Wednesday 10 December 2014

Autumn Colour

I've been meaning to take images in the local wood for a while now, but never really got around to it. Hookstone Wood is only 5 minutes from my house, and was once part of the ancient Forest of Knaresborough. Now a Local Nature Reserve and designated ‘town green’, it has ponds (formed from old quarries) and plenty of wildlife.


I've never found it particularly photogenic, but also haven't spend any time exploring the possibilities. Given that the advice from the professionals is is "know your own patch" and be ready to take advantage of any conditions, I decided to begin what I expect to be an ongoing project to capture the woods throughout the year.
I've now spent 3 Saturday afternoons wandering about, and I'm very happy with the results so far!
All images taken with the XPro1, most with the 10-24mm lens and using a Manfrotto tripod.
















Wednesday 20 August 2014

Getting used to the Wide Angles!

August brought the usual summer holiday to Northumberland. The weather forecast was a bit iffy, but photographically this would be good, and I was excited to give my Fuji XF 10-24mm lens a bit of a run out!

I've never had a wide angle lens before as I also had to compromise with more of an "all rounder" that could be used in more situations (i.e. the 18-55mm).

What I found was that I didn't take this lens off my X Pro1 all week - I love it!! The only thing I have had to do in Lightroom is manually adjust the vertical distortion to get the castles in the background squared up. I was expecting this as I have the camera tilting down for these images.

This lens is more than I have ever spent before (I was considering getting an XT1 instead) - but I dont regret it for a second!




Monday 21 April 2014

A day at the seaside

A sunny day, what could be better than a trip to the seaside. We had never been to Saltburn, but I knew it had a pier and some Victorian cliff lifts, so thought utter should offer some photographic opportunities. Saltburn is close to Redcar where industry and holidays are very closely linked and I'm fascinated by the physical closeness between them. There seems to be more people on the beach next to a big industrial complex than on the wide open sands at Saltburn which is only 10 minutes away.
It was also an opportunity to try the Big Stopper in the middle of the day.










Tuesday 11 March 2014

February in the Lake District with the X Pro1

The weather wasn't looking particularly inviting, but you don't go to the Lakes for the weather - especially in February!

The rain and the cloud made for a very moody feel, and fantastic saturated colours. I also had my new Lee Big Stopper in my bag and was eager to give it a try. The first image was from my first attempt - stupidly, I had left the ISO on 500, so it was a 60 sec exposure, but I think it works well and I am very happy with it. After that, the rain made it too difficult to keep the filters clear.

The more I use my X Pro1, the more I love it! Who needs an XT1 !!

A day out on the Ravenglass to Dalesgarth railway completed a restful couple of days. I love the Lake District, whatever the weather!