STANAGE EDGE AMPHITHEATRE

Stanage Edge, runs ribbon like, four Miles long, from the Cowper Stone to Stanage End.

I had planned to find the CROW CHIN rock, to shoot an image, but time and a

pulled hamstring made the trek shorter. 

Kato (my Brother) wanted me to get an image for his blog, a marsh or water scene.

We were fortunate to find such an image, on the track to the Redmires Reservoirs, a marshy pool

matched his request. See his WILL-O-THE-WISP search HERE.

With that image in the can, we set off back to the Edge, I had earlier caught sight of a scene 

through two gritstone upright boulders, that framed a view upon  the "Stanage plantation"

the sound emanating from the woods below, gave me a possible posh

 image title" STANAGE EDGE AMPHITHEATRE".

With the tree's in the centre forming a curtain for the spring evening show, a good mix of

changeable cloud, it all made for a fine image.

The gritstone in this part of the DARK PEAK has a multi sparkled quality, not unlike

a Star field on a moonless night, it may sound a poetic description, but on a Sunny Day, the gritstone

takes on the appearance of a Starry night sky. You will not see this in any on line photo, the resolution

is (deliberately) too low, remind me to shoot a macro shot.

Here are a few images from last Year's visit;

The image on the Left was a reject, Unpublished  test shot. unlike the image on the Right

which can be bought here; amethystlandphoto

Although I had intended to walk to HIGH NEB and the CROW CHIN rock, I chose to return

another day, but the " STANAGE EDGE AMPHITHEATER"  image was reward enough. 

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HOWDEN CONTRAILS

A  Weather forecast  for fine weather, pushed me out the door. I decided to head up to the Ladybower reservoir in the Peak District.

I was not able to spend more than a couple of hours, hiking so a Trekking bike was the preferred mode of transport, I had company, my Brother (Kato), came along with his steel framed, mountain bike, it weighs a ton compared to my aluminum hybrid Trekking cycle.

 

We headed out to find the Howden Reservoir dam, on arriving the low level of the water, stopped us in our tracks, that and the fact the early Autumn was absent, made for limited photo opportunities.

 

looking out over the reservoir, almost empty, the only option was a very close up shot of the Howden dam, with the sky contrails.

More to see over at;http://www.amethystlandphoto.com/

Howden Dam Contrails

I will not return here this Autumn, due to the very low water levels, so where to next, I think North Wales is calling, maybe?.

See more Monochrome here; http://www.amethystlandphoto.com/monochrome

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STANAGE EDGE-FOLLOW THE LIGHT

Stanage Edge ancient, Gritstone escarpment within the Peak district national park.

 

 THE DARK HIGH PEAK

 The gritstone of this area was once used in the making of Mill grindstones

and if you walk the Edge you will see grindstones abandoned

and never put into service, they make a nice foreground

in many a fine photo image.

Another gritstone use was the water feeders, used for the grouse

in this image I used the feeder and water as a reflective surface, to 

fill the foreground with highlight.

 If you pop along here, there is a nice image of the above on BLUE;http://www.amethystlandphoto.com

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OWLET & KATO ∞

  The journey back from Stanage Edge, was eventful. Passing though the Chatsworth 
House area, the Road speed is 50mph, but chatting with 
Kato ∞ my driver and assistant we both thought this was a stupid 
speed, after dark and on a twisty Road so Kato ∞ dropped the speed 
down to under 40mph.
A wise move!?, a Tawny owlet, flew out across our path, clipping him down
 the side of the car, the owlet dropped down stunned, onto the
 center of the Road. We had already stopped as the owlet, fell from
 his flight, Kato ∞ gathered up a rather dazed owl, he bought it 
back into the car, handing it over to me, i perched
him on a blanket, but he was recovering fast, the owl just wanted to fly, 
and flapped onto the dashboard, so he was recovered 
enough to be set free.
Kato ∞ carried the owlet to the fence where he/she, originally flew out, the 
owlet flapped and glided (wings fully spread) down the valley and 
across the River Derwent, landing  in a tree. Did I get a photo
 of the owlet, no, it was all too dramatic, plus my compact camera was
 packed away?. The morel of the story is always be prepared, camera ready.
As for the owlet, hope alls well with him/her, and here is a picture of 
three Tawny owlets, just about to fledge, by photographer; Artur Mikołajewski.

 

From Wiki photo by;
Artur Mikołajewski

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PANORAMA RESERVOIR

Llyn Clywedog reservoir, described as being; a subtle juxtaposition of sublime natural beauty and modern engineering, an accurate apt, summing up.

I thought this view would be ideal for a Panoramic composition, and so on midsummers day, I set out to capture this fine view. 

See this image here;http://www.amethystlandphoto.com

Llyn Clywedog reservoir

 Dr.James Fox, in the BBC4 program " BLUE A History of Art in Three Colours", explains;

Blue the Colour, in sky and on the horizon, can never be really be touched.

Making BLUE a very special hue.

I would have to agree, the water in my panorama, reflects the deep BLUE of sky

but looking at the water, it appears a much deeper BLUE it is in fact

due to the great depth of the Reservoir.

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There is one other BLUE Panorama, on my web site; http://www.amethystlandphoto.com 

Well...........almost all BLUE, apart from the orange Sun lit cloud above.

CROWDECOTE COLD MIST

The other BLUE we all know and some, care about.

HOME

Llyn Clywedog reservoir

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NINE STONES CLOSE

Continuing with the theme of standing Stone Circles,
I post another set of  Stones, near to the "Nine Ladies Stone circle", which
 was featured in my last post.

It was my intention, come spring, to photograph Bluebells in a fine wood, that

was not possible, but......on the way back from said wood, I made a track

to another prominent feature in the Landscape, Nine Stones Close, a small

but tall circle of Four standing stones, minus the other Five stones 

missing or removed over time.

NINE STONES CLOSE

The Sun was about to sink below the horizon, it had been the hottest day of the Year
But the long grass was still wet, and glistened in the falling Sunlight.
You may not be able to see the fine detail, in the above image, so I have
cropped out the fine Sun light and water Sun hit highlights in the image below.

Sun -Grass-Stone detail

The next image is of the two larger stones, covered in lichen and standing tall.

"TIMBER FOR THE LIVING STONE FOR THE DEAD"

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THE NINE LADIES STONE CIRCLE

A great trip (2013) up to the Peak district, to capture the Stone Circle "The Nine Ladies", the stones were very small, but well worth a visit. My trip here had a double purpose, one was to shoot a short film, and secondly I was looking for Bilberry’s, the filming did not go to plan, so I will return here again this Year. But I did find Bilberry’s,with my trusty assistant Kato ∞ but…..too early to pick. www.amethystlandphoto.com

 The Nine Ladies

I was hoping to put some Film footage, of this stone circle into a future project but bad timeing due to lack of Film continuity, will mean I will have to return, back here, same time same season, this year. I will keep you posted, as and when it's all in the can.

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GEMINIDS AND LIGHT POLLUTION

This is just an update to say I managed to capture, a solitary Meteor

on this Years Geminid Meteor shower night. It was taken on the 14th

of December 2013, I have updated my blog post, "LOOK OUT FOR THE GEMINIDS".

 single Geminid enters the Earths atmosphere

      They say it takes on average, 1200 photographic images to capture

just one with a fast moving Meteor, within your frame.

Over the Years I have made many attempts, to acquire these illusive

Meteor images, the British weather usually gets in the way, even this 

4:30 am capture was flooded by low, advancing cloud. not to 

mention the light pollution of nearby villages. 
Although the cloud did give the Trees, a scenic backdrop.
I normally don't over expose my images, but the above image was very
over exposed, the low resolution, the internet presents on a home 
monitor is to say the least, lacking, especially if the
 image is on the small size. This image is great, viewed at full resolution
and a VERY normal exposure. But we don't live in an ideal internet World.    -------------------------------------------------------------
If you click on the above image, and press hold your key board Ctrl key
while repeat press the + key   you should be able to view the image
larger, but it will be very low resolution.
To return your image to it's normal size, repeat the above but press
the 0 key that's  zero to you.

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