Lake District Private Photo Course

The day after returning from 4 weeks taking photos in North America we drove to Eskdale to run a 2 day private landscape photo course for Trevor, who set up and ran the machine to print my last 4 books at Loop Publishing in Sheffield.

We met Trevor and his wife Nikkie in the bar of the Woolpack when we went down from our room for something to eat. The following day was spent at locations in Eskdale and the surrounding moors. The weather was excellent so this included a 60 foot waterfall, grand views from high viewpoints, a Roman fort and a mountain lake. It was sunny pretty much all day.

The Falls in Eskdale

Trevor at the Falls

Roman Fort View Over Eskdale

Scafell Range from Roman Fort Above Eskdale

The second day we started on the coast near Ravenglass for sand dunes, patterns in sand and rock pools. 

Then we made our way to Wasdale to photograph England's deepest lake, Wast Water. We started at the Youth Hostel end of the lake with a break at the Strands Hotel and Brewery for lunch. Then back to Wasdale for views of England's highest mountain Scafell Pike, an old packhorse bridge and some impressive falls.

Wast Water View form near the Youth Hostel

Scafell Pike and Wast Water

After a swift pint in the Woolpack and a 3.5 hour drive we were home.

Saturday we spent unpacking the stock that we took to the show in Hatfield just before leaving for our 4 week trip to North America.

Sunday we ran a black and white film landscape photography and darkroom course for Laura, with partner Tom in tow.

Monday I went to Chesterfield for long overdue treatment on my bad back and neck.

Tuesday I walked to Buxton to run the Gallery in the Gardens, a 12 mile rounddiary.

Wednesday, normal service resumed from home!

Whoever plans our diary needs a good talking to ....... we never learn!

Leaving San Francisco

This post has been delayed somewhat, catching up after having 4 weeks away and phone problems.

The photos for trip posts are all taken on my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone. Unfortunately, it has been running down the battery in just a few hours, even a new battery, for several months. It also runs the battery down while plugged in to the mains power if I try and use it. All this made posting to my blog and Twitter, etc a bit of a problem.

I just managed to edit some recent photos that I took on it and it will be replaced this week. Hooray!

We finished our photo trip to California and Canada with an evening in San Francisco after our jaunt around Napa Valley. Some new beers at the Mikkeler brew pub to try but no new photos around the city, I gave myself a few hours off!

We returned on Virgin Atlantic on 9th June, flying over the main SF bridges as we left.

Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco

Bay and Oakland Bridges

I have 72 rolls of exposed Ilford 120 film. Mostly FP4, but also 16 rolls of 400 Delta (rated at 500 ISO in case you're interested) and a few rolls of SFX infrared film. 20 rolls processed so far, just 52 to go, probably spread over 3 more days. It will be a while until I start scanning them. None of the film I took with me was subject to x-ray machines, Jan put a lot of effort into pre-arranging a hand search at Heathrow Airport. San Francisco and Vancouver Airports did hand searches as soon as we asked on arrival at the x-ray machine, as is usual in North America.

Travelling South

From Whistler Jan drove us back to Vancouver. A Bald Eagle swooped around the road just north of the city.

Next day it was more photos around Vancouver, as well as good beers at the Tap and Barrel pub. Back to Steamworks Brewery in the evening but they ran out of stout, obviously no call for it there either!

Vancouver Chinese Garden

Then it was a travel day flying back to San Francisco. Very slow into city as ball game had just finished at the stadium between Airport and city centre.

After a slow start we collected a hire car and Jan drove us over Golden Gate Bridge for photos from Marin Headland. We parked at Vista Point and using the underpass beneath the road reached the footpath to the top. Quite a clear day. Took FP4 with a red filter and SFX infrared photos.

Then on to Napa. Walked into town for a wander and again in the evening for food, no photos though.

Napa Hotel Courtyard

Today we visited the Robert Mondavi vineyards north of Napa. Very interesting 'signature' tour with Dick, and tasting of 3 wines. Could be the start of a new vineyard photo collection! The words at the start 'there's just one rule on this tour, take as many photos as you like' made a very pleasant change to the usual restrictions. Even so, I loaded my Mamiya 7 camera with Ilford 400 Delta 120 film rated at 500 ISO for hand-holding. I thought I would get left behind if  I tried using the tripod!

The photos shown here were all taken on my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone. It will take a few weeks to get the trip photos processed and the negatives scanned.

Mondavi entrance

Fermentation room

Barrels and vats

Filled barrels

Whistler Walking but no Skiing

After 2 days in a hotel room in Jasper laying on a bed with a bad back I was still unable to do much. A short walk each morning and another each evening to Jasper Brewery for sustenance was a good start but I knew it just needed more time, but it was time to move on.

We changed our plans to avoid a long day in the car getting to Whistler. Instead we broke the journey by detouring to Kamloops (and the excellent Noble Pig Brewery). Then on to Whistler the next day.

Whistler hotel room view

The following day, our only full day in Whistler, was a bit cloudy. We took the lift up the mountain anyway. The ski area was still open until 7th June so we had to be careful we didn't get run over as we wandered around.

It looked like there was decent snow cover above the gondola lift from the village but little lower down. It was best to walk up to take photos, keeping to the edge of a ski trail. We both took quite a few shots before a man on a skidoo called a halt by asking us to return to the main lift area to avoid being run over by errant snowboarders.

Whistler Mountain

Whistler Mountain uphill view

Whistler Mountain downhill view

Used the Peak to Peak lift to visit Blackcomb Mountain, directly from Whistler Mountain. Almost identical to one of the Kitzbuhel lifts we used in February, including having a couple of gondolas with glass floors.

Glass floor view to valley below

Blackcomb was a bit of a building site so no chance to walk around here. Took a final photo back at Whistler Mountain before descent to village.

Rock sculpture

The brewery had finished brewing stouts and porters for the summer. Apparently there's no call for it in the warmer months. I wonder what Guinness would say to that! We visited the Irish bar in the evening and I ended up on Murphy's stout. It was a long way to come for that!