Author Archives: athyfoto

Black & Light 2

In February I posted a picture I made at Middleham Castle titled Black & Light In April I made another picture along the same lines this time at Fountains Abbey. As I looked at this scene my human eyes opened up the shadows. But I saw what looked a little like torn pieces of paper on a black background, and when spot metered for the highlights the camera agreed. I did take the shadows down as much as possible in pp to remove what little light was bouncing into the shadows. I shot the image a little before noon on a sunny day, a time that some say is not particularly good due to the harsh, high contrast nature of the light. I just used that to my advantage, you just need to make the best of the conditions you have at the time.

High contrast at Fountains Abbey.

Foliage, views from the kitchen window.

There is a lot more foliage than flowers in our garden and the variety of shapes and textures of the foliage is what attracts me to them. Here are three images I picked out after browsing through my June folder.

Meadow

This was a picture I made on a visit to R.H.S. Harlow Carr which is near Harrogate. They have beautiful specimen trees and immaculately prepared flower beds as well as some woodland areas. But I really like the way they encourage humble wild flowers to grow as well, so much more natural and deserving no less merit than the formal plantings in my view.

Ethereal view of a meadow.

Rievaulx

Rievaulx is a Cistercian Abbey founded in 1132 and sits in a Valley on the North York Moors. I called in there the other day after having visited Byland Abbey just a few miles away. Even after the ravages of Henry VIII’s “disolution” in 1538 it really is still a magnificent structure. Owned by English Heritage it is really well looked after and maintained. The best views of the Abbey, in my opinion, are from Rievaulx Terrace which is high up on the hill adjacent. The terrace is owned and operated by the National Trust.

Anyway I couldn’t resist taking this picture of a gentleman taking a picture, not sure if anyone was behind me taking a picture of me taking a picture of . . . . enough!

Rievaulx Abbey

Rievaulx Abbey

Cheek by Jowl

Skipton is a really nice town situated between the Yorkshire Dales to its north and the moors to its south. It has a really nice, well preserved, 900 year old motte and bailey castle right in the middle of town. The high street has regular street markets and the town has numerous pubs, restaurants and cafes as well as lots of independent shops. So this bustling town has lots going for it and loads of photo opportunities right up front . . . . but I preferred to look behind the scenes a little bit and came up with a shot from the canal towpath showing the character of some of the town’s wonderful cottages just slightly off the well trodden shopping areas, and one shot that is the view a visitor gets when using a small car park just behind the shops.

Living cheek by jowl

Living cheek by jowl

Out the back

Out the back

 

 

Buds, Blooms and Bees

A week or so ago I posted in another place on a forum some pictures of flower buds in the garden still tightly closed. I called the post “Darling Buds of May” and was hoping for some warmth to get them to open up. Well we have been away for ten days and when we came back home the garden was in full bloom and the place was full of bees. This afternoon I spent half an hour with my head down amongst them, with so much pollen up for grabs they weren’t bothered by me at all.

Buds waiting to burst open

And now!

Bee and Bloom 1

Bee and Bloom 2

Invisible man

I’m no street photographer, I get too self conscious and therefore too conspicuous. However while out shopping recently I had my “notebook” in my pocket (Canon G9) and was really captivated by this scene so I took the shot.  He wasn’t having a problem, he was just sitting there, just to the left was a busker so maybe he was enjoying the music. I couldn’t have got the shot at a shutter speed low enough to get the image I “saw” here, even if I had the time to try, so I processed the RAW file to get what I wanted the scene to say.

invisible man

Watching the world go by

Waiting for the warmth

I shot this scene in mid March this year. No signs of the trees coming into leaf then, and deciduous trees in winter are one of my favourite sights to see and shoot. Another of my favourite subjects is the sky, I like watching clouds, no I’m not losing my grip 🙂 its just that there are some dramatic scenes rolling by and changing by the minute and I like to capture some of that. So this little scene contains two of my favourite subjects in one picture.

A few weeks later and these trees will be wearing their spring and summer foliage and there will be a very different feel to the scene. Maybe I will try to get back to the same spot during the summer to re-make the picture.

A view of three deciduous trees in front of a dramatic cloudy sky.

Waiting for the sun to return

Glowing diamonds at Bettys

RHS Harlow Carr is a place that we love to visit no matter what the weather. But it is so much better when the sun shines. Harlow Carr has a garden centre, a gift shop (ubiquitous these days!) lots of free parking and whats even  better . . Bettys Tea Room! The tea room has an outside terrace where you can stick out your little finger while drinking your tea, soaking up the rays and enjoying the view of gardens planted grown and maintained by great gardeners. There is even a learning centre that has a library and also holds exhibitions as well as classes where you can expand your knowledge of horticulture (as you do).

This picture of the terrace area showed itself to me as we were about to leave, the sun was shining down on the tables and as the temperatures were still low the terrace was empty.

A view of tables and chairs at Harlow Carr

Table tops glowing in the sun

By the Nidd

A stroll along the River Nidd at Knaresborough in the late afternoon was a lot quieter than expected. It is usually a busy place but the only person we shared this spot with was a lone cyclist. We had spotted a couple of tourists but that was about it. The sun was raking across the river casting these wonderful shadows of the railings and everything seems to take the eye to the cyclist. I made the mono conversion and used a cream tone finish.

This week seems to promise a possible start to the summer with temperatures rising from 11 degrees yesterday to 23 degrees today with more forecast to come. I’m looking forward to the sun on my back for a change!

A view of the walkways by the river Nidd

Shadows and shapes by the Nidd