A bumper update, to make up somewhat for the lack of posts recently, the usual mix of real life and the day jobs pushing art and photography to the back burner. Still, we had some print sales over the winter with our friends at Cupola Gallery, and we now have internet at home so hopefully more on the blog, more frequently, from now on.
A morning on Friday unusually free of distractions had me (Ben) out visiting the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway for their Spring Steam Gala; not a great hardship, as I like photographing trains, and the railway runs past the house.
The first shot of the day, taken whilst exploring a hitherto undiscovered path from near my house, which runs into Keighley. The local area isn't exactly rough, but at the same time, I didn't feel comfortable wandering around it in a barbour jacket carrying a nice camera, so I didn't stay long. Enough evidence scattered around the muddy path that some of our local ne'er do wells frequent the path. Still, not a bad opener to the day.
My first social faux-pas of the day, I ended up stood next to another photographer who seemed to slightly resent having company stealing 'his' angle (though perhaps I'm reading too much into his expression). Ah well.
A quick move up to the worrying Worth Valley Country Park (more in an upcoming post, in detail about the location), which was fairly peaceful at ten in the morning. A few other photographers about, who seemed to have found the wrong path and got to the wrong side of the river (to be fair, it does logically look like there's meant to have been a bridge at the point between where they and I were standing); I reckon I got the better spot than them in terms of available angle for the shot...
...Mindyou, having got the spot with the apparently best angle (knowing which side of the river to go along), I seemed to perplex another nearby photographer by choosing to ignore the train until the last minute to photograph this beauty flying over; none of the other photographers seemed interested in it.
The heron having flown past, I managed to get one of my favourite train shots of the last twelve months; I was ridiculously happy with this picture, especially having failed to get a decent shot of this loco a few weeks ago.
So with the intended shot of the day out of the way, I thought I'd have a bit of fun taking more experimental shots, so lots of long exposure, focus tricks, panning shots (also a response to the high number of other photographers staking out the best spots up the valley in the prettier countryside bits; couldn't get near the tunnel at Mytholmes for most of the morning)
A particularly creepy sight on one path; it may be prettier between Haworth and Oxenhope, but it has its strange moments, and I damn well wouldn't wander around there alone from 5pm onwards, given what is apparently a serious poaching problem in these woods.
A decent mornings photography and fresh air, and a nice break from routine.
The next day was a work day, but a chance before breakfast to snap a freight train; this is very lazy photography. Not as lazy as the shot in the last post taken from the end of the drive, but still lazy, as I only walked down to the bottom of the road. Not the prettiest surroundings though, but still nice to get a shot of an unusual train before work.
And finally, sunday evening, one of the last trains of the gala, snapped whilst passing through Haworth on other business.
Overall, very happy with getting these pics, and a nice break from routine.
Coming up, a proper photo feature on the oddness that is the Worth Valley Country Park, and with a bit of luck, another shoot with the living room set for the "Home is..." project at the end of the week.
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