It was high time to get some sunrise images of my local area, as I hadn't been out for a while, mainly because sunrise is about 5 am at this time of year, and frankly I just couldn't drag myself out of bed in time. It's one thing to be on location and know that you only have a few days to get the shots you want, but quite another when you're at home and you know there will always be tomorrow...
So after some determined effort to get up and about, I found myself down on the banks of the River Windrush at 4.30 in the morning, I followed its path as it languidly snakes its way from Burford towards Swinbrook on the look out for a suitable spot to watch the sun appear.
Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, the dawn had singularly failed to live up to its side of the bargain, and the sky was looking as boring as could be, not a cloud in sight, just an orange glow on the horizon, which thanks to the rampant vegetation that lined the river, was mostly obscured anyway. I had a distinct feeling that I had wasted my time.
And as far as sunrises go, I had, it was a complete washout, and there was no way to disguise that. But once the sun did appear there was a nice warm glow about the place.
 |
| Following the path took me to the tiny hamlet of Widford, where I waited for the sun to appear and slowly light up this little lane. |
Walking back along the river I happened upon a family of swans, with some very young cygnets in tow, so I took a few pictures of the proud parents. I had pestered this pair before as part of my Swan series of images, which can be found here. After a few complaints at my intrusion, they soon settled down and allowed me to get a few shots of the new family.
 |
| Somehow they all managed to clamber onto mum to catch a lift downstream. |
 |
| Once they had stopped to feed, they all disembarked, apart from this one who seemed quite happy to stay on board. |
I then stopped at a small patch of woodland that belongs to an empty barn, which is in the process of being converted into a home I think. I say in process, a year or so ago it had scaffolding and plastic sheeting wrapped around it but that's about as far as it's got. But the important thing is the wood was festooned with cow parsley, so I popped in and had a rummage around.
 |
| I liked the play of light on the pale undergrowth and the warm tree trunks, so spent a bit of time looking for useful compositions. |
Even though I had been out for a few hours, thanks to the fact I had got up at such a ridiculous time, it was still relatively early in the morning. So I was soon on my way over to Chipping Norton and the rather impressive Bliss Tweed Mill, to take advantage of the direction of the morning sunlight.
 |
| The other reason I wanted to go was the field of buttercups in full bloom, which are always a beautiful sight at this time of year. |
 |
| This late 19th century factory produced tweed of high quality for many years.The Mill finally closed in 1980 and has now been converted to luxury apartments. |
 |
| A rather dreamy shot of the mill, with movement in the clouds and flowers in the foreground. |
So even though I didn't get any shots of the sunrise, with so much to see in the Cotswold countryside, it's always a pleasure to be out in the warm morning sunshine. Perhaps with a bit more willpower I might not leave it so long next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment