When I crossed the Millennium Footbridge in York at the start of my walk this week I was interested in the arrangement of the half submerged objects in the flooded River Ouse. In post production I also saw the potential for the use of monochrome in many of the photographs I shot with the result that this week I have been posting parallel image galleries in colour and black and white (and one or two in sepia).
There were some images which would have been pointless in monochrome, such as the one above or those below of the primroses. But there are others where the colour was almost pointless such as those of the bridge itself and its wet railing. And then there is the sound . . .Continue reading→
My walk this week features the effect of the flooding River Ouse on Rowntree Park in York. The park was closed due to the excess of water but the cafe overlooking the watery scene was not and so I was able to sit with a coffee and observe.
I don’t think it was the stress of too much water that set the Canada Geese fighting – more likely it was the time of year. It provided some action entertainmentContinue reading→
Fallen Autumn leaves were well spread out on the ground underfoot on my walk this week around the enterprise zone lake in Swansea and it was a pleasure to walk through them. The soundscape around the lake held the things you might expect in this environment including the voices of various ducks, geese, swans, gulls and other birds.
Whether established or more recently planted to extend the woodland further, the arrangement of trees in Stainton Woodland where I enjoyed my walk this week, can only be described as formal. Reminiscent of the French penchant for arboreal pattern, there would be a closer match to their taste if the trees themselves were of a different species.
For whatever reason the obvious pattern of the trees seen from different angles prompted me to experiment with desaturation, monochrome and sepia effects when reviewing the images.
I am sorry I cannot tell you the names of these trees but I am given the impression that they are not going to grow to a huge scale. However, if I visit again in another ten or twenty years, perhaps I will be proved wrong.
For some reason I had the impulse to process this image in sepia tone. Adding a bit of grain, it is given an aged look (as sepia does), as if it were a shot of Swansea Bay from Mumbles taken a century ago. Of course there are a number of tell tale signs that this could not be the case. The most obvious is perhaps the wind turbine.
I mostly work with colour images but now and then I find one that I think benefits from the monochrome treatment. I have a preference for the sepia effect but usually prefer to create this myself rather than use a ready made filter.
This footbridge is featured in the StillWalks video below – Troserch Woodland Walk – but not this shot of it and not in monochrome.
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The strong winds in the UK last week brought with it the opportunity to do a bit of photography. Swansea Bay didn’t get the forecast storm as badly as other places but the winds were still high.
There was a mixture of light with the sun shining through the clouds from time to time and the next moment the atmosphere was murky to say the least. I have a number of shots to post from this event and I am starting today with two that illustrate the darkness of the weather.
The wind was wild and it was almost impossible to keep myself steady let alone the camera. I could have straightened the first image easily and did so to begin with. Then I realised that the angle of the shot helped to emphasise the wild conditions.
The second shot has been manipulated. There was very little colour in the scene anyway and I felt that giving it a sepia tinge helped this aspect of the atmosphere. To further help the photo feel more like my experience of the location, I also blurred the foreground and added grain.
Lastly, don’t forget to check out this week’s featured StillWalks video at the bottom of this post – “Moss Wood Walk” from Neath, South Wales. It will be there all week.
You can use the new Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Moss Wood Walk” which is from Gnoll Park in Neath, South wales. Click the image below to watch the video.
