Framedlight

This was one of the moments of the holiday which I had really looked forward to. We had not had the opportunity to stake out Zabriskie Point before we arrived for dawn but it was not too far away from our campsite, the parking was easy when we got there and the half dozen or so photographers arriving at the same time indicated where we were to go. Zabriskie Point is scrumptious, there is no other way of describing it. The folded chocolate and vanilla rocks curl up towards Manly Beacon and behind you is a range of pastel coloured hills. The distant mountains glow red and gradually the sun light catches the top of the beacon until it is totally illuminated. Now the display is over and the magic at least partially gone.

The second day of the workshop dawned grey and dull. We all met up at the top of the cliff overlooking Saltwick bay at 7.00am, but it wasn't until 7.20 that the gloom lightened enough to walk down the cliff to the beach. The bottom of the path had given way and the side of the cliff had had some subsisdance from the recent storms. The tide was on its way out and retreating quickly so we spent around 2 hours on the beach before it came up again, just as quickly, threatening to cut us off. I took pictures of the nab - a severe outcrop of stone and the waves as they were fairly fierce where they hit the edge of the reef. I got rather wet taking these as the waves kept sneaking up from behind. Also there was the remains of an old barnacle encrusted boat wrecked under the cliff which was very photogenic. With the wave pictures I prefer the ones with more detail in the water to show the movement. The whole place was a joy to photograph. It is just a pity that the tides do not allow m...

We had arranged that Doug would put his head outside his campervan early - 4.30am to scout out the weather conditions and email us as to whether we should meet at 6.00am by the lake or at 9.00am in Morrisons for breakfast. I woke at 4.45 to take the email, and indeed rain was lashing down outside. However I could not get back to sleep and by 5.30 the rain had moved to an intermittent drizzle so I decided I would get up and mosey on down to the lakeside to see if I could make anything of it. I walked down the footpath that runs along the shore edge taking pictures of whatever took my fancy. The footpath ended on open marshy ground, covered with geese, with a view over to Catbells. There was no pink dawn but some interesting shots in the greyness nonetheless. I struggled focusing when I first got there. It was too dark for the autofocus and I could not see well enough to manually focus. I used my head torch in the boat shot to give a small circle of light on the side of the nearest boat ...

At the beginning of November I went on a workshop with Doug Chinnery based in the Lake District. It was a great 2 days where I learnt some and was able to selfishly indulge my photography. There were only 4 of us, including Doug who gave us all masses of attention. The first day we met at the Tarn Hows car park at 6.00am. I had booked into a B&B in Keswick and it was a forty minute journey down to Tarn Hows on the coldest night of the year so far and I had to scrape the frost from the windshield before starting out. The satnav seemed to have planned my journey around the narrowest roads but I got there for 6.00 and the cold night led into a bright and sunny day. Dawn was gentle as there were few clouds in the sky but the morning light was beautiful. We must have spent 5 hours around the Tarn and here are a few of the pictures. I am not entirely happy with them and have spent the whole of November in search of a good autumn shot. They were all taken on the Nikon D800e with mainly t...

After an Aperture meeting (part of the Cambridge camera Club) I decided to do a 'Snapseed' on some of the Peak District Photos. It is fun but unfortunately will end up with a lot of pictures looking very similar. Not to say that pictures taken at 14mm with a rock in the front aren't all very similar anyway. Maybe I'll try to do a similar thing in photoshop using my own textures as a background to compare. I haven't tried this yet, and although an old technique  it may be better than sticking to a formula.

Fabulous frosty weekend although we could not leave until Saturday morning and did not get to Millstone Edge till 2.00pm.  The sunset was not marvellous as no cloud cover, but dawn the next day was beautiful seen from Higgar Tor. All these pictures are with the D700. I could really tell the difference in performance between the 12-24mm Nikkor lens and the old Tamron 17-35 I have. The Tamron is easier to carry round and takes normal filters but the 12-24 is pin sharp, although a beast. I really enjoyed working with the D700 again Near sunset Millstone Edge Sunset Millstone Edge Sunset Millstone Edge Copse by Surprise View car park The next morning: although it's December it was still too early! Dawn Higgar Tor Dawn Higgar Tor Dawn Higgar Tor Dawn Higgar Tott - graced by the moon Dawn Higgar Tot Dawn Higgar Torr Frosty path Higgar Tor Midday Stanage Edge