• Brun Clough Reservoir and Millstone Edge, Standedge

    These images from Standedge and Millstone Edge on Marsden Moor were taken near sunset on 14th March 2016. Below: HDR panorama, Sigma 8-16mm lens on a Pentax K3 body. This is Brun Clough Reservoir at the top of Standedge Cutting, where the road goes over the top of the Pennines and then drops down from Saddleworth towards Marsden. It was built to provide water for the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and was completed in 1811. The reservoir has previously been called the Standedge Reservoir or the Floating Light Reservoir, named after the lights used by workers constructing the Standedge Tunnel, which runs immediately below the reservoir. There was a pub nearby, also called the Floating Light.…

  • The Pennine Way at Millstone Edge, Standedge

    I was pleased, yesterday, when the postie brought me a package. It turned out not to be a birthday present, but instead was the Pentax 16-50 DA* lens, which had packed in at Whitby in November and has been about three months away for repair. The repair cost an arm and a leg and included a new motor, so I was keen to try it out and make sure everything was working fine. Luckily, this morning was fine and sunny. We decided that we would go out for lunch to the Church Inn near Saddleworth Church before going for a walk with cameras. My husband likes the beer at the Church…

  • End of Year round up of some of my favourite images from 2014

    My end of the year round up is a selection of some of the pictures I have enjoyed making the most over the past year. To share their blushes, I have left out family portraits…naturally they would be at the very top of the list – pictures that bring back memories of the events of the year, from the birthday of my grand-daughter in January to the birth of my second grandson in July and the birthday of my first grandson in November – moments to treasure…along with the photos of my father with his new great-grandson only a week before he suffered a stroke which took his life. These…

  • Saddleworth Band Contests

    The Whit Friday Brass Band Contests take place every year in the Saddleworth villages during the afternoon and evening of Whit Friday.  From around 4.00pm, bands are coached in from all over the country and some from overseas. If you haven’t been and want to get a flavour of it, try watching the film “Brassed Off”. The Band Contests date back to 1884 and have been described as “The greatest free show on earth”. Usually the weather is cold and bleak, but this year, Whit Friday is later and, last night, we were treated to some fine and warm weather, though the clouds were heavy in the evening, making light…

  • 1940s re-enactment shoot

    I was contacted by a young couple whom I photographed last year at the Saddleworth 1940s event, asking if I would be interested in doing a shoot with them. Definitely would! Last weekend they were away at the Normandy D-Day Commemoration event, so we planned the shoot for this week in between me shooting birds and dragonflies. “We’ll pick you up” they said…and I just after lunch time today, I was invited to take a seat in the front of a 1942 Willys Jeep…no roof, no door and definitely no seatbelts. Fully and recently restored, it looked fantastic. A few minutes later we were trundling through Saddleworth on route for…

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