Framedlight

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Manifold Agricultural Show which takes place near the village of Ilam in Derbyshire. It was quite a fun afternoon despite the weather. We managed to find a seat in the beer tent during the worst of the showers! We were with a friend who was surprised that anyone could possibly be trying to sell cattle grids and was even more astonished at the slow tractor race, not the most interesting of spectator sports.  

A couple of weeks ago I had reason to visit Derbyshire and made a return visit to Magpie Mine in the Bakewell area of the Peak District. I had very much enjoyed photographing it before and this time the weather was brighter, with outbreaks of sunshine! I had a different camera on me, the Fuji XE-1 and 3 lenses, the Fuji 35mm and 2 old Nikon AI lenses both dating from the 70's, a 28mm and a 135mm both f/2.8 but needing to be manually focussed when attached to the Fuji via an adaptor. I am enjoying using this light combination although the Fuji will only take 2 pictures in it's multiple exposure mode, whereas the Nikon can take up to 9. For this reason I did not take as many multiple exposures as they tended not to work so well. My aim was, as before, to try and get a sense of the place into my pictures. The last photograph was taken in the tearoom in Monyash, where I refreshed afterwards. ...

In early July, before the weather had turned hot, we had a weekend in Derbyshire, staying with Mairi and Lizzie in Mickleover. We had planned a beer festival in Burton on the Saturday night and climbing in the Roaches as a daytime diversion. My son Hugh also travelled up from Winchester to join us, excited by the prospect of beer and ropes. We started out optimistically on Saturday morning, heading for some rocks, but the dull weather turned into drizzle and then rain. We stopped in Leek for coffee and ventured to the market where we saw the town crier walking around, but not crying. Mairi and Lizzy can be seen, just past the enormous drawers and 'firm control', in the indoor market. Close to Leek is the small village of Rudyard. it is built around a Victorian reservoir and apparently at the turn of the century was a major tourist attraction, with literally thousands coming from Derby and the Potteries to enjoy a swim. The water was not very appealing whe...