Storm clouds over Cumbria

I had a feeling I wouldn’t find too much time for photography during my flying visit to Cumbria at the weekend so I decided to travel light, using just my iPhone camera. Little did I know the weather would decide perhaps it was the autumn rather than summertime so what little free time I did have was mostly spent under leaden skies and heavy rain!

That wasn’t going to stop me though, so I grabbed a few snaps on my evening walks to the pub for dinner, including this rather forlorn looking tractor.

My journey home began at Grange-over-Sands and I was able to squeeze in a few minutes for a quick stroll along the promenade before my train left to capture the Cumbrian coastline’s big skies.

Grange may be a small station, but it certainly makes up for that with its lovely Victorian architecture.

A station with a sea view…

The train at platform 1. My first of six trains to get home and one of the few to actually run on time!

Photos taken 14-16 July 2023

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

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