Landscape Photography

Kennet Long Barrow Wishing Tree

James — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:36:59 +0000

While on a New Year trip to Wiltshire, we went to visit the West Kennet Long Barrow, an excavated burial mound. On the path up is a wishing tree covered in various hanging items. Everything from bits of cloth, ribbons and underwear to socks and watches. Here’s a photo I took of some of the things hanging from the tree’s branches.

Welcome to Scunthorpe!

James — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:34:46 +0000

On the way to Scunthorpe, just before Gunness is an iron bridge going over the River Humber. Just below the bridge is Gunness Wharf where I saw these boats moored up.

Wakefield Cathedral, Christmas 2008

James — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:26:40 +0000

Here’s a night shot of the cathedral in the centre of Wakefield, West Yorkshire. I was attempting to photo the Christmas lights, but as is often the case, the random shot I took just before leaving turned out to be the best one. The Christmas lights didn’t look that good but I liked the way the cathedral tower vanished into the darkness in this image.

The Speed of Light

James — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:28:24 +0000

Here’s an interesting photo I took the other weekend. It’s from a bridge that goes over the M180 outside Scunthorpe. It’s one of those long exposure images of cars going under a motorway bridge in the darkness. I like the streaks of light and how the headlights illuminate the sides of the road.

The interesting part is the pattern of the stop lights on the car driving into the image. It must have had LED stop lights that flash very quickly when in use.

War Memorial

James — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:04:44 +0000

While driving through the outskirts of Scunthorpe, around Brigg, I saw the perfect scene to test my digital camera. There was a war memorial on a street corner lit perfectly by a light, casting really interesting shadows. Even better was the lamp post on the street corner that I could lean against.

Of the five photos I took, this was the best. Shot in RAW and post-processed in Photoshop to bring out the detail and change to black and white made the picture so much better than it originally was.

Photos from Chamonix, France

James — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:20:54 +0000

During my summer holiday I went to Chamonix in France for two weeks. While there me and my dad went walking on the mountains that make up the valley. From the large amount of photos I took while there, these three are some of my favourites.

The first image is a black and white shot looking towards the Mer du Glace glacier and I think the black and white helps pick out the detail in the scenery. The white cloud is actually snow blowing from the top of the mountain in a fierce gale.

The next image was taken at Lac Blanc and is looking in the same direction. The final image is looking towards Mont Blanc, with some handy pine trees being used to nicely frame the image. I wasn’t sure if the picture would work, but it seems to look quite good all the same.

All these images were taken using a Canon A85 digital camera with UV filter. The Lac Blanc photo also has a graduated grey filter, and the B&W photo was processed by my camera’s black and white mode.

Emley Moor TV Tower

James — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:33:49 +0000

taking a break from The Lake District for a moment, here’s a photo I took of the Emley Moor TV Tower. The photo was taken from a little crossroads just outside the compound the tower is in.

I used to drive past this every day going to my first teaching practice. You can see Emley Moor for miles around, it’s the tallest thing in a 50-odd mile radius which includes the surrounding hills!

A mysterious walk in Patterdale

James — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:01:56 +0000

Of the thousands of photos in my collection there are a few that I haven’t correctly catalogued. I recall every walk I’ve done, and mostly the situations when I was taking the photo. This one though is part of a collection identified simply as “Patterdale, September 2006″.

I recall it being a hot, hazy midge-infested day - so a typical Lakes summer day then! The type of day where in ten minutes time there could be a thunderstorm, or it could continue being hot and sticky all day. Me and my dad and the dog went for a satisfying, if steep walk up the mountain you can see in the distance.

I can’t remember the name of that mountain, if you recognise it please comment!

Oh, I have altered the quality of the Jpegs on this site so they should look less chunky.

Fairfield Horseshoe from Rydal

James — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:56:16 +0000

A few years ago I went for a walk around the Fairfield Horseshoe. A fine walk taking you over Fairfield, Hart Crag and Heron Crag. It gives excellent views over Ambleside and the surrounding hills on a clear day. On a manky day you’ll probably be able to see your feet

The day I went for the walk was - as you can see - totally clear, apart from some fluffy clouds. The weather started to close in when we reached the top of Fairfield, but it wasn’t enough to make the view any worse. The clouds cast really interesting shadows onto the ground, making photography a constant theme for the walk. Sometimes the light is good, but the scenery just isn’t that inspiring. Not on this walk, I have many photos of mountains with nice contrasts of shadow and light.

This picture was taken just outside Rydal on the path that runs past Rydal House, outside Ambleside. While going along the path I managed to catch the sheep eating grass in just the right location. They neatly balance out all that grass, the bump in the ground and the tree shadows add more interest too.

My 12 non technical tips for taking nice photos

James — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:19:12 +0000

I started taking photos for fun, pointing my cheap 1.3 mega pixel camera at anything and everything. It began after going for walks in the countryside with my dad. You know that feeling of “ooo that’s nice” that happens somewhere in your middle when the sun comes up, or there’s a nice sunset? I wanted to capture that and put it on my PC or even my wall (this was before digital cameras became good enough to do A4 prints without costing the price of a small car).

My photos began kind of randomly, with not much of an understanding about what I was doing. I looked at the scenery, pointed my camera, pressed the button and hoped for the best. And that leads into my list…

Keep all your photos, even the bad ones.
Review your pictures. Which do you like, which do you hate?
Sort them, categorise them, make it easy to find that really nice one you took last year in Scotland with the lake and the sun.
Keep a photo album, you can use a commercial one or run your own
Use a tripod. It doesn’t matter if your tripod is a beanbag balanced on a wall, still cameras take better pictures.
Take hundreds of photos. You’re practising, and that means doing the same thing many times.
No Photoshop! This is photography, not retouching or “bringing out the highlights”.
Remember to charge your batteries!
Press the shutter half way, wait, press it gently the rest of the way
The Rule of Thirds is your friend
Break the Rule of Thirds on purpose
Buy a microfibre cloth and never touch the lens with your fingers
Print the nice ones and put them on your walls

I deliberately made this list non technical. There’s too much photography prattle on the Internet about F-Stops, ISO ratings and things that are confusing to the beginner. The best thing I worked out was to understand my camera’s limitations - when is it too dark, too rainy or the scenery just… boring?