Looking at – and seeing – the world
September 28, 2018 6 Comments
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Corn sprouting in the black peat soils of Westhay Moor, south of Wedmore, on the Somerset Levels; 3 June 2016.
There is another “pylon-scape” here.
Click onto the image to open another version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it.
Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 113mm (equiv); 3200 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2.
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September 27, 2018 14 Comments
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Tealham Moor, on the Somerset Levels south of Wedmore: looking west along one of the water-filled ditches that border the rough track that is Tealham Moor Drove; 26 June 2015.
The water-filled ditch or rhyne (rhymes with seen) acts as the boundary between the track (which is unseen on the right) and the fields on the left – I suppose you could call it a liquid fence. Its surface is covered in waterweed, and should man or beast be crazy enough to venture into it, the water will be at least waist deep, while the thick, oozing, glutinous black mud on the bottom will suck down your legs and not let go. Cows coming down to drink do lose their footing and fall in, after which a tractor will be needed to haul them out.
The trees on the left – pollarded Willows – have also featured in images here and here.
Click onto this image to open another version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it.
Technique: D700 with 12-24 Sigma lens at 24mm; 400 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Full Dynamic Harsh preset.
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August 30, 2018 11 Comments
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Reflection in the river beside Ashmoor Drove, on Ash Moor in the Somerset Levels, southwest of Wells; 7 April 2007.
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Technique: F6 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 85mm; Fuji Sensia 100 colour slide rated at 125 ISO; converted to mono, and toned, in Silver Efex Pro 2.
UPDATE: I’m an Anglo-Saxon enthusiast – actually I’m interested in the while period from the departure of the Romans from our shores in 410 CE to the Norman invasion in 1066 CE. A fascinating period of history. And one which, via the Anglo-Saxons, has led me to Tolkien and thus to The Lord of the Rings >>> and so, in this image, to an Ent, alive and swaying before me! But whether swaying in a friendly way, or moving in a less friendly or even frenzied way, I cannot be sure.
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August 5, 2018 14 Comments
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Water Lilies in the North Drain, Tealham Moor, on the Somerset Levels; 25 July 2009.
I like the Minimalism here – just thin, green plants against a dark background – looking almost as if they are floating up into the air on a dark night!
And then there is the way the leaves weave a sinuous line back through the picture, and the increasing dimness of the stems of those further away.
Technique: D700 with 24-120 Nikkor lens at 120mm; 200 ISO; spotmeter reading taken from the nearest leaf.
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August 2, 2018 15 Comments
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Looking west along the North Drain from the Jack’s Drove bridge on Tealham Moor, on the Somerset Levels, at sunrise; 22 Nov 2013.
I’d raced to Tealham Moor to catch the sunrise, and just before the scene was blasted by the light of the rapidly rising sun (see this image), there was this beautiful soft light, with clouds that were faintly tinged pink, off to the west.
A group of three Mute Swans are on the water at lower left, and I’m pleased because this whole scene is just as I remember it.
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Technique: D800 with 80-400 Nikkor lens at 300mm; 800 ISO; Color Efex Pro 4.
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July 19, 2018 8 Comments
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Tadham Moor, looking northwest towards Tealham Moor, on the Somerset Levels; 29 Aug 2013.
On the right, Jack’s Drove runs northwards towards the bridge over the North Drain. Droves originated as networks of tracks that enabled farmers to access their fields without crossing those of other farmers. A few of these droves, like the one here, are now tarmac roads, usually single track or nearly so. The trees include many Alders, which thrive in this area’s perpetual wetness.
On the left, Willows overhang the rhyne (local dialect for a water-filled ditch; rhymes with “seen”) – they were often planted alongside these waterways to strengthen the banks.
And in the centre, the rhyne curves around the end of a field, at once helping to drain its water and also providing a fenceless barrier – the only fences being very small affairs where the fields’ gates are accessed by little bridges across the rhynes. And, finally, the ubiquitous Friesian cattle – curious about this lensman, as always.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
Technique: D700 with 12-24 Sigma lens at 12mm; 200 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting with the Full Dynamic Harsh preset.
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July 17, 2018 10 Comments
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The rising sun lights a willow along Hurn Drove, on Ash Moor, to the northwest of Polsham, on the Somerset Levels; 28 Oct 2014.
Early morning, driving slowly in shelter and shadow, travelling through a world of grey.
But as I turned out onto Hurn Drove, the upper reaches of Our Star broke the horizon and shades of gold were all around.
Click onto the photo to view a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it still further.
Technique: D700 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 300mm; 6400 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Low Key 1 preset and selectively restoring colour.
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July 3, 2018 8 Comments
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Pollarded Willow standing in floodwater on Tadham Moor, south of Wedmore, on the Somerset Levels; 23 Nov 2012.
With its bulky, rounded crown, this tree is top heavy and well on its way to collapse. The usually wet, peat soils provide little in the way of support.
More about the practice of pollarding can be found in my first Somerset Levels post
Technique: D700 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 165mm; 200 ISO; converted to mono with Silver Efex Pro 2, using the Yellowed 1 preset as a starting point.
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May 29, 2018 17 Comments
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This picture is best viewed enlarged: click onto it to open another version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it.
Soon after I started digital photography, I scanned a lot of my colour slides and many of these scans have appeared here. Just recently I’ve been looking back through these hundreds of scans, searching mainly for unposted images from Kenya, but other images have resurfaced too. And I’ve also found Lightroom to be adept at processing these scans – and so to some “pictures from the past”.
I take very few pictures on the Somerset Levels these days because, having taken so very many in the past, most subjects feel like I’m “just doing it all over again”. Instead, the Levels are more for birding and walking now – and for simply being out in calm, quiet, out of the way countryside. But here is a scan from my film days that I chanced upon, and which instantly caught my eye. It shows a flooded track (drove) on (I think) Tealham Moor, and I’m attracted by both the colours and the composition.
The colours are a little different from the original, especially in the sky, and I’d guess that this image has already received some processing in Nikon’s Capture NX2. The composition is dominated by the flooded track which disappears off towards the horizon, and (more so) by its emergent right bank, which starts off up towards upper left, and which then cuts right down across the image into the lower right corner. This picture has evidently been taken with a strongly wide angle lens.
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May 26, 2018 14 Comments
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This image is best viewed enlarged: click onto it to open a larger version in a separate window.
Mute Swans about to land on flooded Tealham Moor, south of Wedmore, on the Somerset Levels; 7 Feb 2014.
Much against good sense, I ventured down onto the Levels recently, to my habitual haunts on Tealham and Tadham Moors. Not daring to take my usual cross-country route because of the many places where even small amounts of flooding might cut it, I drove down the main A38 road south from Bristol to Highbridge, and then went eastwards into the flatlands along another, relatively large road. All was well on these main roads, but as soon as I got onto the smaller lanes, problems with water appeared.
Tealham and Tadham were mostly submerged, with just just the roads sticking up above the waters and little traffic about, but the floods in this more northerly part of the Levels are nothing like those further south, south of the Polden Hills, where whole villages are being overwhelmed, main roads have been cut for weeks, cutting edge pumping technology has been brought in from Holland, and the Army has been called in to help the local people.
The image is starting to look rather unphotographic, more like a painting maybe, and I always feel good when this happens.
Technique: D800 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 300mm; 200 ISO.
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