And then came the snow!

January had been quite warm and dry but then came the snow; and did it.  For once we had quite a decent coverage but not too much to cause havoc as it quite often does here.

I have an interest in images that are quite minimal.  I like dead space and of course I like monochrome photography.  So it was the perfect time to go out with my camera.

I drove around a bit looking for an image and couldn’t find anything I really liked.  Eventually I ended up in Barley struggling for inspiration.  I then remembered a shot that I had taken in the past at nearby Newchurch.  The shot was already done in monochrome previously but the days conditions meant that it would work well.  So I set off in that direction.

I first stopped off at a plantation near Barley Bank Farm.  I quote like the idea of something disappearing deep in to the photograph and I thought that this work well.   It does, sort of.  The image also has an appearance of being monochrome when actually it is full colour.

In the end I got to the location and it couldn’t have been more perfect.  The snow was pristine and the sky was grey.  Nice for subtle changes in colour.  Dialling in a bit of exposure compensation would mean that the snow would be almost paper white and the image would contain all the shades of grey (not just 50!) through to almost black.

A bit of fine tuning in Lightroom meant I had one of the most beautiful images I have ever made.

Snow photography is interesting.  You either go for an images that is real and as a result you’ll have a blue-ish cast to the image or you dial in exposure composition and have white snow.  At the time I wrote about this for Pixel Magazine.

Incidentally, I do tend to print the images I make and I like.  This one prints gorgeously!

Just Because Snow Can Be Beautiful!

I know the recent snow has brought misery and difficulties to a lot of people during the course of the last couple of days.  However, it is easy to forget that it actually can be quite beautiful and a lot of fun.  Try and enjoy it while we can!

Feeling at Home

Jubilee (Darwen) Tower - Taken from 

Remnants.

For nearly as long as I can remember I have had a love for high places.  In essence it's not just a love of hills and mountains but more in particular Lancashire hills.

It began when I was a teenager.  I would get home from school, blow off homework grab my trusty spotted companion (a dalmatian named Billy) and head for the moors.  I loved the walk through the wooded valley and up past the reservoir before striding out on to the open moorland which is home to Darwen Tower.  Billy loved it too.  We spent hours and hours up there just wondering, sitting by moorland streams, listening to Skylarks and generally watching the world go by.

Even as I grew up that love didn't die.  In fact it grew deeper as I joined Lancashire Countryside Service as a Volunteer Ranger and eventually working full time.  Funnily enough, it was the same hills that I wondered as a boy that I now worked as a man.  Sometimes, Billy would be with me too.

The Ranger Service broadened my knowledge of the hills and sent me to other areas to explore, firstly in the West Pennine Moors and Rossendale, then the South Bowland Fells along with Clougha to the far North finally settling in Central Lancashire and becoming intimate with Pendle, Boulsworth and the hills surrounding the Wycoller Valley.

I do love the Lake District, I love North Wales even more but there is nowhere like my home turf.

What has this got to do with photography?  Everything.  I produce my best work when I'm working in Lancashire.  Why?  I think its because I love it or that I know it as well as anyone else.  Maybe it's just because I'm fascinated and amazed by it.  Perhaps its a life long love affair.

Some places I am really drawn to.  One of these is known as Walton Spire.  The Spire sits on Knave Hill high above the towns of Nelson and Colne in Lancashire, is directly between both Pendle and Boulsworth Hills and is in close proximity to the site Castercliffe Hill Fort.

Knave Hill is a bit strange.  It is my opinion (and also that of others) that the hill is man made.  Looking at aerial photographs it is possible to identify concentric rings of terracing that appear to be the construction of the hill.  However, the site has another feature in the Spire it self.  The bottom part of the cross is an ancient stone monolith that would have probably acted as a marker for travelers on the trade route from the Irish Sea to the North Sea or vice versa.  It is possible that the monolith could be somewhere in the region of 4,500 years old although some legends say that it was erected in rememberance of the Battle of Brunanburh in 937.  The top of the spire was added in the 1830's by Richard Thomas Wroe-Walton a local gentleman with strong religious values who live in Marsden Old Hall that still stands in nearby Marsden Park.

What ever the reason or how ever old the Spire is.  I can't help being drawn to the place.  Earlier this week I went up there in the snow and got some lovely pictures of it while enjoying a bit of pleasant if not cold weather!  Even the sheep seemed happy to be there.

Playing with Witches

 On Wednesday I went out with a friend to take some images for use by Pendle Borough Council.

Our first port of call was the new Alice Nutter sculpture in Roughlee.  Alice Nutter was convicted and hung for being part of a covern of witches in the Pendle area.  In total 10 people from the area were taken to Lancaster tried and then hung.  Another, from Gisburn was taken to York and executed there.

Alice was unusual in the group as she was the widow of a wealthy farmer and it is often thought that she may have been convicted due to the jealousies of other local people.  The entire group were convicted on the evidence of a nine-year old witness named Jennet Device who mas made to stand on a table in front of a packed court room.

 After we were done with the sculpture we headed up in to the fields to capture some images of the landscape.  From this position we were able to get some nice pictures of both Pendle and Blacko.  It was a lovely hour and a bit, with warm sunshine in a beautiful part of the country.

Remnants Update

Remnants now has its own page complete with Flickr slideshow illustrating all the images from the project and a preview of the book from our Blurb bookstore.

Nice surprises

One thing I love about being a photographer is the nice little surprises.  These surprises come in different forms.  Sometimes its when you process an image that you thought wasn't very good suddenly becomes stunning or sometimes its just those little moments of beauty that are generally missed.  One I had last week.

I was out walking and looked in to a field because something didn't look quite right.  Led there was a fox.  The little fella hung around for ages.  In fact, I got my tripod out and sat the camera on it and he quite happily let me take photographs of him for about 30 minutes or so!

The image (left) was taken at one of my favourite places, Castercliffe Hill Fort.  The three hawthorns reminded me of three witches and so that has become the title of the image!  Quite apt really!  This year is the 400th anniversary of the Pendle Witch Trail.

Out of the editing room - More Remnants Images

 Last night I finally finished editing some images that had been sat on my SD card for what seemed like an eternity.  Out of those images are some shots that I took in order to fit in with the Remnants project.
As I seem to get to the end of Remnants, I seem to find something else to add to it.  At the moment I've been adding follies to the collection and dry stone walls.  The walls may seem a little dull compaired to other aspects of the project but have you ever stopped to think how they were built and by who?

Now as Remnants draws to an end I am beginning to think about my next project and sitting down to play some more surrealist stuff.  Nothing is coming to light yet but I'm sure it will!

Getting time to edit!

Finally managed to find some time to sit down and do some editing.  I began by finishing off some work for a client. I'm quite happy with the results from that shoot but I'm more happy with the other stuff I have been producing.

I said in my last post that I had been out on Boulsworth with the view of shooting a location to further my Remnants project.  Well, I took a couple of other shots as well.  The one on the left is one that I have finished editing and I have to admit, I really like it.

The location I went to shoot was the doorway in the image below left.  This is one of Lancashire peculiar follies in the fact that it was built like this.  The opposite side

of the door way has been inscribed but this is barely readble due to erosion.

I think I have come away with a fantastic image but I'm not sure if it will make the final Remnants project.  The reason being that I don't think it works well as a mono.  Nonetheless, I had a fantastic afternoon up there and have a couple of lovely images out of it!

Busy, busy, busy!

Well, its been quite a while since I last entered anything on to my blog and really there isn't much to tell!  Live has been so hectic that I haven't even had chance to pick up a camera properly apart from a couple of jobs for clients.

In the next few months some interpretation boards are going to be installed in Borough of Pendle's parks containing an array of my images including landscapes and wildlife shots.  Will post more nearer the time.

This week sees the start of competition season at Blackburn & District Camera Club.  I have four images entered in the digital projection section.  Will post results sometime next week.

This week I accepted a job for a rather unusual but interesting assignment.  I'm keeping it a bit close to my chest at the moment but I will reveal all in the coming weeks.