Framedlight

  Last week we went to stay with a friend, Jenny, who lives in Wrabness in Essex. This village is situated next to the River Stour which here is quite wide and tidal. The banks are muddy and the birdlife is varied, also  humans use the area for recreation, boating or sunbathing. 'A house for Essex' designed by Grayson Perry 

I seem to have taken a long holiday from posting anything on my blog, so a pre New Year resolution I hope will put me back on track again. Last week saw some fog in Arkesden as the weather changed from cold to damp and mild, a typical November day. The trees looked mysterious in the gloom and the skeletons of plants stood out from the mist.

On a warm wet July morning it seems strange to revisit these scenes from a post Christmas winter trip to estuarine  Essex. At that time of the year when the mornings are crisp but the afternoon sun is low and warm. We were in Malden for lunch and then walked along the promenade in Burnham as the sun was retreating.

I am gradually working my way through last years's photos and thought that a few bluebell ones would help to lift the spirits on a dull February day. These pictures were taken in a little wood near my house on two separate occasions. On the first day I was using my little Fuji camera and the day was overcast (the first 3 pictures). I found a red bedspread hanging from a branch. The bears had been doing more than they normally do in woods. The second time the sun was out and the floor of the wood had beams of light falling on to the bluebells. This time I was using the Nikon which has more resolution and a greater dynamic range, so it was more capable of dealing with the contrasty light.

Not too far from where I live lie 3 corrugated iron barns, snuggled up close to each other and gradually sinking into dilapidation. In fact the third has been almost totally submerged by brambles. Every so often I have a go at photographing them and I have had a yen to try out some blends of colour shots and infrared shots. The day was quite dramatic and while  I was there the clouds rolled in followed by a thunderstorm. As I was leaving it started to rain torrentially. Needless to say under such conditions there was some gusting wind which affected the longer exposure infrared shots. I photographed the barns with and without a 650nm infrared filter on the front. The filter is from Japan and I don't think of particularly good quality, unlike the Hoya 720nm one I have. As the light was from behind the barn I bracketed my exposures so that I could make an HDR image or blend the exposures in photoshop if I needed to. I made a gentle HDR conversion of the first image which was not t...