mainprize.net Blog: 2013

Coastal towns

Whitby harbour colour

The great thing about the coastal towns is that there is so much to see. Take those on the North Yorkshire coast for example and one can see beautiful expansive beaches, small coves, cliffs, villages and towns, harbours, boats, birds, seals, other marine life, rock pools and the list goes on.

As a photographer there is a never ending range of subject matter. I personally choose to display my vision through monochrome images, but as you can see from this blog still keep many colour images. This image was taken at the height of the day and reflects the blue sky and the bright colours of one of the larger boast in Whitby harbour.

North York Moors

North York Moors panorama II

This, like most expansive moors, can be a wild place. The morning I took this image I wanted to capture the isolation one can feel walking on these moors. Imagine being one of these trees, open to the winds that blast in off the North Sea, especially in winter. I love this place out of season, when you can walk for miles without seeing anyone else. One can truly feel solitary in our overpopulated isle.

As with all images on the blog, click on the image to see an enlarged version.

Whitby

Whitby looking south

Whitby as a fishing port emerged in the middle ages, when it became an important centre for herring fishing and whaling fleets. James Cook learned his seamanship here.

Tourism began in the Georgian times and developed with the railway in 1839.

Whitby means 'White settlement' in Norse.

Strolling Filey beach

Strolling Filey beach

Filey has a great beach. It is a small town on the North Yorkshire coast that still retains some of it's old world charm. In winter it is quiet, but metamorphoses in summer to a town heaving with tourists.

The first Roman Signal Station was discovered in Filey, situated on Carr Naze and revealed after a cliff fall in 1857.

In 1993/4 due to increasing erosion, the Filey Station was re-excavated by York Archeological Trust, supported by Scarborough Borough Council. Although most of the site has been eroded the remains are still visible if you walk along Carr Naze.

Bempton Birds

Bempton birds I

Bempton RSPB reserve is an amazing place. The breeding season of the birds is progressing now and so, whilst it is a great place to visit all year round, you need to plan a visit as soon as possible to see nesting puffins, razorbills, common guillemots, gannets (Atlantic gannets), kittiwakes (black-legged kittiwakes), fulmars, feral pigeons, meadow pipts, skylarks and many others.

The cliffs are chalk and are over 100m high in places. They run form Flamborough north to Filey and are a major feature of the local coast. There are walks along the top of them from the RSPB reserve.

For those interested in the image above it is a 10 shot multiple exposure to show the flight paths of the birds taken using a Nikon D800E and 70-200mm lens mounted on a tripod. Photography here can be difficult as the birds are not always close. The use of a 500mm lens is best for close ups of the birds and if you visit when the wind is right the fulmars and gannets 'hover' off the edge of the cliff, accompanied by the gulls. To get good close-ups of the auks, which is possible from Bempton, but you have to be lucky and spend a long time at it usually, you could take one of the boat trips from Bridlington or from Flamborough North Bay.

North York Moors to Ravenscar

North York Moors to Ravenscar
(Click on the image to see it larger)

The North York Moors is a national park in North Yorkshire, England. The moors is one of the largest expanses of heather moorland in the United Kingdom, covering an area of 1,436 km². It has a population of about 25,000. It became a National Park in 1952.

The above image shows two types of landscape in the North York Moors: the sandstone and the coast.

Much of the landscape is the familiar poor acid soils which are formed by the slow erosion of sandstone and are deficient in nutrients. They are less permeable to water, impeding drainage and encouraging the formation of bogs. Sphagnum moss and cotton grass abound and as the cold acid waters allows little decomposition of organic material the dead sphagnum moss gradually accumulates to form peat, which raises the levels of the bogs and they dry out. Heather then invades the area. Large areas of the moors are now covered in heather, bilberries and grasses growing on thick layers of peat.

Sheep are a ubiquitous part of the moorland landscape. Their grazing helps to maintain the open wild landscape that is needed for many other plants and animals to thrive.

Filey - Fishing boat launching

Filey fishermen prepare to sail
(Click on the image to see it larger)

The traditional fishing boat of the Yorkshire coast is a Coble. These are designed to be launched and landed bow first on the beach. They are clinker built - a method in which each strake or plank overlaps the next to provide maximum strength with minimum weight. They have a shallow, flat bottomed aft section and a flat, raked stern which assists waves in either lifting it off or drifting it up onto the shore. The deep bow steadies the boat and prevents it swinging round in the breakers.

New format - Sunrise from Flixton Brow

I am now going to change the blog to show a photo as many days as possible with a description of the image or of where it was taken.

Sunrise from Flixton Brow
(Click on image to see it larger)

This weekend the warm sunny weather has continued on the Yorkshire coast. This was taken near a village called Flixton, where I had been photographing the cloud inversion over The Carrs. These will feature in a later post.

Churches of the Buckrose Carrs - a new portfolio

CBC VIII
St Martin's church, Scampston

I have added some images from one of my current projects on to the mainprize.net website. These can be found in the Churches of the Buckrose Carrs portfolio. The Benefice of Buckrose Carrs contains nine churches in villages between Malton and Scarborough in North Yorkshire. The Benefice has it's own website.

CBC I
St Andrew's church, East Heslerton

CBC XV
St Peter's church, Wintringham

CBC XXII
St Andrew's church, East Heslerton

London - a stroll at night

St Paul's cathedral from the Millenium Bridge
D800E 16-35f4 27mm 10secs f11

Having spent a few days in London a couple of weeks ago the images are now edited. It was in the middle of the heatwave, which has just finished with the thunderstorms just beginning. The sky was a constant blue with not a cloud to break up the monotony (perhaps the worst sky for a photographer). So I decided to go out just before dusk and walk the streets. I started at Canary Wharf and then Surrey Water before using the Thames path to the Millennium Bridge.

Canary Wharf from Surrey Water
D800E 70-200f2.8 86mm 5secs f10

Across The Thames
D800E 16-35f4 31mm 20secs f11

Thames TridentD800E 70-200f2.8 98mm 25secs f7.1

Tower Bridge nocturne I
D800E 70-200f2.8 200mm 13secs f10

Tower Bridge nocturne III
D800E 16-35f4 32mm 13secs f10

Constant building
D800E 16-35f4 29mm 8secs f8

Tower Bridge nocturne IX
D800E 16-35f4 19mm 8secs f14

City Hall nocturne I
D800E 70-200f2.8 70mm 30secs f8

The Shard from The Stoop I
D800E 16-35f4

Trees by Tate Modern and the Millenium Bridge I
D800E 16-35f4 19mm 10secs f16

Millenium Bridge to St Paul's I
D800E 16-35f4 16mm 30secs f13

Trees by Tate Modern and the Millenium Bridge II
D800E 16-35f4 27mm 4secs f13

Image of the week - Tower Bridge nocturne

Tower Bridge nocturne VI
Nikon D800E 70-200 f2.8 @135mm 13 secs at f10

Taken on a stroll at night along the South Bank. The day was hot and the sky clear and so I took advantage of the warm, dry night. See the next post.

Image of the week - Scarborough South Bay

Scarborough South Bay VII

Taken before sunrise. the drama of the light with the band of cloud across the sky and it's reflection in the pool, as well as the pool itself, lead the eye through the image. I love the solitude of 3 o'clock in the morning!

Armed Forces Day Scarborough 2013

Red Arrows over Filey II

This was a day when thousands of people descended on `Scarborough as the Red Arrows were displaying. The facilities were said by many to be inadequate. Those of us who live in the area and carry out our life in Scarborough on Saturdays regretted having to go in and out of the town that day.

When I was free all the available spaces were taken and so the family and I went to Filey and I set up to photograph the whole display from there. This was thought out because the sun was likely to be right where the planes were flying - and so it happened according to friends who based themselves on the beach or in the town. I also wanted the castle in the background.

Red Arrows over Scarborough I

We watched the whole display and followed the planes flying in and out over Filey. The display was great with the backdrop of the castle.

Red Arrows descend on Scarborough

Second World War flypast I

London in the rain

I love bad weather. Why? Because it is challenging photographically. You have to find a way to depict the bad weather as well as the place you are photographing as well as protect yourself and your gear.

I spent a week in London in May and have just about finished selecting the images I like for the website. Most of the week was dull, with non-variable grey sky. However a couple of days it really rained. I managed to protect the camera under an umbrella and tried to get some shots that showed Londoners continuing about their business. Here are some of these shots.

Millenium Bridge in the rain from St Paul's
Nex 7 Lensbaby Edge 80

Peter's Hill in the rain from St Paul's
Nex 7 Lensbaby Edge 80

Millenium Bridge in the rain I
Nex 7 Lensbaby Edge 80

Millenium Bridge in the rain II
Nex 7 Lensbaby Edge 80

Millenium Bridge in the rain IV
Nex 7 Lensbaby Edge 80

Peter's Hill in the rain II
Nex 7 Lensbaby Edge 80

I used a Lensbaby to blur the edges and increase a feeling of misery which I heightened by developing the images dark.

I am heading to London again now and will continue my look at nature and how it interacts with the capitol. As well as how a city uses nature in the landscape. I will be posting some of these images in the coming week.

New images on mainprize.net and a new gallery

I have added lots of new images. There is a whole new gallery of abstract reflections in water. Let me know what you think.

Check the new images out here.

and the new gallery Light Dancing here.

Flamborough - be careful walking on the Yorkshire coast

Summer Rose in winter
Nikon D800E 16-35 30secs@f13

There is a lot of coastal erosion in this area and with all the wet weather we have had and the freezing nights the coastal paths are extremely slippery.

The car park at Thornwick Bay is closed as it is on a field and that is basically just a pool of mud.

Whilst taking these images I went full length and injured a finger, which I caught in my tripod. That is one of the pitfalls of photography - you watch the gear more than yourself and when you fall you usually look after the camera first - if you have time to think. Certainly the last couple of times I have slipped - on wet rocks and mud - I have saved the camera in preference to me. Daft, but essentially reflex.