Category: England

Lonely Boat Thorpe Bay

By cpadmin

A lonely boat at Thorpe Bay 

Lonely boat Thorpe Bay

Lonely Boat Thorpe Bay

Lonely Boat Thorpe Bay. This is a very soft focus shot with very light hints of colour. When Shru captured this image the sky was very cloudy with breaks of blue. The sun came through every now and then.  The suns rays bring a sense of drama on the what looks like a solitary scene.  The tide is on the turn and as it returns the sun glistens in the distance. At this point the Thames Estuary is nearly at its widest. Because the horizon is unobstructed we can see that the cargo ships that busy themselves travelling up and down the river are absent from this shot.

Thorpe Bay is around 4 miles to the east of Southend on Sea. Thorpe Bay was originally simply known as “Thorpe”. However with the arrival of the railway it was renamed Thorpe Bay, after the railway station. The station had been given the name to indicate that it was a seaside settlement. Here, you will find beach huts, sandy area and water activities without the hubbub of fair ground and the slot machines.

The majority of Thorpe Bay consists of residential properties, mainly built in the 1920, arranged in a grid pattern.

 

Canon EOS 7D Mark II EF70-300mm IS USM

F9 1/6400ss ISO 2500

The day of the Triffids?

By cpadmin

The day of the Triffids?

 The day of the Triffids?

The corn is a high as an elephants eye

The day of the Triffids?
The “toes and feet” of a sweetcorn plant

Is today the day of the Triffids? Two images to show that the Triffids are coming! Well, not really. These are not triffids, they are sweetcorn shimmering in the morning sun in our garden. Some of them are already over six feet high, higher than the garden wall. There is a line in the song from the musical Oklahoma. It says that “the corn is as high as an elephant’s eye”. I was puzzled by this line in the song until we first grew sweetcorn. I realised that it was sweet corn and not barley or a crop like it in the field. There are two things that make me think that these plants resemble the mythical triffid. Firstly the flowers wave back and forwards in the slightest breeze.

Secondly, take a look at the feet of the plant on the second image. I could imaging these feet getting the plant to lurch down the garden. John Wyndham’s book “The Day of the Triffids” is one of my favourites, as is the sequel, “The Night of the Triffids”.

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V, Tamron 16-300mm

Settings: F6.3 1/20 ISO 100

First Sunflower of the year

By cpadmin

Say hello to “Little Leo”, the first Sunflower of the year!

First sunflower of the year
Say hello to Little Leo

“Little Leo” grows no higher than two feet (60 cm) high. I grow fifteen or twenty of these flowers in a large pot on the patio. Progressively they come into bloom and fill area above the pot with colour. The stems also produce more than one flower. As you can see from the image son of Little Leo is well on the way curving to the left of the image. The flower has bright yellow petals and the centre core has a more intense yellow colour.

A small hoverfly can be seen visiting the flowers if you look closely at the image. The soft spiky hairs on the stalk are also clearly visible. Summer really has arrived when the sunflowers come out. This image was captured in shade yesterday evening.

I’m now waiting for the large sunflowers to grow and bloom over the coming weeks

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V, Tamron 16-300mm

Settings: F5.6 1/80 ISO 100

Re-installing the sails at Rayleigh Windmill (2)

By cpadmin

Re-installing the sails at Rayleigh Windmill

The Rayleigh Windmill is a 200 year old Grade II listed building situated high on a hill in Rayleigh. This mill is the tallest mill in Essex at 60 feet (18.29m). At the base of the Windmill the brickwork is 4 feet 6 inches (1.37 m).

Rayleigh Windmill
The sails arrive “on the back of a lorry”
Rayleigh Windmill
Putting a bolt in. He couldn’t find the hammer!
Rayleigh Windmill
Half way there. Two up two to go
Raylleigh Windmill
Lifting the last sail. Note the shadows

In October 2017 the sails on the windmill were removed for essential maintenance. In April 2018 the sails were re-installed. Shru and Mike spent the day at the Windmill when the sails were re-erected. We happened to have our cameras with us and captured the images below. These four images are a “before”, two work in progress images and a “job done” one. However on our website there are 11 images of how the team did it. Go to our webpage for a look.

We have also prepared a comprehensive historical record of the day in the forms of a PowerPoint presentation and a Photobook. These can be viewed at Rayleigh Windmill when it is open.

The website images follow the sequence from the arrival of the lorry through to completion, including the amazing aerial work of the team, swinging from ropes as they hammered bolts in.

Visiting the Windmill

The windmill is open frequently during the summer months and is also a wedding venue. Have a look at the Rayleigh Windmill website

Re-installing the sails at Rayleigh Windmill

By cpadmin

Re-installing the sails at Rayleigh Windmill

The Rayleigh Windmill is a 200 year old Grade II listed building situated high on a hill in Rayleigh. This mill is the tallest mill in Essex at 60 feet (18.29m). At the base of the Windmill the brickwork is 4 feet 6 inches (1.37 m).

Rayleigh Windmill
The sails arrive “on the back of a lorry”
Rayleigh Windmill
Putting a bolt in. He couldn’t find the hammer!
Rayleigh Windmill
Half way there. Two up two to go
Raylleigh Windmill
Lifting the last sail. Note the shadows

In October 2017 the sails on the windmill were removed for essential maintenance. In April 2018 the sails were re-installed. Shru and Mike spent the day at the Windmill when the sails were re-erected. We happened to have our cameras with us and captured the images below. These four images are a “before”, two work in progress images and a “job done” one. However on our website there are 11 images of how the team did it. Go to our webpage for a look.

We have also prepared a comprehensive historical record of the day in the forms of a PowerPoint presentation and a Photobook. These can be viewed at Rayleigh Windmill when it is open.

The website images follow the sequence from the arrival of the lorry through to completion, including the amazing aerial work of the team, swinging from ropes as they hammered bolts in.

Visiting the Windmill

The windmill is open frequently during the summer months and is also a wedding venue. Have a look at the Rayleigh Windmill website

Let’s cool off at the beach!

By cpadmin

Let’s cool off at the beach! May be even have a dip? 

Let's cool off at the beach
Let’s cool off at the beach!

Let’s cool off at the beach! This is the beach at Kingsgate bay in Kent last week. On Monday lunchtime the beach is empty. We would all rather be there than sweltering at work or in our homes.

The chalk-white line of the cliffs leads our eye to the sea arch. It’s not as famous as the one at Durdle Door. The image shows a reflection of the sea arch in the gentle waters as low tide approaches. Sets of footprints in the sand come and go towards the arch.

Walkers can go through the arch at low tide and, as I did, walk along to the next bay, Botany Bay (no not that one). Then you can walk back along the cliffs to the Captain Digby for a long cool drink! The chalk shows the battering it has received from the sea over the millennia and the holes excavated by mankind. On a summer’s day this is a lovely place to go. For more information on Kingsgate Bay follow this link

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V, Tamron 16-300mm

Settings: F7 1/800 ISO 100

Glistening waters at the height of summer

By cpadmin

Glistening waters at the height of summer at Burnham on Crouch

Glistening waters at the height of summer – Burnham on Crouch
Glistening waters at the height of summer – Burnham on Crouch

Glistening waters at the height of summer, in Burnham on Crouch, Essex. A picture postcard image for sure. This image was captured from the waterfront in August last year on a really hot day at Burnham. Two of us went looking for nice images and whilst we were in Burnham we saw another photographer friend doing the same.

When it’s almost 30 degrees again this afternoon the water looks so inviting and I thought people might enjoy an image of water. O for an outdoor pool to splash in! The sun is making the water sparkle, the sky is reflecting in the water and making it an attractive blue. How nice it would be to sail off in one of the boats! We can but dream.

The direction that the boats are facing tells us that the tide is on its way out. If we were there today, the lines of the boat would be twanging against the masts and making that sound so typical of the waterside and seaside.

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V, Tamron 16-300mm

Settings: F9 1/640 ISO 100