Up early for sunrise over the Marshwood Vale on the south western edge of Dorset to witness the rising mist over the surrounding levels. The first day of September and it true feels as though summer has been and gone…
Archive for the ‘Landscape’ Category
The Watch Tower
03 Aug 2010 | Coast, Landscape, Somerset | No comments added... »
A last minute decision to head out in search of a sunset lead me to this location on the West Somerset coast. I managed to find myself an original take on an oft-photographed subject but had to settle for soft light in the absence of the hoped-for colourful sunset. Moments after this was made the wind carved ripples were torn apart by an inattentive dog owner’s “he’s-just-being-friendly” mutt come over to investigate the curious person lying on the sand with a box that clicks…which subsequently got a showering of sand. Thank you.
Unset
22 Jul 2010 | Coast, Devon, Landscape | No comments added... »
Sometimes you get lucky, other times not so lucky. I took a trip out to the West Devon coast with a few other like-minded photographers with the prospect a nice sunset and a dramatic coastline to shoot around…we got it half right. The coastline was spectacular but the sunset just didn’t happen, there’s always next time.
In other news the website re-design is almost complete and will be rolling out – with a bit of luck in the not too distant future – so keep your eyes peeled for that one when it comes.
Portland Bill, Not without time
21 Oct 2009 | Coast, Dorset, Landscape | No comments added... »
I’ll be spreading out my Scotland posts, with luck between posts from Hong Kong whilst I’m there but this first punctuation is from a little closer to home. Given the previous post was more a [nicely] illustrated travelogue, without the time to sit, set up and compose photographs carefully, the following posts I plan to return to the expected form! After a seeming insurmountable bout of rain a clear day appeared, seizing the chance I headed to somewhere I’d not yet visited; Portland Bill where a lighthouse sits and this particular feature; the Puplit Rock. Although this looks like an interesting geological feature, it was in fact created by quarry workers in the 1870′s. Portland is the ‘almost an island’ bit of land at the south eastern end of Chesil Beach and directly to the south of Weymouth, connected to the mainland by a spindly causeway with a road across it, which is great – until they decide to have road works on it (!). I sat in a queue of traffic for ages watching the sun sink lower in the sky as I remained motionless with that sinking feeling I’d miss the light entirely. Finally I got through and arrived to find I was the only one around! It pays to go places out of the tourist season – the vast car park gives an indication of quite how busy it can get…
I almost ran out of time getting here to create this image though curiously it shows the importance of time and its relation to photography in creating quite different images to those seen by our eyes. The period the shutter opened for in this image, a 15 second exposure, has given the water a smooth and misty appearance around the rocks where all its movements over the time period have been captured and compressed into a single image. The lack of detail in the water contrasts with the rocks around which it flows. I dare say an image taken over just a fraction of a second would not elicit any great response yet extend the reality beyond the natural view and the results can be stunning. Obviously this is quite unlike how our real-time vision would see it and although no photoshoppery has occurred it is a simple demonstration of how a photographer, whilst not expressly telling them how to feel about an image, may certainly influence or guide what the viewer sees steering them towards sympathetic responses. The following images range in exposure length from a couple of seconds through to 30 or more…can you guess which?
Ladram Bay
16 Sep 2009 | Coast, Devon, Landscape | No comments added... »
After being openly challenged by a friend who’s photographic talents I greatly admire I resolved to head out and see what I could do today… (more…)
Perfect?
13 Sep 2009 | Fishing, Landscape | No comments added... »
It’s just one of those evenings. Quietly strolling along the river bank waiting for fish to rise, cool beer in one hand and camera in the other. The sun gently falling in the sky, reds, yellows, oranges and pinks lingering in the afterglow. The tall grass and rush tips ever so slightly brushed by the light as it disappeared over the horizon in the distance. This is by no means a perfect photo but as a direct response to that which I was surrounded by at the time, a snap-shot of the end of a beautiful late summer’s day. Once the sun had finally dropped out of view the air became cool, for the first time in months I could see my breath as I exhaled. What can beat an evening spent with nothing to occupy the mind save the hopes of stirred water and a chance to outwit those that glide beneath… We wandered back to the car empty handed but content…
Rain Forest
28 Aug 2009 | Landscape, rain, Somerset, Woodland | No comments added... »
More rain, more trees. Despite the thick canopies above loads of rain still got through – and on to me… There is a real sense of autumn approaching which is a little sad as we never really got summer, ok there was a heat wave back in June/July for 5-7 days, I guess that really was it folks! Still, I love autumn. Like Spring the autumn is a time of change, changing colours, weather, light – everything! The landscape itself undergoes a dramatic shift from lush and green trees and tall grasses through to reds and oranges as the trees shed their leaves for the onset of winter. I’m caught between ‘I can’t wait!’ and ‘was that all we got for summer?!’ feelings…no looking back though; Can’t wait! (more…)
Patchy
15 Aug 2009 | B&W, Landscape, Wanderings, Wiltshire | No comments added... »
I came upon this as I was taking a MASSIVE detour around the Stonehenge traffic jams today. Cley Hill, right next to Longleat. Geographically speaking it’s on the edge of Somerset and Wiltshire, and curiously not made of clay (as the name suggests) but chalk. I saw it some way off as I came over a rise through a village and said to myself; Have to climb that one! Fortunately the road I was on went right to it, so we (the Dog and I) hopped out of the car and within moments were at the top and looking west to Somerset and east to Wiltshire. This view is looking east and you can make out Salisbury plane in the distance. Bright sunshine battled with patchy (but dense) clouds, so I sat and waited for a couple of broken up ones to roll past before taking a few shots. Light was too harsh for anything spectacular, it being 4pm-ish, but in black and white the contrasts the light and dark made, as they shifted across the open grounds below, really show up well.
[In true Hitchhikers Guide fashion] Wikipedia has this to say about Cley Hill (grid reference ST838449) a prominent hill near Warminster in Wiltshire, England. A 26.6 hectare area of chalk grassland at Cley Hill was notified as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1975. Mostly Harmless. Unless you don’t like climbing hills.
Pink Drag
13 Aug 2009 | Coast, Dorset, Landscape | 1 Comment »
Occasionally the clouds clear away and the UK does get some blue skies. Hasn’t happened much this summer though! I was immediately drawn to the band of pink that fades to blue just across the horizon but for lack of any foreground interest (being a rather open and pebbled beach) I settled for the dynamic approach and shot the movement of the water and thus create some foreground for me. With a moderately high depth of field I was able to strike a nice balance and capture the movement of the water around the stationary rocks, creating white trails as it receded back into the surf. This was taken down on the Dorset coastline not far from Lyme Regis and proves once in a while a nice evenings do roll by…I’m just hoping for a little more consistency in the weather to make photographic trips that bit more reliable rather than merely ‘trips’! I’ve also just revised, and in the process of updating, my wedding package(s) to keep it all simple, I’m hoping to have it up in place in the next week or so.
Brave New World
29 Jul 2009 | B&W, Plant-life, rain, Woodland | 1 Comment »
Although this summer has failed to brighten up on many levels I was still surprised by what I found in the woods today. The persistent rain over the past few weeks has, it’s true dampened my spirits slightly. So I resolved to face it head-on and went for a walk during a monumental downpour to some local woods. This served two purposes; firstly get the hell out of the house and secondly to satisfy my curiosity to really see what changes come when it’s absolutely chucking it down. I’m not talking about ‘lots of water from the sky’ type changes, nor the resulting puddles of it collecting on the ground as I walk. No, I’m talking about the change in atmosphere around me and how could I possibly capture that on camera?! (more…)
