Polariser and wanderings..

I bought a circular polariser for my new lens last week and with some blue skies about at the weekend did a few quick tests (left without polariser - right with). I'm liking it a lot and it's a bit weird to see the clouds pop out of the sky as I turn the filter into alignment.

Late mating dragonflies in flight.







European Hornets nest (one of two I've spotted). Curiously one nest seems quite agressively defended, while this one is happy to let you get fairly close. They're pretty big (about 30-40mm long), impressive to see flying around.

One last post..

Birmingham City Hall with Antony Gromley's Iron man statue silhouetted. The Ironman statue was a pre-cursor of Gromleys famous "Angel of the north" statue.



..a Birmingham backalley with a bunch of urban grim, colour, texture and detail. Not exactly a masterpiece but I couldn't resist adding it.

Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and Birmingham

Thursday and a pic of the Duchess of Sutherland steam engine flying up the east side of the Lakes..
Sheep hut in the Yorkshire Dales.

Ribblehead viaduct.
The Bull Ring at sunrise in Birmingham.
Car park in Birmingham England or Parking lot in Birmingham USA?!

Lake District - Day 5 - Marks 1 Peak Challenge

Another day, some more Sun, time for a challenge..

Wastwater from Lingmell Fell.

Barrowdale from Lingmell Col.

The summit plaque on Scafell Pike! The view was cloudy, but it was amazing to be there.






Back down into Wasdale via Brown Tongue. (So glad I went up via Lingmell - the path was a nightmare).

A tranquil Bassenthwaite Lake on the way back to camp.


Too knackered for a planned sunset, a quick snap at Ullswater had to suffice.

Then back for a hot shower, beer and pub dinner. One great day.

Lake District - Day 4 - A New Dawn

Tuesday was a mixed day, sunrise cancelled for the lack of any Sun and me not being in the mood to do a rain rise.

After lots of thought and dithering, I solved my lens problem in a Keswick camera shop, leaving with a working camera and several pounds poorer.

Unfortunately the weather was dismal, so todays photos consisted mainly of excited test pictures out through the rain covered car windows. (pic above is autumn leaves on a National Trust building window).

Lake District - Day 3 - The Lakes in F/4

A misfire of a sunrise to start the day, lots of lens errors and the location I wanted to photograph had scafolding over it, so a plan C skyscape was all there was to show for it.

Back to Penrith for breakfast and to start the search for a lens solution...


Druids, chilling at Castlerigg stone circle.

Quick search for camera salvation in Keswick without success. Just lots of pro landscape photographers exhibiting their wares - lucky b******s!

Castle Crag (in f/4), before ascending to the top.

Sun streaks down through the clouds on a quick walk around Buttermere, where I saw my first mainland Red Squirrel! :)

Night rain in the tent - love it.

Lake District - Day 2 - Error 99

The weather did a u-turn for sunday, hot and Sunny. It was at this time that my camera started to go wrong! With no settings working on my landscape lens without the aperture wide open, it was seriously annoying. ERROR 99!! Every other photo! Argh!

..I was up lake creek without a camera (or a paddle).

These pics may look nice, but they are the cream skimmed from a nightmare of lens error photos. Photo - error 99 - turn off - turn on - photo - error 99. Repeat...
A fairly rare patch of autumn colour, which looks like it may be a week or two away from bursting out.

We walked from Coniston to Boon Crag and on to Tarn How. Then found an internet cafe to trawl through endless Error 99 fixes (none of which worked for me - typical).

Ambleside on Windermere, a fantastic sunset, taken at about 1 (working) shot a minute, all at aperture f/4. It was very frustrating, I'm glad the photos turned out as good as they have.

Then back to camp for a cold shower (not by choice) and a night interupted by a badger raid.

Lake District - Day 1 - Global Moistening

Not the best start to a holiday ever, heavy rain, strong winds, low cloud and flooded roads, not exactly the sunny autumn I was gambling on. Got completely soaked putting up the tent, shorted the car out for a few minutes going through a flood and broke the umbrella. Good stuff! :)

My love hate battle with technology also took a bit of a battering, my watch stopped and my phone discharged. A sign of things to come..

With the road to Windermere blocked by flooding we ventured to Penrith, with just a quick snap of one of the cool olde buildings being the only photo of the day.