I manged to nip out for an extended lunch break today to take a walk along the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation at Paper Mill Lock. It’s a location I’ve visited many times before, but there’s always something new to see – especially with the low winter light we had today.
Moorings At The Lock
Lock Keeper’s Cottage Reflection
The Bridge And The Shadows
You can see the full set of images I took today on Flickr. I chose a pretty little cottage for best pic on Day #1836.
November was another busy month photographically. I love the autumn colours, so when time allowed I was out and about photographing the lovely leaves with my fantastic new macro lens. I’m very impressed with the results.
A Little Window In The Ivy
The dark nights made it easy to get out and do some more light painting. Here’s one which I liked from a session out with the GNPC folks at a very dark churchyard!
Light Swirls Panorama
When it was too wet to wave the lightsabres around outside, I indulged in some indoor light painting with various different tools instead, and also had my first go at spinning physiograms – trickier than it looks!
Lenser Twirling
Orbital Decay
Purple Splash #4
More studio activities involved testing out my new Splash Art Kit on various occasions.
It produces some great results with a much better valve and pressure tank than my original Camera Axe setup, and I’ve also bought some great flash brackets for getting better background colours.
I look forward to playing with it more over the coming weeks and months – I’ll certainly need some practice as I’m giving two talks with live demos about water splashes to clubs in the near future!
The Splash Art system also seems a bit more rugged and more easily transportable compared to the delicate electronics of the Camera Axe, so it should be much better for taking on the road to various places.
I enjoyed a lovely weekend visiting a friend at the seaside in Kent mid-month. Saturday was pretty grim, but we had a gloriously crisp, sunny autumn day on the Sunday. There was some amazing light in Broadstairs, Ramsgate and Margate.
Trappings Of A Working Harbour
Talking of the seaside – I witnessed another fantastic sunset in Brightlingsea a few days ago. I was there re-acquainting myself with the qualities of my 100-400mm zoom lens, which I’d just collected from being repaired.
Orange Glow Over Mersea
Beachcomber I, II, III Triptych
Having been a loyal user of Nik Silver Efex Pro for a couple of years, this month I treated myself to Nik Color Efex Pro 4 as an early Christmas present.
I haven’t really had much opportunity to play with it yet, but I have found that it can make some stylish borders for pictures.
This triptych of beautiful stones in the sand at Broadstairs is finished off rather well with the additional edging.
My ongoing love for mono photography was once again fuelled by taking part in the annual Monovember challenge on Flickr. I am pleased with my thirty images, and feel that I did the group justice. However, I will be glad to go back to just needing to make two images a day for December, rather than three!
And so that brings us to the end of the month – and December is upon us once again! Watch this space for the next installment.
I’ve just spent a lovely weekend on the North Kent coast, visiting a friend who’s just moved to Margate. Despite its shabby reputation, the town seems to be on the up once more, with various renovation schemes underway to revitalise the area.
Safe Harbour
The weather wasn’t too kind to us on Saturday, but nevertheless we enjoyed a great lunch out in Margate, followed by a trip to the tiny cinema in Broadstairs to watch the latest Bond movie in the evening.
Sunday dawned warm and sunny, so we went for a long constitutional walk along the beach from Broadstairs almost all the way to Ramsgate. The tide was out and we got to see plenty of interesting rocks and shells along the way.
Rusty Genny II
We ate a splendid late lunch in a little café in Ramsgate and walked around the fine old harbour there – the afternoon light was fantastic and at times, it looked more like the south of France than dear old Blighty!
It’s Not The South Of France
You can see the full set of pictures I took over the weekend here:
The month was reasonably busy for photoshoots, the first of which was my overnight shoot in Paris. Then I had a little outing to the newly-opened Epping to Ongar Steam Railway with my Dad one Saturday. We were scouting out likely locations for taking pictures of the trains going by, but also enjoyed a ride on one of the preserved trains.
Faded Insignia
Our mid-month outing with GNPC saw quite a large crowd of us descend on Heybridge Basin for an evening shoot. It was very windy, quite cold and very flat light, but I managed a few interesting shots, again homing in on details of things in the boatyard for best results.
Red Cleat
I also enjoyed a geocaching walk around Ingatestone Hall and Buttsbury, which proved quite fertile photographically:
Light Over The Fields
At the end of the month, I managed two photoshoots in the same day! Firstly, visiting Hyde Hall with family.
Spikey Succulent
Here are the rest of my images from the morning:
In the evening I went with GNPC for an other outing to Maldon Quayside where we saw local Morris side Dark Horse performing, as well as enjoying the nautical sights of the town.
Thames Barge Details
Here are the rest of my images from the evening:
It was another crisp clear day so I decided to head to Ulting for a walk along the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation canal. It’s a route I’ve done before but there’s plenty to see. Once past the little church of All Saints (which I first photographed way back on Day #41), the towpath got rather muddy, so I slid my way along to the 1951 footbridge and returned via Bumfords Lane (great name!) to the north of the canal. Here are some of my favourites from the day:
Mossy Bridge
Red Rippled
Swan Portrait
Reed Impressions
All Saints, Ulting
1951 Bridge
Wasn’t the lighting fantastic?! I was very pleased with my 45-200mm lens on the GF1 which I used a lot today. It’s the first time it’s really had a good work out in sunny conditions. My favourite from the walk was chosen for Day #1476.