Keswick...

Apologies for the large absence of posts recently, I have been rather busy of late.  Moving out of my uni accommodation (passed first year with a 2:1!), packing my stuff away at home, shooting a conference over a couple of days for my Dad, and I have been on holiday with Sarah in Keswick, which was amazing!

So Sarah and I looked at the weather forecast for the week in Keswick and it didn't look too good.  Rain every day and a tiny, tiny bit of sunshine.  Oh dear.  But we weren't going to let that stop us!  The first day took us to the bottom of Derwent Water, so we could walk from the village of Grange, past the Bowderstone, through Watendlath, then on to Lodore falls and catch a bus back into Keswick.

Bowderstone.

The Bowderstone is a 2000 ton stone, 300 feet high, carried here by glaciers of the Ice Age.  Quite impressive!  Having climbed onto the stone (I say climbed, I mean walked up the steps...), we walked on for a fairly long time, taking in all the wonderful views, until we came to the beginning of the Lodore Woods.  We spent a while working out which way was the right way to go and we were on our way again.  We then came to a part of the river that feeds Lodore Falls, which was very fast flowing.  I made my first exposure of the holiday here.  I also used the 5x4 for the first time at this location.  It took me a while to set up, and for my trouble I got attacked by bugs!

Up from Lodore Falls.  

The next mountain that Sarah and I conquered was Skiddaw, the fourth highest mountain in the lakes.  The day started off fairly warm.  It was a good day to climb to the top, and the views were spectacular!

 The views from the ridge on the way to Skiddaw.  

Unfortunately, when we finally made it to the top of the summit the weather turned and within 10mins of reaching the top, we were in the middle of a cloud!  It wasn't all bad though, before the cloud covered us, we could see such fantastic views! We could see all the way to Scotland!  Even though I didn't manage to get any photos at the top, I did manage to get some on the way up, and it was still a very enjoyable walk.  

The third walk that Sarah and I did, was the Threlkeld Railway walk, followed by a trip down to the lakeside.  This was an easy walk compared to the previous walks that we had completed, but the old railway line offered views and scenery as spectacular as the views from the mountains!  Along the way there some information boards. These boards had info about how the railway line was constructed, the towns it went to and came from, and it also pointed out interesting things to look out for along the way, including mile markers, old level crossing gates and signal posts.  

The Threlkeld Railway. 

Having completed the Railway walk, we went to the lakeside.  Here I tried lots of compositions, trying to incorporate the rocks in the lake, Derwent Isle, and other things that I found interesting.  I found some interesting posts that were jutting out of the water.  These must be the remains of an old pier or jetty.  Having made some exposures with my 7D, I decided to set up the 5x4.  Whilst I was setting up, a photographer who sitting down the beach noticed the camera I was using and came over to have a conversation about equipment, approaches to photography and other things.  

Derwent Water

The fourth and final walk that Sarah and I completed, was the Ashness Bridge walk.  The weather was perfect for walking.  It was sunny and warm, with a nice breeze over the tops of the fells.  We got a bus to the bottom of Ashness Bridge, and walked up the lane to the bridge.  We stopped to rest and cool off, and for me to do some photos.  

Ashness Bridge.  

I felt that this view warranted me to use the 5x4, so I set up and shot one slide of film here.  After I had packed up, we walked up and over to Walla Crag.  On the way, we had some stunning views across Derwent Water, to Catbells and Maiden Moore.  

We carried on over to the top of Walla Crag, stopping for lunch on the way.  At the top of Walla Crag, I shot images to stitch into a panorama.  I also set up The 5x4 here too, and had another photography related chat with some fell runners.  We set off again, down from the top, down to the river that runs through Springs Wood.  We then walked through town back to our flat, where we soaked our feet in cold water! 

The 5x4 on Walla Crag.

Later that evening we headed down to the lakeside for the last time this holiday, and we were greeted by an amazing sunset.  This was the perfect end to a perfect holiday.  Sarah and I were very lucky with the weather.  The days we decided to walk we had lovely weather; sunny and warm, with some cloud cover which suited us both! I like the clouds for my photos, and Sarah like the sun!  The days that we decided not to walk, there was some light rain, but it was still warm.  

Sunset over Derwent Water.  

The gorgeous Sarah and I.

I would just like to say thank you to Sarah for being so patient with me when I was in the 'zone' taking photographs, and for all of your support and suggestions of what to photograph when I had one of my many 'photography blanks'!  And I would also like to say thank you for an awesome holiday!

Thats all for now, I'll have the film developed when i'm back at uni and share the results on here.  More photos from the holiday can be seen on my Flickr page 

Enjoy!

G

Ribblehead...

I recently took a trip to Ribblehead, the famous viaduct in the Yorkshire Dales.  However, it wasn't the actual viaduct itself that interested me.  In this area are some stunning limestone pavements, like the ones that you can see above.  Some of the shapes are fabulous, having been carved by the wind, rain and snow.

I took with me my 7D, Bronica and 5x4.  I wanted to give myself the options of shooting digitally, but also on film.  Next though, I think I will limit myself to just one format, as the bags I was carrying were just a little too heavy!  Needless to say, setting up the tripod on this surface proved very tricky. I had bend the legs in all kinds of directions in order to get a stable platform.  It was also quite windy that day.  This has led me to realise a few things.  I need to invest in a bigger and sturdier tripod.  I also need to invest in a bag to carry my 5x4 camera in safely.  Of course, a good sturdy tripod is expensive, as is a big sturdy bag, so it looks like I have some saving up to do!

I am fairly pleased with the results of the day, the digital files turned out nicely, no clipping of data in the highlights or the shadows, which is good.  however I feel i can probably do better, so no doubt I will be heading back soon!

Unfortunately I am unable to to develop colour film until next term, so you will have to wait to see the results of the 5x4 slide!

Enjoy!

G

Just a quick one today, I have been shooting a lot with my 5X4 recently, and this week I was able to get the film processed at college.  However, I have only been able to book a slot on the Hasselblad scanner for next friday.  The image above is only a rough scan, and therefore very low quality.  I am currently working on organising the images that I have shot for the Batty's Wood project to put up on my website.  Hopefully I will be able to do this over the weekend.  

G

Sunny fields

Its been quite sunny in Milton Keynes recently so a couple of days ago, I decided to head out into the countryside around Milton Keynes to see what I could find.  I took my 5x4 and a couple of sheets of film loaded into a dark slide.  I knew that there are oilseed rape fields nearby, and I knew that the colours will be nice and saturated on the Velvia 100 I used.  I took me a while to find a suitable place to stop and setup  my tripod, in the end I had to go through a gap in the bushes and place my tripod through a fence which was rather had to work the camera! I also managed to shoot another panorama further up the road, but the file is too big, but you can see it here.  This is a stitch of 6 portrait orientated images, overlapping by 30%-40%.  This is to make it easier for the software to stitch the photos together.

I am hopefully going to be able to shoot some more soon, and i'll share the results with you.  I am also going to London with the family for Henry's 21'st birthday day out.  I might be able to get a few shots there too.  That's all for now!

Enjoy,

G

Rain Rain Go Away....

Today I went out with my camera's to see what I would find.  I looked at the map, and chose an area that I thought would be interesting and headed off.  The weather was perfect today; it wasn't too cold, some sun, but also excellent, well defined clouds.  I took this opportunity to try out my 5x4 camera again.  Just as I put the camera on the tripod, the rain started to come down.  The rain the was very light to begin with, so I didn't see it as a problem, and carried on shooting.  Then, as I started to work out my exposure, the heavens opened, and it started pouring down.  I had to rush my light metering, so i'm not sure if its 100% correct, but hey ho, we shall see.  I shall post the results when have them developed.

I have really gotten into panorama's lately, I tend to shoot one every time I go out.  I mainly use wide angle lenses for landscapes.  This is fine 90% of the time, but sometimes, you just cut get wide enough, and if you go too wide, then you get lots of distortion, and things start to look strange.  I like how panorama's create and natural looking wide angle effect.  I normally shoot my panorama's in portrait orientation, and overlap by 30-40%.  When the photos are put through Photoshop, the software can easily stick the photos together.

Enjoy!

G