Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays

An almost identical shot to the one I posted a couple of weeks ago except it's a shorter long exposure in the hope of retaining some of the cloud definition. Just wanted to see how it punched up in black and white as well as in Silver Efex Pro 2.

Tags:   Salford Quays Lowry theatre LS Lowry Manchester Ship Canal canal nightshoot reflections lights mono black and white B&W Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 long exposure 0.83 Dixon Lee Filters 0.6 med ND grad batter the Quays

© All Rights Reserved

Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland

The classic view of the lone tree at Sycamore Gap helped by a nice cloudscape to fill the frame. First time here and I was more impressed with Hadrian's Wall. I always imagined it to be quite wide with side walls (like the great wall of China) to protect against the marauding Scots! I found a nice article by English Heritage about the wall but it's a bit lengthy so here's just a few facts...

1) It took around 15,000 men about 6 years to build
Hadrian’s Wall was built by legionaries – the citizen-soldiers of the Roman army. The army contained specialists in masonry, engineering and architecture. It took units from all three of Britain’s legions to construct the Wall: the II Augusta based in Caerleon in South Wales, the VI Victrix from York and the XX Valeria Victrix from Chester – who were also once based around Wroxter Roman City.

2) It wasn’t abandoned after the end of the Roman Empire
People have continued to live along Hadrian’s Wall ever since it was built. Evidence from Birdoswald Roman Fort shows that the buildings were still being adapted and occupied after the Empire had ended in AD 410.

3) We can only see 10% of the original Wall
The Wall that you see today is only a small fraction – estimated at around 10% – of the original. Over the course of the intervening centuries stone has been removed, buried or destroyed.

4) Hadrian’s Wall has never been the border between England and Scotland
These two kingdoms didn’t exist when Hadrian’s Wall was established. And if it was used as the border today, it would place parts of Cumbria and much of Northumberland in Scotland.
The Romans invaded, and held, large parts of modern-day Scotland, even after the construction of Hadrian’s Wall in AD 122. Hadrian’s Wall was abandoned for about twenty years from c.AD 138, when the Romans established a new frontier in Scotland between what are now the Firths of Forth and Clyde (the Antonine Wall), before being reoccupied around AD 160.

5) Hadrian probably designed the Wall himself
Hadrian is noted for his interest in architecture and the number of provinces he visited whilst Emperor. He is likely to have visited Britain in AD 122, after some kind of conflict in the preceding years, and we know that it was in this period that construction of the Wall started.

6) Hadrian’s Wall is 73, 80, 84 and 174 miles long
A Roman unit of distance was the mille passum, which translates to ‘thousand paces.’ A pace was five Roman feet, meaning a Roman mile measured 5,000 feet. This made Hadrian’s Wall 80 miles long, and each mile was marked by a milecastle fort. These were used for controlling the movement of people, goods and livestock along the Wall.

The ‘modern’ mile was standardised in 1593 as eight furlongs, or 5,280 feet. (A furlong was how far a team of oxen could plough in a day – roughly 660 feet.) This means that modern miles are longer than Roman ones, so Hadrian’s Wall is 73 miles.

Tags:   Sycamore Gap Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Hadrian's Wall Emperor Hadrian AD122 Milecastle 39 Pennine Way Crag Lough Northumberland National Trust Roman Fort World Heritage Roman wall footpath Absolute Black and White

© All Rights Reserved

Bamburgh Beach, Northumberland

It had rained constantly since we left Dunstanburgh Castle and all that sea foam the previous day. It continued all through the night and well into morning. I still got up to check for the slightest hint of a sunrise but the driving rain head-on to the bedroom window told me to go back to bed. But all was forgotten after the full Northumberland breakfast and extra rounds of toast for good measure.

The Saturday had been a blustery day full stop, so we decided to go for another walk along the beach. The rain had finally stopped by the time we parked up at the far end of The Wynding road that runs parallel to the beach and so we headed south towards Seahouses. The sun was now shining in a vibrant blue sky with westerly fast moving clouds. We must have walked for a good hour and half... just after the last rock outcrop that points towards the Farne Islands. I took a few pictures here and there but was enjoying the walk more than anything. Time to turn around and head back to the car.

Mother nature does like to play tricks... what was bright and sunny one way was a different story the other way. With the light now behind us, the vista was turning biblical, which is one of Mrs R's words for anything that looks remotely like it might rain, but at least she didn't describe it as "underwhelming!" I might have taken a few more pictures than I did on the outward-bound walk, what with that light on the castle and the rainbow that appeared later on I suspect you would have all done the same, which leads me to my title... Had I not stopped so many times we might have got back to the car before the heavens opened with the heaviest rain of the weekend so far and for good measure, pea sized hail that really stung. We couldn't have gotten more wet if we'd have run straight into the sea. Mrs R had sensibly left spare clothing on the back seat, whereas I, hadn't! All I can say is, going commando on a four hour drive home is very liberating apart from the stop-off at the motorway services... but that's another story!

Tags:   Bamburgh Bamburgh beach Northumberland seascape sea waves clouds storm rainbow rain hail biblical soaking wet commando breezy liberating

© All Rights Reserved

Eilean Donan Castle, Dornie, Scotland

Our plans for our last morning on Skye had to be curtailed on account of storm Callum. Speaking with Dave Evans and his fellow togs earlier in the week, they had cut short their own plans and opted for an earlier ferry Thursday afternoon.
High winds and torrential rain had been forecast for Friday and all ferry sailings had been cancelled throughout the Hebrides. With the possibility of the main bridge being closed due to the high winds and not wanting to get marooned on Skye we set off early. We thanked the owners of our holiday home (a wonderful stay and highly recommended) and set off at 8am.

The journey down was uneventful without a hint of what was to come and we safely crossed the Skye bridge roundabout 9am. The wind was noticeably more blustery as we crossed, but the threatened 60mph winds were not scheduled until about 10am and so we congratulated ourselves on a good call. Our last overnight stop was down at the southern end of Loch Lomond and so we had plenty of time to drive there, but I had unfinished business at Eilean and a certain hut now only referred to as "Clutchgate" in our household.

I wanted a few shots of the castle from the side and the "All The Goodness Coffee & Bakeshop" on the peninsular before the bridge offers Mrs R the opportunity of a sit down and coffee and me - all the photos I could take. But like most things on this holiday, nothing was going to plan and the shop being shut didn't help. For me the wind was now blowing so hard I couldn't get a sharp image and was forced to setup low behind the front wing of the car. With periodic rain and spray from the loch keeping the filters clear was proving a bit of a nightmare. But every storm cloud has a silver lining and the now coffeeless Mrs R came to the rescue as a makeshift windbreak and filter cleaner while I faffed in between shots.

The weather was now very much evidently on the change and storm Callum was about to catch up with us. We spent a good hour watching and snapping the ever changing conditions, hoping to catch the fleeting sunrays cross over the castle. They never did and so I cut my losses and packed up. It turned out to be the right call for no sooner had we crossed the bridge and drove pass the castle did the full force of storm Callum empty the heavens. The rain was torrential all the way to Loch Lomond but I still had another stop-off to exercise a ghost from day one...

Tags:   Scotland Eilean Donan Castle castle island castle historic Dornie tidal island three sea lochs Loch Duich Loch Long Loch Alsh storm Callum storm windy clouds rain sunrays black and white b&w conversion atmospheric moody dark

© All Rights Reserved

Rivington Pike, Horwich

First outing of the new year, which is becoming a bit of a pilgrimage for us and hundred's more. Always windy at the top of the Pike and not much to shoot presently, but it's a marker for the rest of the year. Go early and you can count the number of people there on your hands but after 10am, it's a different story!

While I was studying Mechanical Engineering at Bolton Tech in the 80s, this record was played every single day in the Student's Union bar during term time for the three years I was there. Sometimes more than once!
One of my all time favourite songs and the album that got me into U2.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdLuk2Agamk

Tags:   Rivington Pike tower benches Horwich Bolton New Year's Day War album U2

© All Rights Reserved