Frosty Morning In Watermead Park

 landscape, stock images, sunrises  No Responses »
Feb 232011
 

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

Ancient Tree At Dawn

 landscape, stock images, trees  No Responses »
Nov 192010
 

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

Sunrise at Cossington South Lakes

 filters, sunrises  No Responses »
Oct 312010
 

Another evening by the water in Cossington

The morning I took this photograph was the first time I’d managed to get over the stumbling block of getting up really early to take photographs. Winter isn’t so bad – getting up at 6:30am in order to be ready for 7:30 sunrise seemed hard at the time, but when your alarm goes off at 3:30 it’s a bit of a shock. This morning though I had a reason to get up – I’d had some Lee Filters on order for nearly 3 months and they had finally arrived so I was keen to try them out.

The old Cokin set I’d used previously weren’t a great deal of use on my new lens – the filter holder was visible right up to 24mm and I’d become too aware of (and fed up of working around) the purple colour cast they produced.

Anyway, luckily for me I was treated to a pretty sunrise that day – if it had been overcast I might never have bothered again, and I would have missed so many relaxing mornings wandering about in the countryside. Now it seems to be an addiction.

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Daybreak in Bradgate Park

 landscape, sunrises  2 Responses »
Sep 082010
 

Daybreak in Bradgate Park

Recently I decided I was going to make the effort to get up early a bit more often. I like going out in the evening, but timing my trips out to make the most of the best light was getting increasingly difficult with the needs of the rest of the family to consider.

I had no real idea about where I was going to go, but after looking at Google Maps and checking http://www.gaisma.com/en/ to see where and when the sun was going to rise I decided on Bradgate Park. I have a few shots that I like from here, but I never really felt like I’d seen it in the best light.

I made three trips there in the end, and the conditions were different each time – one morning of low lying mist, one morning clear and one foggy. This was taken on the second morning, which was mostly bright and clear, but for a small amount of mist.

I have taken pictures of this stream (the River Lin) in the past but they were all taken before I really started to learn what I was doing and were dreadful. For that reason I’ve always avoided this part of the park. The day before this was taken though I’d seen mist rising from here as the sun hit the cold water so had made a note to wait for the sunrise here. Conditions were different though and I didn’t get the misty stream, but the light on the water caught my eye so I set up here and waited for a gap in the passing cyclists and early morning dog walkers :)

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Castlerigg in early morning sun

 landscape, sunrises  1 Response »
Aug 202010
 

Castlerigg stone circle, Keswick, in early morning sun

This was one type of shot that I’d wanted to try for so long – preferably here, or Swinside – although to be fair any stone circle would have done, but it was so pleasing to get it at my first choice location.

During the day this place can get really busy – it’s still a great stone circle in an awe inspiring location – but at 4:30am in almost total silence, it really was fantastic.

We got up at 4am on Jacqui’s birthday to get here on time. It would have been easier and somewhat cheaper just to buy a postcard, but not as much fun :)

Licence at Getty Images

Sunrise Over The Lake

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Jul 062010
 

Sunrise Over The Lake, Cossington South Lakes

One of the most boring and time consuming tasks that comes with any serious amount of photography seems to be dealing with the large amount of files (and the amount of disc space that they take up). I try to keep two backups of all my images – at the moment I’m finally archiving them all to DVD, chronologically, but I’m also taking the opportunity to get rid of some rubbish and duplicates.

Often I’ll take a couple of shots of something and then notice a distraction in the frame, or I’ll increase the exposure time to get a little more light into a scene. At about 15MB a time all these extra shots add up and despite going against the “never delete your raws” mantra, hanging on to all these extra versions doesn’t really serve any great purpose, other than helping Western Digital stay in business.

The above image is from January 2010 (I’m about 6 months behind with my tidy up at the moment and my progress is constantly hampered by the arrival of new images which I’ll briefly scan for favourites and then ignore for a few months) and was taken on a frosty morning out with John Houghton

This was one of the last shots that I took with my Canon 450D and despite having been back since with my other camera, this was my favourite sunrise shot from this location – mainly due to the good fortune of the cloud picking up the pink glow of the rising sun, which is then also reflected in the ice.

Technical info: ISO100, f/16, 11mm, 1.3s, Cokin ND4 soft grad

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