Allerdale

I'd pretty much given up there being any kind of sunset here today as it was very overcast and raining on/off, just driving about I ended up near to here and decided to shoot the pier on Derwentwater, as I got there over the wall there were already 2 photographers there waiting for a break in the weather so with 3 being more than a crowd I decided scrap that idea and come up here instead hoping there wasn't anyone else about, and just chance waiting it out for just a bit of decent evening light.

Amazingly there wasn't another soul about here, which is pretty rare, and after setting up and waiting for a while I even got a decent break in the weather as well, it usually doesn't work out like that but if you don't try you don't get.... about 10 minutes after this image a huge storm blew over with torrential rain, which I took great pleasure in watching from the comfort of the car :-)

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Press "L" followed by F11 to view as intended ........sDSC06656-ed1

One from few weekends ago . Canon 5D mk4 Canon 16-35 f4 kase wolverine filters kase k8 filter holder Circular Polariser 0.9 Soft Grad

I've hardly had anytime to shoot landscapes lately due to work and other commitments, the one time I did go out last week the light wasn't the best so it turned into more of a reccy trip, which is ok - it's just nice to get out again, hopefully this will change soon and I'll crack on with planning some more trips, the one good thing about this time of year apart from the sociable sunrise times is that when it goes dark early I can get some editing done knowing I'm not missing anything outdoors....

I've taken my own advice and begun going through unedited raw files sat on the hard drive, culling some, and picking out others to be edited before going to the newer images, this one was one such one I selected to process, I'd posted a shot from here a while back but I like this composition a lot more with the inclusion of the pockets of golden leaves amongst the rocks in the foreground, great evening light at sunset just moments before a gigantic rainstorm hit, made for dramatic conditions before retreating to the car. Not a soul around here tonight, which is pretty rare, probabaly put of by the off and on weather - always worth trying to get something, as if you don't try you definitely won't get anything...!

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Finally got my PC sorted out so should be able to comment / upload images again with it shutting down every 2 seconds, came pretty close to getting thrown into a skip.

Anyway another image from Derwentwater around sunrise in very different conditions, and not exactly what I was hoping for, it's not often you make a good image out of a scene with a plain sky but mist certainly helps! with that in mind I've gone for a different image here with the second fence line and tried to keep it as simple and symmetrical as possible.

No matter how many times you visit a place even if the weather isn't eactly what you would have liked, it's great to be able to come away with something different to what you've already got previously.

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Explore #2

A curious morning weather wise in the Lake District... I had got up early to head for Derwentwater for sunrise, it had all the promise of being really good, as it turned out it was completely naff, got 1 image with I was only half happy with, 20 minutes after sunrise I decided to give it up and go back the 5 miles or so to the hotel for breakfast.

Some time afterwards I set out again and was planning to heading down towards Ambleside, however on a whim something made me go back to Derwentwater again for whatever reason to see what the light was like as it had brightened up somewhat, so glad I did as within about 5 minutes of arriving the light became really good and I was rewarded with a lovely calm lake, far better than at sunrise, a stunning scene looking out towards Catbells. I had about 10 minutes of this nice warm light illuminating the Autumnal colours on the fells and trees, and then once again it was rippled lake and poor light.

Just as I had finished shooting and was walking back to the car I got a phone call off the hotel to say I had left my wash bag in the room (par for the course with me) , as I'd gone North instead of South I'd have to drive back past the hotel anyway so it all worked out nicely for once!

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Lake Derwent at Sunset Panoramic

Buttermere Mornings, free sauna!

I was standing in the field around the Castlerigg Stone Circle with at least 6 other photographers. It was a grey Autumn morning and several had already packed it in and given up, when suddenly the sun made a surprising appearance and lit up the flanks of Blencathra and the surrounding clouds. The remaining photographers all went crazy, everyone trying to get their perfect composition. I am glad I waited.

A traditional stone-built Packhorse bridge on the single-track road from the Borrowdale road (B5289) to Watendlath, in the English Lake District.

Lee Little Stopper

Seems I've really been neglecting my Flickr stream of late but I've really not had much time at all, so apologies for contacts photos I've missed these last few weeks.

A cracking morning on Buttermere with Yorkshire Mountain Goat, Terry Roberts.

With the conditions looking really favourable I'd planned to go up and shoot sunrise in the Lakes this morning, I would probably have gone further South but Terry suggested Buttermere and I'd not shot here for quite some time so I readily agreed, it's about another 40 minutes on the drive time to get here in a morning so I only usually shoot it if I'm stopping up here.

The conditions didn't disappoint, with absolutely loads of rolling mist over the lake and some good spells of totally calm water.

Considering the sky was 100% cloudless I've got about 3 or 4 from this morning that I'm really happy with, this is one of the locations you can shoot without being reliant on a dramatic sky with the amount of options on offer. This was the first shot I took shortly after arriving with the sun not yet risen, I'd never bothered using this fence here before either so thought I'd include it in this one.

Nikon D850 Nikon 16-35 f/4 @ 24mm Fotopro T-74C tripod Fotopro LG-9R ballhead No filters

1S064 f/11 0.6 seconds

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A fab morning out on Buttermere with Terry Roberts, I think we spent just shy of 3 hours down here waiting for little windows of the 'right' conditions, a few people came and went in that time.

The lake was rippling over quite a lot at times and we just had to wait and hope for light and mist to be present when it cleared again, I think in all I've come away with 4 maybe 5 shots from this morning that I'm really pleased with which is more than 1 an hour so I really can't grumble at that ratio !

It was still really gorgeous as we left but I think we had both got what we wanted so decided that a change of location was on the cards, seriously hard to tear yourself away from this place though...

Nikon D850 Nikon 70-200 f/4 ISO 50 f/11 1/15

NiSi landscape Cpl Fotopro T-74C tripod Fotopro LG-9R ballhead

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This was a very impromptu thing, I'd been dithering about where to go for sunset and I'd thought about Castlerigg, I visited a few hours before to try and plan what I'd do but I just cannot for the life of me create something there that I'm happy with so I wanted another location, not on the lake as I'd done that the night before and was happy with the shot.....

So let's go up a bit, Latrigg is a great hill overlooking Keswick in the shadow of Skiddaw to the rear, a good walk up to it with hardly a soul around apart from a few fellrunners you get a great view down over Kewsick, the Lake, and the Mountain range.

The light when I got up here was best described as bloody awful, hazy, no contrast, no detail below it was just grim, I decided to commit though and see what happened, either way it was a nice walk and a good place to chill out for an hour or so, if I didn't get anything then so what, beats being stuck indoors....

The light did come good in the end and it was a great sunset, got a few shots with a really nice sunburst as the sun set inbetween a 'v' shape in the fells - one for another day, the only foreground here to speak of is the bench, which I had been using, the only thing missing from it was someone sat on it.... and with nobody else to ask it was me or nobody... I'll let you decide wether I actually add to or detract from the image, this was my last shot from the day before walking back down, and it was great to sit there and take it all in, and hearing the shutter fire behind me, hoping I'd get something like this, it was a good few minutes before I went back to the camera to look, too often with shooting these scenes you fail to soak it up as you are committed to capturing the image.

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Looking downstream on Watendlath Beck shortly after it has drained from Watendlath Tarn.

Explore #3 - 13/12/17

Another visit to the lakes for a few days and another visit to this great spot on Derwentwater, the water level was a lot lower today than last time and a as result had retreated quite a way up the shoreline, I'd got here late this morning due to a malfunctioning toast machine in the hotel, that apparently takes 30 minutes to warm up! (I'd be getting a new one I think...) anyway when I got here I was fifth to arrive, 4 other photographers already set up at the location (good to meet you).

As it happens I didn't end up taking anything for about 20 minutes so waiting for my toast turned out to be the right plan, rather than go hungry.. some nice light this morning, just added a 6 stop to smooth the water right out and a grad to keep the sky and the snowy mountains in check. A classic location and one I cant see myself getting fed up with as it's just beautiful, just need to get that one killer sky!

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The forecast was for rain, but I decided to work with what I get. Sunlight peaked through a gap in the clouds to the east creating some wonderful colours at sunrise. I was also the only person at this magical place, presumably due to the bad weather forecast.

Castlerigg Stone Circle, Lake District

An early morning by the Ashness Jetty as the sun was rising over the mirror smooth lake.

I love this location and had hoped for a decent sunset, I'd arrived almost 1.5 hours before as I wanted to scout out a few more areas and compositions and not be on the last minute for once, I'd even remembered to bring my wading wellies this time too unlike the last visit.

Once I'd got set up and did a bit of 'gardening' (removing bits of rubbish out of the lake) it was just a matter of waiting for some decent light to appear (or not as is usual), there's another part of the stone jetty out in the water here so it makes a great spot to put all your stuff down like a work bench...

Anyway, I'd started watching youtube videos to kill a bit of time with my legs dangling in the water (fur lined wellies a must for this in Feb!) the lake was really peaceful so I was pretty relaxed, the noise of the Keswick Launch Boat broke the silence as it passed by in the distance, I watched it scurry past and carried on watching my program.. now I know it's basics physics but when a boat moves along on water, that water gets displaced and needs to go somewhere.. I'd totally not cottoned on to this and about a minute later was hit with 2 good sized waves that were making their way into the shoreline at a rapid rate of knotts... amazingly the only thing that got soaked was my tousers as my bag protected the camera gear and the camera stood firm on the tripod, remarkably my phone stayed bone dry as well.

You've got to laugh as it's such a daft mistake to make when you look at it! It won't happen again... by the time sunset came the stone jetty had dried off, unlike my trousers, but with the light becoming quite intense I wan't really concerned, and getting a free bath in the lake had been more than worth it.

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Keswick rowing boats at sunset

An early morning, trying to capture the light a Castlerigg Stone Circle in Cumbria, Lake District. The sun came out for a few minutes and lit up Blencathra Mountain and I considered myself lucky to be there, as the rest of the day turned out to be wet and dismal.

[#8 on explore 15/11/16]

Sunrise

Explore #3 - 16/05/16

Another panoramic image from Buttermere at dawn with a wider view than the last one, this one was taken a little earlier than the previous image with the attractive house on left included, the warm light was less intense but still it was nicely warming the hills and trees.

It took a few attempts at getting these as numerous times in the middle of the sequence of shots the water started to ripple and ruined the image, so it was back to square one again, and hope for it to fall flat once more before getting another base exposure reading then starting another sequence. Thankfully it did fall flat again which just meant working quickly while it was still dormant.

You can see how much the light changed in the scene in the space of just 7 minutes here - www.flickr.com/photos/pete37038/26647769856/in/photostream/

You can view my most interesting shots on Flickriver here: www.flickriver.com/photos/pete37038/popular-interesting/

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Following on from the last image inside the bothy on the fell side....

It's not often you actually want iclement wet weather on a shoot, infact I think this is the only time I have welcomed it, ever. But for what I wanted it was pretty much perfect, I'd like to shoot this in different conditions too, but to show a weather shelter doing it's job ideally it needs to be during adverse weather conditions, no amazing golden light today, just rainclouds, fog, rain, and plenty of it...

The problem with this is though unless it actually stops at some point it's more or less impossible to shoot in.... unless you're inside, like the last image.

The other photographer from Durham had gone out in the rain and got a shot and had gone back down the hill, the sky had been really featuresless though so I decided to wait it out up here for a bit to see if there was a bit more drama to be had before going out and setting up.

Not long afterwards although it was still raining there were a few breaks in the clouds and the mountains to the rear became visible once more, just remained a case of getting set up and keep wiping the lens to make sure there was a nice sharp image with no rain spots on it, thankfully didn't take too long as no filters needed to be added on a day like this.

We wondered wether to wait around a while longer but to honest I was happy with the image and probably wouldn't get anything better so we headed down, great that we did and it just got worse and worse visibility wise, and would actually rain non stop for the next 20 hours... guess I should be careful what I wish for ...

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The lush greens and the white water with the old mill looked stunning . Lake District .

When Derwentwater is cloaked in fog leg it to Buttermere, carefully

After a complete non starter in the morning, getting up at 0330 and driving to Rydal, where the sunrise just didn't happen and was about as flat as it could be, I had a few results during the morning that followed but nothing of note really, after scouting a few locations for the following mornings sunrise I decided to climb Fleetwith Pike and try for a possible sunset looking down the valley over Buttermere.

I got to the summit about 1830 and just waited it out with a beer, taking a few images as the sun dropped including some stuff over to Dale Head as that was nicely illuminated, at 2030 the sun still hadn't gone down and it was getting pretty cold.

This was the last bit of sun just before dipping behind the hills casting its rays down though the valley below, a truly beautiful place, and a fantastic place to watch the sun set. After packing up I managed to get a good move on and got back down to the car in Honister in about 30 minutes before it was fully dark.

You can view my most interesting shots on Flickriver here: www.flickriver.com/photos/pete37038/popular-interesting/.

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While I've got quite a lot of new images to post up from recent trips I thought I'll keep those back after finding several from previous trips while transferring files around, numerous ones unprocessed including this from Buttermere at dawn, it seemed a bit criminal to keep this gathering dust at the expense of new stuff.

I remember this was a particularly good morning, not only for light but for the lake being perfect for reflections long enough to take your images, it can be a massive pain when you start a sequence here only to get ripples appearing half way through, then it's delete, and back to the start again to wait for hopefully another calm spell, which may never appear, or if it does the light may be flat...

This one was shot a good while after sunrise with the light hitting Fleetwith Pike high up before cascading down illuminating Haystacks and onto the sides of Red Pike which form an arrow leading down the lonely Char Hut (fishing hut) on the shoreline, I always get a bit fed up when you get plain skies in the lakes but it totally makes up for it when you can get totally flat water with nice light, and thus you can create a nice wide symmetrical image, sends your eyes a bit squiffy if you look at the horizon line...

I couldn't think of an image title so just I've just nicked one of the lyrics off the last track on Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, which just happened to be on.

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One more photo from my recent trip to the English Lake District. The sun coming through the pines at Buttermere, is a favourite photo object, especially in the morning when the water is still calm. I was standing there with quite a few other photographers on this beautiful Autumn day.

[#5 on explore 25/11/16]

Chilly morning at Derwent water , but so refreshing to see the snow toped Skiddaw mountain in the Lake District . Shot was taken from Ashness Jetty.

Editing some older images this morning I came across this one I had already edited but never posted up and it was just languishing away in the folder so I decided to share it on here, and may get a print done while I'm at it.

A gorgeous morning on Derwent Water with a pastel sky and great serenity across the water, the water level being the perfect height to use this fence and get good reflections as sometimes it can be hardly visible.

Catbells to the rear is catching the first of the mornings sunlight.

New images uploaded to my website here

One from my last trip up to the lakes before Christmas, it had been snowing on and off so I wanted a go at this image with the snow coming down the slopes of the Mountains to the rear, initially I was a bit miffed as there wssn't as much snow I would have liked, but standing theere looking at the fact thewre was less also allows the lonely fishing hut to stand out far more against the background with the colours on the mountainside being able to come through as well.

The lonely little fishing hut is completely dwarfed by it's surroundings, it must be a great place to get away from it all, I'm no fisherman but if I was I'd be heading here.

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Keswick, Lake District

Buttermere

I was planning on taking a posting break for November however last weeks news from the cock wombles at SmugFlickr have roused me a little....... When Smugcup bought Flickr I remember thinking this is only going one way.....£$£$£$£$.....and so with last weeks news this is indeed the case. I started using Flickr primarily as a back up, I mean 1TB is a huge amount of free space, up until today I had over 9500 photos and was using 5% of my space. The reduction to 1000 photos is in my estimation 10-20GB, not bad for free but still a huge reduction. For my personal use 50GB would probably be fine so Smuggits claim of being cheaper than others is already starting to wear thin (apple £0.79pm , Smugtheif £5.99 pm) Now on the face of it I can understand their dilemma, it costs to host and I can't see them making a huge amount from advertising. I don't mind paying for a service, but, and it's a huge but, lets face it Flickr has been utter crap for the last few months, I mean why on earth don't they fix the thing then introduce the charge? It absolutely beggars belief. That's not what winds me up though, up until yesterday I was edging towards grabbing the 30% discount and giving it a try for a year, then I read the bit "oh and by the way if you pay you're more likely to get in Explore........" WTF, are they serious? Oh yes they are! Look SmugFlickr thats the main problem, people are fed up of multiple entires from the same user, 20 pictures of the 38 Stagecoach to West Kirby and bloody photos of Lego Batman eating bloody Lego ice cream dressed in Harry Potters cape. Lets not even start on bin lorries, I know that's an emotive one for some people.

Anyway I'll crawl back into hibernation for the rest of the month, sorry for the rant. I'd just like to say to all that follow me and comment, I really appreciate your time and thoughts, I know I don't comment a huge amount (that's generally because your photos are way better than mine and I don't know what to say half the time!) but I do always enjoy your work and indeed take inspiration from you.

I'll sign off with a song (Idea shamelessly nicked from Mark D) New Day Rising - Bob Mould/Dave Grohl youtu.be/XHjHBojMsRs

sDSC06621-ed2 LPOY

Bit of a right place, right time moment, well I kind of like it!

didn't happen quite as planned....

wondering who has nicked the sun.........

Bet it looks nice in the snow at the mo!

Ok ok, I know what you're thinking...Yes it's been done before, done to death etc etc. I've even got 2 different Panoramic versions of this scene printed huge in my house, so why would I want to shoot it again? quite simply because in the right light it's absolutely stunning and I love it. I might even go for the 'hat-trick' and get this printed to put with the other 2.

So that's that out the way :-) This one was at the end of a rather long morning on the shore here (around 3 hours) with Terry Roberts. We saw people (photographers) come, and go and apart from the earlier 'mist festival' that kicked off this was undoubtably some of the best light of the entire morning, and there was only us here for it.

I couldn't resist a pano of this scene with the light streaming down the side of Fleetwith Pike lighting up the Autumn colours with the Lake lovely and calm, still a little mist hanging around too to finish the scene off. To be able to spend 3 hours in one spot it has to be pretty special, and to me this is one of my favourite spots in the UK, I don't go often, but when I do I always enjoy it just as much.

Fotopro 74C tripod Fotopro LGNikon D810 Nikon 70-200 f/4 @ 100mm Fotopro T--9R ballhead NiSi 100mm Landscape Cpl Nisi 100mm 3 stop ND

ISO 64 f/11 1/20 second

9 Image vertical stitch - My PC almost died doing it, 9 x D850 RAW files in a pano :-0... need a new PC I think.

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A shot from back in April this year, I had been meaning to post this at the time but as usual you take other things and then they become the priority and so on and so on and things get lost to hopefully be found later. Earlier this week I had the good fortune to be included in Flickrs choice top UK shots for 2016 -

www.flickr.com/photos/flickrdata/galleries/72157675054178...

The image they chose was a panoramic from that very same morning and made me revisit the original files where I found this one again...

The lone fishing or 'char hut' on the banks of Buttermere in the Lake District at about 5 in the morning, the first direct light hitting the tops of the mountains and illuminating the craggy rock formations, I wanted to try and get one concentrating on the lone hut and reflections before the waters started to move, the little stopper sorting that out nicely in any event, giving me 13 seconds and an almost painted look to the reflections in the lake.

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Copyright by Giuseppe Milo http://milo.photography