Last year I was able to get some beautiful photos of the snowfall in Dalby forest, and somehow managed to not post them, so in time for this Christmas here are a few of the beautiful scenes that greeted us as the snow fell.
This is a sub-project of my ‘Scenes within a scene’ project. ‘Within a stone’s throw’ effectively started itself because sometimes, thanks to my arthritis, I can’t walk very far at all. Thus these photos are all made within a few steps (a stone’s throw) of my landscape view. If anything, it even more effectively shows why it’s worth slowing down and observing every detail of these beautiful places.
I’m always surprised at how much more you observe when slowing down and trying to look for photographic subjects, especially the smaller flowers and plants. It also tends to be the best way to see wildlife, as many animals, birds and insects hide away and slowly come out when we stay quiet and they decide I’m probably harmless! I also photograph using the car as a hide, and this can be very effective for photographing birds and animals that have grown used to ignoring parked cars. The moorland birds were all photographed using the parked car as a hide.
I created the composite images in Lightroom’s Print module, using a variety of user templates.
Within a stone’s throw – Upper Teesdale, near Cow Green Reservoir
This is a project I started after hearing several speakers talking about people taking a quick photo of a scene and then just moving on to the next big view, without taking the time to enjoy the smaller details, wildlife, colours and abstracts within that bigger picture. If anything I tend to be the opposite way round, enjoying the wildlife and details of nature, and taking fewer big landscapes, but it made me think of a project idea, so in these photos I’ve taken a landscape view, and then shown the details within my bigger scene – scenes within scenes. My aim was to take all the photos within 100m (a distance I can usually manage even on crutches) of my bigger ‘landscape’ picture to show why it’s worth slowing down and enjoying these beautiful places.
Since starting this project I’ve found I observe more details of the ecosystems I visit. When slowing down to look for photographic subjects we are more likely to notice the smaller flowers and insects like the butterflies and beetle in the spring North Yorkshire Moors image. I stopped because I saw one butterfly, then noticed a green tiger beetle, then another butterfly and so on! When we slow down we also tend to notice more macro details and abstract images, like the water abstracts in Dalby Forest, and also take more time to try more creative views of nature like the ICM and multiple exposure images in Broxa forest in autumn. Limiting ourselves to photographing in a smaller area, rather than rushing on to the next big view, we have had chance encounters with wildlife like the geese flying across Cow Green reservoir, reflected in the still water (the only time I’ve ever seen it that still and reflective).
Having taken my images, I create the composite images in Lightroom’s Print module, using a variety of user templates. I try to match or balance colour themes in my images and balance the subjects to create the most pleasing compositions, and then print to file to create my finished image.
North Yorks Moors in Summer – scenes within a scene
Skipwith Hall Gardens – Kitchen garden – scenes within a scene
Skipwith Hall Gardens – Scenes within a scene
Skipwith Hall Gardens – Scenes within a scene
Wolds in winter – Scenes within a scene
North Pennines – scenes within a scene – road between Teesdale and Weardale
Upper Teesdale in Spring – Scenes within a scene
Upper Teesdale – Scenes within a scene
North Yorks Moors – scenes within a scene
Broxa forest in autumn – Scenes within a scene
Cow Green reservoir – Scenes within a scene project
Pocklington canal Scenes within a scene project
Dalby Forest Lake – Scenes within a scene
Stone creek – Scenes within a scene
Broxa Forest – Scenes within a scene
Yorkshire Dales – scenes within a scene
Flower meadow – scenes within a scene
Worsendale – scene within a scene
Coverdale – Scenes within a scene
Allerthorpe common in winter – scenes within a scene
These are some photos from a morning visit to the Yorkshire Dales.
This is part of a large ongoing project to photograph the habitats I regularly visit in Yorkshire, and a few surrounding counties, to show the flora and fauna found in these ecosystems throughout the year. These include farmland, meadows, riverbanks, moorland, woodland, and coastal cliffs.
Birches catching the early morning light in Coverdale
This is part of a large ongoing project to photograph the habitats I regularly visit in Yorkshire, and a few surrounding counties, to show the flora and fauna found in these ecosystems throughout the year. These include farmland, meadows, riverbanks, moorland, woodland, and coastal cliffs.
There was some beautiful light at Brimham Rocks last week – really beautiful golden lighting through the trees and on the rocks, raking across the landscape and picking out the texture and shapes in the rocks.
