Spring Monos

Recently, in my social feeds, I have been seeing a lot of high contrast monochrome images of plants and flowers. I wanted to give it a go, so I took a few shots at the Botanic Gardens and have been playing with them in Silver Efex.

Ickworth Infra-red

I used a rare day off to make my first visit to Ickworth House. It was a hot sunny day, conditions that lent themselves to infra-red photography. Lots of subjects to choose from. Apart from the impressive main house, I particularly enjoyed the large walled garden.

 

Derwent Water

I recently had a short trip to the Lake District, based in Keswick.  I was only there 2 full days.  The focus of the trip was to knock another 4 hills of my dwindling to-do list (just 10 left).  The weather was not kind.  I prioritised the dry (but grey and misty) day for the 13 mile loop I had to walk.  Which left a raining grey day for photography.  I started off looking for autumn colour, but that wasn't working, so I ended up by the water trying some minimalist misty monos.

Towards the end of the day, the rain had stopped and the sky opened up little.  There was almost a sunset.  Almost.

Wimpole Infrared

More IR.  A few shots from Wimpole taken a couple of weekends ago.  This time rendered in monochrome.

Lake District IR

I recently had a short break in the Lake District.   I started off with 2 nights in a Travelodge just outside Penrith, before moving to Grassmere Village for 3 nights in much nicer accommodation.  The main purpose of the trip was to knock another 6 hills off my 'to do' list (190 done, 24 to go), but I did leave one free day for photography. On this day, I chose to take a circular walk around Grassmere and Rydal Water.

The weather for the whole trip was better than deserved, in mid-October, in the Lakes.  But, this was a largely overcast day.  Even this far north, the unseasonably warm September/October meant that there was still little colour change to be seen in the leaves.  I chose to concentrate on IR images with converted Canon 40D and either a 24mm or a 50mm prime.

A Frosty Foggy Morning

 A few shots from a walk around the riverside park in St Neots, on a recent frosty and foggy day.

Fields of Mist

 Some moody, misty, monos from a recent stroll over the fields.

American Cemetery In Infrared

I haven't used my IR camera much this summer.  One thing I enjoy about IR images is the whitening of natural greens.  But the long dry summer turned many of the greens to brown, so IR images seemed pointless.  But the early autumn rains have perked things up a little.  A while ago someone suggested to me that the American cemetery would be a good IR subject, so I decided to give it a go.  The grass was still a little patchy, but the trees gave me the effect I was looking for.