Fallen Tree

 

The December storms in the lead up to Christmas swept pretty much across the entire country, and even in the Thames Valley we experienced torrential rain and gales bringing down trees and causing localised flooding. This tree had come down on the A4155 right outside the entrance to my work estate between Marlow and Henley. Its quite difficult to get a sense of scale when trying to photograph this kind of scene, so I tried capturing it from more than one angle. I think in the first picture the fact that the tree is blocking half the road shows it was a pretty big one and fortunate that it hadn't hit a vehicle.

The view from across the road in the second photo tells a  slightly different story as from 20 yards or so the scene completely loses any sense of scale for me. However it does reveal a little bit about the road. This stretch of road is a notorious section where cars put their foot down and do some pretty daft overtaking. The view of the bend is going towards Marlow and cars approaching it from Henley have a long straight where they really go for it ignoring the 40 mph speed signs. From the Marlow end going in the opposite direction cars can barely wait to negotiate the bend before hitting the floor, and even whilst I was taking these photos I saw a car overtaking in a dangerous manner ignoring a complete lack of view due to the fallen tree.

Now That's a Pond!

One can only dream of owning a house with a garden big enough to accommodate such a large and stunning pond. When I lived in Buckingham a few years ago I was proud of my pond with a couple of koi in it, but it as absolutely minute compared to this one. The setting is a few miles to the north of Kirkby Lonsdale in the heart of Cumbria where mum was visiting friends a year ago. There are two views of the pond with the first photo taken looking from the back of the house out towards the hills and countryside. I was pleased with this effort as I took care in the composition, and for me it has layers from the reeds at the front, followed by the pond and trees right to the hills at the very back. The second photo was taken from the other side of the pond looking back towards the beautiful house. There is never a shortage of photo opportunities in this part of England and on this particular late autumnal day we were blessed with a lovely sunny day. And yet driving up 48 hours earlier we had to divert off the motorway due to the snow!

The Best Seat In The House at Henley Royal Regatta

It's always a highlight of my year spending an afternoon at Henley Royal Regatta sitting in the deckchairs watching the rowing. The world gently passes by and work can be pushed aside for a few hours. It seems there is always something new and interesting to observe each year at the regatta. I took this photo back in 2012 when we were blessed with an afternoon of gorgeous sunny weather. The duck in the picture seemed very interested in the rowing as it settled itself in this prime spot close to the finish line and stayed there for ages as the rowers raced past. Not only was it an interesting subject to photograph, but I thought the river provided the perfect backdrop with the sun's sparking reflection.

A December Sunrise

The sunrise this morning was quite simply spectacular. It is not often we are treated to such a scene, and at this time of the year the timing is perfect as when I leave my house it is pitch black, but by the time I arrive at work the sun is just rising. Usually I would take a picture with my mobile phone camera, but today I knew it was one of those occasions where the proper camera had to come out to play! There is almost no editing here, just a tweak to the contrast and a touch of sharpening. Most importantly is what you see here is what I was looking at earlier.

I don't think the two dogs were too impressed though as their usual morning stroll was interrupted on three occasions for me to get the camera out. In this 2nd photo I stopped by the finishing lake, which is just behind the units at work.The reflection on the still water was stunning...

When I got out into the back field it was the amazing sky that took over. To be honest as beautiful as the early morning scene was I could have been anywhere photographing this skyscape.

As I move forwards with this I am hoping to include many more photos I take on the day of the blog. Sometimes its refreshing just to take spontaneous photos without too much planning or thought, as in this case the composition obviously took care of itself...

Floods

What a difference a year makes. November 2012 saw rain, rain and more rain with a bit of snow added into the mix. As I touch a piece of wood as we enter the last couple of weeks of Autumn 2013 the mad weather of last year has not yet repeated itself. The flooding was of course pretty devastating for many communities. I live on top of a hill so I am not at risk at home. Work is a slightly different matter being so close to the river and I did find out some months later that it was only emergency pumping that stopped my business estate from flooding. The fields on the farm at work are only a couple of hundred metres from the river Thames and it was no surprise when the river broke its banks. The flood water bypassed the estate and flooded the fields next to us. This gave me the perfect opportunity to get my camera out and it was a pretty amazing scene. This single tree usually stands above rapeseed or corn plants, but it was now completely surrounded by the flood water. I played around in editing with colour filters mostly because on the day I took the photos it was pretty grey and dull and I wanted to bring some colour and vibrancy to the scene. 

The two photos below were taken from pretty much the same position, the first one just tweaked with the colour filter, and the lower picture taken in 3 parts using the panoramic setting. I love trying out different ideas on capturing the same scene.