Light Over Water Photography » Wanderings

Patchy

Hamish — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 23:29:05 +0000

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.

Dew Catcher

Hamish — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:17:24 +0000

Another great thing about this time of year is all the wildlife you can spot, getting going early on a cool crisp morning can rarely be beaten. Yes, it can be a struggle getting out of a warm bed but the rewards can be immense. It is certainly the best time to go out searching for things…on a still morning sounds travel for miles, so if you’re careful and quiet you can hear all manner of things before they’re upon you. I’ve hidden in hedges and spotted deer racing across fields and had birds of prey wheeling above me as the hunt in the morning light. Even if the wildlife is sleeping in (!) you can almost always find small treasures at your feet…

Flying Dog!

Hamish — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:27:46 +0000

Took a wander in the woods today to see how early spring growth was getting on compared to last year…Still not much going on, thanks in part to the recent cold weather (and snow!) instead of the relative heat-wave we had back then but hopefully within the next week or so we’ll see loads more about.

Camera

Hamish — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:13:15 +0000

Went on a quick trip to Oxford today, weather was pretty dull but came away with something half respectable…

Struts

Hamish — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 01:24:51 +0000

I managed to get this one before I was ushered – or rather ‘ordered’ – away from where I stood by some grumpy and (or for want of a better phrase) ’round’ high-vis jacket wearing, rather self-important security person… The trouble with trying to take any pictures in London these days is the incredibly officious, jumped up and [attempting to be] intimidating security personnel, that assume all camera wielding people are terrorists [naturally], appear to have multiplied like a bad rash in the past few years. I wonder when these plastic police will outnumber tourists at such popular attractions as the London Eye, Westminster or along the South Bank.
There is a deeper message to this though, that has been raised in light of numerous confrontations where amateur photographers have been wrongfully detained or otherwise hassled by (and sometimes not even official) police with quite absurd accusations, often thanks to small minded individuals who end up wasting police time and resources over nothing, and that is something that has brought about strong – and growing – objections in the photographic community. Although to any reasonable and intelligent person you’d probably be able to spot a dodgy looking character taking photos covertly and behaving in a suspicious manner, the sweeping generalisation of the Met Police’s poster portrays photographers in a bad light. A man recently planned his solo assault on Heathrow Airport apparently using online maps, surely a more ‘covert’ way of planning terrorist activities – especially with all the CCTV etc around – would merely be achieved in much the same way? Another way of looking at it I suspect is now you’ve hired all your goons to loaf and meander with ‘security’ in mind they might as well do something.
Terrorism becomes a dangerous catch-all excuse for too many who care not to adequately justify their actions and poor understanding of the law…no one has the power to search you on the street, that’s the law, yet it is so poorly understood – perhaps hoped so too by security goons – that your innocent amateur photographer can be intimidated and humiliated into complying. There’s quite a lot of info here that may shed a little more light on what’s what. Bottom line is
don’t be intimidated, know your rights.