Hey guess what Team, I’m going to apologise to my ‘tribe’ for not posting much recently. It’s the usual excuse of time consuming work getting in the way. (I’ve posted about 45 blog articles over on my wedding photography website, see www.hemsleyphotography.co.uk if you fancy a nose). Yesterday I finished processing my final wedding and posted the photos off to the excited Bride and Groom. I’ve another four weddings to process, but with a much more relaxed deadline. That means one thing, and one thing only…….starting to think about this winter.
Before I start rattling on about skiing, I’d thought I’d share with you another trip to the Lake District that Harriet and I had last weekend. We went up to celebrate her birthday and our wedding anniversary. We stayed on the edge of Coniston, an area we weren’t that familiar with.
We arrived just before dusk which meant I could quickly scout an area I had investigated for a potential sunrise location. As soon as we saw this area with its quirky jetty, I got quite excited. So off to the hostel we went with me in a good mood, and the alarm clock set for ‘sparrows fart’.Sure enough, the alarm sounded loudly so off I bumbled into the dark of the night. Can I quickly point out that this wasn’t the day of our anniversary and Harriet’s birthday.
As I walked away from the hostel I could make out sparkling stars through my blurry eyes. Game on. The potential was there for clean sky colours and even mist hanging over the lake. So without waffling on for too long, the next three hours or so were quite magical.
The lake was incredibly still which resulted in gorgeous reflections, and the early autumn sunlight picked up the autumn colours to perfection. So without sounding like a muesli eating, folk dancing, tree hugger it was an amazing experience to be there all by myself with no other ‘Beardies’ around. What do I mean by Beardies? That’s the name Harriet calls other landscape photographers, how rude?
We had three fantastic days of hiking up peaks, enjoying the mountains and eating and drinking fine Cumbrian fare. One evening we tried to grab a sunrise shoot. Sadly the colours in the sky couldn’t quite peep through.
However, I played with Canon a little and managed this unusual style of portrait of Harriet on the same jetty. It was my first attempt shooting like this, far from perfect, but great fun all the same. Quite what all the Herdwick Sheep thought of me running around like an idiot with different lights, I do not know, not to mention the bats that were flying over head.
Our final day in the mountains before heading back to Leamington Spa was amazing as well. Gorgeous weather, a lung-busting walk with awesome views and this for our picnic spot. Here is Harriet in quiet contemplation before grazing on her lunch.
This is called Levers Water, a high-level tarn just below the Old Man of Coniston. When we arrived the tarn was as still as you could imagine, again quite an outstanding moment. However, half way through our picnic a puff of wind arrived and ruined the mirror-like reflections for good. Not sure what caused the ripples, either a Herdwick Sheep passing wind, or Harriet rustling her pork pie packaging. I blamed the Herdy sheep funnily enough.
All great fun and a weekend we won’t forget. It’s now three weeks to go before I leave for Méribel again. The cold weather we are having this weekend seems to be bringing it more to mind. Live with passion everyone.
Martin
