I haven’t been out with my camera much lately. I’m hoping that as the evenings get lighter it will allow me to get out in the evenings after work.

This is a photo of the rocks at Westward Ho! taken at dusk. I love the way these rocks look in images after the light starts to fade. I think it is a combination of the textures that show in images along with the blend of tones present highlighted by the dusk sky’s colours.

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This is a photo of trees in the mist that I took on Exmoor recently on the same day that I photographed my Exmoor sunset view. It’s really quite amazing what difference just an hour or so can make to the weather. Admittedly there was also quite a change in elevation between the 2 photos.

I wish the mist was a little bit thicker so that it impeded the visibility of the main trees more but I still like the way it turned out. I think it definitely looks better in black and white. This photo was taken in a field to the left of the hill up to Dunkery Beacon. I was going to walk up to the beacon but the mist was so thick that I thought it would be a stupid endeavour.

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This is a photo of a common blue butterfly that I took near Venn Quarry which is one of my favourite macro photography haunts. It’s not a very well known spot but it is great for photographing butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies. I have seen my fair share of buzzards there too but never had a long enough lens to capture them effectively.

Eventually I’d like to get a longer macro lens such as the Sigma 150mm  to make it easier to get a shot of some of the more nervous animals. It doesn’t help that I often end up trying to photograph them in the late afternoon though! It just makes it more of a challenge. I enjoy just getting out when I get time regardless of the time of day and seeing what presents itself. I normally end up staying out until the golden hour anyway even if I say I’m only going out for an hour or so…

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I had the day off of work yesterday so decided to head out for a few hours with the camera. I just headed for Exmoor with the aim of seeing where I ended up as sometimes it can make it a little more sporadic and interesting.

The sun broke through once or twice until eventually the mist and fog rolled in. I saw a line of trees while on the way up to Dunkery so stopped to try to capture them, you know the typical row of trees disappearing into the mist shot. I took a few shots and wasn’t overly impressed with the shots but they may make for a blog post in the near future. I haven’t processed them yet but hopefully one will be OK.

My trip up to the cairn was cut short by the mist rolling in and the group of frowning faces looking at me like I was some sort of criminal. They all looked like farmers and I can only assume that they were to do with the hunt that I could hear a short distance away. I suppose it is only natural for them to be weary of some guy wondering around with a camera…

I was making my way back home in my usual see where I pop out of the moors method and was blessed by the sun breaking out of the cloud for a few minutes. I was on my way from Withypool heading towards South Molton but I’m not sure of the exact location. I saw this tree and instantly knew the shot that I wanted to capture. I literally had to run across 50 yards of rough terrain with my camera and tripod and then run back again because I forgot my ND grad! I managed one or 2 shots and then the light was gone again but I was hopeful and happy that I could have got the day’s good photo.

This photo is a bracketed shot (3 exposures) and processed as a HDR while trying to keep the processing as natural and as close to the actual scene as possible. I’m extremely happy with the photo except for the fact I wish I could have got the rolling valley below into the composition better. I’m still happy to have one more landscape photo in the bag though.

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This is another photo of the cairn at the top of Dunkery Hill on Exmoor. I decided to process this one as a black & white photo to try to give it a little more mood and impact. This is a photo that I took on my last jaunt to Exmoor with my friend Greg. He doesn’t venture out much so I think that if I want to photograph more of the area’s landscapes, I am going to have to do it alone.

Being alone isn’t always a bad thing and once I am there I am in my element. Having a photo buddy helps to motivate you to get out in the first place. I think that a photographer’s two worst enemies are motivation and inspiration, I find half the battle is identifying where I want to go.

My recent inspiration has been viewing photography by people like Mike Bartholomew, Alex Nail and Miles Wolstenholme. I want to focus more on my landscape photography and these guys often produce amazing photos taken in areas that are realistically not that far from me.

Looking at other peoples photography can be a real eye opener, especially if they have shot at locations that you have too, because it is great to see different interpretations and perspectives.

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This is a photo of the waves crashing during a sunset at the beach in Welcombe Mouth. I like this photo because it has an element of simplicity to it. It is quite an old photo but I remember taking it as if it was yesterday, just like most of my photos. Eventually I would like to photograph most of the beaches and harbours that line the North Devon & Cornwall coast.

As I haven’t had much time to get out with my camera lately (Something I intend to change asap!) I have been going back through my old photos and it is quite surprising how many photos that I have that have never seen the light of day so to speak and never even been processed. I reckon that I probably have in excess of 20,000 unprocessed photos. I enjoy going back and sometimes seeing an image that I have inspiration to process.

Is this an abnormal habit or do you all have loads of unedited photos sitting on your hard drives too? I have to admit that since I converted to using Adobe Lightroom, I find it much easier to perform basic edits on a lot of images quick and easily without even needing Photoshop.

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It is not uncommon to see tracks in the sand when you visit Instow beach. Sometimes it is from a tractor pulling a boat to its moorings or to clear all of the rubbish left by visitors as well as the beach litter that has washed ashore. I took this photo with the intention of using the tracks as leading lines. I quite like how there is only one boat that was perfectly placed at the point where the tracks in the sand veered off.

I like how beaches translate into great photos with the ability to portray that sense of space. I’m not sure this is a great example but I like it none the less.

As you will have guessed if you are one of my regular readers, I have changed the appearance of the blog. I changed it with the intention of making my text more apparent and readable while making the site look a little less clinical. Hopefully I have achieved this and even more so I hope that you the viewers like it! I think is certainly not as cold as the old design and is possibly a little more inviting which is what I wanted without distracting attention from my photos.

If you have any thoughts, issues viewing or suggestions I’d be glad to hear from you.

Dave

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I like to venture on to Exmoor whenever possible and intend to take myself there much more often in pursuit of those perfect golden hour photography moments. One area that I want to revisit is Dunkery Beacon. The cairns and rocks lend themselves well to a moorland landscape photo.

This photo was taken just before the full glow of sunset kicked in. I shot this photo looking roughly to the east, choosing to use the rising natural path as a lead in to the cairn itself.

In the future I intend to cover Dartmoor and Exmoor much more which should make for a pleasant change for those of you used to seeing so many coastal photos! They of course will still follow too as I find it hard to resist the coastline. This will all have to wait for a while due to a knee injury which makes trundling around the moors quite a task!

In other news I am working on a new theme for the blog. I feel the need to refresh its looks every so often and I am growing tired of it looking quite so sparse, although I do like the clean look. I am trying to come up with something in between. If you have any ideas why not let me know, I’m happy to hear from you all via email, the Facebook page or Twitter.

Until the next time, I wish you all great golden hours.

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I haven’t posted an Instow boat photo for a while so thought today’s photo was well timed. As is often the case, the focal point of this photo is the extremely well photographed BD76. The characteristic vessel lends itself well to coastal images and I can understand why it’s such a local photo honey pot.

In this photo I used the boat to diffuse the powerful sunset behind. I love the way that the light bounces off of the boat in the distance and how the sun also highlights the boat’s windows and navigational equipment. I never really get tired of these shots as each one invokes a unique memory of a delightful dusk at the water’s edge.

In other news I have had another photo get a noteworthy accolade on Photo Friday! The weeks challenge was “Near” and I entered Devon Beach Pollution. While there are no prizes it is always a nice feeling when your work is mentioned in any positive context.

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It is all too easy when taking seascape photos to just include a small amount of rocks to generate a little foreground interest. I opted in this photo that was taken at Westward Ho! in North Devon to make the rocks the main part of the photo.

Parts of Westward Ho! are very surreal when the tide is out. There are several plateaus of almost flat rock, much flatter than the ones in this image. I might post a photo of those rocks soon. I like the composition in this photo because of the contrast in textures, with the softness of the boulders contrasting against the rocks on the right hand side.

One thing that I have discovered since getting my wide angle lens is how more hands on that I have been in trying to find compositions. At 10mm I find myself in some awkward positions balanced precariously over the rocks while I get the shot. I wouldn’t have it any other way though, except maybe with less cuts and bruises from the sharp shells!

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