Watersmeet on Exmoor in Black and White

I have scanned a few of my Ilford FP4 120 film negatives from our recent trip to Exmoor. We stayed in Lynmouth and were able to walk to and from Watersmeet. If you did it there and back it's probably less than 4 miles although it was closer to 8 miles taking our rather indirect route.

It was a dull day but good for waterfalls. It's much easier to print waterfalls that are not sunlit than those that are! Watersmeet house was also still closed up for the winter so no advertising signs and few people in my pictures. The last time I took photos here it was really busy and not as much water, the recent rain really helped the waterfalls.

The temporary link to these new images on my gallery website is:
www.davebutcher.co.uk/gallery/recent?key=Watersmeet

To see all of the Watersmeet photos that I have on my website follow this link:
www.davebutcher.co.uk/gallery/landscapes?key=Watersmeet

Watersmeet Waterfalls

Today started dull, with rain forecast, but it stayed dry all day - the dull bit they got right unfortunately!

On days like these big views often look flat but it's perfect for waterfalls. Sunlit waterfalls often disappoint because details can be lost in the brightest areas.

We started off following the Coast Path for a couple of miles to Countisbury Hill. A jolly fine viewpoint overlooking Lynmouth but very windy too. A good one to come back to on a bright day.

It was just about midday and we happened to be passing the Blue Ball Inn so we ventured in for a swift pint. It would have been churlish not to!

From here it was all downhill to Watersmeet. With all the recent rain the waterfalls were spectacular, much more water than on our last visit a few years back.

Jan carried my tripod for me as I knew it would be needed to give me the streaky water effect that I like. I just carried my Mamiya 7 camera with 43mm wide angle lens, Sekonic spot meter and a few rolls of Ilford 120 FP4+ and 400 Delta. I only used the FP4+.

The pictures needed me to wade into the river in several places to put white water in the right part of the frame. Fortunately my Hill walking boots are 10 inches high and Gore Tex lined (Meindl Dovre Extreme GTX) so I remained dry shod.

2 films later we moved off on the final 2 mile riverside walk to Lynmouth. A bit under 8 miles in total and my bad back still seems to be as well as can be expected!

Watersmeet

Countisbury Hill

New Images of Glen Coe

I have added some new images of Glen Coe to my web gallery on davebutcher.co.uk. Here's a link to just the new ones. They were taken over several trips in summer and winter, with and without snow. Hope you like them!

Pap of Glencoe and Loch Leven

3 Sisters of Glen Coe and Aonach Eagach

3 Sisters of Glen Coe

 Aonach Eagach Ridge

 Aonach Eagach from Glen Coe

Glencoe Lochan Reflections

Lower Glen Coe Falls

Coast, Newcastle, Durham Cathedral and Teesdale Waterfalls

Yesterday was a grey day so we started late and headed to the coast south of Sunderland. No photos so made for Tynemouth. Some sunshine here. Photos of castle, pier and Victorian station. Then on to Whitley Bay and St Mary's Lighthouse which is joined to the mainland by a Causeway,returned here closer to high tide too. Spanish City too, a big white domed building.

In the evening we drove in to Newcastle for some dusk and night shots. Started with the bridges over the Tyne then into the city for shots of Central Arcade, Grey's monument, theatre, skyline from Tyne bridge and a few others. Forgot to take photos on my mobile so no pics until my films are processed.

Today again started grey so another late start then walked down into Durham and along river for photos of cathedral. Waited about 40 minutes for some brightness, then the sun came out briefly. Made all the difference.

It looked pretty set as a grey day so we decided to go for a walk. Teesdale is about an hour away and there are lots of waterfalls, great subjects for grey days. We walked about 5 miles in total, taking in High Force and Low Force. The photos here were taken by Jan, including me in one.

Waterfall Day

Last day for checking out the state of locations that we wanted to use for our Glencoe photo course that starts Tuesday 25th.

Lots of waterfalls in Glen Etive. Shots from Lochan Urr where I took one of my best reflection photos ever a few years ago. Had to clear a path through rhodedendron bushes to reach waters edge.

Photos here from mobile and edited on phone. Proper film versions in a few weeks!

All 3 clients arrived this afternoon. Good evening in local pub getting to know one another. First day of course tomorrow taking waterfalls as forecast not brilliant for big views.

Waterfalls and Innsbruck

We left Garmisch and headed south towards Austria. Dull but dry day, not the rain they had forecast.

Sunshine tomorrow, allegedly, so decided to leave day-time shots in Innsbruck until then. Instead we detoured to the Pitztal for possible views of the Wildspitze, which I climbed on a ski mountaineering trip in 1994 with guides Jon de Montjoye and his wife Hilary Sharp. Bit unclear as to whether it could be seen from the head of the valley but I have the shot anyway.

Waterfalls were in full spate and they were just putting warning signs out for hikers about flash flooding.

It was a couple of miles to waterfalls and a bit of a scramble. Bit like taking photos in the shower but I dried off quickly afterwards. Had to keep lens covered while I lined up the shots then remove hand as pressed shutter button. Interesting!

We arrived in Innsbruck at 5.30pm. Our hotel is close to the old city. Did a quick recce then had an early dinner (and a couple of Dunkel beers) in the Stifts beer Keller while waiting for darkness.

Headed off to first location a bit before 8pm and carried on until 10pm. Innsbruck is not that well illuminated so had to guess long exposure times of up to 1 minute. Usually I get away with 10 seconds or so.

Tomorrow morning we spend in Innsbruck for photos then we drive down to the Sport Hotel in Misurina for 4 days in the Italian Dolomites.

New Lake District Black & White Photographs

I have just sent 15 new Lake District images to Martin, my web man, to add to my web site. Will keep fingers crossed that they are loaded on the Recent Images Gallery by the weekend so that I can use them on the course we are running starting on Sunday. They were all taken in mid-March before or during the last Eskdale course. They cover locations in Eskdale, Wasdale and Buttermere.
Ritson's Force, Wasdale head

Scafell and Tree, above Boot in Eskdale

Rocks and the River Esk, Boot

Scafell Pike and Wast Water

Places on Lake District Course Starting Sunday 2nd May

There are still places on my Lake District photography course starting on Sunday 2nd May and finishing Wednesday 5th May. That gives you 3 full days of photography with Jan and I as tutors in some spectacular scenery. The Lakes have been having great weather too so it will be good for photos if it continues, and it sounds as though it should.

For example, just a 10 minute walk from our very comfortable accommodation (Stanley House) is a 60 foot high waterfall, Stanley Ghyll in a stunning setting (see photo below taken just before the last course in March). Then we have views to the highest peaks in England, the deepest lake, the coast for beaches and estuary, a ruined Roman fort and lots more. What variety! Just ask if you need more information.

You can book directly with me (telephone, email, etc.) or through the web site. If you want to join us please don't wait too long or we may not have a room for you! Dave

Wet day in the Peak District - Clive Kornitzer Image

It is a wet day in the Peak District today. The rain started about 10am and has hardly stopped.

I am running a private course for 3 days with Clive Kornitzer and his son Alex, from London, this was the first day. We started in the Goyt Valley with some waterfalls and a packhorse bridge with a river running underneath it. Then to the Cat and Fiddle pub for lunch, very slow service but not busy despite being Good Friday.

The afternoon was a bit of a wash-out with heavy rain and a cold wind. We started walking down to 3 Shire Heads but the rain increased and it was quite unpleasant. The cameras would have been waterlogged if we had tried to take photos so we returned to base early and did a bit of work on the computer in Photoshop. At least with all of this rain the waterfalls, rivers and lakes look great - no shortage of water in these!

Here is an image by Clive so you can see day was productive even though it was curtailed earlier than expected. A simple image with some nice shapes and patterns that hang together very well with a bit of space at the bottom for the water to fall into. Alex has some good pictures too perhaps I will be able to drop one or two of those on after another day.

Image © Clive Kornitzer 2010

  Forecast is for less rain tomorrow and a few sunny spells. Hope it rains less, and a bit of sunshine would be good!

New Lake District Images

The last batch of images for Lake Light have also been added to the web site. Here are a few samples.

Dave Butcher

New Lake District Images

Thought you might like to see some of he new images:

 

 

Dave Butcher

Wet Day in the Fjords

The weather took a dive today. Heavy rain from opening the curtains before 7am until after 4pm. Changed plans to drive further north, effectively jumping 3 days ahead on our itinerary..Forecast for high mountain areas was not good.

Passed some spectacular waterfalls today. So much water, there are waterfalls everywhere.

Staying in Geiranger at the east end of the Geiranger Fjord. From our hotel room I can see about a dozen waterfalls of a few hundred feet each and that is one of the reasons we are here.

We have just caught the end of the tourist season; the Hotel Geiranger, where we are staying, closes tomorrow and doesn't reopen until May. In fact this resulted in a room upgrade as they had stripped all the cheap rooms ready for end of season cleaning so we ended up in a large room with a balcony overlooking the fjord for the price of a cheap room.

If weather dry tomorrow we will take the ferry to the far end of the fjord, takes about an hour. It passes several large waterfalls, the most impressive of which is called 7 Sisters. This can be seen from the road north from here but it's a long way away. The ferry will be within a hundred metres or so. May be a 2 camera job to avoid changing film as we pass!

It did brighten slightly at the end of the day so I ran off a couple of rolls of film (10 photos per roll) of the fjord and the 7 Sisters from road above Geiranger.

Dinner time now at just after 7pm. Clouds breaking up so may be lucky tomorrow.
Dave Butcher

Waterfalls and Fjords

Staying in very nice hotel in Flam.

Weather mostly dull with a few hours of light rain from mid-morning to early afternoon.

Started the day with a steep slippery climb up to Flam waterfall. Large drop and huge volume of water. Used slow shutter to give streaky water. Lots of water spray so lined up shots with lens cap on (one of the advantages of rangefinder cameras over slr's) then removed lens cap just before pressed shutter. Had to wipe moisture off lens after every shot.

Back to car then west and north to Sognefjord at Vik. Raining here so carried on to Fresvik. Dry now so out for some fjord photos around the little village. Used jetties and boat sheds for foreground interest.

Returned to Vik to look for Stavkirk (wooden church). This one was larger and completely black. Long exposures needed, 4 seconds, or there will not be any detail in the woodwork.

Now heading across hills with lots of lakes and waterfalls everywhere.

Spotted another waterfall, this time with a huge waterspout as water hits a rock and is sent skywards. Next to no light so long exposures. So much water and it's not snowmelt; nust be lots of heavy rain on the the tops.

Gps has us arriving back at hotel after 7pm assuming no more stops.

Tomorrow we move on again, east and a little bit north.
Dave Butcher

New Peak District Images on Web Site

There are a few more new images on the web site. They were taken on 16th July during the course that I ran as a competition with Harman Technology in Black and White Photography magazine. Some of them will be included in a feature in B and W Photo magazine in the November or December issue.

All were taken with a Mamiya 7 camera. The middle photograph is actually 4 images taken on the same frame of film. The times were 1/2, 1/8, 1/30 and 1/125 sec. The top image was taken with a 150 mm lens (short telephoto) from the middle of the river.

Dave Butcher