North West England
North West England is a region in the United Kingdom that is known for its stunning landscapes, rich history, and vibrant culture. From the rolling hills of the Lake District to the bustling cities of Manchester and Liverpool, there is no shortage of breathtaking photography locations in this part of the country. Whether you're a professional photographer or just someone who loves to capture beautiful moments, North West England offers a wealth of opportunities to explore and capture the essence of this unique region. With its diverse mix of urban and rural landscapes, there is something for everyone to discover and photograph in North West England.
Photography regions of North West England
Photography of North West England
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 :-)
sunrise ish.........
Press "L" followed by F11 to view as intended ........sDSC06656-ed1
One from the back end of last year, another sunrise trip to the Lakes, 0730 in the morning (far better than current sunrise time...) sunrise as such didn't happen but this location was just about perfect weather wise, glow of the first light illuminating the dense fog/mist and seperating the lone tree from its background in the still lake, this was about the last of the Autumn colours. I was there again last week and the tree is looking pretty gnarly and sparse...
You can view my most interesting shots on Flickriver here: www.flickriver.com/photos/pete37038/popular-interesting/
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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New Brighton Lighthouse, originally known as Perch Rock Lighthouse after the navigation hazard that it marks, came into operation in 1830 and continued as a navigation beacon until 1st October 1973, when it became a victim of modern navigation technology. The tower rises 90ft above the rock, the first half of which is solid. To gain access when the tide is out a ladder is needed to reach the first of the 15 iron rungs built in to the side of the tower that lead up to the door. A spiral staircase leads to the keepers' accommodation consisting of a galley/kitchen, a bathroom, a living room and a bedroom and then up to the lamp room. www.photographers-resource.co.uk/a_heritage/lighthouses/L...
Erm, New Brighton lighthouse, again, sorry, I’ll get round to editing some other pics soon, promise!
I was determined this year to make sure I get a good few days up in the Lake District during Autumn as it just didn't work out last year for one reason and another, so it was great to get a few days away here, as usual the weather wasn't the best I could have hoped for but to be honest these days I kind of expect that, and anything else it just a bonus...
This location wasn't really on my to do list on this day I'd planned to shoot the boathouse at Rydal but fot the second day running I found myself in a car park with not enough change for the extortionate ticket machine, knowing how long I take shooting a location and not fancying getting my car clamped or towed off I decided to change location and came here instead.
There are quite a few options for shooting here in terms of where to position yourself, this one seemed appealing and was definitely getting done after I spent a few minutes tumbling down a rather steep, slippy, muddy bank to get to it, grabbing onto a few trees and plants on the way down to stop myself going for an unwanted swim...
Had a good hour or so shooting along this bit of river, which turned out to be really productive. On the way back I decided to wade through the river instead of going back up the bank from hell again, even with wellies on got soaked feet as the water poured over the top in one unseen deep part, I'd like to think it was worth it though, if I don't come home soaked or covered in mud I probably haven't got anything on the camera worth keeping!
A pre dawn visit to Media City, Salford, perfect calm conditions, and zero degrees temperature made for some great still water ideal for reflecting the neon lights into, not ideal for keeping a warm set of hands! this bridge is a previously shot location at sunset in totally different colours, managed to not get locked in a car park this time too.
You can view my most interesting shots on Flickriver here: www.flickriver.com/photos/pete37038/popular-interesting/
Salford Quays
Happy New Year all!
Taken from near Oxford Station in Manchester, on a very clear night. I used a tripod.....
After a bit of colourful deviation, back to some nice long exposure minimalism again in my preferred medium of Black & White This was shot at Rivington reservoir, Lancashire. A place I often visit but get tired of the standard shots outside of the colourful seasons, I've chosen to concentrate on tiny bit of the place here isolated within a very long exposure to try and add another dimension to an otherwise ordinary shot. Very minimal, it's either to your taste or it isn't, I really do enjoy creating this type of image with a camera, it makes you look at things in a far more creative way, (which may have just passed you by), in a whole new light, turning the ordinary, into the extraordinary.
Exposure: 161 seconds @ f16
View my most interesting shots on Flickriver here: www.flickriver.com/photos/pete37038/popular-interesting/.
A fantastic morning on the River Brathay towards Elterwater, the forecast looked good for misty conditions the previous evening so Myself, Brad Eide, and Terry Roberts decided to meet here for sunrise.
The misty conditions were great and the water really still apart from a couple of ducks swimming about feeding, the light really didn't last long at all, as soon as it had got good it chnaged and dissapeared very quickly, just a case of working quickly while you had it there and also checking both directions to see what was happening behind you too.
Definitely worth getting up early, really pleased with some of the results from this morning.
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!
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.
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
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.
oh aye, and a lighthouse........
Keswick, Lake District
I've been meaning to come here for ages, tonight with being at work late and great weather proved the ideal time for a quick visit and a few shots bang in the middle of the blue hour, I had to rush a little as I was parked in a car park that was due to shut, and with no ticket I was chancing it a bit, but still I managed a few shots, this being the first. As it happens I still got locked in the car park... and had to get some security guy to let me out.... Worth it? - I think so with this one.
View my most interesting shots on Flickriver here: www.flickriver.com/photos/pete37038/popular-interesting/
Evening sky.
Crosby, near that there Liverpool.
Autumn colours this year will be reduced as the larch trees have been felled to prevent the spread of a larch fungus disease.
The Lowry is a theatre and gallery complex at Salford Quays, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is named after the early 20th-century painter L. S. Lowry, known for his paintings of industrial scenes in North West England
Southport Pier is a pleasure pier in Southport, Merseyside, England. Opened in August 1860, it is the oldest iron pier in the country. Its length of 1,108 m (3,635 ft) makes it the second-longest in Great Britain, after Southend Pier. Although at one time spanning 1,340 m (4,380 ft), a succession of storms and fires during the late 19th and early 20th centuries reduced its length to that of the present day.
The pier has been host to famous entertainers, including Charlie Chaplin in the early 20th century, and was formerly visited by steamliners in its heyday, but channel silting meant this ceased in the 1920s. The pier fell into disrepair throughout the late 20th century, and by 1990 it was operating at a significant annual loss with rising maintenance costs. The local council sought to have the pier demolished, but were defeated in their attempt by a single vote. Wikipedia
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
Quick stop off on the way to catch the train to London for Andy's little gathering, thankfully no tripods were insulted in the making of this image.
A beautiful little secluded rocky waterfall within dense woodland, found this hidden away little place on a walk and decided to set up and have a go at composing a shot, it looked pretty straight forward from the side, in reality it was anything but...
Getting into the water is always tricky but the water levels seemed to vary widly from one inch to the next coupled with the fact there was fallen branches everywhere I had to be really careful.. no sooner had I got into positon and set up I went to begin to set the camera up but in my haste I hadn't secured it with the lock on the tripod ... and off it came! freefalling towards the water.. anyone watching would have got a real treat as after some horrendously slapstick but lucky 'camera juggling' coupled with some fairly loud swearing saw me catch it after about 3 failed attempts about 1 inch above the water..... one of those heart stopping moments closely followed by extreme relief... followed by thinking you idiot...
It wouldn't be me if I didn't have some sort of mishap when I'm out and thankfully this time I lucked out and it didn't end up with a smashed up, wet, ruined camera and lens.
This was taken a while afterwards when the heartbeat had got back down under 200bpm :-)
14mm | ISO 100 | f/11 | 2 seconds
Pre dawn at Ullswater, a bit a a break from the Icelandic images, ironically this was a heck of a lot colder than Iceland was!
Last week Myself, Geoff Moore, Mark Waidson, and Mike (Muddyboots) headed off to the Isle of Skye for a few days in what turned out to be a fantastic trip where the weather somehow played ball for us everyday.
On the way up we decided to stop off here for a sunrise shoot, it had been several years since I shot this location and I've never had conditions like this here, it had been down to minus 10 on the way up over Shap and this made for some great ice and frost around the lake giving some different foreground options.
This one was shot pre sunrise, we got some great light when the sun came up over the hills too but I really like the cold, still feeling to this image.
near a lighthouse......near Liverpool..... I suspect I might be posting rather more from here in he coming weeks, providing we are allowed to leave the house......
I've been posting some very colourful photos, a number of which I took during a sunny Autumn week in the English Lake District. However, it wasn't always about colour. On my last day there, it was very grey, wet and miserable, and my photos of the Coniston jetty were nothing like I had hoped. So just for the sake of some colour, I added my umbrella!
Antony Gormley statue contemplating life......
Tucked away in the grounds of Rydal Hall and it's huge gardens, right at the bottom is this great little waterfall and viewing building, it's no secret where it is but it does feel like a secret area by the time you've walked through all the sections of the gardens to get to this spot, a nice dry cool morning was the ideal time to visit on this Autumn day and there was hardly anybody about.
I've posted an image from here already stood right below in the water with a really low perspective, I couldn't decide which one I liked better so I thought I'd share this one too taken from a lot higher up on the bridge which runs over the beck.
Bit of waiting involved with this one as I wanted water movement but didn't want the trees blurring through the exposure so I just had to wait for breaks in the breeze, hardly a problem as just sat here on the bridge waiting with this scene in front of me was hardly making me want to rush anything, a truly beautiful place made even more so by the warm Autumn colours.
Paid a short visit to the Lake District for a quick scout round, probably a bad idea on a Bank Holiday Monday, no where to park in most places, Wastwater was one of the exceptions!
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Buttermere Mornings, free sauna!
"Another Place" is an art installation by Antony Gormley. 100 spectacular cast-iron, life-size figures spread across three kilometres of the foreshore at Crosby Beach and stretch almost one kilometre out to sea.
The figures – each one weighing 650 kilos – are made from casts of the artist's own body standing on the beach, all of them looking out to sea, staring at the horizon in silent expectation.
Explore #3 April 20 2020
I've noticed during this lockdown that a lot of people are going back through their images and uploading some great stuff that would probably otherwise still be lying on hard drives undiscovered, so I decided to set myself a challenge this morning, instead of editing 'new' photo's, I would trawl back to over 5 years ago to see what I could find, and I wanted to find 3 images that I liked that hadn't seen the light of day before.
It wasn't as easy as it sounds!! there was some right junk in there, images shot badly, lens flares, non accurate expsoures, general rubbish, and softer images in some cases due to poorer glass.
This is the second shot I found, - the first can be seen here - www.flickr.com/photos/pete37038/49785340662/in/dateposted/
I remember this day going to see and shoot this rusty, old, and badly listing shipwreck, located within one of the marine basins (East Float) in Birkenhead.
It was quite hard to shoot as I remember even with a 10mm lens on as to get this foregroud I had to wedge myself right on the edge of the wall which dropped off into the harbour behind me.
The ship had a very intersting history too:
Former Fisheries Research vessel, RV SARSIA, built in 1953, sank at her lay-up berth in the East Float, Birkenhead many years ago. Sarsia sank in May 1998 due to a "slow leak." Dejas Marine bought the Sarsia in 1981 and renamed it Dejudah in 1982 when she was taken to West Africa and used as high definition oil survey boat untill 1986 when the oil business went a quiet and returned back to Dartmouth May 22nd. 1986 and then on to Plymouth where it stayed in Millbay Docks for about 2 years until sold and towed away, she could have sailed under her own power but there was some cracks in the rudder operating hydraulic cylinders and Lloyds deemed it unsafe.
This was in 2014, I have no idea whether or not she is still there anymore.
***UPDATE - Apparently she is still there and can be seen on Google Earth
Stay indoors, stay safe folks.
Lots more images on my personal website here - regularly updated
Liverpool sunrise, not particularly sunny mind.......
sunset time
taken from The Black Pearl in New Brighton
Thanks to all Phoide contributors to North West England!
Most notably Graham Morris, Pete Rowbottom, Alan Taylor, Adelheid Smitt, Quentin 'Q' Thompson, AlanHowe, kevin walker and Dee Eff.