Last images of summer

The summer seems to have flown by and autumn is now being thrust upon us. Autumn in Somerset wouldn’t be complete without mist though, would it? Well, I have started the season quite well and have an image I captured on the Somerset Levels to show you later. In the meantime I have some news about new published work:

RightCareIndex have used my picture Summer in Somerset on the front cover of their 2010-11 directory for Somerset. The finished directory can be found on their website.

Somerset based artist Mervyn Hewish has created a marvelous painting of Burnham-on-Sea’s lighthouse using my photograph of it as reference. You can have a look through more of Mervyn’s paintings on his website at www.aandm-art.co.uk. The image should be available to view on his website soon.

Brecon Beacons

After climbing the peaks of Corn Du, Pen y Fan and Cribyn for the first time earlier this year I felt the need to return and try to capture them in a different light. At the same time I really wanted to visit Ystradfellte – an area known locally as waterfall country. I planned a visit in mid-summer when daylight hours were plentiful, hoping to visit both the waterfalls and the hills in one day. However, I underestimated the walking involved in visiting the waterfalls and although I made it to both locations I really felt it in my legs the next day! Note to self: take lighter backpack next time.

I found the waterfalls quite hard to capture well. I took wellies to allow me to get pictures like this one of Sgwd y Pannwr above for which I had to sheepishly walk across the flowing water from one side of the pool to another. I had to continuously wipe the camera’s lens as the spray from the waterfall was like standing in a fine rainstorm. Its power was immense and the sound of the water crashing down was deafening; a beautiful and terrifying experience.

In complete contrast, several hours later I walked half way to the top of Corn Du and Pen y Fan as I wanted to explore a peaceful little lake called Llyn Cwm Llwch.

The llyn is quite small but nestled high up in a sheltered area at the foot of the main peaks of the Brecon Beacons. Standing on the bank of the lake the silence was consuming but this made for a relaxing time to capture an image. I composed the above picture using the large rocks as foreground interest and waited, hoping that some light would be able to shine through from behind the cloud. Time passed and slowly I noticed a patch of warm orange moving in from the left. I captured this image at the moment when the light was most intense before it was swallowed by cloud for the last time that evening.

Whilst making this picture a woman was walking down from the top of the hills. She was singing something to herself (I have no idea what) but her voice was the only sound for miles and it seemed to fit with the stillness of the water.

Deer Leap, Somerset

Back in Somerset more recently I have continued exploring the Mendip hills. I returned to one of my favourite locations, Deer Leap, one evening in search of views to the west over the Somerset Levels towards Brent Knoll. I found a suitable gateway along a drystone wall that I thought would make an interesting ‘entrance’ to a picture. The light that evening was okay but a weather front moved in and masked the remaining sun before I was able to get the picture I hoped for. Two days later, however, the story was different: heavy rainclouds moved overhead all day but I could see that a break on the horizon looked promising for sunset. I drove over to Deer Leap and marched across the fields to my gateway just in time to watch the sun dip below the clouds and create a fire in the sky.

Autumn = mist

Finally, with autumn now upon us, I have been planning to get some misty sunrise pictures. A few days ago I visited a stretch of the River Brue just outside of Glastonbury and captured this image with Glastonbury Tor rising above the mist.

Jet trails usually irritate me with the way they spoil beautiful clear skies. On this occasion though they seemed to add to the picture, creating colourful slashes across the sky.