ARCHIVE KENYA 115 – LAKE NAKURU (MONO)

 

 

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Flamingos on Lake Nakuru, Kenya; Oct 1977.  The soda-rich waters of this lake can host over a million of these birds at a time.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.

Technique:  OM-1 with 28mm Zuiko lens and polariser; Agfa CT18 colour slide film, rated at 64 ISO; converted to mono with Silver Efex Pro.

THE ARCHIVE KENYA SERIES

I’m re-posting photographs that I took in Kenya over 30 years ago.  You can find more context here .  Click onto the “Archive Kenya” tag (below) to see more of these film images from Kenya.

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MENDIP HILLS 43 – TREES BESIDE A LAKE (MONO)

 

 

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Bare winter trees, beside almost still water.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: Z 6 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 300mm; 1600 ISO; jpeg created and processed in-camera from a Raw file, using the Graphite profile; Priddy Mineries Reserve, high on the Mendip Hills, Somerset; 7 Dec 2020.
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ARCHIVE 460 – TREES BESIDE A LAKE (MONO + COLOUR)

 

 

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Low trees beside the marshy lake on the Priddy Mineries Reserve, near Priddy village, on the Mendip Hills, Somerset; 16 June 2014.

On seeing this scene, I very much liked the sunlit pale yellow-greens of the young leaves, and here I’ve tried to portray that, while relegating everything else in the frame to a vague impression. 

The tops of the low plants that cover most of the lake’s open water are in the foreground, below the trees.  A hillside rises behind the trees.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: D700 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 300mm; 400 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Soft Orange preset and selectively restoring colour.

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ARCHIVE 344 – MIST LIFTING, HERONS GREEN

 

 

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Early morning mist lifting at Herons Green Bay, Chew Valley Lake, south of Bristol; 6 Apr 2015.

Driving through the Chew Valley, heading for the Mendip Hills, I came out onto an open stretch of road beside Chew Valley Lake and was suddenly enveloped in thick mist.  But over to my left the sun was starting to rise, the mist was lifting and changing colours in the most visually seductive ways – and I swerved into a layby, jumped out and started taking pictures.

I was there for about an hour, and this is the first of a short series of images from that misty morning.  I love images with little detail, and the telezoom that I’m married to was just right for picking out scenes in that warm softness.

Chew Valley Lake is a large reservoir, the 5th largest artificial area of water in the UK.  It was opened in 1956, to supply Bristol with drinking water.  It has many memories for me because it was here, in 1967, that two school friends first opened my eyes to birds and birdwatching, and so set me on a path and interest that continued through to 2002.  I no longer go birdwatching, but I retain a deep love and feeling for birds, and see them as an essential facet of all land-, water- and skyscapes.

Click onto the image to see a larger version in a separate window.

Technique: D700 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 78mm; 200 ISO; Color Efex Pro 4.

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STILL LIFE 208 – TREES BESIDE A LAKE 2

 

 

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A second look at the trees reflected in the lake in the Priddy Mineries Reserve.  Rather than viewing them at an angle along the lake’s shore as I did in the previous image (3, below), I’m using a longer telephoto here to look straight at them from the other side of the lake, and this version omits the bright blue reflection of the clear sky.

Once again, the rising sun is lighting up the rising ground behind the lake shore, and the reflection of this colouration is seen in the shot’s foreground.  Just above the centre of the shot is the lower ground along the lake’s shore, which has yet to be illuminated by the sun, and which is receiving its light from the clear blue sky.  The reflection in the lake of this band of colour is seen just below the image’s centre.

Context from this shoot is here: 3 .  Other photos are here: 1 2  .

Click onto the image to open another version in a separate window, and click onto that image to further enlarge it – recommended.

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom, using the Provia/Standard film simulation; Priddy Mineries Reserve, on the Mendip Hills, Somerset; 16 Feb 2018.

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STILL LIFE 207 – TREES BESIDE A LAKE 1

 

 

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The Priddy Mineries Nature Reserve is found on the Mendip Hills, south of Bristol.  It is an area of open ground made rugged by lead mining, and it includes a small lake.  I’ve done quite a bit of photography here over the past 15 years, including recently on a very cold, early morning.

Other images from this early morning shoot, already posted, are here: 1 2  .

What is this image looking at?  Well, I am standing on one side of the small lake, looking across it towards some small, bare trees on the opposite shore.  The sun is just rising behind me, and the lower parts of the trees and the ground around them are still in shadow but, above the shadow, the golden, low angle sunlight is bathing both the upper parts of the trees and the pale brown vegetation on the hillside behind.

It is a very still morning, with barely a ripple on the lake’s surface, and this liquid mirror is reflecting the hillside’s warm, sunlit browns, the bright blue of the clear sky, and the trees’ upper branches.

Click onto the image to open another version in a separate window, and click onto that image to further enlarge it.

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 106mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Astia/Soft film simulation; Priddy Mineries Reserve, on the Mendip Hills, Somerset; 16 Feb 2018.
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ARCHIVE 229 – TUFTED DUCK

 

 

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Male Tufted Duck on the edge of a reedbed at Chew Valley Lake, south of Bristol; 18 Mar 2013.

This species is a common waterbird in the UK.  Rather than moving in close for a portrait – which I was completely unable to do – this picture shows the bird in a typical habitat.

Many male ducks (drakes) have beautifully coloured plumage, while the far duller plumage of the females (ducks) reflects their need to remain concealed on the nest while incubating their eggs.

D700 with 70-300 Nikkor at 300mm; 200 ISO.

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ARCHIVE 226 – NAKURU DAWN

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Dawn mists rise above Lake Nakuru, central Kenya; January 1978.

The large, white birds with huge bills in the foreground are White Pelicans.  In the lake behind them are the trunks of trees that, flooded by the lake, have been killed by the high concentration of sodium bicarbonate in its waters. Cormorants (the same bird as in the UK) perch on these dead trunks, and a nest of sticks is also visible.

This lake is over a mile above sea level and so, particularly after a clear night, the whole place can be pretty chilly by first light – standing around taking pictures, waiting for the sunrise, we were well wrapped up!  At altitudes a little above this – and right on the equator – frosts can occur.

Clicking onto this image opens a (slightly) larger version in a separate window.

Vivitar 400mm telephoto on Olympus SLR, mounted on a tripod; colour transparency.

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MENDIP HILLS 23 – TREES BESIDE A LAKE (MONO + COLOUR)

 

 

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Low trees beside the marshy lake on the Priddy Mineries Reserve, near Priddy village; 16 June 2014.

On seeing this scene, I very much liked the sunlit pale yellow-greens of the young leaves, and here I’ve tried to portray that, while relegating everything else in the frame to a vague impression.  My previous two posts also portray plants, but in a style quite different to this.  Both were in black and white, but whereas one is a straight portrait, the other is much rougher and more rugged and “in your face”.  

The tops of the low plants that currently cover most of the lake’s open water are in the foreground, below the trees.  A hillside rises behind the trees.

D700 with 70-300 Nikkor at 300mm; 400 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Soft Orange preset and selectively restoring colour.
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ARCHIVE 59 – LAGOON AT MAGADI (MONO)

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Alkaline lagoon at Lake Magadi in the rift valley of southern Kenya; Nov 1977.

The volcanic rocks of Kenya’s rift valley are very rich in sodium.  This element is leached out by the rain and, in this area, the sodium-rich waters flow down underground into Lake Magadi.  This lake has no outlet apart from evaporation, and so the sodium content in its waters builds up.

Much of the lake has a solid sodium carbonate crust, but here a small lagoon still retains a liquid, if rather slimy,  surface.  The water is so alkaline that it feels soapy to the touch – it starts dissolving your skin as soon as you touch it!

OM-1 with 28mm Zuiko;  Agfa CT18 rated at 64 ISO; Silver Efex Pro.
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