Escape To The Milky Way

Hello again!
Early October and another road trip into Weardale, to capture more images of the night sky. Within Weardale lies the tiny village of Rookhope, which is on the edge of County Durham. A former lead and fluorspar mining community, it first existed as a group of cattle farms in the 13th Century. It is situated in the Pennines to the north of Weardale. W.H. Auden once called Rookhope 'the most wonderfully desolate of all the dales'. In the 2001 census, Rookhope had a population of 267. The village pub, the Rookhope Inn and the Swallow's Rest on the fell surrounding Rookhope are popular with cyclists on the coast to coast cycling route which runs from Sunderland on the east coast to Whitehaven on the west coast of northern England. The draw for me is undoubtedly down to one simple factor - a dark sky region with very little light pollution, which brings me nicely on to the main objective of this trip - to capture the milky way!

I'd done the obligatory homework beforehand, to determine the position of the milky way in relation to the nearby Rookhope Arch, a local landmark at Lintzgarth, a few hundred yards west up the valley and one of the few remaining parts of the 2 miles Rookhope Chimney. This "horizontal" chimney (parallel to the ground, which actually rises steeply to the moors) was used to carry poisonous flue gases from the Rookhope lead smelting works up onto the high moor. Periodically, lead and silver carried over in the gases and deposited in the chimney were dug out and recovered, rather than going to waste. When driving past the arch, which sits in the middle of a cattle grazing pasture, it simply screams out to be photographed at night. One of those light bulb moments. This is a subject and a half for astro photography.

Me and my brother Chris headed out there on a crystal clear night in early October and we weren't disappointed. Although there were a number of sheep in the field, access was fairly straightforward and nearby parking was also a plus. Negotiating the arch climb was an easy one too, although it was quite breezy up there, once I was ready for my cameo role. I had to position myself on the edge of the arch top so that my full profile could be seen in the shot. Any further forward and the bottom half of my legs would have been cut off from the lens. 15 second exposures were fired off before I descended from this ancient arch. Another job done. The view of the milky way was mesmerising and one of the best experiences since I began my astro photography two years ago. Perched on top of that arch gave me a sense of attachment - that I was almost at touching distance between myself and the galactic Corr (see what I done there?)

A very memorable night and it wasn't over yet. A quick stop off at St. Andrew's Church @ Kiln Pitt Hill was in order, as we cut our journey home in two. St

ay tuned for that one … coming soon!

Cheers, Ash

My Kingdom For A Qashqai

Yes, don't adjust your monitors, it really is another blog update, despite another long absence. I believe I said in an earlier post that I'd endeavour to get my shit together - well, that didn't gather much steam, did it. I can only apologise once again for an acute lack of activity on my blog page, mainly due to keeping my head above water with ashleycorr.com, my two Facebook pages, printing and framing, as well as the odd outing with my camera's. Oh, and there's the other commitments known as work and family, which are always the No.1 priority. So, let's try again. I promise to update my blog on a more regular basis in futu---------------------------CUT !!! I aint even gonna bother with that one, ha!

So, I'm here with a short write-up and one or two accompanying images from a recent outing, after finishing work at 11.20pm a few nights ago. Earlier that day I picked up my new Nissan Qashqai and what a motor it is. Of course, many of you will know that I work at the Nissan Car Plant in Washington, Tyne & Wear. I've been doing this for the past 27 years. Got knows how many cars I've helped to build in that time. The mind boggles. So, to get my own keys of a Sunderland built Qashqai … well, it was a nice moment, to say the least. Gone is the Vauxhall Insignia and in comes the QQ. My thought process went something like this ...While it's brand new and straight out of the box, so to speak, I think I'll head down the East End of Sunderland and park up next to some urban graffiti. I first noticed the graffiti a few months ago, when I parked up to visit the Sunderland Tall Ships. This graffiti would provide the perfect backdrop for my Qashqai, as my photographs prove. What a find!!!

Now, was it William Shakespeare who proclaimed … 'A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse'
A popular quote indeed, but in this case the wording is altered by urban graffiti artist Frank Styles, as he puts a different slant on it when replacing the horse with a Qashqai. Well, we do live in motor town after all. The wording may have changed, but the horse still remains, as it gallops along at some speed - its main blowing as it ticks off the yards. Let's do it. Ignition on and car strategically placed in front of the wall art. Local scrotes walk on by at half past midnight, asking if I would like my new car discreetly removed for insurance purposes. Burnt out, I think the words were. No thanks lads, just jog on with your carrier bag full of Oranjeboom and let me tick this shoot off, eh. Cheers!

No disrespect, but the East End of Sunderland is not the best place to be in the small hours. They'd nick the steam off your shite owa there. Not all of them mind, but a good 90% of them would lol. Aye well, despite the late night visit, and a cold one at that, I may still return to photograph more graffiti that has appeared since my last visit a couple of years ago. You really need to be in and out as quick as a flash to avoid the shirt being nicked from your back. Rumour has it that one guy had his £2000 alloys wheels stolen in Hendon - he was travelling at 30mph at the time!!

And that is that. Hope you like the images above. I'm liking the new Qashqai … oh yes, I'm gonna enjoy many a photo outing in this thing, make no mistake about that one. Working at Tenko has its perks after all.

Cheers, until the next time, folks.

AC 

Lakes Weekender With The Mrs

Welcome back!

A couple of weeks ago me and the Mrs paid a visit to the Lake District and stayed and in a rather comfy hotel on the edge of Derwentwater. The weather was fine, the scenery was it's usual breath taking self and the food and drink was top notch too. It was definitely a weekend to remember … and not even a camera in sight. Well … not strictly true … I did have my mobile phone, so I managed to grab a few shots of our accommodation. We stayed at Merewood Country House, a 4 star hotel and restaurant, set in an elevated position and overlooking Windermere, England’s longest and most beautiful lake, you will find Merewood Country House Hotel.  Dating back to 1812, the hotel has retained much of its historical charm with many of the original features lovingly restored, including the panelled hall and reception.

Our room was very spacious and comfortable, with en-suite and four poster bed, as well as a fantastic view from the front of the hotel and over the grounds towards the lake. The Kipling Suite was one of the best rooms we have stayed in during many weekends away, and I would definitely recommend this hotel for anyone who fancies a weekend away in probably the most scenic part of England. We had a couple of drinks in the lounge and sat at the bay window overlooking Derwentwater. It was even better that we had the room to ourselves, with only soft music for company. We could have sat there all night.

The restaurant food was excellent, as was the breakfast, which definitely set us up for the day ahead. We had a trip into Keswick and looked around the lakeside and market stalls before dropping anchor at the Lake Road Inn, off the main street. With the sun beating down it was nice to sit and watch the world go by, enjoying a drink or two at the same time. From there we headed off to Ambleside and then on to Bowness. There was very little in the way of photography, but it wasn't one of those weekends. Just nice to spend some time with Amanda, to do what we enjoy doing. Another great weekend away with the wife. Until the next one …

Ash (and Amanda)
 

When The Bird Flew The Nest

Welcome back!

A couple of weeks ago I decided it was 'high' time to upgrade my drone. I'd been eyeing up a more portable option to the Phantom 3 series drone that I bought two years ago, mainly due to the fact that I tried to hump a camera backpack and drone case around at the same time and it just didn't work. My Phantom 3 Advanced drone certainly gave me a good return during the two years I owned it and my completed video's and aerial images can be found on my website - www.ashleycorr.com. Fast forward two years from the purchase date and here I was, advertising it for sale, in mint condition. Within 48 hours it was sold, alongside 4 batteries and a host of accessories. I was chuffed to get the asking price of £500, plus the fact that it was a quick sale and sold locally, with no silly offtakes, which would have been the case had I gone down the eBay route. So the bird flies the nest ...

Enter stage left, the all new shiny Mavic Air. The Flymore combo weighs in with 3 batteries at a cost of £849.00. Take a look at the photo (shown here) of the Mavic Air in my hand. Yeah, you get the picture. A foldable portable drone with a host of new tech, all wrapped in a tiny box and ready to send into the sky. This thing looks awesome! Let's hope it flies and captures photo and video just as well. As yet I haven't had time to give my new toy its first real flight. I did load the aircraft and remote controller with the latest firmware and carried out a few settings adjustments via the DJI GO 4 app, before sending it on its maiden flight, albeit a very brief one. This was simply to check that everything worked as it should, which it did, before bringing it back to the home position. So it's all systems go and I'll be recording more aerial video very soon. Stay tuned ...

Cheers, Ash

 

Update - All Things Photography

Hello again and welcome to another rare blog entry. I keep slipping into virtual anonymity on this page from time to time, mainly due to other commitments and the diversion my photography takes me. Yeah, if I'm not out there with the camera's or updating my website and social media pages, then you'll probably find that I've gone AWOL ... again!!!

Not to worry though, as there is plenty of activity behind the scenes, in the shape of -

* New photographs
* New drone footage
* New video's/vlogs
* New slideshows
* New website pages/galleries
* New blog entries

So, as you can see, there's plenty to come at www.ashleycorr.com and the recent spell of poor weather has meant I have spent more time indoors ... often behind the keyboard and monitor, to bring you lots of site updates. I've got lots of new ideas floating around, so hopefully they will come to fruition, sooner rather than later. The priority in recent weeks has been my TV and AERIAL pages on my website. After looking through the content to date I felt that both pages needed beefing up ,with new video's/ slideshows etc, mainly provided by my archive hard drive and the many hidden files that found a home on it. Many of them haven't seen the light of day and really need to be out there, making a contribution to my online portfolio, especially the aerial video's that were recently archived.

In a nutshell, please stay tuned to the next instalments at www.ashleycorr.com and all my social media platforms. The introduction of video logs, or Vlogs as they are most commonly known, is a completely new area that I'm hoping to explore, especially as I'm usually behind the camera and not in front of it. But hey, some of the places I'm gonna take you will need a fair bit of introduction and story telling along the way. It might not be my thing, and it may not work at all, but I'm all for trying and making something work if it does feel right. We'll soon see, eh.

And that's about it, folks. Just a quick hello and an outline of what's to come in the forthcoming weeks and months ahead.

 Catch ya soon, A.C   

Fire In The Sky - Houghton le Spring

Hello once again!

Back for a brief update here on Blogger. With a folder full of backdated images to get through, I tick another batch off as I bring you my latest writings on all things photography. December 2108 and one of those 'Shall I' or 'Shall I not' pop out for an hour with the camera. It was a Saturday afternoon and the sky was brewing up quite nicely as sunset approached. I lost count of how many times I looked out my back window to check the sky. Each time I saw it I was nudging ever closer to grabbing my camera and heading out. With sunset looming I knew I wouldn't have time to go too far, so it would be another one of those very local trips like ... yeah, that ... the Copt Hill Barrow. Why not, it's in my own back yard and it's always a nice thing to pull in great shots from this location. I've lost count on the number of visits I've made, but hey ... two visits are never the same, let alone fifty!

And so it was to be ... the five minute car ride up the hill and across the field to those Seven Sisters. I got there around 30 minutes before sunset and the early indication was that this was gonna be a good one. Already the sky was taking on a colourful canopy - a one that would play an ideal role as backdrop for the Seven Sisters. Another photographer turned up, setting his gear close by. We'd met before. It was Ken Foulds, who lives across the way in Belmont, on the outskirts of Durham. Strangely enough, our first meeting was at this very same spot. Great minds think alike. I grabbed a couple of shots of Ken as I photographed his own scene, both of which are shown here. As the sky started to kick off I dotted around the Copt Hill, capturing the scene from various angles. The sky was definitely living up to its earlier billing, as the colour presented itself and seemed to linger for an age. This wasn't going to be a brief affair.

I was running with the Canon 5D3 for this outing, couple with a 16-35L lens and nothing else. No filters or remote, just the basics. I even   left my mitts in the car, which wasn't exactly the smartest move I made, as it was bloody freezing. Then again, we were into late December, so not to complain eh. I fired off around twenty frames in total, which definitely had a keeper or two amongst them, so I was looking forward to getting them onto my laptop to have a better look. So without further ado I said goodbye to Mr Foulds and headed off back to the car. By this time it would have been around 4.30pm. I had parked up in the Copt Hill Inn car park, which is a short walk from the burial ground that is Seven Sisters. I noticed there was still some lovely colour in the sky, which was odd, as the sun had actually set an hour ago. By this time there's usually no trace of red in the sky, but on this occasion there was still plenty to see. It was almost apocalyptic. Amazing to watch as it took on an almost surreal sight for sore eyes. Looking back now, I can safely say that the last photo I took (shown here, of the Copt Hill Inn) was by far my favourite one of the lot. Now, that was not part of the plan when I arrived, but sometimes those little surprises make the experience a whole lot sweeter. And so it was ...

Until the next time, be good

A.C

Under The Radar - High Moorsley

Well, well, well ... two back to back blog entries in as many days. What on earth has come over me? Aye well, can't be complaining, eh. These things are indeed a rarity, if recent times are anything to go by. The truth is, I have a backlog of images that have been queued up for a while, ready for the blog treatment, so it would seem wasteful not to share the story behind those images. So here I am again, bringing you the latest spin on my photography exploits, with yet another night time outing under my belt and ready to share. Again, I was accompanied by Mr Spider, my brother and fellow astro photographer. We were rapidly approaching the end of the calendar year and seeing as I was on a two week break from work, now was as good a time than any to get back out with the camera, regardless of the cold weather. The plan on this occasion was to visit High Moorsley Weather Radar, on a trig point on the outskirts of County Durham - a 15 minute drive from my home in Houghton le Spring, Tyne & Wear. Star trails was the plan once again and this place is ideal for it. The weather radar sat high on metal framework, on the edge of a ploughed field and in wide open terrain.

Following an hour or so at this location the plan was also to include a visit to Tanfield Railway - a graveyard of trains and carriages, situated between Gateshead and Stanley. Again, star trails was the thinking behind the second part of tonight's photography outing, so I was looking forward to both visits. We landed at High Moorsley around 7pm, after parking the car a few yards down a public footpath that led to the weather radar. I'd scouted out this location a couple of weeks previously, so I knew how to find the place. I remember the initial visit very well, as the temperature was at zero degrees and my face felt like it was frozen solid by the chilly wind. I remember thinking that it would be even colder standing around while the camera pulled in the shots. My recce visit was done and dusted in ten minutes flat, as I quickly headed back to the warm refuge of the car. Tonight however, although it was still a tad chilly, it was nowhere near as brutal as it was on my recce visit, so that was a welcome sign, as we prepared to stand around in a snowy field for 90 minutes!

I ran with two camera's once again. Firstly I set up the Canon 5D3 next to the radar, lining up the North Star (polaris) above the golf ball like structure. Once the camera was up and running, I positioned the Sony a7s further down the field, as I noticed some nice lead-in lines in the snow. It was here where we stood and chatted while the camera's done their thing. An hour in and Mr Spider suddenly started vomiting. He said he felt ropey and didn't dare fart in case he shat himself!!!  Well, well, well ... we best pack up and head off. The cold chill may have played its part and won the day. We decided to give Tanfield Railway a miss, which was a bit disappointing, but when you feel like shit, you feel like shit. We headed back to the car and warmed up, before heading home. We had the radar shots in the bag, so the night wasn't a complete loss. I dropped Mr Spider off at Skinhead Towers, telling him to get his feet up and take it easy. I do hope he made it up those twelve floors in the lift without filling his boxer shorts.

After dropping Spider off I decided to head off to Seaham Pier to attempt a star trail. The night was still young, so why not. With Mr Spider now in more friendly surroundings, I was about to stay out in the cold a little while longer. Best make the most of the night before heading off home ...

Till the next time, catch ya later ...

A.C