Snow, then and now

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Rachael

Finally, some snow. Circumstances (traffic and trains) were against me this morning and it was late before I managed to get out into the landscape. The thaw had begun, but I made the best I could of it all. I was attracted to the bright stems of these coppiced trees against the white.

On this day in 2009, I was also out photographing snow. My 365/34 was captured just 200 yards from my home. Situated south of London and within the M25, we rarely see temperatures low enough to form icicles like these, so they were a novelty I had to snap.

Snow day

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Rachael

365/33

My 365/33 images are from this day in 2009. Overnight, we had experienced an unusually heavy snowfall. The children were delighted to have their first ever snow day. I must confess, I was quite excited too. We enjoyed a long walk, between snowball fights, and I snapped these on the River Thames towpath between Weybridge and Shepperton. in editing, I have deliberately over-exposed the images, trading texture in the snow for a light, airy look.

365/33

‘God rays’ in a Godly place

Posted on February 1, 2015 by Rachael

f/11, 1/125, 35mm, ISO 100

More pictures of the dramatic light we enjoyed on Friday’s photoshoot at St. Martha’s-on-the-Hill, Chilworth, Surrey. My title is a little tongue-in-cheek as I am ambivalent about the expression ‘God rays’ which seems a simplification, with hints of dumbing-down, of the perfectly adequate term, ‘crepuscular rays’. I wrote a post about these rays and you can see it here. As I discussed, one can understand why these spectacular rays have over the centuries been associated with a higher power.

f/11, 1/8, 90mm, ISO 100

St. Martha’s is a lovely little church perched on the top of a hill with a panoramic view of Surrey. A local ‘tall tale’ is associated with the spot, in which St. Martha’s church and St. Catherine’s chapel, across the River Wey valley, were built by two giants, sisters named, of course, Martha and Catherine. According to the story, they had only one tool, a hammer, which they shared by tossing it across the valley.

f/11, 1/30, 35mm, ISO 100

My 365/31 is from 2009, a detail from the interior of a local cafe, Il Siciliano, now under different ownership, name and decor. The Scarface mural didn’t last long and I speculated that perhaps they’d run foul of copyright issues and had to remove it. While I do not condone the breach of copyright, I must confess that the mural was nice while it lasted.

365/31

My 365/32 is also from 2009. I had a lovely Sunday walk with my camera that afternoon. The evening was bitterly cold, and overnight we had one of the heaviest snowfalls I could remember in the South of England. Needless to day, I was obliged to go out the next day and shoot the same views all over again, transformed as they were by their fresh blanket of white.

365/32

Felicitous Friday

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Rachael

f/11, 1/30, 33mm, ISO 100, .6 hard ND grad, circ. polariser

Last year, Jenifer Bunnett and I went out ‘shooting’ together most weeks and Tuesday eventually became our regular day. This year, we have added a second day, Friday. So far, our Fridays have proved felicitous and we have been blessed with interesting light. Today was no exception. An early morning hike up St. Martha’s Hill brought some glancing rays and the remains of the previous night’s snowfall. The evening’s sunset at Newlands Corner yielded an interesting cloud formation over distant St. Martha’s Hill, where we had been in the morning. As with last Friday, I have a lot of images to process and will share some more over the next few days.

f/11, 0.8sec, 24mm, ISO 100, .6 hard ND grad

Catching up on my 365 redux project, 365/30 is a shot from this day in 2011, seeds of the wild clematis, also known as Old Man’s Beard or Traveller’s Joy. 365/29 is from 2009; the colour version was one of the first images I licensed with Getty and it has done well for me over the years.

365/30

365/29

Weather repeats itself

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Rachael

365/28

Today we have had dramatic skies, glancing light and scattered showers, the sort of changeable weather that landscape photographers love. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go out and capture it. But, on this day last year, we had exactly the same weather, and I was lucky enough to be out in it then. Here are three pictures from that very enjoyable day out in the water meadows and on the Wey Navigation towpath near Send, Surrey.

365/28

My 365/27 is also in black and white, a picture of the orchard at RHS Wisley, taken on an unusually sunny 27th January 2009.

365/27

Deer in frost

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Rachael

Another picture from Friday’s fantastic, frosty day out. As I was taking a landscape shot, two deer took flight across the meadow. Of course, my wide lens hadn’t a hope of catching them, but I quickly changed to my 70-200mm lens and hoped I’d find more. Luckily, I did.

Yesterday, I shared the colour version of this shot, also from Friday but I rather like this tinted black and white edit too. And it is a handy segue from frost to black and white to my 365/25, from this day in 2009:

365/25

Perfect morning

Posted on January 24, 2015 by Rachael

Yesterday morning, I had a chance to capture dawn over Newark Priory. It’s a shot I’d had in my mind for about 5 years and the conditions were perfect. For more about Newark Priory, see here.

Afterwards, I pottered about on the Wey Navigation towpath and collected some wintery shots. I am writing a book about the Navigation and these shots should fit nicely. Altogether, a successful morning’s shooting.

365/23

My 365/23 is from last year. Three modes of transport, four if feet count (there’s a pedestrian on the footbridge). Taken at the junction of the Wey Navigation and the Basingstoke Canal. For a fuller post about this shoot and the history of this location, click here.

365/24

365/24 is from 2010, a brief moment of good light at the end of what had been a grey, uninspiring day. This is the Millennium Glasshouse at RHS Wisley.

Garlic, twice

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Rachael

365/22

By 22nd January 2009, I was resorting to food for my 365. Two garlic bulbs, edited and shared twice, in 2009 and now.

My photography is mainly outdoors, where I am happiest. But, although I don’t tend to make still life images (perhaps you can tell!), I very much admire the work of others in this genre. It seems to me, the best still life photographers have not only a superb technical knowledge of photography and lighting, but also a designer’s eye. Respect.

Eclectic entry

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Rachael

365/20

My 365/20 entries are both from last year, taken on Desborough Island, an island in the River Thames near Weybridge. I liked the way the tangled plants framed the gap in the fence. The second shot seemed moodier in black and white.

365/20

My 365/19, also from last year, is a bit of fun, imagining what it would be like if we could actually see the stars above the junction of the A3 and the M25!

365/19

More fisheye adventures

Posted on January 16, 2015 by Rachael

f/5.6, 1/10, 8mm, ISO 400

Two more shots from my adventures with my Samyang 8mm fisheye last Saturday. A trip on London’s public transport just got a lot more fun.

f/5.6, 1/70, 8mm, ISO 400

For my 365 redux, I have had to resort to 2009 once again, the year of my original 365. I am looking forward to getting past winter so I have more images from which to choose. Anyway, the reality of 365’s demands was just settling in back in 2009 and, on the upside, it was beginning to force me to look hard for images everywhere I went, including the top of the local supermarket’s carpark, and the lights on the ceiling of my kitchen.

365/16

365/15

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