A Heck of a View

A few more from my trip to Pembrokeshire and Skomer. No doubt you you will be excited to see some shots of Puffins, after all that was the reason I went to Skomer in the first place. I have chosen to share some more shots of the spectacular sunset but if it is puffins you want I have included a little teaser below, just keep scrolling...

The pictures above were taken from Woolpack point, the sky genuinely was that gorgeous golden glow which belies how chilly it actually was with the wind coming right off the sea. It was nice to be up on the point on my own for a little while but I was soon joined by a trio of guys who were, like me there to enjoy the sunset at the end of a wonderful day. I think the addition of the three figures in the first two shots really adds something to the scene and I really like the solo guy silhouetted in the third shot. I also like the impact of the single seabird in the fourth image.

Before you scroll down to the final image I should warn you that it is not going to be what you expect. It is not a "cute" shot of a puffin but is instead an example of how timing is everything in getting the shot and is a good capture, even if it makes you groan.

 I had taken one shot of this bird close to the edge of the cliff and as it started to hunker down I thought it might be about to take to the air and I had tried several times to get pictures of these birds in flight. However instead of taking to the air it was heading back underground to its burrow, presumably to sit on its nest and as it did so it jettisoned its load quite spectacularly.

All at Sea

 This week I had the privilege of traveling to Skomer Island which lies just off the Pembrokeshire coast and which is home at this time of year to over 42,000 Atlantic Puffins, over 710,000 Manx Shearwater and a host of other sea birds including Razorbills, Guillemots, Kittiwake, Fulmar and Gannets all of which come to the island as it provides a safe nesting site and abundant food in the local waters on which to raise their chicks. I will say more about the birds and share some of my favourite photos from the trip in future posts.

However before I get onto that I have some shots from the night before that are worth sharing over the next couple of days. I took the opportunity to make this my first solo camping trip of the year and stayed on a site overlooking St Brides Bay and after I had pitched up and got myself organised I took a short walk along a section of the Pembrokeshire coastal path to enjoy the scenery and the sunset.

The first of todays shots was taken from Wooltack Point looking out to sea past Skomer. It was taken at a similar time to the third image which is why the colours in the sky are similar. The second image was taken a little earlier and at the time the sun was still just above a bank of cloud so the colours are not so warm as when it dipped below the cloud and and set over the horizon.

The sea during the evening was pretty calm considering there was a strong westerly breeze, it was much more lively then next day on the crossing to the island.

The ships in St Brides Bay (there were about 10 in all) are oil and gas tankers which have unloaded their cargo at Milford Haven. They remain at anchor until they are dispatched to their next location, apparently they can wait for anything between one week and six months before moving on, all the time with a full complement of crew aboard.

Florentine Sunset

 As I looked out of my window this evening there was a beautiful glow in the sky as the sun was setting out over the Irish Sea. I am so very lucky living on the west coast because I am treated to the most wonderful sunsets and today, after a week of grey cloudy skies it was  great to see the rich colours that I enjoy so much.

As I was thinking about that I recalled the sunset over Florence while I was there with my youngest son in 2018, it was so spectacular viewed from the Piazzale Michelangelo. There are millions of photos of the city from this spot given it is a favourite tourist destination and it is the perfect vantage point to view the city with the famous duomo of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Campanile di Giotto and of course the Ponte Vecchio spanning the River Arno. I have even shared some of these, or similar images in 2018 but today I was inspired to review them and edit them to really bring out the colours of the sunset.

I have also included a shot of a hillside with the old city walls enclosed by trees which have grown up as the wall has decayed.

I have wanted to return to the city because although I have been lucky enough to visit on two occasions I have never really spent enough time there to see everything I want to see. It is possible that I will go back in a few weeks as I will be traveling to Venice again and a day trip to Florence by train is definitely doable however nothing is certain at this stage. Wish me luck.

A Classical Interlude

 So this will be the last selection of images from Venice for a while, although I will be going back there in a few weeks time so no doubt I will have lots more from my next trip that I will eventually want to share with you. But before I move onto a different location I hope you  will enjoy this selection.

The first image is of a statue of the renaissance composer Balassandre Galuppi who was born on the island of Burano in 1706 and this statue stands in a Piazza named for him. He died in Venice in 1785 aged 78. If you click here you can listen to some of his piano sonatas while you read through the rest of this post and maybe have it on in the background while you do some work or surfing etc.

While Burano is famous for lace making its neighbouring island is famous for the production of glass. The second image shows one of the  any craftsmen who work in the workshops creating beautiful ornaments and glassware. An interesting fact is the sand used in glass production in Murano is imported from the region of France near to Fontainebleau as it has the right mineral qualities.

The other images are of scenes around Venice, including the Grand Canal as well as some of the smaller canals. These were all shot during the evening and the effect of the setting sun on the stonework is quite magical. As this light is reflected on the surface of the smaller canals, where there is less traffic and therefore it is calmer, lots of interesting patterns emerge.

I have been lucky enough to visit this city several times now (in Summer and Winter) and I am very excited to be returning, this time in spring when I hope that I will discover something new.

Castlerigg Stone Circle

I have had a really busy week with work and so I haven't had time to review the results of my late night trip to Castlerigg from last Saturday.

I had gone up with the intention of photographing the comet but as you can see from the first image there was so much cloud cover I thought that perhaps it would be a wasted trip. However I will never waste an opportunity and I think the cloud lent itself to quite a spectacular sunset.

While there I met a few other like minded photographers and as the sun set we waited in hope that conditions would improve. Patience paid off too because the clouds passed and we were treated to a spectacularly clear sky with not only a great view of the comet but the milky way above us and Saturn and Jupiter behind us. I learned a lot that night and I am pleased with the results. 

High As A Kite

It was a lovely evening and I was lucky enough to get home from work in time to enjoy a brief spell out with my camera. 

I had gone down to the common to photograph my daughter-in-law and George the horse that she looks after. While we were there however George got spooked by this guy in his powered paraglider. He and his colleague took off from the common and took a flight across Liverpool Bay but in the process the noise of their motors startled George and a couple of other horses out for an evening ride.

That being said I quite fancy this activity, I can imagine what a wonderful sensation it must be to take off from a field and then gracefully look down on the world below gaining a new perspective. Especially on an evening like this when the sky is clear and the sunset gives a beautiful golden glow.

I would love to be looking down and maybe even taking a few shots, but I also love this image especially the way the light catches the leading edge of the parachute and the face of the pilot.

On The Grand Canal

This is an iconic view from Venice. Early evening with the winter sun setting off to the left and a lone Gondolier plying his trade along the Grand Canal.

In February Venice is not as busy as during the summer months and on previous visits I have seen this stretch of the canal literally heaving with Gondolas weaving between the Vaporetto, pleasure boats and traders. 

View from the Piazzale

These five views were taken from Piazzale Michaelangelo on our last evening in the beautiful city of Florence.

The first shot shows a section of the old city wall (Mura di Firenze)that climbs the ridge of the hill and along what is now Via di Belvedere and a view of the Giardino Bardini to the north of the wall.

The next three shots show the calm river Arno with the sun setting behind the mountains and the famous Ponte Vecchio.

Finally you can see the magnificent cathedral with its marble walls illuminated by the lights in the square and with its beautiful golden topped dome.

Sunset over the Arno

I love this shot of the setting sun, low over the Chianti Mountains, reflected in the River Arno and providing back lighting to the Ponte Vecchio. 

I feel so privileged to have been able to capture this scene. I had tried the previous evening when the lighting was almost as good but unfortunately an intermittent fault with my camera meant I couldn't get the shots I wanted. I was so disappointed and didn't know whether I would be able to use my camera any more and we were only half way through our trip.

Fortunately the following day (and for most of the rest of the trip) my camera worked as it should and so I headed back up to the Piazzale Michelangelo to get the shot. I think you will agree it is a fantastic image 

Fire In The Sky

I was just looking out of my window at the miserable grey sky. It has been like that all day, overcast and dull and at time with lashings of rain.

I cast my mind back to an evening in June when I witnessed a most wonderful sunset when the whole sky was a glorious golden yellow. Perhaps the location helped to make it one of the best sunsets I have seen.

As you can see from these shots the sky over Florence against the misty backdrop of the Chianti mountains was so rich and warm. It was definitely worth the effort of the walk up to the Piazzale Michelangelo which overlooks the city and is the perfect vantage point to see the sights. It is always bustling with people soaking up the atmosphere and taking selfies. I personally don't go in for the endless selfie taking especially when there are views such as this to observe and capture. 

Evening On The Shore

I am a little closer to posting road trip photos since I have organised them into categories by day/city but I am not yet totally ready so I have gone back to an evening in early May when I went down to the shore at Meols and took some pictures of the boats at low tide and at sunset. 

I haven't made a note of the settings but I was using my 24 - 105mm lens and with my camera mounted on a tripod I used a fairly long exposure and a small aperture to get this shot. There were a couple of other photographers out and they were using ND filters to get even longer exposures maybe next time I will try that although using my tripod in the mud did make me cringe a bit so I might not rush back.

Passing Through...

For tonight we are staying in a lovely guest house in the small town of Casale Monferrato in the province of Alessandria.

We drove up from Florence the long way round again to avoid the motorways. It meant twice as long traveling but it was worth it.

The first surprise along the way was that we passed through Pisa and saw the famous leaning tower, we didn't stop but we did get to see it from different perspectives as we passed through.

Later we had a fantastic drive through the mountains via the Passo del Bocco. The road was amazing with so many twists and turns it was fun to drive. Unfortunately we got stuck behind a truck on the way down, the driver was on his phone the whole way so rather than using his gears to slow down he was on his brakes almost the whole time. When we got through the pass and into the town below thick smoke was pouring from his brakes.

The next thing along the way was the view of the Ligurian Sea and a drive along the coast before heading inland again towards our destination.

Casale Monferrato seems fairly quiet but there's some fine architecture and a nice atmosphere. We popped into the Cathedral which is where the first picture was taken. In the entrance there were a few interesting sculptures and this shot is just a part of one. The Cathedral was actually closed and the priest came to tell us this but allowed us a few moments to walk around which was really nice as it was very peaceful with a simple elegance inside.

 The next shot is of a street lamp set against the windows of the building behind.

Finally, after dinner we went for a walk down to the River Po where I captured this beautiful sunset.

So today really has been a day of passing through different places but even  though we are just passing through the sights we have seen have left a good impression before we move on, this time into France.

Cool Evening Reflections

Canon 24mm - 105mm 1:4 L

ISO 100  47mm f/22  1/100 sec

ISO 100   47mm   f/22  1/50 sec

I have said many times how glad I am to live by the sea. One of the real bonuses is the fact that we get lots of wonderful sunsets and on a nice calm evening when the tide is out there are some great photo opportunities.

Recently I had gone for a walk along the seafront to Dovepoint and I spotted a number of photographers out on the beach and in the creeks photographing some of the boats that were at rest on the mud. I wasn't dressed to join them so I went back the following evening and spent a really rewarding hour up to my shins in stinky mud with my camera set up on a tripod to capture what I hoped would be decent images.

Here are the first two that I wanted to share and I have to say I am pretty happy with them. I love the light, I love the reflections and I love the overall composition. Let me know what you think in the comments or just like and share , I like to get feedback...

Golden Horizon

I love this shot of the sunset across the Fylde coast and Morecambe Bay that was taken during a recent camping trip. My son thinks the picture would be improved if I added a few Tie Fighters and that way it would resemble a scene from the Star Wars Force Awakens. 

I love the colour in the sky and the golden edge of the low clouds over the horizon where you can make out the silhouette of the wind turbines in the bay. In spite of the warm colours it was a cold night but I always love camping and that was a lovely night to sleep out.

Hawthorn Sunset

On a recent short camping trip near Scorton in Lancashire I was fortunate with the weather and some excellent light during the evening. As I was watching the sun setting over Morecombe Bay  I noticed that this single sprig of Hawthorne was silhouetted beautifully against the sky and I couldn't resist getting the shot.

I snapped some similar images on my phone on the second night of the trip but this is by far the best. I hope that you like it as much as I do, it is one of my favourite shots for a while. I love the warm colours and the serene atmosphere.

Right Place, Right Time

Yesterday's picture of the harbour at Whitby was taken on the way up to visit the Abbey. Of course at that time of day the abbey was closed to visitors so these pictures were taken from just outside the walls. 

It was a beautiful evening and I was really glad to be there. As the sun set the sky had a beautiful and warm orange glow which was in contrast to the cold stone of the abbey walls. 

I was lucky enough to be able to capture the sunburst through one of the arches, it was only a fleeting moment so I was pleased to be able to get this shot.

Harbour Sunset

I haven't posted for a few days as I have been otherwise occupied but I have managed to get lots more shots which I will be able to share in coming weeks.

Today however I am returning to my selection of images from my recent visit to Whitby along the North Yorkshire coast.

I love this view of the harbour looking down from the 199 steps that lead up to the famous abbey. It was a lovely evening at the end of a great day and watching the sunset was a special treat. I live on England's west coast and so I am used to some spectacular sunsets across Liverpool Bay and the Irish Sea. I was somewhat surprised that I could watch the sun set into the sea from this spot on the east coast.

From Night to Day

Today I have two pictures for you, the first was taken just after sunset looking along the valley to the River Wharfe and the second was taken just before sunrise the following day looking down the lane from my campsite to the mist shrouded valley. It was a nice walk down to the priory but the walk back up was fairly tiring as the hill is deceptively steep.

This is a lovely spot however and I have some fond memories from the various times I have camped here.