Woodland stroll

Early last month I went for my daily brisk walk in the countryside around our village, and decided to include a jaunt through Alsa Woods before the paths get too wet and boggy for an enjoyable experience. I took my camera along, armed with just one small prime lens and used it to capture anything that caught my eye as I walked. While none of the resulting photos are ground breaking, I do enjoy the process of limiting my options with a single focal length lens and it was a joy to spend some time looking for interesting light, patterns and textures.

Photos taken 2 September 2024

A misty Welsh morning

My thrice yearly visits to Wales always offer some lovely photographic opportunities and it’s wonderful to see the area around Llanerchindda Farm in different seasons. During my recent visit we had one particularly misty morning so I took my camera along for my brisk walk to the Cynghordy Viaduct and back.

Photos taken 9 May 2023

Exploring Cramond

The first day of our Scottish holiday began with a low tide on the estuary outside our window - the perfect opportunity to go and explore Cramond Island. This small uninhabited island sits at the mouth of the River Almond, just north of Edinburgh, and it’s accessible on foot at low tide.

The causeway is lined with dramatic concrete structures, built as an anti-boat defence during World War II. I think they look like dragon’s teeth, the only visible part of an animal snoozing beneath the estuary sands. Today the island is mostly given up to nature (although there’s a small cottage hidden in the central among the trees) but a guard station remains on the hill top at the end of the causeway.

Views from the causeway…

A heron hunting among the sea defences.

Looking back towards the mainland from the derelict guard’s station.

With the tide about to turn we headed back to the mainland and set about exploring a little more of Cramond village.

The church and graveyard looked lovely in the sunshine, although sadly the church was firmly locked.

Strolling along by the River Almond.

These two ducks were regular visitors to the promenade outside our flat - we’d see them sitting on the wall most days during our holiday.

Photos taken 25 April 2023.

St Audrie's Bay

As I pondered where to go with my camera on my second morning in Somerset I rediscovered a pin I’d previously saved in Google Maps marking St Audrie’s Bay. This is a private bay which is access by a steep path down the side of the cliff from a caravan park. Fortunately non-resident are allowed to park there so I headed down to the beach with my iPhone and two pinhole cameras.

This was the sight which greeted me - miles of sand and layered rock formations and with high tide several hours away there was no chance of be getting cut off here.

Continuing my mission to learn more about the abilities of my phone camera I snapped away at any details, small or large, which caught my eye.

My main reason for visiting St Audrie’s Bay was the waterfall which tumbles off the cliffs. A stream runs across the hills above and, judging by the incessant stream of water, there had been plenty of rain to feed it recently.

My other focus that morning was pinhole photography so I also took a few behind the scenes images to share in an Instagram story about my adventures. I’ll share the photos from my wooden pinhole cameras in a separate post.

Photos taken 3 February 2023.

Travelling light

I’ve recently agreed to run a photography workshop focused on shooting with a smartphone rather than a traditional camera, so when I visited Somerset earlier this month I decided to travel light and begin learning more about the camera I carry in my pocket.

I’d recently watched a video showing how handheld long exposures can be taken on an iPhone using the camera in the Lightroom app so I was eager to try this out around the harbour at Weston-super-Mare. I was frankly astonished at how good it was - the static parts of the view are pin-sharp, while the waves gain drama as they’re blurred during the course of a second long exposure.

Click on any image to see it enlarged.

Elsewhere there were a couple of scenes where I just couldn’t bring myself to remove the colour.

Photos taken 2 February 2023

In the bleak midwinter

We had dinner in Walberswick on Wednesday evening but missed out on seeing much beyond the pub as it was so dark. To learn what we’d missed out on we stopped there again on the way home the next day.

The fog of the previous evening hadn’t completely lifted, leaving a soft covering of moisture in the air. Combined with the heavy skies, the result was a very bleak view of the harbour - almost monochrome even when photographed in colour! I decided to go black and white for my photos to emphasise their dank quality.

Photos taken 22 December 2022

Sunset at Southwold

We enjoyed a short pre-Christmas break in Suffolk last week and the lure of the beautiful sunset colours over Southwold were too good to resist.

Playing with slower shutter speeds and the waves breaking on the shore.

Photos taken 21 December 2022

Welsh meanderings

After my music course in Wales last month finished I took a very enjoyable meander down the hill to the Cynghordy Viaduct and beyond - some much needed fresh air and exercise after several days of intense music making.

One of our course students was on this train as it chugged across the Cynghordy Viaduct!

I had no preconceived ideas as to what I might photograph along the way and came back with a pretty varied selection.

Just beyond the viaduct is a goat farm and some of the local residents came out to greet me!

A closer view of the viaduct

The view across the valley never fails to surprise and delight me - this is a photo I snatched from my bedroom window on the first morning I was there - a wonderfully misty autumn morning and even a train on the viaduct.

And finally, a couple of my canine friends from my final morning in Wales. On the left we have Barney, who belongs to one of our students, and Jasper, the resident cockerpoo, on the right.

Photos taken October 2022

Birthday meanderings

Back in March I happened to be travelling to Sussex on my birthday, ready for a music course the next day. I never pass up the opportunity to visit the seaside so I decided to take a birthday stroll along the beach at West Wittering.

While I was there I spent some time taking pinhole photos, which I’ll share in a separate post, but I fancied some instant gratification too, for which my little Fuji X100 was perfect!

Photos taken on 9 March 2022