SOMERSET LEVELS 366 – SPRING MORNING (MONO)

 

 

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A rather unusual picture from these mostly open flatlands: my car surrounded – besieged  almost – by spring flowers and pollarded Willows.  It was early in the morning and I was driving out onto the Levels from the north – on the road from Blackford to Westhay as the wonderfully aslant SCC (Somerset County Council) signpost informed me.

And I’d pulled into the open entrance of a rough track called Tealham Moor Drove, to drink a cup of coffee, savour the quiet of the early morning, and just take a look at anything and everything.

And so to peace, quiet, flowers with a shadowed field gate on their left, the leaning and wonderfully unModern signpost, dense trees – and my small, old, battered and dirty car, bedecked with lichens, spiders’ webs, mud and other less mentionable substances.  A simple scene, and an at once wonderful and very ordinary little place to be.

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

Technique: Z 6 with 70-300 Nikkor lens used (mistakenly!) in DX (= APS-C) format to give 105mm; 640 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Neutral v2 profile; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Center Focus preset and adding a light Ambrotype tone; at the western end of Tealham Moor Drove, on the Somerset Levels south of Blackford; 3 May 2019.
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SOMERSET LEVELS 348 – LOOKING ALONG THE LANE BELOW THE WHITELAKE BRIDGE

 

 

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Looking south from the Whitelake Bridge, on Hearty Moor.  A single track lane, its surface muddy and gently (i.e. characterfully!!!) undulating, disappears off amongst the shadowy trunks of trees.  Spring flowers line the sides of the lane, and trees bright with fresh, pale foliage overhang it.  A simple little scene, a lovely little place, a place in which to feel uncomplicated, quiet and at peace – except when the farmer comes through with his tractor or cows.

I’m not too sure where the point of focus is here, it may be down near where the road disappears, as the roadside flowers seem a little soft – but, well, you know, go with the flow.  If I’m trying to get myself off the hook, I suppose I could call this an impression of the scene and, in any case, I’m glad to have the picture.

A further point is that, much as I like mono, I had trouble here deciding on mono or colour >>> and so to both.  I think the mono has it >>> but what do you think???????

Particularly as, in the mono version, in my mind’s eye, I see that great bank of pale foliage on the right as the crest of a huge wave that is about to engulf this tranquil scene.  And although this may seem a rather fanciful vision (I never restrain my imagination), the latest forecasts for sea level rise due to global warming by the end of this century are two metres (about 6 feet), and if that happens then the Somerset Levels will be squarely in the firing line.  The Romans used to be able to get into the vicinity of this picture in sea-going ships, after all, so this is not science fiction.

Both of these pictures can be enlarged by clicking onto them to open a larger version in a separate window, and then clicking onto that picture to further enlarge it – recommended, especially for the mono version >>> those shadowy tree trunks just where the road disappears, to me there’s something from Lord of the Rings down down there!

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Technique: Z 6 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 210mm; 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Landscape V2 picture control; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Film Noir 1 preset and adding a moderate Coffee tone; Hearty Moor, northeast of Glastonbury, on the Somerset Levels; 26 Apr 2019.
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SOMERSET LEVELS 337 – MORNING SKY, LOOKING NORTH (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.

Looking up, looking to the north, early on a spring morning.

Technique: X-T2 with 10-24 Fujinon lens at 15mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Provia/Standard film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Landscape preset and adding a Split Tone; Bourtonbridge Drove, Queen’s Sedge Moor, on the Somerset Levels; 26 April 2019.
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OUTER SUBURBS 108 – SPRING 2

 

 

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Standing beside a roaring main road, enjoying spring’s vital rush.  And looking up, filling the frame with the natural world >>> albeit the planted-at-the-roadside natural world.

There is an earlier spring image here: 1 .

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 .  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); 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid film simulation; south Bristol; 13 April 2019.
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OUTER SUBURBS 107 – SPRING

 

 

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A cold, dark, misty morning in spring, with the sun rising through banks of thick, dark overcast.

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 .  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 100mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid film simulation; south Bristol; 17 Apr 2019.
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