Northern Lights, Bamburgh - April 2015

Hello again and welcome to another blog entry. I've been looking forward to writing about my recent sighting of the Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis. After a brief showing back in December 2014, I was hopeful of catching a better light show before the end of the Aurora season, which is normally in late March. There had been a handful of decent Aurora activity since December, notably the big one on St. Patrick's Day, but sods law kicked in and I missed them, mainly due to work commitments, and not for the first time either. So, when a predicted forecast of Aurora activity was on the cards in late April, I decided to push the envelope and get myself up the coast to photograph it. As it happened I was working until 11.20pm on April 20th but that wasn't going to stop me making the 130 mile round trip, even though I was quite knackered at the end of my shift. The opportunity was too good to pass, especially as the aurora prediction also coincided with clear skies and no moon, which are ideal for this kind of photography. So, with everything in place, it was all systems go!

I made the journey north with work colleague and friend Ryan Pearce, who like myself has only been doing Astrophotography for a few months. We were both excited as to what the night had in store for us and we weren't disappointed. After an hour or so on the road we were soon in position with our cameras at Stag Rock Lighthouse, Bamburgh, on the Northumberland coast. This was the same location as my first and only sighting of the Northern Lights, so we were more than hopeful of a good light show to reward us for our efforts. Pointing our cameras in a northerly direction we fired off our first test shots to see if we could pick up any activity. Bingo! A magenta cloud was fairly prominent on the horizon and what a start to the night that was. Soon we could see small spires and they shifted fairly quickly to the right, along the horizon. The spires got bigger and more appeared as the minutes passed. To the naked eye they appeared as a grey hue, but the long exposures that the camera pulled in showed them as bright green and magenta. I ran off a time lapse sequence whilst watching the dancing lights, which consisted of around 80 x 20 second exposures.

The Milky Way was very prominent and stretched across the sky between the Aurora and Bamburgh Castle. I was hopeful of bagging a shot of the full vista in front of me, although the vast expanse would only be achieved by taking several shots and stitching them together in Photoshop. The photo at the top is the result of taking 14 exposures and letting Photoshop do the rest. Once stitched I edited the image, which took around 15 minutes to complete. I would say it's one of my best shots to date. This time last year I didn't even know what the Milky Way and Aurora looked like, so to grab myself a shot like this meant a lot. A rare phenomenon!

The lights danced on the horizon for two and a half hours before an orange glow began to appear. Yes, the sun was on its way. We left Bamburgh at around 4.15am and headed home. Job done. This was a memorable night, to say the very least. I have compiled a time lapse video of what we saw on this eventful night and it can be found on my website. Visit ashleycorr.com and head off to the TV page where you will find the 2 and a half minute footage. Alteratively, if you have access to a Smart TV, go to the YouTube app and search for 'Bamburgh Aurora'. The search results will show the thumbnail image with my name next to it. The video has been produced in High Definition and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. It's only my first attempt at this kind of thing, but I think I done ok. And that's about it. Hope you enjoyed this blog entry. Cheers, Ash  

 

Fully Stocked Once Again...

Apologies for the long delay in updating my blog page. It's been almost a full calendar month since my 'Back 2 Nature' blog entry, so I'll have to get back up to speed on here...soon.

Anyway, It has been a busy month to be fair - decorating the house, improving the garden, boarding out the loft and suchlike. There's also been the time consuming task of creating new framed prints following another successful batch of sales at Penshaw Tea Rooms and Clay's Garden Centre. A couple of weeks ago I replenished the stocks, filling the wall space and also the display boxes, which is always nice. It often crosses my mind about banging on more doors to sell my work, but to be quite honest, my two longest serving outlets keep me busy enough as it is, which is all good. Obviously there are times of year when sales slow down and then ramp up again, especially during the Spring and around Christmas time. The quiet spells are fine, as it gives me that extra time out in the field with the camera. The busy spells however can be very hectic and there have been times when I've been at it from early morning until late at night, but as long as there is a dmand for my work then that suits me fine. Happy days!

And so to the latest batch from ashleycorr.com. Following the sales of all of my 32x22 inch canvas prints at Penshaw Tea Room, another 6 are now on display, as well as a dozen framed prints and 30 mounted prints of various sizes. Clay's Garden Centre is now showing a fresh line up of both canvas and frames within the very popular in house Coffee Shop. In addition to this there is a display box on the shop floor containing 25 medium mounted prints (14x11 inches) and 15 small mounted prints (10x8 inches). Accompanying them is a selection of my postcards that I had left over from my Tourist Board commission a couple of years ago. The set of postcards depict local landscape scenes in the North-East of England. Prices are as follows, which have no increase since 2013...

32x22 inch gallery wrap canvas print, on 32mm box frame - £60.00 each
20x16 inch framed prints - £45.00 each
36x12 inch panoramic framed prints - £60.00 each
14x11 inch framed prints - £30.00 each
14x11 inch mounted prints - £15.00 each
10x8 inch mounted prints - £10.00 each
A5 postcards (spot gloss finish) - 30p each

Here is a small selection of the new stock, including some made to order items for other customers. I never got a chance to photograph any of the new canvases as they went straight out of the door after they were framed. Also shown is my new business card which I designed last week, matching the new fonts on my revamped website.  More recent photo's to follow...honest Guv!

Thanks again for visiting my blog page

AC

Back 2 Nature

Hello again!

A change of direction with my latest blog entry - it's a return to some nature photography, after an absence of a few months. It's generally Springtime when I kick start my nature photography and this year is no different as the breeding season kicks in once again. And what better location to reacquaint myself with nature photography, it has to be Rainton Meadows Nature Reserve on the door step that is Houghton le Spring. It's always a challenge to capture those eye catching shots of Mute Swans at sunset, especially at this time of year when these territorial birds let you know in no uncertain terms who is boss. Get too close and you'll know about it, let there be no doubt about that. A little bit of field craft comes into play in these situations and that has developed of the years with experience in similar situations. I've got to know the tolerance levels of Mute Swans, mainly due to many visits to this locations and also by monitoring their habits and behaviour close up. I've gained a lot of knowledge after photographing these birds and have learned not to push the limits. Let them rule their habitat at all times. Do the job and then get out.

So here is my latest set of images, caught shortly after sunset on a mild March evening. The water was still and only a solitary swan on show, which was all I needed. When the sun had gone it was a brief waiting game as I prepared to take my shots with a nice colourful backdrop. And so it came and went, lasting a mere ten minutes. Only a short window to bag the shots, but it was enough. I was only a few feet away from the Cobb (male swan) as it posed for me on one of the many ponds at Rainton Meadows. It seemed more than at ease with my presence and sat contently on the water as the colour appeared in the sky behind it. I appeased the bird with the occasional food pellet, which it welcomed. Without the grub I may have been out of luck. As it was, luck was well and truly on my side on this occasion. I was chuffed with the shots. Here is 3 efforts from a batch of a dozen keepers. Hope you like them. Until the next time, stay tuned...

Ash

Star Trails @ Souter Lighthouse, Marsden

Ey-up!

Another blog entry heading your way. I'm gonna try and keep on top of my blog page as I know just how easily I can be distracted by my ACP Facebook page. Around 18 months ago I finally joined Facebook after steering away from it for so long. It was the commitment to that which was mainly to blame for me taking a back seat with my blog, so I'm gonna try not to let that happen again. It's a bit of a juggling act to say the least, but hopefully I'll get it right this time. I enjoy updating the blog, although sometimes I struggle with the task of not repeating myself. Ah well, I'll plod on and continue with the adventures of a roaming Mackem. Today's update comes in the shape of some recent Astrophotography. What the frig is Astrophotography, I hear you say. Well, let me enlighten you...(cut and pasted from the ver trusty Wikipedia)... 

Astrophotography is a specialized type of photography for recording images of astronomical objects and large areas of the night sky. The first photograph of an astronomical object (the Moon) was taken in 1840, but it was not until the late 19th century that advances in technology allowed for detailed stellar photography. Besides being able to record the details of extended objects such as the Moon, Sun, and planets, astrophotography has the ability to image objects invisible to the human eye such as dim stars, nebulae, and galaxies.

Now we've got that little issue out of the way I'd like to tell you about my recent trip to Souter Lighthouse, near Marsden, which lies along our coastal route between Whitburn and South Shields. I decided on this location to do a star trail sequence as it is an ideal spot with not too much light pollution if you're facing Polaris (the North Star). On this occasion though, I wanted to give Polaris a night off and instead capture the sequence in a westerly facing direction. I was pretty much dictated by the shot I had in mind and the particular direction I would need to face to achieve this. So, I took up position with my back to the North Sea, which included a nice lead in line which was a set of steps. Obviously the lighthouse was to be my focal point and the star trail would finish the shot off. Well, these things always seem to work in theory, but it was now time to put in all into practise. As you can imagine, it was dark by the time I set my gear up and there was no-one else around. I wish I had a quid for every time I looked behind me. Paranoia tends to kick in during situations like this, but you just have to grow a pair and get on with it.

I don't remember off hand how long I ran the sequence for. I remember 30 second continuous exposures clicking away for quite a while, or so it seemed. Looking at the finished shot I was guess I stood there for around twenty minutes or so. More than happy with the result. I've included a colour splash version for good measure.

I still feel very much a novice in this area, although I've done half a dozen star trail sequences during the past year. It's all about how long you can wait it out. The longer the sequence, the better the trails. Hope you like it..

Back soon... Ash

Bamburgh Sunrise

Hello again.
Miserable weather today, which is no surprise on a weekend after you've been grafting your arse off on the days leading up to it. Ah well, the camera stays in the bag and out comes the laptop. It's update time once again at ashleycorr.com.

By contrast, this blog entry features some recent sunrise shots that have plenty of colour in them, unlike today's flat sky that I see out of the living room window. This Winter sunrise outing that had me travelling north up the A1 on a very cold January morning. It was a 5am alarm call that started the day. I was hopeful of a good sunrise, as I was about to begin the round trip of 130 miles. I've only done a couple of sunrises at this location and I was luck both times in the past, so three in a row would do very nicely. Sooner or later I would fall victim of the false dawn, so I had my fingers crossed that it wouldn't be on this occasion. A long way to go for a big fat nowt! One hour and fifteen minutes up the road and I was soon dropping anchor at Stag Rock, next to Bamburgh Beach. The sky looked promising, as I looked south down the beach towards Bamburgh Castle and noticed the first warm hue on the horizon. From the parked car it was literally a short walk down the sandy bank onto the beach, eventually settling for a spot near the rocks. Foreground interest was the first thing on my mind and I also observed the incoming tide so that no unnecessary soakings took place. I've had a few of them in the past and didn't wanna go back down that route, even though I was decked out in me new £12 wellies from B&Q. I don't get too bothered about getting soaked, to be honest, I'm more concerned about the camera keeping dry, especially after the kicking my old 5D2 got on the rocks at St. Mary's Lighthouse. Once bitten, and all that.

The tide offered plenty to the shots as I fired off my first few frames. The cascading water had to be the main player in the foreground. Not much point of doing a seascape with little or no water action going on. The tide did breach me wellies on more than one occasion. It was only then that I really started to feel the cold. Toes were like ice. A few of the fellow Tog brigade were positioned ahead of me but they never really got in the way, so the clone tool in Photoshop wasn't called upon for the selection of shots you see here. In fact, all three efforts are pretty much straight of camera, with only a very minor levels adjustment on each. After 15 minutes of shooting, the tide had dropped back noticeably, so with it I went, repositioning myself to include the blurred motion of the North Sea. The sun was up in no time but was obscured by the low cloud cover. After a few more minutes the magic had gone. By this time I'd already bagged the shots and was quite chuffed that it was another successful long journey. I couldn't help but notice the heart shape bubbles that drifted past on the surface of the water (shot 3). Maybe this shot should be entitled 'Love on the rocks.'

From here it was back up to the car and time for a coffee and a few chocolate biscuits. Off with the wellies and on with the heaters. Time for the journey south - job done.

Until the next time...
AC

 

Website reopened!

Hello again. It's been far too long...

I'm glad to announce the reopening of ashleycorr.com after its temporary closure in mid January. I decided to strip the site back to its bare bones and rebuild it using HTML5, which supported web viewing on iPad & tablet, which the previous version did not. It was a laborious task to say the least, but the graft is now behind me and as of last night the site has no been declared open. In fact, since I reopened its doors just a few hours ago, the visitor counter has notched up an extra 70 hits, so I'm very pleased with that.

As for the new look website, I'm more than happy to reopen it as it is, even though there are a few half built pages that are currently hidden. Hopefully those will be completed and open during the next couple of weeks. They include new galleries such as Black & White, Seascapes 3, Astro Photography 2 and Published Work. I also have plans to add new video to the TV Channel, plus a free download page where visitors can help themselves to Wallpaper/Screensavers that features a selection of my work.

I would like to ad more pictures of myself to the profile (AC) page too. I had a handful of shots to choose from but wasn't too keen on them so I binned them off and settled for the one that is currently showing, even though you can't see much of my face. Maybe that's the better option, lol.

I'm looking forward to updating the site during the next few days and beyond. It's been a long time coming. Until then, keep watching this space. Cheers!

AC

Old Hartley, Whitley Bay (Part 1)

The Christmas holiday period presented opportunities for me to capture sunrises on the North-East coast, so I ventured out to new territory to do exactly that, and as a result it proved a very wise move. St Mary's Lighthouse, just north of Whitley Bay, has been a fairly regular haunt of mine of the last few years, particularly at sunrise, and although I've had my fair share of false dawns during this time, I've been lucky to capture one or two cracking red skies before the sun rose over the North Sea. It's pot luck, to be honest, but you've got to be in it to win it, as someone once said. The law of averages would give a firm impression that from six visits you are likely to see between one and two good sunrises, and by this I'm expecting good colour and cloud formation, as well as seeing the sun as it rises on the horizon. Low cloud cover often scuppers this.

And so, to my first ever visit to Old Hartley, a small bay between St Mary's Island and Seaton Sluice. A short walk from the small car park on the cliff top led me towards the steep concrete steps where I gained access to the beach. Not a great deal of sand to be had, as rock formation covered the majority of the bay. And if it's good rock formation you're after for detailed foreground interest, it doesn't come much better than this. By the time I arrived the tide was on its way back in and around half way. Because of this I was able to get out and explore the flat table of rocks to my left, which stretched out quite far and despite the incoming tide there it was safe enough to spend some time out there without being cut off. A couple of photographers appeared shortly after I had set my gear up. There was also one or two silhouetted figures on the cliff tops, crouched behind tripods and waiting for the sun to show up.

A warm yellow glow on the horizon behind the lighthouse was enough to get my firing off my first shots. At this point I could tell it was going to be a productive morning and the best was yet to come. As sunrise drew ever closer the colours in the sky were continually changing, especially 5-10 minutes before sun up when a nice pink/red hue took over the clouds. And it wasn't long before the sun made its appearance. At this point I headed out onto the flat rocks to get a better view of it. I was mindful of the incoming tide and made a decision to keep things brief. I'd been at Old Hartley for a good 90 minutes and pulled in some nice shots, especially the first half dozen efforts of the morning. I imagine this place will be a regular haunt in future and I look forward to photographing the same location later in the year when the sun rises further north. I'll keep you posted on any developments.
Hope you like these shots...
Cheers, Ash