12 Significant Images - Complete
This website update, my blog posting and zine, is the culmination of a 12 month project. The project is part of a wider group of projects of photographers who all signed up to undertake the Project, as part of group who belong (largely) to Chris Sales’ FotoComm Group.
Chris has always encouraged photographers and in particular his students (yes I class myself as a student even at 59 years old) to undertake projects as it gives a focus and challenge to what otherwise might become aimless photography, and yes I am speaking for myself here. The project was inspired by an Ansell Adams quote that “12 good images a year was a good haul” or something like that. The original intent was that 12 locations would be selected, and an image in each of the 4 seasons of the year would be captured. Ultimately, this would mean that we could select an image from each location and cover all the 12 months of the year.
Whilst my project doesn’t quite adhere to that, for various reasons mainly pandemic and work related, I do have an image from 12 locations that are spread broadly across the year April 2021 to March 2022. I see this project (and others) as a learning exercise, whilst I like a good number of these images, I don’t think they are my best work in the last 12 months. I’d like to think that you get a sense of my progression when looking at these images.
So a huge thanks to Chris Sale for all the encouragement, tuition and friendship. Onto the 2022 project. (click each image to see the full image).
Anyone wishing to purchase a copy of the zine, please contact me using the contact details on Home page.
Bottoms Reservoir
I am a bit of a sucker for a reservoir and there are plenty of them within a short car drive from my house. The trip to Bottoms Reservoir was a last minute decision I’d decided to visit some friends who I hadn’t seen for a while. By Visit I mean stand at the end of their drive, as the UK was still in lockdown.
Bottoms Reservoir can be found on the road that leads from Hollingworth up onto the Woodhead Pass, that goes across to Sheffield. I found this location by accident, I was following the path around the reservoir and stopped to fasten my shoe lace. To my surprise this scene was what I saw as I stood up. I really like how the small brook runs almost from top to bottom of the image. There’s good balance of the hill sides and the tree at the top adds that extra bit of interest to the moody sky.
There are a few wispy bits of grass in the foreground that I wish I could have removed but my post processing skills aren’t yet good enough to sort this out in post production. I was excited to get out with my camera as this was only my second time out with my new Sony Alpha 7 IV – 16 to 35mm F4 ZA OSS Lens was on the camera when I took this image.
Ashopton Viaduct - Ladybower Reservoir
Ladybower is a great location as there are so many different things to photograph. The Ashopton Viaduct is on the A57 route between Manchester and Sheffield and is known locally as “The Snake Pass”. I’m hoping I don’t find any snakes, but that’s another story.
I’ve many images of this viaduct, but they are mainly from a distance, in the hills. I wanted to give it more prominence, and I think this image does just that. It was one of those days were it was nice and sunny but really cold at the same time. You can get a sense of this from this image, great light coming in from the top right, but frost on the ground that’s in the shade. Perceived wisdom is that Landscape images are best when the skies are dark and moody, but I have to say that I’m a lover of blue skies.
This image certainly has a lovely blue sky and this is reflected in the colour of the reservoir. This image was taken with my Sony Alpha 7 IV, but with my standard zoom lens 24 to 105mm f4 G lens.
Clough Head - Lower Ormerods
This is a part of Greater Manchester that I’ve not really visited much, in fact it’s not really in Greater Manchester, it’s in Rossendale. This is a minor detail as it’s only a few miles (less than 10) outside. I do have a soft spot for reservoirs and this part of Haslingden has quite a few. My first visit was a Sunday afternoon stroll. Wasn’t intending on taking any images, but as always my walk around camera was with me. I took a few test shots of this scene and decided to review once I’d done some editing and had a look at the images on the big screen.
I am a sucker for history and this neck of the woods has its own piece of history, and one of those pieces is Lower Ormerods. It was the residence of the family back in the day, but clearly not now. I do think this makes a nice scene.
The image you see here was taken on a Sunday afternoon, it was bright and sunny and I just happened to be in the neighbourhood. You can see from the image above that there was a fair bit of sunlight, and this adds to the image that would otherwise look flat. I also quite like the tree that stands at the back of the image. I’m sure purists wouldn’t agree but I like how the slight cloud movement adds balance to the image in the top left corner.
Sony Alpha 7 IV – 16 to 35mm F4 ZA OSS Lens.
Curber Edge - Pinnacle Stone
This part of the Peak District was one of the first places I came to, on a walk with friends. To my surprise you can drive and park very close to this and Baslow Edge, which you can see in the distance in this image. I have multiple images of this scene at different times of the day, month and year. I decided on this image mainly because it has some nice light coming in from the right hand side of the image.
There are times when I visited this location and you’ll find folk have clambered onto the top and are getting a better view of the Hope Valley, which is off to the right. They are braver souls than me, maybe 30 years ago!
This image was taken with my Sony Alpha 7 IV, 24 to 105mm f4 G lens.
Millstones on Stanage Edge
This is a location and scene that I visited on numerous occasions. This is my favourite image out of the whole lot that I took whilst visiting this scene for this project. I think this image has quite a number of layers. The stones themselves, the immediate fields beyond the first road, the hills in the distance and then finally the sky. It was a bitterly cold day when I took this image, but I think that was mainly because of the wind chill, it was very windy.
Millstones are a feature all over the Peak District, they are dotted all over it. In fact they are the symbol that marks the entrance to the national park, and are placed at the roadside of each road going in and out. I guess they are a symbol of the heritage of this part of the world, in times gone by. I think they make a great subject.
Sony Alpha 7 IV – 24 to 105mm f4 G Lens.
Cheesden Valley
Who knew that there were such great places to walk that were only a maximum of 30 mins from my house. This valley is not far from Ramsbottom and easily accessible from the Car park opposite The Owd Betts Pub, on the road from Edenfield to Rochdale. I’m not the greatest when it comes to interpreting the information on weather apps, but all of them were telling me it would be a misty old morning.
I originally intended to shoot the Old Mill that is literally 100 metres away from this scene, and in fact I did just that. However, my eye was caught by this scene as I explored the area around the Old Mill. I do like the balance the image has with the Hill on one side and the small tree on the other. The little bridge gives a sense that the brock is big enough to need one to get across, but ultimately it’s the mist that gives this image that little extra.
This is a 20 second exposure, and that is what gives the water that milky feel whilst still retaining an element of it spreading. I have to say that I’m rather pleased with this image and whilst there are a couple of minor tweaks that could be made in post processing, this is how I saw the scene.
Sony Alpha 7 IV – 16 to 35mm F4 ZA OSS Lens.
Bramall Hall
Bramhall Hall is a wonderful piece of history. It stands in Bramhall Park, that is in a very nice but urban part of Stockport. I visited 4 times to try to get a sunrise image, but on all 4 occasions the light was very flat and didn’t give me anything to add to an image of the hall.
I have to say this wasn’t a planned trip, when I took this image. I still have to work for my pennies and recently that has meant Fridays, my usual day off. I just had enough time to grab my camera and race through the traffic to get to the location in time to capture the hall with some late afternoon light across it.
In all honesty the composition came to me quite by chance. I wanted to fasten my shoelace, so took my camera backpack off and placed it on a bench. At that point my phone rang and I found myself talking and looking at the hall from more or less the spot I took this image from. I like the line the path makes into the scene, and leads the eye through to the main door of the hall. The late afternoon light was steaming across at this point and with the addition of the lovely clouds streaming overhead, all add up to a nice image of this scene.
Sony Alpha 7 IV – 16 to 35mm F4 ZA OSS Lens.
Stepping Stones - Inn at Whitewell
The Trough of Bowland lies North of Greater Manchester, it’s a fabulous place to explore. A friends son got married at the Inn at Whitewell and we had visited the Inn for that happy occasion a good few years ago now.
I found this location on a Sunday afternoon stroll. Park your car near the Inn at Whitewell and head down to the river, and you will be directed to the stones. I really like this sort of thing and have photographed quite a few sets of stones over the past few years. The image you see here was taken hand held, no real time spent on the composition, but I think it works.
Yes there are a few things that I tried to repair in lightroom but don’t quite have the skills. The bit of the tree sticking in from the right is annoying, and given the chance again it wouldn’t feature. I did get a chance to take more images of these stones during a visit to the Inn in January 2022, but there had been so much rain that the stones were submerged beyond the point of sight.
Sony Alpha 6600 – 16 to 55mm F2.8 G lens.
Cenotaph - Werneth Low
There’s a cracking pub on Werneth Low, in fact there’s more than one cracking pub. My only previous visits to this area of Hyde was for some food and drinks with friends. A quick search on the OS maps app told me that there are quite a few walks in this area. So off I went to look what I could find. In amongst the throngs of people, this is a popular spot, I found the Cenotaph that you can see in this image.
A monument to fallen soldiers from this area who served in the First World War, this really is a great place to have such a monument. There are regular gatherings on poppy day to remember our fallen comrades, and I think this is a fitting tribute.
As I explored this area, rather than just take a straight up shot of the cenotaph I quickly realised that the odd shaped tree that you see in this image, make a great frame. Shot at 56mm, this does offer a little bit of compression and gives the illusion that the tree and monument are closer together. The nice light around on this afternoon adds to the scene.
Sony Alpha 7 iii – 24 to 105mm G Lens.
Parrswood Bridge
To be fair I’ve driven and walked over the bridge far too many times to actually know how often it’s been. It is a local landmark and if you look at Instagram gets photographed quite a lot to.
This is within walking distance of my house and I have had a good few attempts at getting a sunrise shot. Maybe it’s bad luck, but I never quite got the light at sunrise, nor the mist that I’m sure would also make a great image. Some folk would say I don’t get up early enough, point taken.
This is one of those shots that are counter intuitive. How come the clouds are lit up with sunlight, yet you can clearly see the moon. There will be a be an explanation that science will provide, but either way I really like this image. I like the light that is catching on the bridge, I also like the hint of motion you can see, which is actually a car passing over the bridge. The shutter speed at ¼ of a second was slow enough to blur the motion, but fast enough to capture the swish!.
Sony Alpha 7 III – 24 to 105mm f4 G lens.
Kit Kat Stones - Higher Tor
When researching locations and subjects for this project I was reminded of these “Kit Kat Stones” from a quick search of Instagram. I’d walked the path you can see in the centre of this image several times, in both directions. This had been whilst out walking with friends, around the Burbage Valley, but unless you drop down the side of the rocky bit you won’t see the stones from the path.
The stones get the name from the obvious likeness to the chocolate bar. Mind you it would take an awful lot of chocolate to make a bar this big!! I like how big in the foreground the stones are, how the path leads your eye away into the mid ground where you find the Roman Fort of Carl Wark, and then off into the Hope Valley beyond. It’s fair to say that some nice sunrise or sunset light would add to the image, but I’ve not been that lucky when I’ve visited this scene. I will get an image with some decent light from this spot.
Sony Alpha 7 III – 16 to 35mm F4 ZA OSS Lens.
Teggs Nose Reservoir
I continue my love affair with reservoirs with this location. This is right on the edge of the Peak District National Park, and a mile or so outside Macclesfield, so very accessible for me. This was the first location I ever visited when I first got serious about taking images, and if you look at my website you can see some of those early images in the Peak District section.
With this image I was looking for something different than the big vista shots of Teggs Nose itself or the reservoirs from the high vantage point. The orange post that you can see, are located just before the overspill drops away and the water disperses down into the lower reservoir. I tried to capture them as a framing for the tree that you can see in the mid ground, which ultimately takes the eye up to Teggs Nose Summit itself.
I have got several versions in both orientations of this image, but I think this framing approach works well.
Sony Alpha 7 III – 16 to 35mm F4 ZA OSS Lens.