The weather has not been great in recent months, and this took a turn for the worse over the Christmas period. There was torrential rain and eventually we had snow. Living in Stockport has meant that we have had the odd dusting of snow over the years but this time Stockport seem to get much more snow than other parts of Manchester. I saw this first hand with travelling between Stockport and Bury, with more snow in Stockport and lower temperatures.
I was working through the main bulk of the snowing, so didn’t really get a chance to get out with the camera, but last Friday and Saturday I took the opportunity to get out with what’s left of the snow both in Stockport and Bury. The regular watchers will know that I have a project focused on a section of the River Mersey in Stockport, so a walk along the river with a hope of getting some snowy shots was my intention on Friday morning. These are a selection of images that ittok on Friday.
River Mersey
I’ve taken several images of this group of trees, in various seasons. As I walked along the walkway I stopped and looked too see if a composition was possible with some colour in the sky. The sun was well on its way up but it struck me that I might be able to use one of the trees to partially block the direct sunlight and I wondered if I could get some sort of sun star by using the really small apertures on the camera in this case f16. I really like this image.
These posts have been the subject of my photography over the previous year, but all of these have been with all of the posts standing. I’m not sure why there are 4 that have fallen or been knocked over, but its a shame if these have been vandalised.here is some great side light on this scene, and the river and walk way do provide a depth to this image. Although, the posts have been knocked down I still do like this scene and the light adds greatly to this image.
This is an alternative composition of the previous image. There is direct sunlight on this scene and again I was looking for a sunstar and to an extent this image achieves it. This is a simple image but I really like it.
Nangreaves
Friday afternoon I drove up to Bury, to spend Friday Saturday and Sunday at Traceys. The regular watchers will know that Tracey lives north of Bury not far from Ramsbottom. I have taken images in a variety of locations but thought it would be good to have a walk up to and through Nangreaves kill two birds with one stone, a dog walk and some photography. It’s surprising how snow makes a place look different and Saturdays walk was no different. The snow was slightly heavier as I got higher up the roads (and in height) and of course the tractors who use this road had spread the snow into drifts. These are a selection of the images I took on Saturday.
I’ve been looking to try to get an image that I’m happy with that includes the farmhouse that can be seen in the above image. The snow and the colour in the sky add hugely to this image, and the wheel tracks through the snow provides depth. The bench I photographed a few weeks ago is covered by the snow on the left of this image, as I said its amazing how much change snow can make to a scene.
This scene is very much an old favourite of mine and I have taken numerous images in this location. I wanted to see how much the snow would add to an already strong location. I think you’ll agree it adds greatly to the image.
For those who know Nangreaves you will recognise that the scene above is near the bus turning circle and the telephone box which I photographed in my New Year update blog. I do have a fascination with post boxes and electrical pylons. The nice colour in the sky all adds to this image.