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.

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.

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!

Roseberry Topping

We planned to have a day off on Friday and go somewhere to take to images, but as with most plans, the weather seemed to conspire against us.

We woke up to the rain lashing down, and a very unpromising forecast. We didn't want to waste the day, so a long overdue visit to Northallerton and the Joe Cornish gallery seemed the best idea.

After being inspired by Joe's images, and seeing a small break in the clouds, we headed for one of Joe's favourite places, and somewhere I've only driven past - Roseberry Topping.

We were rewarded with a fabulous sunset, and I took as more images facing away from Roseberry Topping than of the Topping itself! Shooting towards the sun with X Pro1 was no problem - the lack of flare, and the ability to pick out the detail amazes me!

High Force in Teesdale

High Force is an impressive waterfall on the Tees river, near Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham. I haven't been for nearly 20 years even though its only an hour or so from where I live!

Despite the great summer we have had, there still seemed to be plenty of water to thunder over the falls in spectacular fashion.

I am NOT a very sure-footed person, so clamboring on the rocks with my X Pro1 was not a very graceful experience!

I am finding that I am using manual focus with the peaking function a lot now. I find it really helps, and gives me confidence that I am focusing in the right place, and that I have the depth of field that I am after.

I think the images were worth it though. The people at the top in a couple of the images give a sense of scale.

All taken with the 18-55mm lens, edited in LR4.

Bamburgh in great light!

The family holiday this year saw us go to Beadnell in Northumberland, just down the coast from Bamburgh and the famous castle. This would be my first visit taking the X Pro1. All previous visits had ended with me trying to get shots of this iconic scene in the wind and the rain. I hoped that the weather would relent this time and I could try for the classic image, taken from the beach in great light ...

I got my wish! My biggest problem was trying to do justice to the light, and keeping other photographers out of the shot!!

London Revisited!

I am now the owner of Trey Ratcliff's presets for Lightroom. I also used the "STUCKINCUSTOMS" code to get a 15% discount off the Nik software plugins - Happy Days!!

Although I'm not a big fan of over done HDR effects (Trey goes a bit OTT for my taste sometimes, but generally I love his images!), I have really started to enjoy playing with effects. So much so, that I've actually bought a couple of Lomo cameras and I'm having fun experimenting. My favourite Trey preset so far,  is "Flatten then Jackit"

The obvious thing to do was to revisit my latest shots and have a play ...

Bluebells are out !

I try every year to get a decent Bluebell image - without much success. The chances of getting the bluebells out, with good light on a day when I'm able to take pictures are fairly slim!

However, you just have to use the light you have, so these are this years attempts. All taken with the X Pro1 and 18-55mm, in Lindley Wood in Yorkshire.