2020 Comes to an End

The UK lockdown has continued and at the time of writing this Greater Manchester is in Tier 4. This means most places are closed and opportunities to travel and go places are severely limited. However, one thing I know is that going out into our fantastic countryside with my camera is a great way to get exercise. The places I visit tend to have very few people around as well which makes it ideal for distancing. This posting takes you through my last 3 outings of 2020, and whilst there are only a few images here I did take quite a number of photographs, mainly handheld. The tripod did make an appearance and as always it comes into its own.

Curber Edge 28th December 2020

If you hadn’t already worked it out I love this part of the Peak District, I probably have more images from around here than any other part of the national park. The morning of the 28th December was dull and overcast, and I had to get a few household jobs done, but I was determined to get out and about at some point that day. I do have quite a lot off images from the summer and autumn from Curber edge so it wasn’t a hard decision to head back there to try to capture a few more wintery images.

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The National Trust car park was really busy when I got up onto Curber Gap, but I managed to squeeze my car into a spot and got my gear and headed up the hill onto Curber Edge. The way the land lies here means that whilst being quite high up and you get great views of the villages blow, it doesn’t feel like you are on the edge, so to speak. This first image captures the essence of Curber for me, there is a great looking formation of rock that’s sticking up along with a wide view down onto the villages below. Given that the weather was misty and damp I decided to add the polariser to the camera and try to get the colours that can be captured to pop out a little more.

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As you drop down the other side of the edge the land starts to fall away towards where Froggett Edge is. I could see in the distance a group of Silver Birch Trees that looked like there was a little mist around them, so I headed off in that direction. I think that trees do look better when they are shrouded in something, be it light, or as in this case, mist. You can see the rock that I chose for the foreground and there are lots of those hidden under the grass and vegetation as you walk around. It’ a good job for sturdy boots or I’d be hobbling about having twisted my ankle.

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I decided that I should head back to the car, it was getting a little dark and I was cold. As I walked back up the edge I caught sight of the rock in this third image. A young couple where stood beside it and they were posing for selfies, great idea in such a lovely location. I thought I’d grab one last image and started to unpack my tripod and camera. The young couple walked down in my general, direction and to my surprise the chap asked me about the sort of image I was looking to capture. It’s not often you find people who know any of the technicalities of photography. He asked me about aperture and shutter speeds to best capture the scene. Given that it was quite late and the background wasn’t clear due to the weather I told the chap that I would be at the widest aperture for my lens, which was f4. I’d focus on the rock and try to blur the background as much as possible. I do like this image.

Holcombe Hill 29th December 2020

Tracey and I decided that I walk would be a good idea, and that Holcombe Hill would be a good place to go. In all honesty I didn’t expect to get very far as it had snowed quite heavily in the morning. However, the clouds dissipated and the blue sky appeared. It wasn’t the easiest of walks to get up to the Peel Tower on the top of the hill as it was snowy underfoot and the footfall of the day meant it was quite compact. It seemed a popular choice as quite a few people where out and about, so rather than go right up to the tower we followed the path that goes around the edge. One thing is fort sure there are some great views from up there.

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Regular readers will know that I love dry stone walls and I spotted this one as we walked onto the other side of the peel tower and headed down the other side. A lovely snowy scene, a gorgeous wall, and a view over towards Ramsbottom (I think). These images are all taken with my Sony A6600 with the 16 to 55 f2.8 G lens, which is a really great carry around lens and is sharp across the whole focal range.

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There are several routes down and we headed along one of them towards Ramsbottom. All the way down my eye kept getting caught by the church that you see in this image. We both love looking around historical buildings and churches and churchyards are on that list to. It was the middle of the afternoon and the sun was quite bright, as you can see in this image. I like the way the path leads up to the church but there is also some good light on the gravestones and the church tower. A good image I think.

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We did walk all the way around Ramsbottom, in fact we called in at Starbucks for a brew, takeaway of course. We walked a fait distance and needed to get back to the car, which meant a short hike up a fairly steep main road. As we walked we both stared in amazement at the lovely scene captured in this last image. sweeping views across the hills and moon lovely and bright high in the sky, a fabulous end to a fabulous day.

Tatton Park 31st December 2020

The day before the government had announced that Greater Manchester would move from Tier 2 to Tier 4, the higher level of restrictions, which is think is right. I had to check that Tatton Park was still open and their website was unequivocal that the park was open and was Covid safe. This was a relief as we had planned a walk around the park during the day. Th weather had obliged again with another dusting of snow. Tatton Park is only a few miles from home but we had to drive through some pretty dull weather to get there, but it was worth the effort.

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I’m not exactly sure how big tattoo Park is but its safe to say that it is vast. It covers a huge area of land. There are a few lakes as well and whilst the sun was out not all the ice had melted from the surface. This first image is of the first lake you come to as you walk from the mansion House (which was closed) out into the parkland area. I like the half reflections created by the ice and the colours compliment this image perfectly.

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I think that composition in photography is where the art part comes in. You can study composition theory (which I’ve done) but being able to see an image as you are stood there is a skill and one that is very prevalent in art and art courses. The shore of the lake sweeps around towards the trees here and the snow all adds to the affect in this image. When the sun is so strong it is hard to capture scenes such as this. It’s very easy to “blow out” the highlights but thankfully my A6600 has a decent amount of dynamic range that it can capture a reasonable amount of information that can be edited in Lightroom, which is what I’ve done with this image.

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This last image is actually taken from within the Garden of Tatton Park. There are plants, trees and flowers from all parts of the world here and the staff do a stunning job of looking after them. For this image I’m actually stood on a small bridge that cuts across this lake, and the refection of the big tree is what caught my eye. You could tell I was getting hungry at this point as I didn’t even notice the people who walked into the image. It’s still a good image nonetheless.

To all my readers I wish you a happy new year and lets hope that 2021 is a good year, I know mine will be.