Dorset day 3 part one - Sunrise sort of & Studland nature reserve

Tweet Follow @photograferry

My third day in Dorset, and I woke to a pretty dismal start to the day, the weather had obviously decided to urinate on my parade, but I was not to be deterred, and I headed down to Swanage seafront anyway, in spite of the dank conditions.

And I was right to do that, even though the sky was awash with thick clouds, the cool, ambient light had created a atmospherically atmospheric atmosphere. I took advantage of it and got some shots looking out to sea, where a thin, pale band of red had begun to present itself above the horizon, which was about as psychedelic as the sunrise got.

I then turned my hawk like attention to the seafront itself, due to the early hour the lights were still ablaze along the waterfront, and from my vantage point I had a good view of them. With the morning tide rippling and plashing over the stretch of golden sand between me and the gentle urbanity in the near distance, it was a peaceful scene, and I was glad I had made the effort to get out into the dawn air.

Northumberland Day 2 - Warkworth Castle & dismal dunes

Tweet Follow @photograferry

Woke up to a very dismal morning, so after a spot of breakfast, I drove to Warkworth to have a look at the castle. The place itself hadn't opened for the season yet, but it's well worth a visit to see it standing proud over the town below.

When the castle was founded is uncertain: traditionally its construction has been ascribed to Prince Henry of Scotland in the mid-12th century, but it may have been built by King Henry II of England when he took control of England's northern counties. The then timber castle was considered "feeble", and was left undefended when the Scots invaded in 1173.

South Wales Day 2 (Part 2) - Dunraven Bay

Tweet Follow @photograferry

After getting some well overdue lunch back at the cottage, as it was getting on for 6pm, I watched with a heavy heart, the beautiful late afternoon sunshine being overwhelmed by a congregation of clouds, rapidly going about their billowy business without so much as a thought for my future requirements.

Like the weather outside, the prospects of getting a decent sunset were looking dimmer by the minute.

I took the 20 minute drive down to Dunraven Bay anyway, as I wasn’t going to be bullied by these nebulous rascals. I had a thought to mooch around the interesting rock formations that line the coast along here.

Interesting patterns of erosion on this rock ledge

Loud and quiet

Tweet Follow @photograferry

I was out the other morning down by the local river, taking advantage of the weather. We’ve had a lot of rain recently, so the fields were flooded, but, there wasn’t any rain that morning, meaning I could get some pictures. It was the perfect storm, except without the storm.

A large helping of frost

Tweet Follow @photograferry

With the weather getting slightly chillier, but not by much, we haven’t seen a great deal of frost about, certainly no sign of that mighty frigid roarer; the hoarfrost, so until that Polar Vortex comes barging it’s way over here, I dug out a few frosty snaps to tide me over.

These were taken in the grounds of Minster Lovell Hall last winter. Which is just as well, as the site is flooded at the moment, thanks in no small part to the adamant desire of the rain recently, to place as much of the country under a couple of feet of murky water as possible.

They were taken first thing in the morning, while the sun was just bobbing up over the horizon, and before it could start to nibble away at the delicate, frosty tendrils that incrusted every surface, and simmer away the delicate mist hanging amongst the trees.

And while processing them afterwards, I thought they lent themselves to rather well to a sepia glow, so that is what they got.

Fingers crossed for some of that polar fury to blow this way…

Garden exploration

Tweet Follow @photograferry

Partial view into the garden

Last weekend I took a stroll out into the back garden. I’d not done it recently because there had been quite a lot of work going on out there. Some updates to the plumbing system had been undertaken over the past few weeks, somewhat overdue, as the pipes they dug up were well over one hundred years old, in fact the house itself has a vintage of close to six hundred years. 

So, as is often the way with old houses, what they discovered when they started to dig below the surface displayed very little in common with you would be expected from above. Pipes veered off into adjoining houses, a septic tank or two were placed in spots that seemed to offer no benefit to anyone, if they were even used, although someone must have taken the effort to put them there. And couple of small streams were even discovered, which were a surprise to all.

Big Cats and their eye wear

Tweet Follow @photograferry

Not so long ago I posted a piece about photographing big cats at the Wildlife Heritage Foundation, you can in fact see that very post right here.

What I didn't include was what I got up to after I'd taken all the usual shots of the usual cats in the usual poses. Looking for something different, I waited until everybody else had left and asked the keepers if I could get some pictures of their charges just kicking back and relaxing, as they would when not on display to the general public.

Lake District - Day 1

Tweet Follow @photograferry

After travelling up to Keswick, in the Lake District the evening before, I was ready to get cracking first thing. Unfortunately the weather was acting rather belligerently, a dismal, funereal procession of unrelenting grey, shoving spluttering rain and pin sharp gales in the face of anyone who would be foolish enough to venture out. 

Needless to say, sunrise was off the cards. So with a heavy heart and modest relief, I hastened back to bed with a view to humoring my shameful laziness. So after a leisurely breakfast I headed out around 11.30, once the worst of the weather had sodded off. My first stop was Buttermere, in my view one of the prettier lakes in the area.

But wait I hear you shriek, Buttermere, is in fact a mere, not a lake, hence Buttermere. There is only one true lake in the Lake District, and that is Bassenthwaite Lake, the rest are either, meres, waters, or in the case of the smaller bodies, tarns. Yes, well done, you are absolutely correct to make that statement with the force and clarity it warranted. Now we have that settled, let us move on and never mention it again.

Once parked in the approved parking area at the northern tip of the mere, not lake (yes I lied, I will be mentioning it. A lot), I made my way to the nearest shoreline where I had a date with a rather scrawny tree. I had seen pictures of this particular specimen before, but never had the pleasure of its company. I was about to rectify that. 

The light was pretty flat so I have processed it with a toned monochrome
effect as the colours were nothing to write home about

The Puddle That Stays With Me, Always

Tweet Follow @photograferry

I took a little jaunt into the Cotswolds the other day and, inspired by the images of reeds and water I took a few days previously, whilst I was in Widford I forsook the natural beauty of the surrounding wolds and valleys, and found myself a nice big puddle to settle down with. 

And I have to say, our time together was some of the best of my entire life. We talked and laughed and dreamed our dreams, it was as if time had stood still for us. But as with all things, nothing can last forever, so in the end I had to say goodbye and move on with my life, plus I had to get home for my tea, it was fish fingers and spaghetti that evening, and I wasn’t about to miss it.

But I can’t seem forget that puddle, and something tells me I never will.

At least I have the memories…

I visited a local fishing lake recently but I didn't want to go fishing.

Tweet Follow @photograferry

I will admit though that I had a private, urgent need that required satisfaction. And yet, I didn't have the slightest desire to stand, tackle in hand, on the banks of this great pond and while away the hours tugging on my rod (And no, it is not wile). So now we have cleared that up, as many an angler has had to do. I will admit that my great need was to get some images of water.

You know how you might get a hankering for a certain type of food all of a sudden, and nothing will make it go away until that craving for a century egg or Casu Marzu or whatever floats your boat is satiated. Well that is the position I found myself in. I wanted some reflections and I wanted them right away.

So I headed to the aforementioned fishing lake at sundown to see what I could find and I was pleasantly surprised. The sun for its part was ‘playing the game’ and I managed to get a few nice shots in the bag. Nothing earth shattering, but they gratified the flustering urge that had been growing inside me.

And after that lazy sun had slumped beneath the horizon, I sauntered past the fishermen, still grappling with their wet flies and wooly worms, with many pleasing thoughts filling my contented mind.

As the sun was saying goodbye it deposited some golden tones
on the blue/grey lake which worked well.

The Cotswolds on a sunny afternoon in Spring

Tweet Follow @photograferry

It’s been quite a while since I last posted, mainly due to malaise, and the fact that it’s been a while since I last picked up my camera, predominantly for the same reasons.

But the guilt of having an expensive piece of machinery sat about gathering dust, along with a low hanging chimerical smear of cloud gently, but insistently draping a curtain of shame over the back of my mind for not ‘getting out there’ and ‘capturing the light’ etc etc, ad nauseum, was enough to spur me to action.

So action is what happened.

I took an action packed trip up the road and got some pictures my local area, so here they are, with a bit of info culled from various tourist sites about the Cotswolds.

“The Cotswolds is the most 'quintessentially English' and unspoiled region of England where you cannot help but fall in love with the uniqueness of it.” 

Creating a Black and white image with contrast from a colour image with none

Tweet Follow @photograferry

To see the entire layer palette scroll to the bottom of the screen. 

Here is a picture of Arlington Row, a collection of 17th century weavers’ cottages that sits next to the banks of the river Coln in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds. Originally built as a monastic wool store in 1380 before being converted, these cottages are the very epitome of picturesque, especially when you consider that they are not just the most photographed dwellings in the Cotswolds, but the most photographed anything in the Cotswolds.