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Saddleworth Winter
Saddleworth Winter - photographs at Binn Green in the Peak District National Park.
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Cumbrian Spring
Most of my friends already know that I don’t manage to get up for a dawn shoot very often…I can think of three or four times is all. Last week I was lecturing in Cumbria and a photo-friend, who lives in the area, offered to spend time with me photographing the northern lakes. No surprise that it was almost 12 noon by the time I was ready to leave Cockermouth. All things considered, we were very lucky, with some lovely mild weather (for March) and calm waters on Buttermere and Crummock Water. The Buttermere pines are a favourite subject for many photographers but it is probably 20 years since…
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Le Weekend
Last weekend’s photography started early Saturday morning. My friends, who know I am not an early riser, will be surprised that I was up just after 5 am and on the road, with two photographer friends, by 6 am. Our destination…the RSPB reserve at Bempton Cliffs on the North Yorkshire coast. Unfortunately, a few winding roads and a slightly foggy morning brought on my motion sickness and I spent most of the first hour sitting in the car in the car park, waiting for nausea to subside. Meanwhile, my friends went off in the fog to explore and came back with the bad news that the fog was very thick…
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Shooting into the Sun
We’ve had some clear sunny skies during the last week or so but from our house I can never see a sunset, because the sun goes down behind a hill way before it sets. So I’ve taken to going up even higher, or going around the hill, where I can to shoot against the setting sun and use flare to reduce the contrast and romanticise the picture. This suggests a question “can shooting into the sun damage the digital SLR camera sensor?”. There is much advice on the web but it is hard to find the definitive answer and it is all a matter of degree. The sun’s brightness can vary…
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Last Light, Marsden Moor
In recent weeks, we have had a few rare days when the sun has set unimpeded by clouds at the horizon. I have been concentrating for a while on photographing the hills of Saddleworth, but these few photographs were taken just outside its borders, on Marsden Moor in Kirklees. Marsden Moor stretches from the Saddleworth boundary, where the A62 crosses the Pennines at Standedge, across to the so-called Nont Sarah’s road, the A640 from Denshaw to Huddersfield. From this road there is a panoramic view across the valley. A rocky outcrop is quickly accessed from Buckstones car park and there is an easy pleasant path along the top of the rocks with the opportunity…
