Eyam Moor, Derbyshire

At the time of writing this photo was getting on for two years old. I wasn’t that excited by it at the time – I was going through a phase of only really being interested in the time around sunset so, much as it was great to have some free time wandering around Eyam Moor without the kids either demanding our attention or getting bored, I just consigned this image to the mental bin marked “Not taken at the best time of day”.

However I’ve had a small version of it on the wall for a while now with some other prints, for no other reason than it having similar colours to the other images (which I liked more at the time) and because I had a print of it lying around. I’ve grown more fond of it in that time so I thought I’d stick up here to give it an airing.

Boring Stuff : Canon 450D, Sigma 10-20mm, Cokin P121M (GND4)

Cairn, Langsett Moor

One from Dave Ascough’s Langsett Moors walk. I hadn’t ventured this far north in the Peak District before – Hathersage and Derwent Reservoir were normally as far as I could be bothered to travel for a day out, but the walk I’d previously done with Dave on Derwent Edge convinced me that the extra miles would be worthwhile.

As it was the weather wasn’t fantastic – a bit too much rain at times – but the walk was interesting enough for me to revisit a week later with the kids :)

Line of trees, Win Hill, Derbyshire

Another from a leisurely stroll up and around Win Hill in Derbyshire with Dan and Al Brydon.

This work is available at redbubble.

Tree, Win Hill, Derbyshire

Whilst getting to choose your own wages is probably the best thing about working for yourself, being able to escape to do something fun when the workload isn’t too hectic comes a very close second. On one such less than hectic day Dan and I decided a trip to the Peak District would be the best use of our time and arranged to meet up with Al Brydon for a moderately paced photographers stumble up and around Win Hill.

This was taken towards the end of the walk, as the sun was disappearing behind cloud and the general mist that had been present all day.

This work is available at redbubble along with selected others

If moody pictures of trees (and moody pictures not of trees) are your thing then you’d do well to check out Al’s Holgascapes book or his work on Etsy. He’s too good – I hate him.

Frosty Morning In Watermead Park

A shot from the last significantly cold morning so far this year, in late January. It’s seemed so wet and mild for the past few weeks, which no doubt will please many people as it perhaps signals the approach of spring, but I like cold mornings with comparatively late sunrises.

I usually photograph these trees from the other side of the lake but I was looking for something different this morning – the light hitting the frost on the fence and the shadow covering the path caught my eye.

Available for licensing on Getty Images

Fallen Tree

No matter how many times I visit this location I always seem to find something new, or a slightly different variation on past themes. I guess part of that is down to making sure I leave a couple of months between visits, so each time it looks slightly different – if I go anywhere too regularly I just end up with infinite variations of the same shot.

A simple shot, taken minutes before the sun disappeared over the horizon behind me, trying to make the most of the great light and the extraordinarily still water.

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One Of The Last Days Of Autumn, Watermead Park

Watermead Park, while there were still leaves on the trees. Seems like a long time ago now, but it was taken just a couple of days before the first snows and winter arrived.

As the sun was setting around 4pm and the weather had been reasonably dry I’d been postponing my lunchbreaks and taking them later in the day so that I could cycle around Watermead Park in the hour before sunset. This mix of light stopped me in my tracks and was the first of a number of shots I took this afternoon, before the light faded.

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Ancient Tree At Dawn, Bradgate Park

No matter what time in the morning I get to the park (on the mornings I can bear to drag myself out early), I always seem to be at this spot not long after the sun has come up. The low light often looks so good on the gnarly textures of this old tree that I have to stop and get a couple of shots.

This image and a number of others are available for licencing on Getty Images

From the summit of Bowfell

Taken during a weekend in the Lake District with friends. I’ve always loved the Lake District but since becoming interested in photography I have grown to like it more and more each time with every visit. I wish the rest of my family shared my enthusiasm – they seem to find it a little too wet though unfortunately.

The sun wasn’t really in a favourable position for this shot, and the composition reflects this – I kept the sun well above the top of the frame to get the best exposure possible. As I was concious of how difficult a shot this was going to be to get right, given the extremes of light, I only rattled off one shot – I also wasn’t helped by the 5D LCD being almost impossible to review shots on in daylight. Fortunately though the camera was more than capable :)

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Rainbow

Something a bit different today. As a landscape photographer I spend so much of my time trying to take photos that have a large depth of field and worrying (or at least thinking) about whether all parts of the image are as sharp as they could be.

Often though I get really bored of this – the more practice you get, the more robotic the process of taking photos can become – so occasionally I like to stick one of my cheap prime (fixed focal length) lenses on and use them wide-open (at their widest aperture/lowest f-number) or thereabouts.

Whereas shots with a large depth of field can end up leaving nothing to the imagination, a shallow depth of field can make an image about something totally different – about the light, colours or textures.

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The shot above was taken using the Canon 24mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon 5D. The 24mm is perhaps my favourite lens – I don’t use it anywhere near as much as I should, but it always makes me happy. Using it wide-open (at f/2.8) on the full-frame camera gives such heavy vignetting – something that some people try their best to avoid, and others spend time trying to recreate, but I think if you know when to expect it (it’s generally gone by f/8) you can use it to your advantage.

Canon EF 24mm f/2.8

Above, the Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 – old, clunky, no full-time focus, and not the quietest motor in the world – but great value for money, especially considering just how cheap you can pick one of these up for on ebay.

Reviews

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/reviews/canon-ef-24mm-f-2.8-lens-review.aspx
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=21&sort=7&thecat=2

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