Brantwood

As 'Friends of Brantwood' we are privileged to have free access to the house and gardens throughout the year. This gives us some great photo opportunities as there is always something to photograph in the garden and even if there wasn't, well it's just a great place to be. The gardens are extensive and just magnificent. The views from there are some of the best in The Lake District. We chose to drive the two and a half miles from the village, tripods can be very heavy! As we got to the head of the lake we were distracted by a calm lake and some nice soft light shining across the lake. So, we pulled into the car park and spent an hour there before carrying on to Brantwood.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, the autumn colours were just stunning, especially when you get double doses with the reflection in the lake.

And back to the car to continue round to Brantwood.

The gardens become more wild and like natural woodland the further out from the house you get.

Ruskin's pond.

Some good views between the trees.

The hydrangers are hanging on!

The path, covered in acer leaves.

Bye for now.

Sunrise at Kelly Hall Tarn and a revisit to Tom Ghyll.

A good weather forecast, alarm clock set and getting up and out of the house while it's still dark. It's all in a day's work for a sunrise chaser! We parked near the Landrover dealer near Torver and from there it is remarkably, only a couple of hundred yards walk to the amazing photography location of Kelly Hall Tarn. It was just getting light, but we weren't the first ones there. There was already two photographers there, it turned out that they had travelled up from Wigan that morning, just for the sunrise.
There were two very good directions for photography this morning. Firstly, the one that we were expecting was the sunrise on the mountains, seen from across the tarn and secondly, there was mist rising up the valley from the lake giving additional opportunities.

Kelly Hall Tarn, a beautiful place. Tucked away and out of sight, just yards from the main road.

Mist from the lake was drifting up into the valleys around us.

Beautiful colour.

A short trip of half a mile to see if there were any shots from the lake shore.

First light on Peel Island, named Wildcat Island by Arthur Ransome in Swallows And Amazons.

A quick trip back home for coffee and a late / second breakfast and we were off out again to Tom Ghyll.

An enjoyable walk up the ghyll towards Tarn Hows. It was considerably busier than expected today, due to half term.

There's quite a variety of waterfalls in the ghyll. An excited young boy told us that there was a massive one just a bit further up the path! This is it and yes, it is quite impressive.

A Fun Day Finding Fungi

There's always something interesting to photograph and today, as the light was a bit flat for landscapes (most of the time), we found ourselves looking for fungi. We haven't named them all yet, but on our walk today, we believe we saw seventeen different species. We walked from Coniston, through the Yewdale Valley to Tom Ghyll. Then up Tom Ghyll to Tarn Hows, around The Tarns and back down through Monk Coniston wood to Boon Crag, returning to the village via the head of the lake. These are some of the photos that I took today...

The walk took us up through the woods in the  Yewdale Valley.

The path up to Tarn Hows took us up Tom Ghyll, where there are some beautiful waterfalls.

The walk around the tarn was quite busy today, the half term effect maybe, but it is just the section around the tarn that gets busy, most (not all) visitors don't stray far from the car park.

It is tupping time in The Lakes and these two tups near Boon Crag, appear to be going head to head.

The footpath near Waterhead, leading back to the village.

And some of the fungi we saw today...

Ullswater

Today we wanted to visit the Mountain Art Exhibition at Rheged. So we drove out  via Dunmail Raise, St John's in the Vale and the A66 and returned via Pooley Bridge and Ullswater. The plan being that we could stop off at Ullswater if the light was interesting enough.
The exhibition is excellent, with some beautiful and interesting paintings, photography and sculpture. Visit it if you can, it's well worth a visit.
We did stop at Ullswater, the light was good, briefly and here are some of the images I captured.

Looking south towards Hartsop and Kirkstone.

Looking north towards Pooley Bridge, Norfolk Island clearly visible and Silver Point is top right.

My best friend and partner in life.

Across to Silver Point and the lower slopes of Place Fell.

there were two sailing dinghys trying to catch what little breeze there was. I just like the simplicity of the composition, the contrast of colours and the light picking out the bright red sail.

Early Start at Tarn Hows

so, the alarm clock has been brought out of retirement again, after a good weather forecast promised a good sunrise. It was still totally dark when we got up and although the first light was appearing by the time we left home, it was still full headlights all the way up to Tarn Hows. We parked up and walked out to the Scott memorial which is a high point with a good view over the tarn and the surrounding fells. There was quite a lot of cloud around, but it was clearing from the east as the sun rose towards the horizon. A few test shots to get the light and suddenly I could see from the shots I was trying that the light was starting to warm up. First the clouds turned pink and then the sun touched the top of Wetherlam and it all began. The light slowly spread wider and wider. Here are some of the results....

As i took my first shots i couldn't help thinking we were a little earlier than we needed to be for sunrise.

Worth the wait though.

The light gradually spread around the fells.

I think this might be my favourite shot of the morning. I pointed my camera to the north, over Loughrigg, towards Helm Crag, where i could see the sunlight just picking out The Lion & The Lamb.

The light began to change and the golden hour wad over.

Later, we walked out into Grizedale Forest and at Goosey Foot Tarn, the autumn colours were beautiful.

Unexpected sunlight

it was just an evening stroll and I nearly didn't take a camera with me, but at the last minute I picked up my compact as I walked out the door. I wasn't really expecting to use it, after all, it had been a wet day. But as we walked down the road to Coniston Hall we could see a bright patch of light reflecting of the surface of the lake. Was it just the sun, was it a reflection of Brantwood, or some other phenomena? I took my camera out to zoom in on it, just to see if I could work out what it was. I never did work it out, but I suddenly noticed the warm light catching the chimneys at Coniston Hall, on Brantwood and the forest behind. So this is the photograph that I almost didn't even see.

I think have a sunrise addiction!

Another early start, so that we could get up to Blea Tarn for sunrise. Sunrise was supposed to be at 07:40, so we got up there soon after seven so that we could choose our place and get set up in plenty of time. As it happened, sunrise didn't start in the mountains until 08.25. So I was quite a long wait, but there are worse places to be on a Monday morning and besides, I think the wait was worth it.

Something is starting to happen.

Yes, I think the sun is coming up.

Oh yes!

Well worth the wait.

Ha e you ever heard a morning so quiet and so still?

I could hear the magpie's wing as it flew past and it's raucous cackle reverberated around the rocky faces of our mountain surrounds.

Slowly, slowly, slowly, the morning moved in.

An owl hooted constantly in the distance, answered only by the echoing call of a Herdwick on a distant hill.

Quietly, quietly, the morning moved into the valley.

A crow called somewhere far away and not a soul could hear it's call. No one.

The tarn lay quite calm, save for a few fish breaking the surface and quietly and slowly, the morning moved into the valley.

Mist rose from the far side of the tarn, waiting, tempting the rising sun to come in and burn it away. 

But slowly, slowly, little changed, minute by minute, as the morning moved, imperceptibly into the valley.

And the mountains.

The mountains were simply, magnificent.