North York Moors to Ravenscar

North York Moors to Ravenscar
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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
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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
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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 portfolioThe 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.