The Wind and The Turbine

After a few weeks of lovely weather, the horrid weather came back with avengence, we’ve had rain, wind and bitingly cold winds. Alongside all that horridness my work has been hugely busy as well which as all meant that I’ve had not as much time to get out with my camera as I’d have liked. So I was determined to get out at least twice over this last weekend to try to find another location for my 12 Significant images project.

I’ve been looking at Instagram a lot recently and I’ve started to follow a few local folk who post images from the surrounding areas and I saw a few images that caught my eye, in a location I’ve been to recently, that places was Woodbank Memorial Park. The image that caught my eye was of what looked like a turbine, the surrounding areas looked familiar so my mind was made up off I went on Friday afternoon.

The Woodbank Park Turbine

A few clicks on google soon brought up some images of the turbine, and a little research later I found out that it is actually an Archimedes screw designed turbine. The turbine will provide power to the Pear Mill located very close by, and the turbine itself can generate enough power for around about 75 houses. Its a fairly major investment on behalf of the owners of Pear Mill but I’m sure it will start to pay back the £750K investment soon enough.

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Given that the Turbine is on the River Goyt and I had walked along the river a few weeks ago and didn’t find it, I decided that it would be closer to the Vernon Park entrance and parked my car in the big car park on the Stockport town centre side. I set off walking along the banks of the river and as I walked I could hear the louder and louder sounds of gushing water. Soon enough there it was. Only problem was it was on the opposite side of the river, and lots of trees and a big fence made it impossible to take any decent images.

Me being me, I thought I knew exactly where I needed to be and set off on my way back towards where I thought the turbine could be located. On my last walk around Woodbank Park I walked along the river and came across a new bridge over the river. So I headed off towards that bridge, I made my way around Pear Mill and off over the bridge. I waded through the muddy paths and walked along the River Goyt, all the way until I cam across the same fence I found 30 minutes earlier, just on the other side. I could see the Turbine but it was on the other side of the River!!

In typical style I decided to look at the map!! Flat pack construction comes to mind, when I’m left with a couple of bits, this voyage of discovery started to feel like I did have a few bits left over. So out came my phone and the Viewranger app was loaded, and I spotted a path from the main road that would lead me down to the turbine on the edge of the River Goyt. 15 minutes later there I was, on the beach looking at the Turbine. As you can see from this first image it is a messy scene, but the turbine itself is an impressive site. what I’ve cropped out of this image is the spare tyre embedded in the beach, along with various other bits and bobs.

Having brought my full kits out with me I was able to trey a few different angles and approaches, and it struck me that a long exposure would work to help smooth out the river running through the turbine.

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As you can see from this second image the river is quite wide at this point, I’m sure that why it was chosen as a site for the turbine. Alongside the turbine there is a Weir, and this is one of many that you come across if you walk any distance along the River Goyt. Given the rain we have had the past few weeks the water levels where decent but the pace of the river was faster than I’d seen it previously. Both of these images were taken with my Sony A7iii, with the 24 to 105 f4 G lens, which was at 34mm focal length. In addition to a Lee Circular polariser, I had a Lee Little stopper on which gave me a shutter speed of 20 seconds, not the longest exposure I’d ever done but long enough to give some smoothness to the river itself.

I have to say that I find this type of scene difficult to work, there are lots of things that get in the way, lots of mess across the whole of the scene no matter where you place the tripod. I do love the look of this turbine and will definitely be back to try to work the scene a little more but maybe this won’t be one of my 12 locations for my project. Lets see what my next trip brings.

Werneth Low Cenotaph – Second Visit

I visited this location a few weeks ago and following some positive feedback from the guys on the WhatsApp group who are also undertaking the 12 significant images challenge decided that I would go back again and explore alternative compositions. This was, however, after a false start having tried to visit another new location near home, namely, Audenshawe Reservoirs. I have driven past this location hundreds of times when on the M60 motorway at Ashton Under Lyne, but never quite realised what was there. A google searched showed me that there was potential at this site, a three way intersection of the reservoirs. Off I went, but could I find the way to get into the paths, nope! I drove to the locations suggested by google but each one was blocked by a huge fence. Weird as I could see people walking there dogs but clearly some local knowledge was at play. My friend Carol would know how to find the walkers entrance she lives not far from that site, and indeed she is now on the case of locating the entrance on foot.

There was no way I was admitting defeat, and it dawned on me that I wasn’t a million miles from Werneth Low, my first location. The weather was very different to when I visited the last time. I had blue skies and warm (ish) weather. This time it was damp, cold and angry looking skies, worth another visit I thought.

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My last walk around Werneth Low I had my Sony A6600 with the 16 to 55 f2.8 G Lens with me, but given I’d set off thinking I’d have a short walk I had my full kit with the Sony A7iii and my trio of lenses. This was fine though as the walk to the cenotaph is a short flat one. It was very muddy and on a couple of occasions I did slip and slide a little, the joys of walking in the bad weather I guess. It really was very windy though. I was soon in position and took the image you see above, same composition but this time on a tripod and with lots of mood in the sky. I think this composition works well.

Disaster nearly struck, I’ve heard lots of times from Chris Sale about leaving the camera alone on the tripod but I was literally only 3 feet away messing in my bag when a huge gust got up and I saw my camera heading down to the ground. I was bemoaning the soft ground previously but that came to my rescue and the camera went over but the Small rig L Bracket took the majority of the blow. No damage and the camera still works perfectly, I was very lucky.

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Not content to leave with a full frame image of the same composition I decided to work the scene and see what else I could find. Having the camera on the tripod and having to move around quite slowly meant that I could look at the compositions through the live view screen. I have to say that the framed view of the cenotaph appearing under the branches of the tree struck me instantly, and I really do like this version. Maybe a little more work is needed on the sky in Lightroom but overall I do like this composition. Feedback from the guys on the WhatsApp group was positive and I really do think I’ve nailed my first location and I have two different compositions that I like from this location. Good stuff.

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I had packed my gear away and was heading back towards the car, when I was stopped by a man walking his dog, who enquired what I was taking images of. A lovely chap he was and we chatted (socially distanced of course) for a few minutes, but as we chatted I could see that there was some mood on the hills off in the distance and that could add some interest too a composition of the cenotaph on its own, in situations so to speak. I don’t think this image beats any of the others I’ve taken with the tree alongside it but it does give a sense of the location of the cenotaph in its native surroundings. I really do like this location.