SOMERSET LEVELS 392 – TOTNEY DROVE, TEALHAM MOOR (MONO)

 

 

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A vehicle approaches the tiny bridge over the North Drain at Rattling Bow, on Tealham Moor.  The bridge itself is seen as the low rise in the road immediately in front of the vehicle, while its guard rails to the right are catching the light.  Totney Drove, the single track road, glistens after rain.

This is in a rather different style to many of my other Levels pictures: it is an image both captured by the camera and which has received most of its post-capture processing within the camera (more detail below).  This in-camera processing is a different way of working: capturing images in the usual way, and then sitting down later with the camera (usually accompanied by a few excellent Belgian golden ales) and trying out different crops and (customisable) looks on them.

Obvious question then, do I like this picture, do I like the post-capture processing that, via my commands, the camera has given it?  I think I do, I think this way of working is worth pursuing as a side line to more “traditional” methods.  The camera’s treatment is harshly dark, but perhaps this suits this flat, wet, open and at times bleak landscape.

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

Technique: Z 6 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 300mm; 800 ISO; jpeg created and processed in-camera from a Raw file, using the Camera Graphite profile and in-camera cropping; further minor processing in Lightroom; Tealham Moor, on the Somerset Levels northwest of Westhay; 9 Aug 2019.
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OUTER SUBURBS 123 – LOOKING INTO THE LIGHT, TOWARDS A VAN (MONO)

 

 

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Looking up a hill after a rain shower – looking up along a gutter in fact – towards a van almost silhouetted by the harsh winter light.

The first image in the Outer Suburbs series, with context, is here: 1 .  Subsequent images are here: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 53a 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 .  Each will open in a separate window.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 25mm (equiv); 200 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Monotone profile; south Bristol; 7 Feb 2019.
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OUTER SUBURBS 122 – PARKED CAR 2 (MONO)

 

 

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Parked car with pavement, kerb and puddle.

The first image in the Outer Suburbs series, with context, is here: 1 .  Subsequent images are here: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 53a 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 .  Each will open in a separate window.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 25mm (equiv); 500 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Monotone profile; south Bristol; 7 Feb 2019.
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OUTER SUBURBS 121 – STREET ART

 

 

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Street art: functional and freshly painted.

The first image in the Outer Suburbs series, with context, is here: 1 .  Subsequent images are here: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 53a 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 .  Each will open in a separate window.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 25mm (equiv); 250 ISO; Lightroom; south Bristol; 25 July 2019.
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SOMERSET LEVELS 365 – THE ROAD NORTH TOWARDS GODNEY (MONO)

 

 

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This image is best viewed enlarged: click onto it to open a larger version in a separate window. and click onto that image to further enlarge it – recommended.

A dark, wet morning on the Somerset Levels, looking back up the road to the village of Godney, on the horizon. 

On the left, the stump of a heavily pollarded Willow, crowned by a few new leaves but close to collapse.

You can find out more about pollarding trees, and about the Somerset Levels too, here .

Technique: X-T2 with 10-24 Fujinon lens at 15mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the B&W 03 profile; Godney Road, looking north towards the village of Godney, northwest of Glastonbury, on the Somerset Levels; 14 June 2019.
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BRISTOL 142 – THE WAY I SEE THINGS

 

 

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Passing time in central Bristol – early for a very pleasant lunch, Korean food, as it happens – and looking at anything and everything. 

And so to looking down in Baldwin Street – roadside puddle with reflections, pavement and wooden plank.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 35mm (equiv); 1000 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; Baldwin Street, Bristol city centre; 25 June 2019.
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SOMERSET LEVELS 359 – LONG DROVE, QUEEN’S SEDGE MOOR (MONO)

 

 

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On Queen’s Sedge Moor, an area of the Levels to the south of the tiny city of Wells, Long Drove makes off towards the sunrise.  This is a single track road with a tarmac surface: there are narrow  raised verges on either side, and beyond them (and unseen here) narrow, water-filled ditches known as rhynes (rhymes with scenes).

The Somerset Levels are a landscape that I love: they are a tremendous source of peace in this time poor, increasingly frenetic age – you won’t see too much multitasking down here! – and they are a place to feel close to Nature, the Natural World – and hence my dalliance with a Sedge Warbler that I wrote about recently.

But, as this long, dead straight road shows, this is not actually a very old landscape, nor is it a natural one: it is land that has been reclaimed relatively recently – within the last 400 years at most I would guess – from the lakes and marshes that formerly covered the area.  And in new landscapes, and especially flat ones, the quickest route between two points is a straight line.

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

Technique: X-T2 with 10-24 Fujinon lens at 15mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Soft Orange preset and adding a split tone; Long Drove, Queen’s Sedge Moor, on the Somerset Levels south of Wells; 26 Apr 2019.
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SOMERSET LEVELS 358 – GODNEY ROAD, LOOKING SOUTH (MONO)

 

 

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This image is best viewed enlarged: click onto it to open another version in a separate window, and click onto that image to further enlarge it – recommended.

The single track Godney Road makes off southwards from the village of Godney, heading towards Glastonbury.  On either side are the pollarded stumps of Willows which, now that summer is here, are starting to grow new twigs and leaves.

You can find out more about the pollarding of trees, and the Somerset Levels too, here .

Technique: X-T2 with 10-24 Funijon lens at 15mm (equiv); Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Landscape preset and adding a split tone;  Godney Road, south of Godney, on the Somerset Levels; 14 June 2019.
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OUTER SUBURBS 117 – PHONE BOX, WET MORNING (MONO)

 

 

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Street scene; and late spring’s feelgood factor … some  warmth … some less dull light … not too much to ask really … not being quite fulfilled.

The first image in the Outer Suburbs series, with context, is here: 1 .  Subsequent images are here: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 53a 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 .  Each will open in a separate window.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 25mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Film Noir 1 preset and adding a light Selenium tone; south Bristol; 8 May 2019.
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OUTER SUBURBS 112 – SCHOOL BUS

 

 

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Grey, damp morning, with empty bus, wet road, wet pavement and puddle.

The first image in the Outer Suburbs series, with context, is here: 1 .  Subsequent images are here: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 53a 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 .  Each will open in a separate window.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid film simulation; south Bristol; 8 May 2019.
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