Tag Archives: reflections

Definitely Surrey!

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Surrey landscape

f/11, 1/80, 70mm, ISO 400

Every Tuesday I go out shooting with Jenifer Bunnett, another Surrey landscape photographer. This week we went to Frensham Great Pond.  It had been years since I was last there.

Surrey landscape

f/11, 1/125, 70mm, ISO 200

The weather started inauspiciously so we strolled around the lake scouting locations for another day.  Finally, we happened upon the charming chaps of Frensham Pond Model Yacht Group who were happy to let us take a few pictures of their beautiful yachts in action.  We hope to go back and capture more pictures there in better light.

Surrey landscape

f/8, 15″. 125mm, ISO 200

I experimented with a long exposure to try to capture something of the blustery, drizzling conditions.  And then we retreated to the Frensham Pond Hotel for a very welcome cuppa, or two.

Surrey Landscape

f/11, 1/100, 35mm, ISO 400

When we set out again, the weather was still dreary but, then, it started to clear.

Surrey Landscape

f/11, 1/4, 16mm, ISO 100

One of the things I love about this country is the way the weather changes so swiftly and unexpectedly.  One minute the landscape was grey and oppressive, the next it basked in golden light.  These two shots of the same view were taken 20 minutes apart.

Surrey landscape

f/11, 1/10, 16mm, ISO 100

That last shot has surprised people; they think it looks more like something from the Lake District than Surrey.  People constantly underestimate this county.  It’s not famous for its landscapes; there are no dramatic mountains or windswept coastline.  But beauty is still there, for those with an eye to see it.

Surrey landscape

f/10, 1/10, 16mm, ISO 100

After its inauspicious start, the day turned out to be a great success. The sunset was as spectacular as one could ask but Mummy-duties required me to leave 20 minutes before it (frustrating!).  I just had time to snatch a last shot of Jen, who had longer, still doing her thing.

Surrey landscape

f/9, 1/50, 25mm, ISO 200

On sharing some of my pictures on Twitter, I have been told that Frensham Little Pond is even prettier.  Guess where we’re going next Tuesday.

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Today’s 365 is from 9th January 2010.  Tea lights in snow.  Well, why not?

tea lights in snow

365/9

Painshill in winter

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Surrey landscape

 

A shot from Tuesday’s visit to Painshill Park in Cobham, Surrey.  Those eighteenth century landscape designers knew a thing or two!  Two of Painshill’s famous follies are visible in this view, the Gothic Temple and the Chinese Bridge. For the techies, I used a .6 ND hard grad for this shot, and a circular polariser, of course. I have written several other posts about this favourite location of mine.  Just click on the tags, Painshill or Painshill Park to find them.

Waterworld

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Desborough Island flooded 2
As some of you may have read on the news, here in Surrey we are experiencing some seriously epic flooding as the Thames bursts its banks.

floods in Surrey

This is usually a meadow.


We are safe and dry at home here, safely removed by a small hill from the danger, but I have friends who are anxiously watching as the water level rises ever higher.
Surrey floods

Desborough Island is now Desborough Lake


I could hardly resist popping out today and yesterday to capture the changed landscape, or should I say waterscape, of my local area.
Surrey floods

A swan claims new territory


Surrey floods

We’re going to need a bigger bridge!

Late Autumn lingers

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Surrey

Our very late Autumn this year has given so many opportunities to get out with the camera, I’ve hardly been able to keep up with downloading the images! These shots are from my outing last week with Jenifer Bunnett.  She found this beautiful set of fishing lakes, Frensham Trout Fisheries, and, apart from a solitary fisherman, we had them to ourselves.surrey landscape

The presence of a waterfall was fortuitous as I had only just the day before taken delivery of my new Lee Filters!

waterfall

I had a lot of fun experimenting with my five filters: the 105mm circ. polariser, .6 hard grad, .9 soft grad, .9 pro glass and Big Stopper.  The good news was that I had remembered all I had learned on the workshop ten days earlier.

autumn landscape 

The bad news was the circ. polariser created a horrible vignette when I used it with my 16-35mm lens at 16-20mm.  Hugely disappointing as that is my lens of choice for landscape work.   I was advised to use my 24-105mm on the course so this problem did not come up then. 😦

autumn landscape

The wonderful Wey

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Weybridge

Two more shots from my stroll along my local stretch of the Wey Navigation in Weybridge.  The top one is a panorama, stitched from five separate vertical images to make a big 11000 by 7000 (approx) pixel file, which will make a mighty print, if I ever print it.  The lower image is the same viewpoint as my moonrise shot last month.

Weybridge

 

I am now writing for a local website once a week and the second shot featured in my article last week.

 

 

Industrial landscape

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sunrise

 

On Friday I visited Bournemouth and travelled there by train.  I snapped a couple of shots of Southampton’s industrial area as we rolled by.  James Corner, over at Country Corners, recently posted some photos of an industrial view near his home.  He reminded me that a photographer should not automatically ignore the less ‘pretty’ landscapes.  A more subtle, panoramic shot below.

Southampton Industry 2