My most popular photo on flickr, Raw, is a view taken an increasing number of years ago, as the light faded, looking down a big hole in the ground – the gorge below the lower bridge at the Falls of Bruar.
Today, whilst strolling along with Dog, I looked over some railings in the village carpark to another small gorge, and saw the cloud iridescence above me, reflected in a pool, the surrounding rocks draped with slimy green moss. How elegant…
Shades of pastel colours
And why not? No need to multiply words of explanation. Just, roadside geranium.
I’ve taken a few photos of these small waterfalls since the start of the year. This time, I went for the context of the surrounding caves as well, and just for a change, shot it using the new mobile phone camera before processing as an HDR panorama.
Port Mora, along the Southern Upland Way from Portpatrick.
It appears to be spring again; with the ground covered in a carpet bluebells all around, walking Dog in the local woods is a joy.
6 shots, made fresh this morning, with the Pentacon 50mm f/1.8 lens (almost wide-open).
Ferns
The past couple of days I’ve been experimenting with the old Pentacon 50mm f/1.8 lens; its bokeh wide-open is quite spectacular, giving this small scene a strong sense of depth.
A simple comparison today, the same scene seen two ways.
First, colour. The camera chose a fairly cool whitebalance, which lends itself to a purply-blue tint reminiscent of certain slide films of old:
And this is what can be made of it – a much shinier, silvery monochrome rendition, the punchy contrast emphasizing the foreground rock shapes:
Both have their merits – you can favour whichever you wish!
Technical details:
Sony NEX-7;
an HDR of 3 frames: ISO 100, f/10, for 1/125, 1/250, 1/60s exposure times;
processed in RawTherapee, blended in enfuse, manipulated in darktable.
Deep
No more sun, no more wind.
Only a strange feeling
leaving without moving
I’ll try another world
and the sky slowly fades in my mind
just like a memory.
– Eric Serra, My Lady Blue, from The Big Blue.
I like to think it’s possible to find serenity – and the odd quirky detail – even in a town.
I never used to understand the appeal of going to the beach. I still don’t, but I do appreciate the simplicity and stillness of gazing out to sea from the coast instead.
Sunlight on clouds
Taken above Portpatrick harbour, looking mostly south.
The last remnants of warm yellow-orange colours in the sky as night falls
Clouds zipping along through the evening blue and purple shades
We saw our first live red squirrels since moving down to Galloway yesterday, running around the branches of this tree.
A colorful sunset in Portpatrick harbour: warm sky with silver-grey reflection from the water. Out of frame we spotted a heron stalking in the shallows.
Patterns of sunlight and shadow gently playing with leaves on the woodland floor.
Not yet autumn though 😉