Another Place

These spectacular sculptures by Antony Gormley are on Crosby beach. Another Place consists of 100 cast-iron, life-size figures spread out along three kilometres of the foreshore, stretching almost one kilometre out to sea.

East Neuk of Fife

If there is a stretch of coast in Scotland that has a string of fishing villages more picturesque than those of the East Nuek of Fife I do not know where they are. On a warm summers day the villages of Elie, St Monans, Pittenweem, Anstruther and Crail and the coast line between them are simply stunning. On a clear day the coast affords views out across the Firth of Forth to North Berwick and the Isle of May with Dolphins a common site and breading birds a plenty, it is a simply wonderful spot.

Dysart

Dysart is a picturesque village on the Forth coast of Fife, once and important port for the export of salt and coal. Today following the decline of those industries a part of the village including the 16th to 18th Century white painted house on the Pan Ha’ has been preserved for future generations.

Ailsa Craig

Lying 16km off the South Ayrshire coast the small island of Ailsa Craig makes a unique sight. The island is the result of an igneous intrusion of very hard granite that has resisted erosion around it thus leaving it standing pround as a very distintive plug. The island is famous for its Blue Hone granite from which all the best Curling stones are made.

Hadrian

As the global pandemic drags on travel remains difficult so no overseas trips for us this year, instead a few weeks in northern England and the Scottish lowlands or in today’s case the borders of Roman Britannia and Caledonia.

More Long Exposure

New Brighton offers not only oportunities with the Lighthouse but also a number of groynes that have presumably been built to prevent the areas beaches being washed into the Mersey River.

The groynes make great abstract subjects at half tide.

Long Exposure in New Brighton

I finally got around to a little photo expedition that I have been planning for some time. I had seen online some interesting photographs of the lighthouse at New Brighton on the Wirral and thought that I would like to give it a go with my ND filters and resultant long exposures.

Fishing the Canal

with the Fisheye that is….

Winter has returned so no yomping in the hills today – what can the fisheye do along the canal ? – worth a try.

Dark Satanic Mills

And did those feet in ancient time,
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

The Huddersfield Narrow Canal

The Huddersfield Narrow Canal is an inland waterway in northern England. It runs just under 20 miles (32 km) from Lock 1E at the rear of the University of Huddersfield campus, near Aspley Basin in Huddersfield, to the junction with the Ashton Canal at Whitelands Basin in Ashton-under-Lyne. It crosses the Pennines by means of 74 locks and the Standedge Tunnel.

Sunset

Left the daily exercise until late in the day today in the hope of a decent sunset – a little colour but nothing special.

Close Gate Bridge

Close Gate Bridge is a 17th Century packhorse bridge over Haigh Clough just west of Marsden in the Peak District. The bridge formed part of the mai packhorse route across the Pennines from ther Colne Valley to Rochdale. The bridge is a grade 2* Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Above the clouds

Looking back through a few recent drone images I came across a couple I had missed where the light and clouds combined to produce a couple of interesting images, one above the clouds and the other as the clouds lifted above the Chew Valley and Dove Stones Reservoir.

Almost Spring Like

At last a decent day and a chance for a hike in the hills, I mean lockdown exercise of course, and no lingering with the camera ….

Alphin Pike (469m) and the Wimberry Ridge give splendid views down to Dove Stove Reservoir and across to Saddleworth Moor. Millstone Grit and Peat – typical of the Dark Peak.

ISO Invariance

So this is new to me and I am not sure I fully understand all the physics behind it. All my previous cameras have not been ISO invariant, that is to say to minimise noise you needed to make sure the image was not underexposed by using an appropriately high ISO. Using a lower ISO and underexposing an image and then pushing the shadows in post would create a noiser image than using a higher ISO and “proper” exposure. Pretty standard stuff and well understood.

After Clouds, Sunshine

If ever there was a metaphor for the troubled times that we are living through this must surely be it.

Chuffin Cold !

“It’s a warm wind, the west wind, full of birds’ cries” – The West Wind by John Masefield

Well that’s as maybe but I can tell you an east wind in February on top of Standedge is chuffin cold ! – best suited for winter photography said my new book, true, but it didn’t mention the need for crampons !

A Little Inspirational Help

Lockdown 3 coupled with some typically British weather has entailed a lot of YouTube.

£6,499 too far

An important aspect of my photographic interest is wildlife, an interest that requires long lenses and good field craft. The field craft I am ok with but my relationship with long lenses is a long story.

Stepping back a few years my go to wildlife kit was the Canon EOS 7d mk ii and the venerable Canon 500mm f4 big white. On the Canon APS C crop body this gave me an effective focal length of 800mm a good focal length for birding and coupled with the Canon 100-400mm zoom on a Canon 5d mk iii a good all around wildlife kit, all be it with one major problem, well actually 2 major problems, size and weight (those 4 items alone weighing in at 6.43kg).

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Happy New Year – A little light at the end of the tunnel – portents perhaps of a return to some semblance of normality although some way to go and Tier 4 restrictions to endure in the meantime.