Places and travel
The Kelpies, Falkirk
Places and travel, Scotland
I visited the Kelpies some time ago and took some daytime photos, but have wanted for a long time to return to see the Kelpies floodlit. I finally got the chance this weekend. These beautiful sculptures, by Andy Scott, are named after a mythical water horse, but are based on the heavy horses used to pull the canal barges on the Forth and Clyde canal. They are floodlit from dusk, with internal lighting that changes through a range of colours from turquoise to gold, to green and red. I captured the photos from a short while after sunset through until dark, catching the sky as it it changed through varying shades of blue to violet.
Places I visit for photography
Nature, Places and travel, wildlife, YorkshireI’ve added some new pages to my website giving a bit of information about some of the places I visit for my photography. So far I’ve written about Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, Bempton Cliffs, the Farne islands, Donna Nook, Forge Valley and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, but I’ll be adding more about both local sites in Yorkshire, and some of the longer journeys we make to Northumberland or Scotland, and some of the sites we visit there.
Forge Valley woods, North Yorkshire
Studley Royal, North Yorkshire
Farne islands, Northumberland
Bempton cliffs, East Yorkshire
Donna Nook, Lincolnshire
North Yorkshire Moors Railway
Woodland birds, Forge Valley
Nature, wildlife, YorkshireSome beautiful birds in Forge Valley, North Yorkshire. It was a dull snowy day, but I felt that made the lovely colours of their plumage even brighter.
Snowdrops
Nature, plants, YorkshireI saw some beautiful snowdrops, up on the Yorkshire Wolds, that were lit by the low winter sun, so I tried to get some different views of them – backlit by the sun, and from a very low viewpoint. I suspect some passing drivers must have thought I was mad lying in the leaf litter with my camera, but I think the results were worth it!
Whitby ‘Illuminated Abbey’ and ‘Fountains by Floodlight’
People, YorkshireSome photos from the ‘Illuminated Abbey’ event at Whitby Abbey and ‘Fountains by Floodlight’ event at Fountains Abbey. I’ve been to Fountains by Floodlight before and they had their wandering ‘monk’ back again, posing inscrutably in the ruins (whilst always giving a friendly smile to the odd worried child!) – it did bring back memories of last year’s favourite moment when a small boy asked him which Jedi knight he was! Whitby had wandering bodysnatchers and Dracula characters (believe me, it was too cold to be wandering round in a habit!), and projected bats and cobwebs on the ruins, which I would have happily lived without, as the ruins are imposing and mysterious enough in their clifftop position with the clouds drifting over the moon. The ruins were floodlit in ever-changing shades of crimson, gold, violet, aqua, midnight blue, emerald and magenta, though the ducks on the tarn near the abbey seemed a little less than impressed by the colour display!
Dusk light at Brimham Rocks, Yorkshire
landscape, Nature, YorkshireThere was some beautiful light at Brimham Rocks last week – really beautiful golden lighting through the trees and on the rocks, raking across the landscape and picking out the texture and shapes in the rocks.
Railway in Wartime
People, Places and travel, YorkshireEvery year the North Yorks Moors Railway hosts a ‘Railway in Wartime’ event at its stations. Grosmont had a Battle of Britain Mk2 Spitfire in the carpark and dancing on the platform; Goathland was protected by the Home Guard; Levisham became ‘Le Visham’ a French railway station occupied by German Wehrmacht and Feldgendarmarie, with radar and anti-aircraft battery next to the station, and Pickering hosted visits by Churchill, wartime vehicles etc, and had a number of dodgy characters selling stockings (and some rather dubious silk garments!) from suitcases on the main street. An amazing number of people dress up and join in, and the challenge for photographers is that there is just too much to photograph!
North Yorks Moors Railway Autumn Steam Gala
Places and travel, YorkshireSome photos from the Autumn Steam Gala on the North Yorks Moors Railway.
Double headed train near Goathland.
The Repton, just outside Goathland
At the ‘New Bridge’ Level crossing
York Balloon Fiesta 2017
YorkshirePhotos from the Balloon fiesta ‘Night Glow’ event
Autumn flowers and insects
plants, YorkshireIn September I visited a couple of the beautiful gardens we have in Yorkshire – Newby Hall Gardens and Parceval Hall Gardens. There were so many beautiful subjects to photograph – some incredibly colourful autumn flowers and lots of insects – Peacock, Comma and Red admiral butterflies and dragonflies. Hard to know where to point my camera, but these are my efforts to capture the colour.
Snow in the Highlands
Scotland, wildlifeSome photos from the Highlands in some rather interesting weather! The photos of the bullfinches in the snow are images I visualized years ago, but was delighted to have the opportunity to make the shots I’d wanted on this holiday.
The Howardian Hills AONB photo competition and the Yorkshire Arboretum
Nature, plants, wildlife, YorkshireI was delighted to win the ‘Best image taken at the Yorkshire Arboretum’ in the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Photo competition with the above image of a backlit Acer, taken at the Yorkshire Arboretum last October. I received a year’s membership of the arboretum, which is a wonderful prize. The Arboretum is an area of parkland, lakes and ponds covering 120 acres, situated next to Castle Howard. There are so many photo opportunities around the calendar with spring and summer wildflower meadows, spring blossom, rhododendrons and azaleas, and trees from around the world, possibly at their most beautiful in Autumn. There’s also a fair amount of wildlife to be found in the arboretum, so I’ve been very much enjoying my membership, and some of my many recent photos are displayed below.