40s Event - Great Central Railway

Last weekend I went to the annual 40's event on the Great Central Steam Railway.  I didn't set out to shoot mainly 'Germans', it just sort of worked out that way.

 

 

Common Spotted Orchids - Brampton Wood

The common spotted orchids are coming into their best at Brampton Wood.  I spent a couple of hours there on Sunday and was particularly lucky to find a Crab Spider on one.

Skye - More Coastal Images

A final few images from Skye, shot at various locations around the  coast.

 

Skye - Sligachan, Storr and the Trotternish

It wasn't until our third full day on Skye that we had decent enough weather to really make a day of it.  The Old Man of Storr is one of the iconic locations on Skye, so of course we had to shoot that first.  We decided to avoid the 'classic' viewpoint and instead utilise more of the surrounding landscape.  The light was constantly changing and we stayed in the same location for a couple of hours trying a variety of compositions.  Of my image captures here, I am most pleased with the 10 stop image shown first.  The composition was inspired by Tony, one of the PPS lads, who encouraged me to minimise the actual land in the landscape and utilise a big sky.

We moved on to the rest of the Trotternish Ridge.  Sadly, the trouble with having to shoot around the weather, was that we didn't always get to choose the direction of the light.  By the time we reached our location we were shooting into the sun.

After the Trotternish, and a spot of lunch in Portree, we moved on to Sligachan Bridge.  The old bridge and the river made excellent foreground counterpoints to the hills beyond.

Skye - Talisker Bay and Fairy Pools

I spent the first week of May on the Isle of Skye with my friend Vic and a couple of his mates from the Preston Photographic Society.  Since then I have been slowly sorting through the pictures (I really need to speed up my workflow).  The weather for our trip was decidedly mixed.  We only had one day that it rained, pretty much, non-stop  The rest of the time was a mix of showers (mainly at the ends of the day) and cloud, although there was the occasional sunny spell.

Talisker Bay was my favourite location of the trip.  It is a compact beach of stones and black volcanic sand, hemmed in by cliffs, with an impressive waterfall.  We made a couple of visits at high tide, concentrating on rocks and drift wood against the dark sand, as the waves receded.  Rain stopped play on both trips or I could have spent many more hours there.

On the way back from the first visit to Talisker, we spotted a small promontory jutting into Loch Harpoint, next to which were some derelict boats.  One in particular made a perfect subject on which to use my recently acquired Lee Big Stopper.

Fairy Pools, near Glen Brittle was another location we visited more than once.  Mainly because the first visit was thoroughly rained off.  During drier times of the year the river flowing down from the Cullin breaks up into a number of small falls feeding aqua-blue pools.  However, on our visits the river was in full spate, giving the pools a different dynamic.

Location Model Shoot

Photographically speaking, I am always up for a new challenge.  So, when my friend Vic suggested we arrange an on-location shoot with a model, for the day before we travelled north for week's landscaping a in Skye, I jumped at the chance.  Tony, one of Vic's friends from the Preston Photographic Society, arranged the model, as well as supplying his portable light and expert tutelage.  The location chosen was White Coppice, just outside Preston; and the model, Jasmine, proved to be a good sport.  I had never done this kind of shoot before, so I expected a steep learning curve, and that is what I got.  There was a lot to remember regarding position of the light, the sun, checking the background and interacting with Jasmine. I can't say that I am that happy with the final images, but I enjoyed the process and will happily give it another go sometime. 

Dockey Wood

Dockey Wood, part of the Ashridge Estate, is the finest Bluebell wood I know.  It's a small beach wood that, at this time of year, simply turns blue.  For a photographer it also has other advantages.  It's clean; by that I mean it isn't full of bushes and undergrowth; and it has some clearly defined tracks, which make great lead lines (the double track on the far left side of the wood is my particular favourite).  I have shot there many times.  To the extent that it hard to do anything new or different.  Still, I keep getting drawn back.