ABOUT ME

I live in a camper van with a West Highland Terrier for company.
My passion is creating images but it is a work in progress.
I am always willing to share what knowledge I have and can be contacted through the comments on this post or e-mail ADRIAN
ALL IMAGES WILL ENLARGE WITH A LEFT CLICK

Friday 17 September 2010

MY SORT OF VENUE (17/09/10)

I woke up to a glorious, late summer, morning. Now I had decided it was a Truck and Adrian polish up day. Halfway through the first of these tasks I had another thought. I'm wasting a beautiful morning, silly, in a climate as fickle as ours.

After a quick perusal of the map I came to the conclusion that there was far too much road work to walk to today's destination so off we set in the van to the small village of Hardraw.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA The church of St Mary and St John. I had a peep inside but the light was awful. I’m coming back here so will give the inside the benefit of my attentions then.

The start of the expedition, it looks promising……………………………………………

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA The Green Dragon. Yes I know it looks like a pub…. If it looks like a pub, smells like a pub and has barrels everywhere it can be safely assumed it is a pub. From what I saw of it it is a magical example and would no doubt excel if this was it’s only function. It also has another raison d'ĂȘtre, it’s the entrance to Hardraw Force.

Now this waterfall has an unbroken drop of one hundred feet and is situated deep inside Hardraw Scar, the local name for a ravine. It was also the venue for the scene in ‘Robin Hood Prince of Thieves’ where Maid Marion catches Robin having a shower. Got my kit of quick sticks but no Maid Marion……….No nobodies, I had the place to myself. I did meet a German lady on my way back but she was no Maid Marion, it would have been fine… I’m no Robin Hood……..Little John perhaps………Little something definitely, had I braved those waters.

 OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA The entrance to the ravine. it gets awfully dark in here.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA  The light can get in, as this little reflection shows.

P9176683_82_81_80_79_tonemapped_edited-1 It is impressive.

P9176705_4_3_2_1_tonemapped_edited-1    Hardraw Force………….I’m moving up here tomorrow as they have a camp site, well…. car park and will do my best to get some decent shots. As is usually the case, I’ll probably be disappointed, I love the challenge of waterfalls but they are hard work. The last two images are tone mapped in Photomatix. Posh word for HDR.

This one is not……………………

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA It is my favourite but shot at ISO 1000.

See…. I’m open to new ideas…………and old ones. Life is a circle but history is one damn thing after another! I may ditch Photomatix. The images are just too soft. it has it’s place but one has to go to extremes…..I just love extremes…….

P9176705_4_3_2_1_tonemapped2_edited-1   but I detest this. There are good bits…….the reflections in the pool………..maybe? Boys will be boys!

Today's images are all high contrast processed. I thought yesterdays a touch flat. As usual I have probably gone too far. Still they are free…. cost me £200…. hand shake… you can knock a coupple of nouggghhhts off.

Have a good weekend whatever you are up to.

13 comments:

  1. Brilliant pictures and text, I love the bit of photography HDR.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Trust you to find the only waterfall connected with a hostelry ;)

    At least you could get a clear view of the fall and the rock formations. I do like the first and third shots of it. The last one looks the sort of view you would get if you sampled the ale first.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bob, thanks had to go and sit outside to post this one so glad you enjoyed it.

    John, life is not all serendipity, serious research went into today's outing. Not enough research they weren't serving whilst I was there.
    The last shot is just very silly and immature.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I prefer the falls without HDR too. I'll have to show my kids this post. They love Robin Hood.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great pictures of Hardraw. Do you still have to pay a small fee to walk through the pub in order to visit the falls. I remember going here on a school geography trip when you were allowed to walk behind it. In more recent times they might have stopped that for safety reasons.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I remember going through that pub to have a look at Hardraw Force. You did a better job of the pictures than I did....although we only had a compact with us then. I agree they are hard work to get right. Don't particularly like the tampering on the last photograph but of course it is horses for courses. Looking forward to some more memory jogs.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Jolynne I am getting fed up with HDR so will concentrate on getting the job right in camera. Don't tell the children it wasn't really Robin Hood it was Kevin Costner dressed up or in this case undressed.

    J on Tour yes £2.00 but it is well worth the money, Suppose you could climb in through the church yard but that seems a little churlish. They haven't stopped one walking behind but they do advise against it.

    Trevor, I hate the last one and fully expect it to be my HDR swansong. I will still exposure blend though. One almost has to until such time as we get sensors with much more dynamic range.
    If I can get the truck on their car park I'm going up for a couple of days It's cloudy today so the light will be better for waterfalling.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I prefer the waterfall picture without HDR too, out of these shown here. There have been others previously where I've liked the HDR effect, though! I also have another blogging photographer friend who does some marvellous HDR pictures, but that does not mean I'd do the same scene the same way he does it (even if I could, which I can't). I guess it takes some experimenting to find your own style.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Just showed my Sis-in-Law the post: we are agreed that the un-enhanced photo is best.

    I do miss 'proper' pubs in Scotland and New Zealand. And I never seem to have the opportunity to visit them in England either. Sad really.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I do like the first one of the falls Adrian.
    The second reminds me of the 60's for some reason ;)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lovely to have blue skies and an intriguing location to explore ~ great photos. I enjoy seeing what can be done with various photo manipulation techniques, even the extreme ones :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dawntreader, I giving HDR a rest. I will concentrate on doing the job right.

    GB, I 'm a reformed character for this week any way. so no heavy processing. I'll settle for shoving the contrast a bit and sharpening.

    Keith they are smashing falls or fall I suppose it is.

    Keith the last one, horrible isn't it.

    Glo it is a wonderful area.

    ReplyDelete