi Mike!
Your photography work is amazing, I especially interested in your colour touch.
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Thank you very much for coming by, much appreciated :)
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Thank you for visiting my blog! You blog is amazing and full of life. So many great pictures!! All the best, Irene
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Thank you Irene, I really appreciate that. Your blog is to die for and you chose the best subject there. I’ve been to the Maldives and never once tired of going to watch yet another amazing sunset.
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Thanks! Yeah it’s really a magical place :)
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Hi Mike…i really love your work…you take splendid shots indeed! I especially like photos capturing details…Wish you all the best for the new year!!! Take care!!!
-Pavlos-
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Hi Pavlos, great to be following and I really appreciate your comments. I was pleased to find your site, quite by chance. I look forward to seeing more of your work in the coming year and wish you a Happy New Year too.
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I like your ‘eye’ and the spirit of your blog.
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What a wonderful comment. Thank you very much for coming by!
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I really like many of your b&w and your panoramas. I’m looking forward to follow you and see more of your work. So far I like what I have seen in your blog so far. :)
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Likewise, Malin, thank you very much, I like these ‘meetings’, they’re often fruitful. Looking forward to seeing more of your work also.
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You said it; fruitful.
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Mike, I hope you’ll find my blog interesting and worthwhile. I am following yours too, in the same spirit. Happy blogging!
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Thank you very much for coming by and saying hello. I look forward to exploring your blog some more and seeing further work in the future. Greetings from London!
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Amazing photos on your blog! and Thank you so much for following http://travellersplanetblog.com
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Thanks very much to both of you! You’re my 500th follower so that’s a nice little goal achieved. I look forward to seeing more about your travels.
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low light photography, huh? Pretty cool. You have to be really good at it though to get a good picture. *looking for LLpictures on your blog
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There’s a set of night photos from Dubai – a wonderful place for low light work. There are many sources of light to work with! https://mikeosbornphoto.com/2012/09/26/the-bright-lights-of-dubai-2/
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I love your photos!! I can’t wait to see more. Feel free to check out my new blog also: adventurousglasses.wordpress.com.
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Thank you very much! I look forward to exploring your site.
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Hey Mike, Thanks for stopping by and the follow. I look forward to checking out your posts :-)
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Hi Ed, good to connect. I look forward to keeping up with your work too!
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Great programme on TVC last night – a lot of heart-wringing and brow-bashing, but an intriguing look behind the scenes! :)
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I went to that recording and could just about see myself in the audience! Very good, full of nostalgia.
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Haha! Nice one! :)
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Congratulations, I have nominated you for “Best Moment Award”. Please visit the following link to accept it and see how it works. Keep up the good work.
http://journeyaroundtheglobe.com/best-moment-award/
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Thank you very much!
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Hi Mike, I wanted to say thanks for visiting my blog and deciding to follow my posts.
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You’re very welcome, Simon. It’s always good to see new work and widen the circle.
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Mike, Hi again. I stumbled across across a collection of your pictures as I was looking at Flickr and thought to myself … why didn’t I signed up at his site? I enjoy your work so sign up I did. Curious thing is a fellow from my town (Steven Grover), who’s work I was looking for in the first palce, had you as a link on his page.
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Hi Allan, very pleased you came by. Well there’s a coincidence – there seem to be a lot of us out there but it can be quite a small community. I look forward to keeping in touch.
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Glad I found your blog, Mike! Great stuff!
Happy New Year!
~Christy
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Thanks Christy, glad you enjoyed it, good to have your visit. Happy New Year to you too!
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My very first camera was a Zenit – back when I was 13 or 14 I guess. Processed my own B&W films and prints too!
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Excellent! Do you still have any of those early shots? Any desire to go retro?
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Hi Mike,
Thanks for following my photography blog! You have some amazing images here man! Keep it up!
Regards
Jared
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Thank you Jared, good to be in touch. Keep capturing those superb sunsets!
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hey, mike!
just love your work on here…makes my shots look like….well…you know what i mean!
anyway…maybe there is such a thing as synchronicity! i say that cos i too have a couple cameras from the old USSR…one is a zenit e that my mother gave me as a gift when i was 16 yrs old (i still have that and still use it)…and the other one is a zorki (the one that takes leica lenses)…both good cameras and of course, built like tanks! have fun!
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Thank you very much! And glad to hear you have a real interest in vintage Soviet cameras. Taking pictures with these fine machines is a whole different ball game. When my first film has finally been processed I’ll share the results, or at least my thoughts on them if it turns out to be a disaster!
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..i was gonna say..about some russian cameras…the first film i tried in my zenit e got stuck and to get it out i had to open the back of the camera, thereby ruining the film! i’d be careful when winding the film on and winding it back for removal from the camera…you also need to make sure you follow a set sequence when taking a shot…cant remember how it goes…but its about setting the shutter speed before winding on to the next frame or something….good luck!
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Well I found loading the first film a bit of a sweat, but it’s wound on smoothly since. And that sequence… set the aperture and shutter speed, focus, stop the aperture before taking the shot. Manually stopping takes a while to get used to! I’ve been taking different shots with it… still testing, I suppose!
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good luck!
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Thanks :-)
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http://ckponderings.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/liebster-blog-award/
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Much appreciated, Richard, thank you for the mention!
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No worries! :)
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Look forward to turning the pages through your work. Pretty neat stuff.
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Thanks very much. Likewise. Greetings from London.
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Very good blog,
I received “The Very Inspiring Blogger Award” and give it to you.
http://mariadesuede.wordpress.com/2012/11/04/the-very-inspiring-blogger-award/#comment-1328
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Thank you very much!
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Your welcome!
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Hello and Congratulations, I have nominated you for “Beautiful Blogger Award”. Please visit the following link to see how it works.
http://journeyaroundtheglobe.com/my-awards/beautiful-blogger-award/
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Thank you for the mention, much appreciated!
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You are welcome…enjoy
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Great work. Thanks for following me.
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Much appreciated, Ravi. Enjoying your site – the “mega” gallery is great!
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Thanks for the follow, Mike. It’s taken me a few days to make contact, but I got there in the end! Your shots of colour and water are quite beautiful. Everywhere I go I can learn and see something new.
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Very much appreciated, thank you. I must say your posts are always eye-catching in the reader. Look forward to seeing more.
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Hi, Thank you for stopping by my corner of the web and following my blog! I really enjoyed exploring your site and look forward to seeing more posts in the future.
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Many thanks for visiting and I look forward to seeing more of your work. Greetings from London.
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I really like the quality of your work. You can see immediately that you really love photography.
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Russell, thank you very much, that’s much appreciated.
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It is interesting how taking pictures changes the way that you look at the world. Thanks for following my blog.
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It’s a thing of fascination. Thanks for dropping by!
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This is my first visit here, Mike, and I’m very impressed. Great photography, consistently. I’ll be back!
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Glad you came by, thank you very much for your comments. I’m exploring your site now, enjoying it very much.
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Great photos, Mike. Look forward to seeing more. — Rob
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Thank you very much, Rob.I’m enjoying yours too and look forward to updates now that we’re following one another. Greetings from a soggy London!
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Great. Thanks for following me too. It’s sunny and warm here in Virginia today. I was in Ireland a few weeks ago, so I know the kind of weather you speak of. Cheers!
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We had about five days of summer a while back… I blame the Atlantic weather systems!
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you have a lovely blog, absoutely beautiful photography, i’m enjoying my visits.. : )
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Dianne, thank you so much. That’s very much appreciated. I hope to publish regular posts, so I hope you have many more visits to make yet! Greetings from London.
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Thanks for the recent comment and follow on my blog. I look forward to seeing how you translate your vision via the camera and lens.
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Thank you Kerry. I’ll be very interested to keep track of your photographic endeavours.
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Thanks Mike for look at my basic blog, your photos are brilliant will keep you followed, keep clicking…
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Thank you very much, Clive. Liking your photos and the tales that go with them… sometimes the picture alone isn’t quite enough. Good to be following you.
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Thank you for following my blog! You are my 60th follower! Your photography is amazing!
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My pleasure, Adrian, you have a great site. Thanks for your support of my site – it’s only in its infancy so there is plenty more to come. Keep in touch.
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I sure will.
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Congratulations Mike – very professional! Some stunning photographs on here. Em xx
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Thanks for taking a look, Em – much appreciated! There’ll be more to come.
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