Welcome back to my blog page, brought to you by the roaming Mackem Photographer!
The Easter weather in the North-East of England has been a bit of 'Hit and miss', with bright sunshine and broken cloud one day, followed by overcast skies and light showers the next. Then again, this is the North-East, where unpredictable weather is almost the norm, so we take what comes our way and duly plod on. I don't take a lot of notice of weather forecasts these days, even though I'm a regular viewer of the Tyne-Tees TV weather bulletins, to which I often contribute my own photo's. Although the forecasts are quite accurate they can also be inaccurate, even one day in advance, so I tend to go with the flow and adapt my photography to the changing weather conditions. In most cases you have to suck the proverbial lemon and make the most of what you've got, sun, rain, wind or snow. A typical example of this confronted me last Sunday, when I made the trip west to the Lake District National Park, during what was billed as 'Mostly sunny and occasional cloudy weather.' Well it was cloudy alright, make no mistake of that, but as for 'Mostly sunny', someone was surely having a laugh! The sun did show for a few minutes during the whole day, but that was all we got, so it was quite disappointing in that respect. Plan B has a timely habit of kicking in under circumstances like this, when a lack of colour has me eyeing up those potential moody shots, and what better place to be than the Lake District. Today's photo offerings are almost Black & White, give or take the odd carpet of green grass here and there. My first shot is by far the most colourful of the bunch - a classic Lake District scene, captured at the Keswick Launch, on the shoreline of Derwentwater. Taken shortly before lunch time, I was lucky the cold weather didn't attract tourists who fancied an open boat trip across the lake, so all of the rowing boats sat exactly where I had hoped, tethered to each other, ready to be photographed. Anyone that did take to the water was ferried across by a sheltered tourist boat, which can also be seen in my first shot, as it pulls in alongside the jetty. The backdrop of High Spy & Catbells, to the left, plus Causey Pike & Barrow to the right finish the shot off quite well. These are fells of the North-Western Region, topped by a sprinkling of snow, and definitely on my list of fells to climb in the Summer.
After my brief stop at Keswick Launch I headed to Buttermere, part of the Western Fell Region. It was still overcast when I arrived, some minutes later. I parked up near the Fish Inn and started my walk down to the Buttermere shoreline, and cold it certainly was. There was quite a few like-minded folk on the public footpath, braving the chill, en route to the waters edge and the view that greeted all. I could only imagine how much better this view would have been on a hot Summer's day, blue sky, broken cloud and all that comes with it. But once again, it was here and now so there was no time to dwell on what wasn't in the glass, but to be thankful for what was in it. Onward I went, round the lake from the Northern end and back again, in a mere two hours, which wasn't bad considering the amount of photo stops I chalked off. At the Southern End of Buttermere I reached one of the most popular photographic locations in the UK, the Sentinels, which are a row of tree's at the waters edge, sitting in front of two dominating fells, Haystacks & Green Gable. Another location that has to be top of my list for the Summer, but I will need to be awake early for this one as the sun comes up directly behind these two massive fells. To view a Google based image of exactly what I'm describing,
'Click here.' Ten minutes or so into my walk around the lake, I was immune to the cold, climatising quickly to the conditions that I was presented with, although I admit to being wrapped up well from head to toe (Be prepared). As Alfred Wainwright once said
'There is no such thing as bad waether in the Lake District, just unsuitable clothing.'
On my return to the Fish Inn, I popped in for a quick glass of Coke, to wet the owld whistle, before sitting my arse down in the car for a well deserved breather. I tucked into a bag of crisps to fill a hole, before leaving Buttermere and driving up Honister Pass to Keswick, then back onto the A66, homeward bound. Of course, the roaming Mackem Photographer needs his body fuel, so a pit-stop at Penrith saw me handing over £5.20 for a big portion of the finest Fish & Chips, washed down with Diet Coke. Now that was worth the wait. I had me little heart set on a Kebab, with hot chilli and garlic sauce, but I found a chip shop and got myself in. Just about to pull away with the goodies when I noticed a young couple walking out of a shop a few doors up the bank where I was parked. They had a carrier bag with those white polystyrene boxes in it, ya know, the ones you get KEBABS in.
As I drove away I looked towards the shop front and the sign above the front window said 'Turkish Kebab House' !!!! Typical eh. These Fish & Chips better be good or else I'll not be a happy bunny. Ah well, I shoulda looked around first instead of jumping the gun. Anyway, the Fish Supper was very, very good, so it worked out well in the end. I've gone off Kebab's anyway (wink).
And that is all once again. Hope you like the latest batch of photo's. It was a good trip and despite the dull weather, the Lake District always has something to offer - it's photogenic all the way, rain, wind, snow or sun. It's there for the taking...
To view more photo's of my Buttermere visit, look out for a site update at
www.ashleycorr.com.
Ash
I never tire of photographing Penshaw Monument. Whether it's Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter, during Rain, Wind, Snow or Shine, there's every chance I'll be there, looking through the viewfinder. And from dusk til dawn, it's more of the same, as I capture this landmark in a variety of conditions which are rarely the same. Of course, there are many angles to photograph from and it's always a good idea to cover each one at some point, which is something I've never done, strangely enough. The 'Back' of Penshaw Monument, which I will refer to as 'The opposite side of the steps', is an angle I rarely shoot from, although I still have a nice shot from the mid-eighties which was taken from a spot on the A123, near North Hylton, with Cox Green Golf Course in the foreground and a 'Patchwork quilt' of surrounding fields. But above all, the classic view from the bottom of the steps is still my favourite. Photographed to death, I'm sure, but at night this view is even better as the place comes alive with the illuminations. This batch of Penshaw Monument low-light shots is by far the best I've managed to date and I'm chuffed to bits with them. After an early evening visit to the Angel (see previous blog entry) with Billy, he went back home so I headed up Penshaw Hill on my own in search of some nice shots. I was up there in pitch darkness and there was no-one else around. Some of the halogen lights were out and columns were in shade, which wasn't good for making pictures, so done a 180 degree spin and photographed the light trails along the dual carriageway. The street lamp effect was very eye-catching, to say the least. Check it out below (last shot).
