Tag: Seascape

Great Photo Spots in Northern England

by Andreas

My family visits the English Islands quite regularly – for my wife ist is actually „coming come“. We have been to Cornwall, Dorset, Wales (North), the Lake District, Scotland and Northumbria. It has always been an amazing experience with great landscapes and plenty of opportunities to follow the passion of photography.

After the pandemic, we had the chance to return just last year, travelling to the Lake District first and then spend another week at the coast of Northumbria.

In the Lake District we stayed near Ullswater Lake, a place already very well suited for nice pictures of a sunrise and tranquil reflections. But not only Ullswater is a good place to start, so is Buttermere Lake and all the other lakes around.

Early Morning at Ullswater
Some rocks add a nice depth to the picture
Buttermere Reflection
Brothers Waters
Blea Tarn

But not only the lakes are a great spot to make photographs, so is also the country, with high hills, plenty of water flowing and waterfalls all over the place.

The upper part of Airy Falls
Water Falls at Stanley Ghyll (near Boot)

Not far from the Lake District, just about a 2hrs ride by car, a very different landscape unfolds near Bamburgh in Northumberland. Her it is more the seaside with tides and lots of great light that makes the day.

Sunrise Farn Islands
Dunstaburgh Castle During Sunrise
Moon behind Bamburgh Castle

Overall, if one is looking for great opportunities to take exciting landscape pictures, Northern England offers an abundance of opportunities.

Location Review: Chapman’s Pool (Dorset)

by Andreas

Chapman’s Pool is a scenic cove near Worth Matravers in Dorset, not far from Swanage. It can only be explored on foot by walking down a steep path from a parking lot, approximately 1.5 miles distance through fields and down to the coast.

Good time to photograph is in the evening with overcast sky and not too high tide. Breezy days may help with interesting water movements. There are some old huts and fishing boats located at the pool, furthermore interesting rocks at the entry of the cove in the water and on location.

The major landmark is a high hill at the left side of the cove, it is dominating the scenery. Low clouds may cover the hilltop.

Equipment related, wide angle lenses, a tripod, neutral density filters and maybe graduated neutral density filters should be appropriate for scenic landscape pictures.

The place develops some interesting “moodiness”, especially at sunset with the sun behind heavy clouds – it is just a joy to make pictures here.

To the Sea
To the Sea

Chapmans Pool
Chapmans Pool

Lighthouses

by Andreas

Everybody needs a lighthouse. Some point of orientation, something to provide guidance and perspective. Something that drives us to one direction, that makes us move and leave our current position. A lighthouse is not only something to warn against fatal reefs, but also a landmark, an important point of the journey.

Digital Life

by Andreas

We say that we have a digital life. Scientifically this is non- sense. Digital is just 1-0 or 0-1. Everything around me is very much analogue. With digital we chop reality into peaces of 1s and 0s one of the arguments I remember is that there is no “loss”, even if you copy the data a 1000 times.
But isn’t there the biggest loss right in the beginning, when we first transformed reality into these tiny peaces? Don’t we loose if we think we can not loose? We only have one capability to hear and only one capability to see. Digital did not change that. We are analogue beings. And that is all that we have to be. We can distinguish a lot of sounds if we learn to listen intently. If we do not listen intently, because digital allows us to listen more and quicker – then we are loosing a lot of quality.
Digital life should not be our way to live. We need to understand that only when we are aware of our capabilities to see or to listen to the full, we will gain quality in our live, a lot more than digital will ever be able to offer.