On an early morning walk in Yorkshire I came across this tree. Lone trees are a classic subject for photography, but what attracted me was the foliage. It seems it could not decide if it was summer or autumn (fall for those who love to destroy the English language), and was playing it safe with both. Amazing that it is not random, but split down the middle like that.
Normally I am not a fan of sunsets, but on this evening I made an exception. The sun is setting over the Gower Peninsula in Wales (I do go other places), and in the foreground is Worms Head which marks the most westerly point on the peninsula. Worms Head has nothing to do with worms, it comes from the Viking word “Wurm” which means dragon, and you can possibly see that the shape resembles a sleeping dragon. Ah… maybe that is why the sky was so fiery?
On the way back from dolphin watching we called in at Devil’s Bridge and the Rheidol Gorge. The gorge has a circular route down to a waterfall view and back up the other side, a steep descent and even steeper ascent. I decided that was several steps too far and only got as far as the waterfall view. Definitely worth it. This image probably shows a third of the total drop.
Well the answer is yes. In the last 15 minutes of the last boat trip on the last day, we managed it. I was resigned to never seeing a breach – after all David Attenborough’s crew can sit for three months and see nothing – but finally they played. What is more remarkable for me is that this dolphin was nearly a mile away and I could easily have missed it even being there. I may have mentioned before, but I love this camera.
Not a lot of landscape photography this week, as we went to Cardigan Bay looking for dolphins. Cardigan Bay has the largest concentration of dolphins in the UK, however, they can be a nightmare to photograph, and to track as they move through the sea. But, as the saying goes, the more photos you take the luckier you get. Now the question you have to ask is whether I managed to get one of the classic shots of a dolphin leaping and arching from the water. We will see…
The image I posted yesterday, of Wollaton Park in the early morning, neglected to include the Hall itself. So, as that morning produced a few decent images, I thought I would add another view across the lake from a different angle. Sometimes you can be lucky enough to see a few of the deer cooling off in the lake, which would make an excellent photo. I have not been so lucky… yet.
The more I revisit these early morning shots the more I realise how lazy I am. I have to get up! Wollaton Park in Nottingham is home to Wollaton Hall, which has been used as Wayne Manor in the Batman movies, two herds of deer, and a lake with a heronry. To be fair, as a back garden it is not too shabby. The early morning colours with a hint of mist on the lake – that will do for me.
A still autumn morning in Snowdonia, North Wales, with just a hint of the morning mist remaining. This is from the first proper workshop I attended, run by Doug Chinnery, in the mountains and lakes of Snowdonia. Now I need to persuade myself to get up early to grab more opportunities like this. Maybe not in summer with the sunrise at 5am though.
End of next week we are off to the seaside hunting for dolphins. Not hunting in the sense of Japanese factory ships, but in the sense of looking for. So I thought I would get in the mood with an image from a sunny day on a quiet beach. I like to think the cyclist was using this route as their regular commute to and from work. If you have been reading my blog, you will know this has been edited in the style of the Adamsky effect.
I can almost hear the non-UK readers thinking I have gone out of my mind, and uploaded the wrong image. Looks nothing like liver. Well, it is Liverpool again, and this is the Liver building as seen from the Albert Dock. Atop the Liver building is a statue of the Liver Bird, which you will also find on the badge of Liverpool FC. As you can tell from the buildings framing the Liver building the Albert Dock area has had a lot of investment and is a really nice part of Liverpool. Oh, and it is pronounced Lie-ver, as in to lie down. And no puns about ORGANic growth at the Albert Dock, that would just be silly.