Smallest of dwarf sunflowers

26th July 201926th July 2019 By cpadmin

Smallest of dwarf sunflowers

This is the smallest of dwarf sunflowers. This variety of sunflower should grow to three feet high. All of the others from the packet are now that high. The bright yellow flowers are coming out in the garden making a nice show

Accidental small dwarf sunflower

By Accident

I didn’t notice this one when I was potting the rest of them on. So it stayed in the greenhouse in its small pot and has grown even up even smaller. As the flower bloomed I brought it inside and it is sitting happily making a nice contrast with the plum coloured carpet. Next year I think that I will do this again with three or four dwarf sunflowers to have some spectacular colour inside our house! I will try and organise a better pot though!

Have a look at more of our sunflower images from previous years in our garden galleries by using this link.

Our website has many other great images. Go to www.compassphotography.co.uk

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65, Tamron 16-300 lens, f6.3 1/125 ISO 100

Images of the Kent seaside

24th July 201924th July 2019 By cpadmin

Images of the Kent seaside

On one of the hottest days of the year I captured some great images of the Kent seaside. The sun shone without a break as I travelled from Cape le Ferne in the east to Dungeness.

Capel le Ferne is white cliffs of Dover country. It has a great café on the top of the cliffs. The Lees at Folkestone looked almost tropical in the images captured from there. Sandygate roasted in the sun. Behind Waitrose at Hythe I found some welcome shade along the calmness of the Royal Military Canal. Dymchurch was busy and it was extremely hot driving the steam engines at the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway so I was told!).

The beach at Greatstone had lots of people on it and pebbles reflected in the sunlight. Dungeness looked as special as it always does, perhaps more so in the sun. A yacht passed by near to the shore and provided a nice opportunity to photograph it in the blue sea against the yellow pebbles.

View more of the images from this day by going to the Compass Photography Website

Sailing by at the tip of Dungeness
Patterns in the sand – Folkstone
Dungeness – The boardwalk looking back to the road
Welcome shade – Royal Military Canal at Hythe
Pulling out at RHDR

A job well done!

19th July 201919th July 2019 By cpadmin

A job well done! Last week Compass Photography was asked to be the event photographer at Thurrock Carnival the following Sunday. Short notice as someone else couldn’t make it! Spend most of the day there and captured some nice images. Most of them involve people and so I’m not publishing them here. It was nice to get the following mail from the person organising the event.

Mike,

We just want to thank you so much for being our event photographer on Sunday, and how you were able to help out at such late notice. The photos are great, and we really appreciate your great work! We look forward to having you on our next event!

Many Thanks George Hughes, HugeStar Productions & Events

See more of our images on www.compassphotograpy.co.uk

Rayleigh Mill Hall Exhibition

16th July 201916th July 2019 By cpadmin

Rayleigh Mill Hall Exhibition. Mike is exhibiting photographs at The Mill Arts & Events Centre (Mill Hall, Bellingham Ln, Rayleigh, Essex UK SS6 7ED).

The images are on display until the 16th August. The theme of the images exhibited is landscapes from above. The images show landscapes and seascapes captured from a high vantage point. as there was space I have also put some other images in the display too.

The Rayleigh Mill Hall Exhibition is free to visit and is open from 0900 to 1630 Monday to Saturday. Why not have a wander down and have a cup of coffee in the café too! I will forgive friends in Liverpool, Australia and Hong Kong for not attending!

View more of Compass Photography Group’s images at our website

Use this link to see the Mill Hall website

Cascades under an ancient green canopy

3rd July 20193rd July 2019 By cpadmin

Cascades under an ancient green canopy

Golitha Falls is the location for cascades under an ancient green canopy. The water cascades though a gorge of ancient oak trees at this Cornish nature reserve. There is no single large waterfall, instead multiple waterfall form this cascade. The water feeds into the River Fowey at the end of the gorge and travels down to the sea.

The woodland flora here has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

The image forms a lovely scene. The stones along the bank are covered in moss. Several cascades are in evidence. The tree branches grow randomly at odd angles. The water reflects the green canopy above it. This is a scene from June, however the leaves give an impression of April. The feet of the tripod were actually in the water, allowing the shot to be captured from near the water level. Within the gorge you can only hear the sound of the water. Peace and tranquillity reign. Rain had fallen the day before we visited. This had increased the water flow. We recommend a visit here.

Click here to see our other images on www.compassphotography.co.uk

Click here to visit the Golitha web site

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

Image settings f4.0 1/25 ISO 100

Image of the week from Fowey

25th June 201925th June 2019 By cpadmin

Image of the week from Fowey

The image of the week from Fowey shows a view across the river to Bodinnick. Two images are attached. The daytime image is at high tide, whereas the second image is captured at 22:15. This is the view from the balcony of the apartment we rented for two weeks. The Bodinnick ferry runs across from Fowey to the slipway shown. The bright orange car ferry is not included as it is not very photogenic, but functional! This ferry terminal is said to have existed since the 13th century. I enjoyed watching the comings and goings on the river. Large and small boats went past.

Image of the week from Fowey

A day time view from the balcony

Ferryside

Ferryside is the name of the blue and white house. It was bought by the du Maurier family. Daphne du Maurier wrote her first book at Ferryside, which used to be known to the locals as Swiss Cottage. Originally the property was a boatyard. Bodinnick nestles on the hillside amongst the greenery. The steep hill is a challenge to man, beast and motor! The yellow lines on the road do spoil the image a little!

After dark

The long exposure of the night time image makes the water appear calmer when it is reflected in the lights. The road has water on it from the rain. It was fascinating to watch the lights in the houses come on one by one and add to the image.

We stayed at Fowey river views https://www.foweyriverviews.co.uk/

Image of the week from Fowey

After dark from the balconyMore of our images can be seen at www.compassphotography.co.uk

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

Daytime: F3.5 1/1600 ISO 100

After dark: F8 13 secs ISO 400

Cornucopia of colour

26th May 201926th May 2019 By cpadmin

Purple alliums in front of daisies
Aster alpinus goliath in the dry garden

There is a cornucopia of colour in a new collection of images captured at Hyde Hall in late May 2019. It was a slightly breezy sunny afternoon. I walked round the garden in a different sequence.

Normally, I arrive at the garden when it opens in the morning to capture images without other folk in the way. This visit was in the afternoon. As a result, it meant that the sun had moved round to a different angle and gave different opportunities.

Two images from the new gallery are shown above. One of the images shows Purple alliums set in front of a pastiche of out of focus bank of daisies. The second image show the compact purple and yellow aster on a bed of pebbles.

Click on this link to see the whole cornucopia of colour gallery.

The whole slide show includes more purple alliums, yellow roses in the rose garden, Californian poppies, a white Iris shaped like a polo mint and two restful images captured from a bench below the small pond.

This link will take you to our other Hyde Hall galleries

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

Settings for alliums: F6.3 1/640 ISO 100

Settings for aster: F5.6 1/1000 ISO 100

Visit our website www.compassphotography.co.uk

Buttercup field in full bloom

19th May 201919th May 2019 By cpadmin

Buttercup field in full bloom

One of the best things about summer is a field of buttercups gently swaying in the wind. Our image of the week this week shows a field in Little Baddow, near Chelmsford in Essex. The field with this view is across the road from the car park at Papermill Lock. One of the houses at the Lock is seen on the left of the image. You can tell its still May because not all of the trees have greened up.

This image of the buttercup field is my favourite from the series. A curved sweep of yellow buttercups start in the centre right of the image. It makes its way out to the hedge row on the left and then across back to the right hand side.

The second image is show from the height of the actual buttercups and is a veritable sea of yellow. Dropping down to this height did mean that the movement of the nearest buttercup is a blur though.

Have a look at more of our images on www.compassphotography.co.uk

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

Image settings f3.5 1/2000 ISO 100

A carpet of colour

5th May 20195th May 2019 By cpadmin

A carpet of colour was on view at our local garden centre last Wednesday morning.

Rows of freshly potted baskets hang from the ceiling above benches of small pots of flowers. Sometimes the colours are in rows or blocks and other times they are random. We can see geraniums, though actually they are pelargoniums. It worth going round to see all the plants and pick some nice ones, however, not only does the carpet of colour look nice, the plants smell wonderful. The people who work at the garden centre tell me that they can’t smell the plants. I think that’s because they are there all the time!

It will be time to start to make our own hanging baskets, just another week now. There is also a close up of a pink geranium/pelargonium. It’s in one of the hanging baskets and you can see the tiny hairs on the stem and well as the pastel shades of other flowers in the background. If you are wondering where the image was captured click on this link here

To see more of our images visit our website www.compassphotography.co.uk

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V Tamron 16-300 lens

Settings f4.5, 1/250, ISO 100

The Horse Chestnut candles are lighting up!

26th April 201926th April 2019 By cpadmin

The Horse Chestnut candles are lighting up early this year.

The Horse Chestnut candles are lighting up early this year. I really enjoy seeing them! In Essex we normally see them at the start of May, however they are here already, at the end of April.

Castle Park in Colchester is the location of this image. Demonstrating that the candles are early this year, I captured this image in late May 2015. There are lots of trees along the banks of the stream at the foot of the hill in the park. You can walk right up to them.

This close up portrait image of the candle shows the flowers to have a fluffy texture. The white flower contrasts nicely with the out of focus greenery in the background. The ribs of some of the ovate leaves are also in focus

The Horse Chestnut is tree of the month on the Countryfile website. It says, “The leaves of the horse chestnut appear early in spring, unfurling like the hand of a giant whose great fingers straighten in response to the warming sun. It is not native, having been imported from Turkey in the 16th century, but still it is entwined within our culture – not least in autumn, when children search so eagerly for its fallen treasures.” I am sure we all remember playing conkers at school!

White and pink flower pyramids appear on the branches and look like candles. They look like candles on a Christmas Tree, suggesting a reason for the tree’s alternative name, the candle tree. It is a great joy to see them appear, it’s a sign that summer is on the way!

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V – Tamron 16-300 lens

Settings f7.1, 1/50, ISO 100

Compass Photography Group

Passionate about Photography

Category: England

Smallest of dwarf sunflowers