Strawberry Heath - Photography Week 52 (2015)

Continuing week 52's treescape theme I captured this series of intentional camera movement (ICM) shots on Strawberry Heath in Clipstone Forest.

I saw the sun setting behind the trees but struggled to make any meaningful compositions until I changed to the ICM technique. The low light and increased shutter speeds allowed some exaggerated camera movements including some with a circular motion.

These were some of the results:

                                      

Trees - Photography Week 52 (2015)

Over the Christmas period the seascapes from the last six weeks in Cornwall were replaced with treescapes in the East Midlands.

With short days and low sun I was forced to look up to gain some light at Vicar's Pond in Clipstone. Using a wide angle I tried to emphasise the height of the tree trunks and the results were surprisingly impactful:

In rather more dull conditions on Boxing Day, I decided to concentrate on tree compositions in a silhouette form before converting them to black and white in Photoshop:

Millstones below High Neb - Photography Week 52 (2015)

I probably do not get out for as many dawn shoots as I should. First light has a certain clarity which is rarely replicated at sunset and if I look back over my favourite photographs many of them where taken in early morning conditions.

The weather forecast over the Christmas period was not particularly promising except for one day so I decided to take advantage and visit the abandoned millstones below Stanage Edge at High Neb in the Peak District for dawn. I had captured these stones a couple of times during the year but not in early morning light. 

As it turned out the light was particularly clear and its initial warmth was amplified by the rustic coloured dead bracken - it was definitely worth getting up and out!

These were some of the results including a couple from the top of Stanage Edge:

 

Photography Week 51 (2015)

The lead up to Christmas and some poor weather restricted the photography in during week 51(2015).

Despite this I still tried to take a photography everyday as part of a loose 365 project. 

365 projects are popular online and photographers set a goal of taking and loading a photograph for each day of the year. Some projects are themed but most tend to be quirky and creative -  it is actually more difficult to come up with a different image everyday than it first appears. 

My project is not a rigid 365 as I am not overly concerned about missing some days. I do try to include different subjects or images where I have applied creative processing techniques. When I get the chance I load these to the photograph sharing site 365Project.

These are a few of the images taken for 365 during this week plus a couple from week 50. The first image was created with intentional camera movement (ICM). I like the buildings along the harbour in Falmouth but the straight shot shows too many 'modern' elements. ICM removes many of these leaving a more painterly impression:

Colourful shutters and part of an oil painted sign:

Seafront shelter window:

Decorative shell design in the Princess Pavilion gardens in Falmouth:

One of my favourite subjects at the moment is the mud and siltstone formations in Falmouth:

Lastly, and appropriately for the time of year, a Christmas decoration at Gyllynvase using

camera movement as a creative aid:

  

Photography Week 50 (2015)

These are a selection of other images taken during Photography Week 50 (December 2015).

United Downs

In my previous post I mentioned the start of an interest in Cornwall's mining heritage. This is a engine house at United Downs dating from the start of the last century:

Kennack Sands

Kennack Sands is on The Lizard peninsula and its geology makes it an area of special scientific interest. The bedrock is part of the Lizard complex which is an area of ocean crust has been trust above sea level. There is an array of igneous and metamorphic rocks including Kennack gneiss and exposures of red and green serpentine.

I managed a few images in the early part of the day when it was bright and the tide was low. This didn't last for very long and the rain started. Later in the day there was another dry spell but the tide had come in too far to look closely at any of the geological features. I took one shot of what I believe to be red serpentine with intrusions and then a couple of seascapes which worked better in black and white:

Holywell Bay

During the week I visited Holywell Bay on another rain impacted day. Before the rain started I captured an image of Carter's or Gull Rocks from the coastal path. The wind was so strong it was hard to walk so I retreated to the far end of the beach where it was more sheltered. Later in the afternoon I returned when the light was lower and more dramatic (see my previous post on Holywell Bay).
 

Falmouth Rock - Photography Week 50 (2015)

The rock formations along the seafront in Falmouth, Cornwall, are a maze of natural art. I have happily spent a number of hours looking at the different colours, the contorted layers and the shapes produced by sea erosion.

I have no geological expertise but I have a rather useful iGeology app which gives description of the  rock formations in the UK and can search to street level if required. As I mentioned in a recent post, photography has a habit of asking many questions and it is hard not to curious about the subjects being photographed. iGeology identifies the rocks in Falmouth as part of the wider Portscatho formation of mud and sandstone formed 374 to 392 million years ago in the Devonian Period.

Finding out about the Falmouth coast has led to more research into Cornish geology which in turn has led to an interest in its mining heritage. Over time I would like to translate this research in a photographic format. I am sure this has been attempted many times before but I will approach this as I do with other photography projects - broad and open ended!

These are some of the results from visits to Gyllyngvase and Castle Sands in Falmouth: