Category: Lake District

Found Objects

‘Found art’ is a style in which objects are discovered in the environment or workplace that have artistic value or gain artistic value through being arranged in new ways. That about sums up my knowledge of the genre, though, as a keen photographer, I can see the parallel between them. Both rely on ‘seeing’ something that may not appear obvious. Both require the extraction … Read More Found Objects

Crown of Leaves

There is within this ring of gold and green a voice Not of the river rushing by in flood Nor of the nearby street where cards of early Yule, like fallen leaves Are themselves passed by, vapid and unloved ➰ The old tree speaks an ancient tongue we recognise The naked and the dressed are what is sung The outer life stripped bare by … Read More Crown of Leaves

Arnside and Autumn Pastels

At first glance, it has something of the ziggurat about it. In reality it’s the final bit of Arnside’s Victorian pier, taken from a short distance back in order to include part of the famous viaduct – nearly 1600 ft – that links Arnside with Grange-over-Sands. Arnside has the kind of beaches that you’d rather photograph than paddle from. The sands around here share … Read More Arnside and Autumn Pastels

Web over Cumbria

It was late Friday afternoon – two days ago. I set off with Tess for our usual evening walk; now getting earlier each day to capture that last bit of, hopefully, sunlight. Over the stone wall, something shimmered in the golden light. Something silver. It took me back several hours. I hadn’t paid it much attention at the time. Two tradesmen loading their tools … Read More Web over Cumbria

Charcoal, focus and heart-stones

It began with the sunset, yesterday. Breathtaking colours, but a sense of strange events unfolding. Nothing threatening… just events I would not have expected, let alone predicted; and all of them ‘inserted’ into reality as the day unfolded. An inner feeling of ‘wheels turning’. One of our regular dog- walks is through the forest and up to Sizergh Barn for a take-out coffee. All … Read More Charcoal, focus and heart-stones

Signs of Spring (1): the edges of colour

There’s a saying in Cumbria; you don’t get the real spring till it’s fooled you, twice… But you do get the sun; and its increased energy brings real life to the natural colours in the landscape and the sky. Below: One of the great trees on the shores of Lake Windermere has a large network of half-exposed roots which look magically green in the … Read More Signs of Spring (1): the edges of colour

Winter’s Morning Moon

As January lets go its dark and icy grip, passing us, with a smirk, into the often colder clutches of February, the marginally lighter mornings contain surprises that are harbingers of the spring to come. (440 words. A three minute read) One of these is what I have come to think of as the ‘winter morning moon’. Often quite high in the sky, the … Read More Winter’s Morning Moon

Winter wanderings with camera (2) Water: form and flow

It flows, seemingly singular… until something intrudes. Then, instead of resisting, it parts at the level of molecules, and recombines on the other side. The bank is the end of one world and the beginning of another; a place of soft contrasts, where organic forms reach the limit of their existence, and begin to dissolve. The water embraces them all. Its force and flow, … Read More Winter wanderings with camera (2) Water: form and flow

Winter wanderings with camera (1) mood and meaning

Winter… Most, but not all, of the colours are gone. What remains is a harder edge of the spectrum, where contrast is to be hunted rather than assumed. And texture and shade take on a different level of purpose; to stand in for the vividness of summer’s colour, to beckon our eye to look deeper. The sky is the photographer’s winter friend, donating half … Read More Winter wanderings with camera (1) mood and meaning

Mellow moods for Autumn (9) end of season

As autumn gives way to winter, different aspects of nature create new opportunities for photography… (300 words. A three-minute read) (Above: the shores of Lake Windermere – a winter favourite to come) Photographically, I prefer the UK Met Office’s guidance on the dates for the beginning of each season. In this convention, winter’s start is the first day of December, so this will be … Read More Mellow moods for Autumn (9) end of season

Mellow moods for Autumn (8) the Levens Estate

When the leaves have all but gone, nature still has one or two colourful surprises left. (220 words. A two-minute read) Rivers are beautiful at any time of year. This one, the River Kent, flows through Levens Park on its final mile to the sea, joining three other rivers in its outfall into the north end of Morecambe Bay Levens Park is the ancestral … Read More Mellow moods for Autumn (8) the Levens Estate

Mellow moods for Autumn (4) : by the river

Autumn is a beautiful time in the Lune Valley… The River Lune rises in the gentle hills of the Eden Valley, in Cumbria, the last western county before you cross the border into Scotland. It flows for 53 miles in long curves, defining a series of beautiful valleys. It’s most scenic section is where it passes a few hundred metres from the centre of … Read More Mellow moods for Autumn (4) : by the river